Getting hooked to the point of insanity that this obsession is for me at just 8 years old, creating a life of financial ruin and being a slave to tank maintenance 
Biggest Mistakes?
- Thread starter Abominus
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Welcome aboard, there are definitely worse things to be addicted to lol.Getting hooked to the point of insanity that this obsession is for me at just 8 years old, creating a life of financial ruin and being a slave to tank maintenance
Holy crap! Decades in the fish game...and the worst goof-up you've committed is to not realize immediately that some of the "common wisdom" being foisted on you by the aquarium trade was nonsense?
No giant floods? No burst tanks or near-electrocutions or catastrophic fish combinations or expensive losses due to leaps or...or...or...
You posted once that you had to remediate your house due to a mould problem caused by excessive humidity...and yet you consider your single biggest mistake to be underestimating the effect of nitrates???
Hell...that "blunder" wouldn't even brake into my top ten ...
Getting hooked to the point of insanity that this obsession is for me at just 8 years old, creating a life of financial ruin and being a slave to tank maintenance
I've always enjoyed reading your posts; I never would have dreamed you were only 8 years old!
Ikr. She must be a natural at this.I've always enjoyed reading your posts; I never would have dreamed you were only 8 years old!
Man I wish. No mortgage, job, bills to worry about...just me and ol' Grumpy (my betta, the very first fish that led me to this point 32 years later, bastard) living the dream.
I take it back. Becoming an adult was the biggest mistake I've made
I take it back. Becoming an adult was the biggest mistake I've made
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It never ceases to amaze me that you always test the natural waterways you visit. As an ex microbiologist, who understands this type of stuff way better than your average joe, surely you must see that you are wasting your time testing these pristine, often virgin waterways.
The vast expanses of water you test, unless something really bad has happened, are never going to show nitrate of any significant level, and even if there has been a slight natural "accident", the water systems are so vast that dilution snuffs anything out.
We know that any fish living in these waters never see nitrate. We know that in an ideal world that we should mimic these conditions in our aquariums. But having a system in place which gives us a 100% water change every few seconds ain't going to happen.
We hear tales on this forum of fish with ages measured in decades. Do all these hobbyists with these extremely long lived fish subject their fish to nitrate, damn right they do.
And here's the thing, fish in the wild, subjected to a constant 0ppm nitrate, due to predation and other things, will likely perish before their imprisoned brethren, who are subjected to varying levels of nitrate before and after water changes!!!
How ironic is that?
Now i know why the guy holds a serious grudge against nitrates lol !
Duanes is on a whole different level compared to the vast majority of fish keepers, his dedication is impressive amongst the dedicated.
Getting distracted during water changes is an on-going problem for me. Because water changes involves only opening and closing valves, even a momentary distraction can result in hundreds of gallons of water on the wood floors. Over the years, thousands of gallons of water have been dumped on the floors. We have left the filling holding tank unattended for many hours forgetting to turn the water off. One of the worst distractive events I had was when I was doing a water change. As the main tank was draining, I made a quick phone call to the Polygem technical support specialist.. I heard my husband bringing in and stacking firewood in the living room. After finishing a long conversation, I walked into the living room. Unfortunately, my husband had not been bringing in and stacking firewood. The thumping sounds I had heard were my two fish flopping around on a dry tank floor for 15 minutes. 
They were both bleeding, and one was alive but unresponsive. Because the tank was completely dry, we were not able to pump in water from the holding tank. Instead we had to dump water with a 5 gallon bucket until there was enough water in the tank to prime the mechanical pump. 30 minutes later when both fish were swimming and eating, I stopped kicking and berating myself for nearly killing them. It was a heart sickening experience which I do not ever want to repeat.
They were both bleeding, and one was alive but unresponsive. Because the tank was completely dry, we were not able to pump in water from the holding tank. Instead we had to dump water with a 5 gallon bucket until there was enough water in the tank to prime the mechanical pump. 30 minutes later when both fish were swimming and eating, I stopped kicking and berating myself for nearly killing them. It was a heart sickening experience which I do not ever want to repeat.