A Mistake I've Made!

[2Shi]

I am just now starting up my first aquarium. I've made plenty of mistakes along the way and I'm sure that all of you have also made mistakes. Sharing these experiences will help everyone out! What mistake have you made and how did you fix it? Please limit to 1 mistake per post!

... I didn't realize the Ammonia test kit provided by API needed to sit for 5 minutes before giving an accurate reading. I looked at the results immediately after mixing the solution and saw .25ppm of ammonia so I went to add more to my tank. By the time I finished adding more ammonia to the tank, I came back to the desk where I left the ammonia test tube and it was suddenly dark dark green (over 8ppm ammonia). OUCH! 75% water change brought me back down to manageable levels of ammonia :]

[lohachata]

i put a pair of 3 1/2" jewel cichlids in a 75 gallon tank with a 12" red devil....bad move...

[weedkiller]

that will teach you to read the how to with api test kits lol
mistake i made was cycling a tank then dropping in a large lump of bog wood into the tank soaked in tap water, knocked the cycle back a while lol

[Obsidian]

Not fishless cycling my first tank. All inhabitants died. I was harassed for not cycling it first, but I did not know what it was or that it needed to happen, and PetSmart does not take fish back so I was stuck. I was told I was overfeeding the tank. I was literally counting out 4 flakes of food and only putting those in there once a day. The mistake was bad enough as I hate loosing fish and I was crying when each one died. The harassment and treatment like I was the worst person around was worse.

I always tell folks to fishless cycle, but when you are stuck you are stuck- can't change that, can only do better from there!

[emc7]

I left the faucet on and the valves shut of my "python-like" device and went to bed. The valve, of course, blew off the end of the clear hose and the hose tried to fill the entire basement with water. MY concrete-floored fish room was fine, but the adjacent carpeted area where my sister keeps her books and video games was a mess.

[Betta man]

Probably trying to spawn bettas that weren't conditioned properly.

[bullseyejoey]

Putting guppies in my tank in general. The other fish eat them up and kill them within an hour.

[Cichlid Dude]

Giving in to the lure of buying new fish too often. Before I knew it I had no spare tanks and the maintenance was beginning to weigh down on my schedule.

[Angelclown]

Not doing water changes diligently once a week like I was supposed to. Now I do water changes diligently every week so my fish are not getting sick.

[RaynoVox]

Not doing any research before I put a kenyi cichlid and a blue gourami in the same tank beck before I knew anything about fish keeping.

[OhYesItsMe]

Getting my first fish July 8th, 2010, since then, i can't stop, the hobby just keeps growing, I'm sure many of you relate

[blindkiller85]

Not being diligent on cleaning my 10g. Far to used to being relaxed with my 125g. Lost a puffer and a green phantom pleco.

[hXcChic22]

I accidentally put a flat rock down on top of our female mudskipper during a tank rearrangement and she drowned/got squished. No fixing that. And then her boyfriend committed suicide out of grief.
At least I like to think that's what he did - how (romantic? tragic?)!

We ended up replacing them both.

[C. King]

buying a chinese algae eater! Little monster ate algae great, then grew up and attacked my entire tank, including nice angel pair. Nearly killed my dwarf gourami before I could get him out of my tank. Never will have another of those little pyrahnna wannabes, but luv my ottos, who do what I thought the algae eater would do, only without the psycho killer part.

[graceful.04]

Listening to the woman at Petco and buying six livebearer fish for my very first (ten gallon) tank. Four out of the six died from ammonia poisoning... bad idea.