Worst " Rule Of Thumb"

HI all. I am surprised at how many folks that are new to this wonderful hobby are innundated with old wives tales , rules of thumb , and out dated generalizations about how to properly begin their journey. How about we share something that we all hear regularly that sounds good in theory but in practice is just not true. For instance I personally can't stand it when I hear 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. Just not true. I promise you a 10 inch common pleco has different space and enviornmental needs than 10 inches worth of neon tetra. Makes me mental when I hear that!

 

Inch per gallon, definitely.

Also heat to treat ich stresses me out!

 

"Fish will only grow to fit the size of their tank."

 

"Water changes hurt the fish/cycle of the tank."

 

The lore of, even after your tank is established, " you must wash your dirty sponge in dirty tank water until it disintegrates or will lose your cycle".

 

Not sure if it would really be considered a rule of thumb but acclimating new fish to your aquarium by just hanging the bag of fish in it for 20 minutes, then put the fish in.

 

"As long as they look happy it's fine"

Usually said in relation to goldfish in 5 gallon tanks.

They're FISH!! How many facial expressions do they have?

 

Not sure if it would really be considered a rule of thumb but acclimating new fish to your aquarium by just hanging the bag of fish in it for 20 minutes, then put the fish in.

This counts in my book. Because temp is all that matters...

 

Throw the fish in to a tank...doesn't matter if it's cycled or not...they'll do fine.

 

The arbitrary, yet often repeated number of "must have at least 6 or 10" to make a school of, for instance, Tetras.
The poster has 5 -- but, is advised to increase school to 6. Why not 7 or 8? Why is 6 the minimum and 5 not adequate?

 

Inch per gallon, definitely.

Also heat to treat ich stresses me out!

Just curious why does using the heat method stress you out? It's been used in the hobby for years and its a natural effective way of treating it , with little to no stress on the fish??

 

"Its okay to overstock, I have lots of filtration!"

No, no, NO! Filtration does NOT replace footprint!!!

 

The arbitrary, yet often repeated number of "must have at least 6 or 10" to make a school of, for instance, Tetras.
The poster has 5 -- but, is advised to increase school to 6. Why not 7 or 8? Why is 6 the minimum and 5 not adequate?

I actually think this one is a good "rule of thumb" but obviously if your tank is larger then the more the better. They just seem much happier in groups, now 5 and 6 won't make a difference but 4 and 6 will and 6 and 10 will as well. The more they are , the more natural behaviour they'll have, but I do get where your coming from.

 

The lore of, even after your tank is established, " you must wash your dirty sponge in dirty tank water until it disintegrates or will lose your cycle".

Curious about this! Care to elaborate? Granted, I use Prime treated water to clean my sponges sometimes, not tank water.

 

I actually think this one is a good "rule of thumb" but obviously if your tank is larger then the more the better. They just seem much happier in groups, now 5 and 6 won't make a difference but 4 and 6 will IMO.

But, why is 5 not sufficient, but six is?
Appears to me like some arbitrary judgement that has no actual basis in fact.
It is better to say that tetras are schooling fish and, like you added "the more the better".

 

Not sure if it would really be considered a rule of thumb but acclimating new fish to your aquarium by just hanging the bag of fish in it for 20 minutes, then put the fish in.

That's how I acclimate my fish and have had good results so far...although I cut the bag open and use a turkey baster and add a little water then let them sit for 15-20 in the bag while I set up a bucket and a wet net then pour them into the net and off they go to their new happy home

 

That's how I acclimate my fish and have had good results so far...although I cut the bag open and use a turkey baster and add a little water then let them sit for 15-20 in the bag while I set up a bucket and a wet net then pour them into the net and off they go to their new happy home

Tbh, that's honestly how I usually do it too unless I get my fish from a place with a completely different water supply. If the parameters are the same I just temperature match.

If I order online, though, I do drip acclamations that last for hours.

 

But, why is 5 not sufficient, but six is?
Appears to me like some arbitrary judgement that has no actual basis in fact.
It is better to say that tetras are schooling fish and, like you added "the more the better".

