My aquarium backstory see what you learn

If you are new learn from what I'm writing it may be long but it highlights my mistakes that could have been avoided from the start.

I've owned fish for 3-4 months now, and I only started learning this stuff about 2-3 months ago. But by then I had lost a betta mostly do to not having a heater and it getting way to cold at night and bad water conditions.

The guy at petco should have warned us but nope. But after the first betta died we got another betta. He lived in a 1.5 gallon for a week and I went to my wife and said, honey he doesnt look happy we need a bigger tank. If we get a 10 gallon we can add even more fish. So we went to a local petstore they had a 10g kit on sale, so we went home set it up put the betta in it.

Then we went to petco since the other store in town doesnt carry fish. The only thing they had was zebra danios they said to get 3 to start with so we did. Betta and them did fine together for a week and a half.

then I noticed that 1 of the danios wasnt doing good. I tried feeding him separately, he wouldnt eat. And he would run from another danio constantly.
Well i put the bully in the 1.5g, the other danio ended up not making it through the night. Then we tried putting the bully back in the tank.

He picked on the betta so the betta took a bit of flesh off his back, and the 3rd danio rammed the bully. they both went after the bully like crazy, almost like a revenge killing. Well I moved the bully he didnt make it more than 2 hours.

The betta and the last danio lived happy for a week or 2 then we saw they both started getting sad again. We went to petco to get more danios but they weren't available. so we got 4 neon tetras. They lived happily for a few weeks. but the danio still wasnt happy so we got a 20g and 4 ember tetras, 4 more danios, 3 neon tetras. Now everyone is happy.
Untill I get shrimp from petco.com. the betta started killing the shrimp, he killed half the shrimp we got and he killed 3 neon tetra babies.

So I got 3 dwarf craws to try and teach him, well it didnt so we moved the betta to the old 10g. but then I found multiple shrimp were killed by the craws.
So we moved the craws to the 10g, then we got 2 more neon tetras and some shrimp. Still have all the fish, but we've lost 7 shrimp to doing to many big water changes to often. and now we are caught up.

Tips research fish before buying them. I lost my first fish ever because I trusted old school knowledge about bettas. And I lost 2 danios because I didnt know they need a school of 5 or more. And I lost a lot of shrimp to predatory fish like the craws and betta. Because I was told they were okay together, by the petco worker. And lost young neons because of the betta. Always be smart about water changes. Keep ontop of doing them daily till ammonia is consistently 0ppm.

Dont add to many fish to a tank before its cycled. Or you risk there lives. Keep the bio load low. Stay happy do better than I did. Thank you everyone on here for the help. My tanks are almost cycled my fish and shrimp and craws are all happy.

Now when my tanks are cycled I'm getting more shrimp and I will have snails and cool plants. I can finally be happy, instead of stressing about who is next.

I've loved fish my whole life I've always wanted pet fish, those I've lost along the way hurt, but the fish I have now are doing very well. they are semi fat and happy.

 

You're story, though maybe not the details, is a familiar one, and the way so many of us got started! Especially before the internet was such a big thing....this day and age, people spend so much of their lives in the internet, i kind of can't believe even a quick google search doesn't hapoen more often!! I am still getting used to the fact i can look up sports stats at any moment, right at my fingertips!

 

You're story, though maybe not the details, is a familiar one, and the way so many of us got started! Especially before the internet was such a big thing....this day and age, people spend so much of their lives in the internet, i kind of can't believe even a quick google search doesn't hapoen more often!! I am still getting used to the fact i can look up sports stats at any moment, right at my fingertips!

