What is your biggest mistake

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
1. Investing in my fourth 72 bow after the previous three all had flaws. The first two had leaks in the corners. The third one had a cracked center brace. The forth had a seal leak in the bottom front at the seal. This was the only one I was not home for. It was also the worst. nearly six months later, the repair work was complete and I was able to move back in to my condo.

2. Purchasing a second floor condo; now the biggest tank I can have is a 75.
 

Sonny Disposition

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking a second floor condo may be a blessing in disguise for you. It will keep you from bringing too much work home with you.

1. Investing in my fourth 72 bow after the previous three all had flaws. The first two had leaks in the corners. The third one had a cracked center brace. The forth had a seal leak in the bottom front at the seal. This was the only one I was not home for. It was also the worst. nearly six months later, the repair work was complete and I was able to move back in to my condo.

2. Purchasing a second floor condo; now the biggest tank I can have is a 75.
 

maddog10

Members
1. Investing in my fourth 72 bow after the previous three all had flaws. The first two had leaks in the corners. The third one had a cracked center brace. The forth had a seal leak in the bottom front at the seal. This was the only one I was not home for. It was also the worst. nearly six months later, the repair work was complete and I was able to move back in to my condo.

2. Purchasing a second floor condo; now the biggest tank I can have is a 75.

Guess I should be glad I got a good 72Bow. Have had it for years, although it is currently empty.
 

Andrew

Members
More seriously,

My biggest mistake was using used heaters. Wiped out a really nice tank of mixed male malawis when the temp went up to around 96. Came home and everyone was floating.

Replace your heaters, folks!!
 

davidhusker

Members
Well i had a heater in a 125 gallon and had it set on 82, which kept the whole tank around 74.... anyways. I went to a swap meet and picked up 7 fish which were going to be the first in my 360. Well I wanted to wait a day for the 360 to filter up a bit more, so i threw these 7 fish into a rubbermaid tub. I threw in a sponge filter and the heater from the 125 to heat the water overnight (it was winter...cold) Well i come in the morning and the heater had cooked 4 fish. 3 survived and are still well to this day... but the 4 i lost are hard to replace in the hobby. Eh... I have more too... but this one was the quickest to type up.
 

tash

Members
Most of mine have already been said. does that still count?

....I...Glass heater+only partially covered with water + splashing water from a filter = broken heater and electrocuted fish....

1: did that... 3 times... ok only once was from a water change. the other two (a week apart) were from using glass heaters in my dump filter (do we have a headslap emote?). now I have the unbreakable, auto-turn-off-if-its-not-wet kind in there.

....I have a habit of overfilling tanks. ...

2: I have done that twice in the past year on my 75. The last time was just two weeks ago. But it was only a couple of gallons. My husband still asked why the floor was squishy :unsure:

.......2. Not covering up breeding vats/ponds from herons with bird net. I lost 2 colonies of Buccochromis Rhodesii, 1 colony of Champs Careleus, 1 colony Stigmatochromis Modestus, 2 colonies of AER's, 1 colony of Ngaras, and a mixture of stuff to grow out some of which were going to be used for show :(....

3: Way back when I lived with my parents I put some fish outside in a tub. I did cover it. but racoons are smart little creatures... and good at fishing :(

....I drained the tank, cleaned it some, filled it and put the fish in. Went about changing the water in some other tanks. Looked back about 30 minutes later and 100 dead AER's.
Forgot to treat the water....

4: I did that one too. Got distracted and didn't add the dechlor. a little while later I look to see a bunch of fish looking really freaked out and swimming funny (if they were swimming at all). :( only about a dozen lost though, not quite as bad as yours though....


oh, I do have one that hasn't been mentioned yet...
5: Again back when I lived at my parents house they had a love seat that was kind of a room divider between the living room and the kitchen. It was the kind that has the fold out foot rests. I decided to add to the room divideing effect and put a 29 gallon tanginikan tank on a metal stand behind the love seat. One day one of us (I really don't remember who, I useually sat on the couch) put out the foot rest without realizing the loveseat had been bumped back a bit. The seat leaned back and knocked the whole tank all over the kitchen! there were fish swimming amongst broken glass and shoes. I tried to save them. But that was a bit much I guess, especilly since I didn't really have any extra tanks and they ended up in mixing bowels and stuff......
 

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Okay, its me again.
No I have not run out yet.
Course some of you have heard these from the articles in the Biotope but not everyone has.

The first time I took a fish to a show...

I wrote a list of items to take. I packed the fish carefully for the 1.5 hour drive. I got to the show, found where he went and put him in the tank. Man, he colored right up. Most people at the show had never seen an Albino Eureka Red adult male at that point. I must have had 10 people compliment me on him within the first couple minutes. I watched him for at least 15 minutes while I put everything away. Then we went to breakfast. We came back about 45 minutes later and everyone was saying, I'm so sorry. I was wondering what was going on. I walked in and he was dead.
I had not taken enough precaution. I think that when the tanks were being treated, they missed one. Cant be sure but from then on I always add drops to the water even if told it was done before hand.
I also carry water with me from home if local. I have 2 7-gallon containers that I put new water from home in and take at times.

I had been offered a lot of money for him a week before the show. Now I had nothing. All was not lost though. The next year was the first Catfish Convention and his Son won Best of Show. lol

Anyway. Thats 3 for me.
 

SubMariner

Master Jedi & Past VP
I'm confused...will the real Andrew please stand up!


RM
Subby.png
 

iamzrad

Members
I keep my tanks in my parent's basement where there are two windows, and a door that leads outside.
Both windows are completely covered and the door window (just a side glass) is also covered to prevent any light to come in.
Well, usually the basement never gets warm in the summer, and the AC really never needs to be turned on. One day it was a little toasty, so I opened both windows and opened the blinds (it was a cloudy day).
I left the windows open and the blinds were opened as well. The next day was a sunny day and I was not home for almost that whole day. I come home at night, don't think much of anything, feed the fish and I close the windows.
Next morning I come to feed the fish like normal and both tanks are glowing bright green full of algae. I was shocked it grew that fast.
Spent the next 3 hours cleaning everything.
So now I have a UV filter on hand just in case, but since then, I never have had to use it.
 

mscichlid

Founder
Another one: Filling water barrels and then getting on the computer...not once mind you. Now I have a chair in the fishroom to sit there and watch tv while the barrel fills.
 

Sonny Disposition

Well-Known Member
Ooh, sorry guys. I thought you were one and the same. Couldn't figure out why Andrew B would have two forum accounts, but stranger things have happened.

Andrew at TFWorld, no offense intended. My comment was meant for Andrew at TFWharehouse.

Andrew has his store's logo behind his name in his avatar. I put the "tfw" (Tropical Fish World" after my name. I know it is confusing as we are both nice people. :)
 

Julie

Members
Well, people have said they left water running... but I think I win the prize for the most water! I was filling up my rubbermaid tubs during my first year in operation. Ran around doing this and that as the kids and I were headed up to our first fish convention up in NJ the next morning. Anyway... left the water running.

Luckily for me, when my gf came over the following day to let the dogs out she looked in the fish room. 2-3 inches of water on the floor! Luckily it was summer, or it would have been a total disaster!!

I've done the overfill many times since, but I do think 24 hours running water wins the prize. Amazing thing is my well never runs dry!

OK, Pat... fess up another!
 
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