Very true , ya no idea where that number came about. I guess it just makes it easier when talking to new comers in the hobby, if they only have 2 corys and you say the more the better , they might go out and just buy 2 more and call it a day, but diffenetly "the more the better" is a good way to go about it and just explain it.

Not sure if it would really be considered a rule of thumb but acclimating new fish to your aquarium by just hanging the bag of fish in it for 20 minutes, then put the fish in.

How do you go about it? do you put them in a bucket and then slowly add water to acclimate them?

I also just set the bag in the aquarium for 20 min or so to temp acclimate , and then just add them in. Me and my LFS have very very similar water. Now if I get fish from else where , where it's diferent then I'll do the bucket method to slowly acclimate them.

 

How do you go about it? do you put them in a bucket and then slowly add water to acclimate them?

I also just set the bag in the aquarium for 20 min or so to temp acclimate , and then just add them in. Me and my LFS have very very similar water. Now if I get fish from else where , where it's diferent then I'll do the bucket method to slowly acclimate them.

So how do you control the temperature while they are in the bucket? On my acclimatization kit, it says "float the bag in the fish tank for 10 min, then put in the bucket and start dripping". That does not make any sense, why would you want the temperature to equalize with your aquarium only to take them out and start acclimating them at room temperature? When you do it drop by drop, I am sure the temperature of your dripping aquarium water just goes down to whatever room temperature you have.

 

I would be happy to:
An established tank, one that has been running for 3 months ( heated, not cold-water tank--- this takes appx. six months), will reach the maximum amount of beneficial bacteria to match the bio-load of the occupants in the system. No more and no less.
Many are under the false impression that if they reuse their mechanical media, or even biological media, for that matter, until it disintegrates they will have more or stronger beneficial bacteria than those who routinely change out their mechanical material. This is not true.
As I stated earlier, the beneficial bacteria in an established system max's out to proliferate these materials to match the given bio-load.
For instance, when I had an Emperor filter with a bio-wheel, I would put a replacement cartridge behind the old one every 6 weeks to replace the old one. I did this because the sponge material would begin to bypass the sponge material as the fibers broke down. In between changing out the cartridge, I would wash in de-chlorinated water and ( this may be a shock!) occasionally clean it under the warm tap. I had this type of filter for 15 years--- never lost my cycle.
The bio-wheel would reseed the cartridge very quickly.
Now, with my canister filter, my mechanical is a hard plastic with a grated material. I clean the mulm that accumulates on this media under a warm tap every week in my discus tank. No loss of cycle.
I change out my bio-media in four installments a year. Taking out 1/4 old and replacing new quarterly.
No loss of cycle.

The point of this is that many of us on this site declare that in order to not lose a cycle ( in an established tank) that you cannot change out your sponge material, bio-media, etc...
It is stressed that one must leave their media in until it disintegrates and this is false.
Accumulated mulm in a filter (especially a canister filter) becomes a hot-bed of bacteria and nitrates that can slowly leach out into the aquarium due to poor husbandry of the filter.
I did not just come to this conclusion on my own, it was a system I incorporated from what I have read throughout the years.
These filter maintenance procedures are also (while not to the very letter), documented in Baensch's Aquarium Atlas and Edward J Noga's Fish Disease and Treatment.

 

How do you go about it? do you put them in a bucket and then slowly add water to acclimate them?

I also just set the bag in the aquarium for 20 min or so to temp acclimate , and then just add them in. Me and my LFS have very very similar water. Now if I get fish from else where , where it's diferent then I'll do the bucket method to slowly acclimate them.

I did it that way until recently and had ok luck with it (did lose a couple fish over time pretty shortly after adding them), but I learned from this site & my trusted LFS that it is less stressful and safer to put the bag in to get the temp the same then add a bit of your aquarium water to the bag, wait a while then add more and wait etc. (or drip acclimate) so not such a sudden change in water parameters etc. for the new fish. Probably if parameters are close between LFS and your tank it wouldn't matter, but I am not experienced enough to know for sure. Hope I did not offend anyone, I know many people do it by putting the bag in for 20 minutes or so and adding fish. Sorry if I did!!