I get it. I didnt do any research when I got started. It wasnt until after the first betta died.
People who work at pet stores should be more knowledgeable and be more willing to tell you things. I love the betta I have now. He is a red, white and blue double tail male named liberty. but our first betta when it died it hit me hard because after a lot of research and stuff while it was dieing. I found out I needed a heater and to make sure the water I was using was safe. And so on. But I didnt know any of that. The guy at petco said Arizona bottled water would be fine. Didnt say we needed a heater or anything. I knew to acclimate them but that's it. But I didnt know exactly the best way to acclimate a fish. Well when we went to get the second betta, liberty, I knew a good deal more and he is still alive. He has lived in 3 different tanks and 1 of the tanks he has lived in twice now since we got him.
for a guy like me it's hard losing a pet. I put so much effort and time caring for them, I do everything I can to keep them happy and alive so when one dies it hits hard.
While the first betta was dieing I tried everything I could to help him. Better water with declorinator when I used bottled water before hand. Which I'm never drinking that bottled water again. I found out there is ammonia in it and other chemicals in it that lead to the fish dieng. ontop of not having the water at a temp that was safe for the betta. And dont for get I tried everything I could to help him survive. I spent hours every day for almost a week trying to get him healthy. He started getting better after I started using aquarium salt for 2 days. he started looking better, his color came back he started swimming around again. we had gotten a heater for him I thought he would make it.
After those couple days went by of him seeming better, him even eating again the last day. The next day we woke up I darted over with my 3 year old to check on him, and he was belly up not breathing any morr. I had to explain to my son that he was dead and it crushemore.
I spent every free moment doing even more research that's what lead to me getting the 10g tank. then a few days later we went to petco and got liberty and a bunch of extra decor for his tank, And some friends.
I pray I never have to explain it to my son again. With the shrimp and the 3 neons its different he doesnt see the shrimp much. And the neons we didnt have very long at all so he didnt get attached to them like he did the betta. And all the fish we have now.

 

I get it. I didnt do any research when I got started. It wasnt until after the first betta died. People who work at pet stores should be more knowledgeable and be more willing to tell you things. I live the betta I have now. He is a red, white and blue double tail male named liberty. but our first betta when it died it hit me hard because after a lot of research and stuff while it was dieing I found out I needed a heater and to make sure the water I was using was safe. And so on. But I didnt know any of that. The guy at petco said Arizona bottled water would be fine. Didnt say we needed a heater or anything. I know to acclimate him but that's it. But I didnt know exactly the best way to acclimate a fish. Well when we went to get the second betta liberty I knew a good deal more and he is still alive. He has lived in 3 different tanks and 1 of the tanks he has lived in twice now since we got him. for a guy like me it's hard losing a pet. I put do much effort and time caring for them I do everything I can to keep them happy and alive so when one does it hits hard. While the first betta was dieing I tried everything I could to help him. Better water with declorinator when I used bottled water before hand. Which I'm never drinking that bottled water again I found out there is ammonia in it and other chemicals in it that lead to the fish during ontop of not having the water at a temp that was safe for the betta. And dont for get I tried everything I could to help him survive I spent hours every day for almost a week trying to get him healthy. He started getting better after I started using aquarium salt for 2 days he started looking better his color came back he started swimming around again we had gotten a heater for him I thought he would make it. After those couple days went by if him seeming better him even eating again the last day. The next day we woke up I darted over with my 3 year old to check on him and he was belly up not breathing any more and I had to explain to my son that he was dead and it crushed me. I spent every free moment doing even more research that's what lead to me getting the 10g tank then a few days later we went to petco and got the liberty and a bunch of extra decor for his tank. And some friends I pray I never have to explain it to my son again. With the shrimp and the 3 neons its different he doesnt see the shrimp much. And the neons we didnt have very long at all so he didnt get attached to them like he did the betta. And all the fish we have now.

Thats how fishkeeping gets ya. Get one, maybe it dies, gets sick then dies, whichever, but then you do some research in there and really want another fish to start over on while you know something!! Then the addiction just keeps on!

 

Thats how fishkeeping gets ya. Get one, maybe it dies, gets sick then dies, whichever, but then you do some research in there and really want another fish to start over on while you know something!! Then the addiction just keeps on!

That's so true. Had you told me 6 months ago my wife and I would have 2 fish tanks. With about 27 fish/invertebrates and working on setting up a nano tank for shrimp breeding I would have laughed lol. But I'm definitely hooked. And I love it.