Youtubers As Teachers

I’m new to this site so sorry if I come off as an upstart or something, but is anyone else nervous about people on YouTube giving advice on fish and fish care?

I was just browsing, like ya do, jumping topics, and I come across Paul Cuffaro, who really likes getting fish without knowing anything about them.

The first one I saw was about building a betta bowl in a barely 1-gallon fishbowl crowded with decorations, which is obviously too small as many people in the comments pointed out, as well as having no filter or heater. The next video was about upgrading to a tank... of 1.6 gallons. This one with a light for heating and a filter, but not at all the minimum 2.5 gallons.

In a third, later video (after learning SO MUCH about bettas from the comments :/) he goes out and gets a triple tank advertised for bettas that has an overflow cascading water feature between the tiny compartments. I may be wrong but I doubt they are even 1 gallon each, no matter what it says on the box. Because of the waterfall, there technically is a filter, but it bypasses the third compartment and flushes water from the first into the second before being recycled, this inflicting the bioload from the first fish onto the second. In addition, the walls between compartments are transparent, forcing the bettas into close contact with no opportunity to hide. Eventually (earlier this month) he did replace this contraption with an appropriately sized tanks for his remaining fish (one jumped out of their compartment and the other was gifted to a friend), but the only reason he replaced it was because the water evaporated too quickly and required daily replenishing.

This is not proper pet care. While he is arguably learning, he has several other recent videos on putting fish in miniature ponds and the worlds smallest aquarium with a goldfish, and is continuing to make them. Most of them are framed as tutorial videos, which poses a risk for fish parents looking for good information. I’m sure there are plenty of other youtubers like this as well, and it makes me so frustrated and angry.

One YouTuber I absolutely adore is Taylor Nicole Dean, who has several pets of several species and advocates for responsible pet ownership and just loves all of her pets so much. I have so much respect for her. Every one of her videos includes disclaimers about how much experience she has and how much experience anyone should have before choosing an advanced care pet, and how some of the things she does are risky and while she has gotten lucky (for example a betta community tank), she always has a contingency and strives for proper care, even when that means giving her pets to a trusted friend when she is concerned for their health (eg seahorses at even minimal risk of contracting a parasite being left with a better equipped aquarist).

So clearly there are both sides of the coin present on YouTube, but my question is, do you think that overall, YouTube is a reliable source, or that it should be avoided when looking for quality information?

 

You can't really say that YouTube as a whole is anything. It's neither good nor bad; a good resource nor a bad resource; neither unhelpful or helpful. It's all about the channels you're viewing.

Personally, I'd get information from more than one place before really implementing that info into my "repertoire". A lot of the videos you see online are very misinformed, or by people that just don't care about their animals.

Then you look at some channels like Taylor Dean's or KingofDIY's that generally give reliable info and take good care of their animals, to the best of their ability.

So... It just depends. Overall, I'd say to use as many sources as you can. If I get stocking advice here on Fishlore, I generally go check online to see whether or not that advice is in the ballpark. Same thing for any website and almost any advice. I'd recommend people to do the same, even with things outside of pet care. It can save you a lot of headaches!

 

Taylor Nicole Dean, seriously? Lol.

Honestly, if you don't like it, then don't watch it. Stop wasting your time watching videos that make you angry. I don't get it.

 

Taylor Nicole Dean, seriously? Lol.

Honestly, if you don't like it, then don't watch it. Stop wasting your time watching videos that make you angry. I don't get it.

What do you have against her? Other than rather exotic pets that pose a higher risk she seems to be dedicated and passionate about taking care of her animals.

And honestly I watched a few of them hoping to see a learning moment, which has yet to come so far (fingers crossed though). I guess it’s kind of a “please prove me wrong” situation.

Also what’s with the hostile tone? Is this not the forum to question morality and responsibility of pet ownership? If there’s a different section I should be posting in, please let me know so I don’t misuse the forum.

 

Whenever something like this happens, I just leave a comment telling the Youtuber is wrong and saying what the animal actually needs but said nicely.

 

Whenever something like this happens, I just leave a comment telling the Youtuber is wrong and saying what the animal actually needs but said nicely.

A lot of people do, but as far as I’ve seen those don’t get as high on the list as the more generic comments about appearance, or how cool they think the idea is. As much as it weeds out chatter, having ranked comments seems to be a flawed system in itself. But that’s another discussion.

 

What do you have against her? Other than rather exotic pets that pose a higher risk she seems to be dedicated and passionate about taking care of her animals.

And honestly I watched a few of them hoping to see a learning moment, which has yet to come so far (fingers crossed though). I guess it’s kind of a “please prove me wrong” situation.

Also what’s with the hostile tone? Is this not the forum to question morality and responsibility of pet ownership? If there’s a different section I should be posting in, please let me know so I don’t misuse the forum.

No, not at all. I think you're in the right place . I was just giving you my $.02. Sorry for coming off as rude, but I suspect the youtuber's comments section is a lot less pleasant. And to be honest, I like to play Devil's Advocate. Why not? We are all living in an absurd reality, anyway. When I look at the bigger picture, the things we worry about are not logical and makes no sense, nor our judgments or condemnations. I say screw it all, and worry only about yourself and those closest to you.

 

The best you can hope to achieve as a YouTube viewer is to support the good content providers and don't give oxygen (views/comments) to the rubbish stuff.

King of DIY, Aquarium Co-op, Rachel OLeary etc have some good info and cross promote some other good content makers like Aqua Pros, Flip Aquatics, Steenfott etc.

Trying to beat back the rubbish is like King Canute shouting at the sea to go back

 

Youtube is as reliable as any source of information. It’s all subjective.

I think people just like watching videos that feed into their opinions, views, biases or explain things in a way that does the same. I’ve seen videos of people with amazing fish rooms get ripped in the comments for not having X size tank or whatever when it was obvious the water was prestine and the fish very healthy. Most of the known YouTube people are well intentioned and/or trying to sell stuff imo.

And as far as what is “right,” that can change with the times. Today’s facts are tomorrow’s misinformation. After all, we’re all guilty of encouraging the captivity, breeding, shipping and marketing of living creatures, that we then we put into glass boxes for our amusement, or “great causes.” The response to that is “we try to recreate a natural environment.” While that is true to some extent, it’s also incredibly vain to believe that anything most of us in the hobby will achieve will ever come close.

Someone recording a video for reason X showing a one gallon tank for a Betta doesn’t bother me in the slightest, assuming he is caring for that Betta. At least they’re putting themselves out there and that generally leads to real learning and growth. Anyone can comment—yours truly included.