 

I know it's been said already, but "inch per gallon" every time I go to petco, I hear a stupid customer say that. The sad thing is I think the aquatic specialist knows that's wrong, but I've heard that they aren't allowed to disuade someone to buy a fish.

 

So how do you control the temperature while they are in the bucket? On my acclimatization kit, it says "float the bag in the fish tank for 10 min, then put in the bucket and start dripping". That does not make any sense, why would you want the temperature to equalize with your aquarium only to take them out and start acclimating them at room temperature? When you do it drop by drop, I am sure the temperature of your dripping aquarium water just goes down to whatever room temperature you have.

I may of explained it wrong. Normally if I buy from my usual local fish store , I just float bag in aquarium for 20 min or so , and add them in.

When I buy from somewhere else where it's different, I float the bag for 20 mins or so, then I just pour fish and water into bucket , slowly adding aquarium water every 10 minutes, for about 30 mins.

 

I may of explained it wrong. Normally if I buy from my usual local fish store , I just float bag in aquarium for 20 min or so , and add them in.

When I buy from somewhere else where it's different, I float the bag for 20 mins or so, then I just pour fish and water into bucket , slowly adding aquarium water every 10 minutes, for about 30 mins.

No, I got you, I was just questioning the instructions they have on my kit.

 

I would be happy to:
An established tank, one that has been running for 3 months ( heated, not cold-water tank--- this takes appx. six months), will reach the maximum amount of beneficial bacteria to match the bio-load of the occupants in the system. No more and no less.
Many are under the false impression that if they reuse their mechanical media, or even biological media, for that matter, until it disintegrates they will have more or stronger beneficial bacteria than those who routinely change out their mechanical material. This is not true.
As I stated earlier, the beneficial bacteria in an established system max's out to proliferate these materials to match the given bio-load.
For instance, when I had an Emperor filter with a bio-wheel, I would put a replacement cartridge behind the old one every 6 weeks to replace the old one. I did this because the sponge material would begin to bypass the sponge material as the fibers broke down. In between changing out the cartridge, I would wash in de-chlorinated water and ( this may be a shock!) occasionally clean it under the warm tap. I had this type of filter for 15 years--- never lost my cycle.
The bio-wheel would reseed the cartridge very quickly.
Now, with my canister filter, my mechanical is a hard plastic with a grated material. I clean the mulm that accumulates on this media under a warm tap every week in my discus tank. No loss of cycle.
I change out my bio-media in four installments a year. Taking out 1/4 old and replacing new quarterly.
No loss of cycle.

The point of this is that many of us on this site declare that in order to not lose a cycle ( in an established tank) that you cannot change out your sponge material, bio-media, etc...
It is stressed that one must leave their media in until it disintegrates and this is false.
Accumulated mulm in a filter (especially a canister filter) becomes a hot-bed of bacteria and nitrates that can slowly leach out into the aquarium due to poor husbandry of the filter.
I did not just come to this conclusion on my own, it was a system I incorporated from what I have read throughout the years.
These filter maintenance procedures are also (while not to the very letter), documented in Baensch's Aquarium Atlas and Edward J Noga's Fish Disease and Treatment.

Thanks for the explanation! I understand now. I think this logic comes from newbies throwing out their filter cartridges monthly as per the manufacturer's instructions, which is 1. wasteful since you just need to knock the mulm off (to an extent! Not forever or it turns into a nitrate factory as you mentioned) and 2. when they ARE cleaned, they use tap water which kills off their bacterial colony, (which will happen if that cartridge is your only form of media). If you properly seed new media and have a set regime like you do, then I agree, tossing out your old media is not an issue!

 

I would be happy to:
An established tank, one that has been running for 3 months ( heated, not cold-water tank--- this takes appx. six months), will reach the maximum amount of beneficial bacteria to match the bio-load of the occupants in the system. No more and no less.
Many are under the false impression that if they reuse their mechanical media, or even biological media, for that matter, until it disintegrates they will have more or stronger beneficial bacteria than those who routinely change out their mechanical material. This is not true.
As I stated earlier, the beneficial bacteria in an established system max's out to proliferate these materials to match the given bio-load.
For instance, when I had an Emperor filter with a bio-wheel, I would put a replacement cartridge behind the old one every 6 weeks to replace the old one. I did this because the sponge material would begin to bypass the sponge material as the fibers broke down. In between changing out the cartridge, I would wash in de-chlorinated water and ( this may be a shock!) occasionally clean it under the warm tap. I had this type of filter for 15 years--- never lost my cycle.
The bio-wheel would reseed the cartridge very quickly.
Now, with my canister filter, my mechanical is a hard plastic with a grated material. I clean the mulm that accumulates on this media under a warm tap every week in my discus tank. No loss of cycle.
I change out my bio-media in four installments a year. Taking out 1/4 old and replacing new quarterly.
No loss of cycle.

The point of this is that many of us on this site declare that in order to not lose a cycle ( in an established tank) that you cannot change out your sponge material, bio-media, etc...
It is stressed that one must leave their media in until it disintegrates and this is false.
Accumulated mulm in a filter (especially a canister filter) becomes a hot-bed of bacteria and nitrates that can slowly leach out into the aquarium due to poor husbandry of the filter.
I did not just come to this conclusion on my own, it was a system I incorporated from what I have read throughout the years.
These filter maintenance procedures are also (while not to the very letter), documented in Baensch's Aquarium Atlas and Edward J Noga's Fish Disease and Treatment.

Agree. I regularly change my media. I run two cascade 700 cascade filters and bi- weekly I will take one of the two and add a new filter pad on top of the existing used pad. The following week I remove the oldest used pad from that filter. Repeat process with the other filter the following two weeks. I do dose with Stability on those days.

How about hearing LFS dude tell some unsuspecting newb that sure those cherry barbs can go with that little Jack Dempsey. If they are raised together they will be fine.

One rule of thumb to be heeded - if fish A can fit fish B into its mouth it eventually will.

 

Oh! I hope this isn't too off topic. But speaking of lfs...

The guy at petco told my dad that a MALE BETTA FISH and 3 gold fish would do just fine IN A BOWL TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!

 

Couple different people told me that bettas don't need water conditioner or a heater. I was also told by an old woman working at a pet store that you never have to feed plecos and they'll survive on only waste

 

I love the inch per gallin rule, how else could I have 7 oscars in my 75 gallon tank. Lol. I think tbe best one is that bettas need a small shallow tank or they will drown.

 

I might get heat for this but I don't believe that soft water fish do adapt to hard water and I won't try soft water fish in my tank.
On the other hand, I do overstock so I guess we all have our own rules.

 

1 inch per gallon is actually the simplified version of 1 cubic inch per gallon. The difference is, with one inch per gallon, my Motaguensis would require 12 gallons of water, but with 1 cubic inch per gallon, he requires 72 gallons. 1 cubic inch per gallon is very accurate, and it's what I go by when stocking.

I assume the rule was simplified to make stocking easier for beginners, but forgetting the 1 cubic inch per gallon rule made it harder for those who enjoy larger fish to stock their tanks.

 

Couple different people told me that bettas don't need water conditioner or a heater. I was also told by an old woman working at a pet store that you never have to feed plecos and they'll survive on only waste

I had a pleco for years, 5 I think, that survived only on waste and what I fed my other fish. Guy was about 6 inches long, so he isn't necessarily wrong. My pleco would normally swim around and eat the other feed, pellets or flakes, I fed my fish.

Now I feed my new pleco seaweed on a regular basis.

 

I have heard pet stores say "just let the filter run for a week and it is cycled so fill it with fish"

Ugh....

 

Not sure if it would really be considered a rule of thumb but acclimating new fish to your aquarium by just hanging the bag of fish in it for 20 minutes, then put the fish in.

This is actually generally the best practice.

When you have stressed fish in a bag of water they produce ammonia and as the oxygen is depleted by the fish respiring the ph becomes more acidic, which actually makes the ammonia less toxic. Once you open the bag the increase in oxygen then raises the ph up again and makes the ammonia more toxic. So generally by doing any more acclimation after the bag is opened your more likely to put your fish through ph swings, exposure to ammonia poisoning and more stress.

Best thing to do is temperature acclimate and then get them out of the bag and into the tank as quickly as possible completely disposing of the bag water.

 

This is actually generally the best practice.

When you have stressed fish in a bag of water they produce ammonia and as the oxygen is depleted by the fish respiring the ph becomes more acidic, which actually makes the ammonia less toxic. Once you open the bag the increase in oxygen then raises the ph up again and makes the ammonia more toxic. So generally by doing any more acclimation after the bag is opened your more likely to put your fish through ph swings, exposure to ammonia poisoning and more stress.

Best thing to do is temperature acclimate and then get them out of the bag and into the tank as quickly as possible completely disposing of the bag water.

Hmm...I had done it that way for quite a while and was told (& did some research) that it was better to acclimate temp first by hanging the bag in the tank for 20 minutes, then carefully add fish and bag water into a new container , then add a little aquarium water, wait a few minutes and add a little more aquarium water, wait etc to acclimate for different water parameters. I am new at the hobby so want to introduce new fish with as little stress as possible. Not arguing the point, have just seen very different opinions on this many more saying to not just acclimate for water temp. What is right?

 

Hmm...I had done it that way for quite a while and was told (& did some research) that it was better to acclimate temp first by hanging the bag in the tank for 20 minutes, then carefully add fish and bag water into a new container , then add a little aquarium water, wait a few minutes and add a little more aquarium water, wait etc to acclimate for different water parameters. I am new at the hobby so want to introduce new fish with as little stress as possible. Not arguing the point, have just seen very different opinions on this many more saying to not just acclimate for water temp. What is right?

Not real sure if there is a right or wrong way. Every way has evidence that it is better. Personally I float them for 20-30 minutes and dump them in water and all.

 

Hmm...I had done it that way for quite a while and was told (& did some research) that it was better to acclimate temp first by hanging the bag in the tank for 20 minutes, then carefully add fish and bag water into a new container , then add a little aquarium water, wait a few minutes and add a little more aquarium water, wait etc to acclimate for different water parameters. I am new at the hobby so want to introduce new fish with as little stress as possible. Not arguing the point, have just seen very different opinions on this many more saying to not just acclimate for water temp. What is right?

I agree with conniedavid1978 there isn't really a right or wrong way.


To give you a bit of background on my answer, I worked in an Aquarium store for 3-4 years and was given this information by the sales rep from the fish farm where our fish came from. I was initially trying to acclimate our orders by floating then putting into a bucket and adding aquarium water over about half an hour. The rep said that they were told by the fish farm to tell everyone to do what I outlined, and also said that it's best practise even when you take fish on short journeys home from the pet store and that we should advise our customers to do it that way.

Prior to this I used to do the drip method at home because my house is on rain water which is generally much softer and more acidic than the LFS.

 

I agree with conniedavid1978 there isn't really a right or wrong way.


To give you a bit of background on my answer, I worked in an Aquarium store for 3-4 years and was given this information by the sales rep from the fish farm where our fish came from. I was initially trying to acclimate our orders by floating then putting into a bucket and adding aquarium water over about half an hour. The rep said that they were told by the fish farm to tell everyone to do what I outlined, and also said that it's best practise even when you take fish on short journeys home from the pet store and that we should advise our customers to do it that way.

Prior to this I used to do the drip method at home because my house is on rain water which is generally much softer and more acidic than the LFS.

Interesting, thanks for the info and background!

 

I agree with conniedavid1978 there isn't really a right or wrong way.


To give you a bit of background on my answer, I worked in an Aquarium store for 3-4 years and was given this information by the sales rep from the fish farm where our fish came from. I was initially trying to acclimate our orders by floating then putting into a bucket and adding aquarium water over about half an hour. The rep said that they were told by the fish farm to tell everyone to do what I outlined, and also said that it's best practise even when you take fish on short journeys home from the pet store and that we should advise our customers to do it that way.

Prior to this I used to do the drip method at home because my house is on rain water which is generally much softer and more acidic than the LFS.

So, should you always do the drip method if your water is soft & acidic?

 

If your water perameters from the source are significantly different or unknown compared to the prior enviornment then you should drip. If they are known to be similar concensus is that floating is fine.