What Works for Me May Not Work for You

[ScottoMacD]

Me.

I wash filter media in the sink until it is sparkling clean. (tanks are old and all have multiple filters. Bacteria is not an issue)

I rarely do water changes. If the tank starts turn color from crud then it gets one. (I don't lose fish and they live a very long time.)

I only feed 2 times a week and only enough to eat in 2 minutes (sometimes three if I'm feeling generous)

I HATE all gimmicky aquarium items. (Melafix and pimafix are bunk. If the fish has a small cut fine use it. Otherwise it does nothing!)

I make my own water conditioner (sodium thiosulfate mixed in a bottle with a little water)

The idea of aloe in water conditioner makes me sick. How the inventors convinced aquarists to believe that it was good for fish is beyond me. Besides the amount you put into your tank at any one time during a water change is equivalent to putting a tablespoon in a pool to help with a sunburn. Again BUNK!

I don't like carbon in my tanks at all times. Only at certain times to help polish the water. Then it is out.

I feed my big cichlids pepperoni not feeders. They both are bad for your fish but my way is the lesser of 2 evils.

If I had to start any tank over again from scratch (not using any established media from my other tanks) I would cycle with fish! I don't get the whole fishless cycling thing. We'll I get it but think that an empty tank is a wasted tank. If you saw the things that I have seen in the fish industry. Cycling with fish is way down on the fish cruelty list WAAAYYYY down.

I sure I have more, but it is time to go home.

 

[ScottoMacD]

For some reason I cannot edit my thread.
I would just like to add on the melafix pimafix rant that mercurochrome with a qtip and a little vasoline on a medium or large fish does a much better job than both of those products if the fish has a cut on it.
Just remember not to get it anywhere near the fishes gills. This is not recommended on small fish though.

 

[Geeky1]

Interesting thread, I'll throw a few of mine up here...

• My tanks are over-filtered and I always run large amounts of carbon.
• I'm too lazy and impatient to do a fishless cycle.
• UV is great, as is ozone if it's used properly.
• I hate HOB filters with a passion and will only use them as an absolute last resort, but I have no problem with UGFs or sponge filters.
• I am terrible about tank maintenance. Water changes get done if and when I feel like it. The 20XT in my office at work went from November of 2008 to last month with zero water changes, zero filter cleanings, zero algae scrapings, etc.
• I think I've tested my water twice in the past 5 years. I don't even own a test kit anymore.
• Inverts are not welcome in my tanks. Even if I have to poison them or tear the tank down to get rid of them, I'll get rid of them. The only inverts I'll tolerate are shrimp, and I may or may not bother netting them out when I tear a tank down.
• I will not spend more than the value of a fish in medications trying to treat it. Anything that's easily treatable (fin rot, ich, etc.) will be medicated, everything else is treated with a freezer bag. I do not use hospital tanks except in rare circumstances when I'm dealing with a particularly expensive or interesting fish.
• I do not quarantine fish; I don't buy sick fish, fish out of tanks with other sick fish, or fish from chain stores. The LFS that I use has healthy stock and I've never had a big problem with diseases.
• I don't always bother with dechlorinator.
• Outside of using crushed coral etc. for rift lake tanks, I will not alter the pH, hardness, etc. of my tap water for my fish. The local water is very hard and slightly alkaline; it has never been a problem, even when I had Discus.
• I will only go so far with accomodating special dietary needs. Every fish I've ever owned has been weaned off of live foods. They're too much hassle to feed except as an occasional treat.
• Even though I don't feed live foods I will keep fish that are "too small" to be safe in a given tank (angelfish and neons, for instance). They'd get eaten in the wild, they can get eaten in my tank. The species I do this with are dirt cheap and when the stock runs low I just replace them.
• Stocking limits are advisory notices, not hard and fast rules (and they're usually ignored anyhow), and minimum tank sizes in gallons take a back seat to swimming room (i.e. I wouldn't keep an adult oscar in a 125 gallon because they're only 18" wide, but I would keep one in a 120 gallon that's 24" wide).
• I won't deliberately combine definitively incompatible species, but if there's a chance of a given combination working, or at least working well enough (see above, angelfish w/neons), I'll try it.
• I think naming your fish is silly and anthropomorphizing them and saying they have "feelings" is downright laughable.
• I'd have no problem eating one of my fish if it got too big or too nasty and I couldn't find room for it or someone else to take it.

That should about cover mine, if I think of more I'll post again.

Oh, one more; I rarely keep fish for more than 6-18 months at a time. Once I get bored with them they go back to the LFS and get replaced with something else.

 

[Ratlova30]

-I temperature test with my hands, just dip my fingers in briefly. Can't explain when I know it's at the right temp, I just know.
-I name some of my fish
-I find guppies annoying
-I don't vacation for more then 3 days because I don't trust anyone with my tanks.
-I have conversations with my BP's and one of my bettas
-I have a chair in front of my aquariums and watch my aquariums for hours like they're a tv
-I go to the local rivers to collect river rocks and driftwood, looks great in my tanks and was free
-I do water changes when 1" of water has evaporated from the rim.
-I never rehome my adult fish.

 

[Geeky1]

-I temperature test with my hands, just dip my fingers in briefly. Can't explain when I know it's at the right temp, I just know.

I do that too. With enough experience it's just second nature. I've checked myself against a thermometer, I'm almost always within 1*F; you probably are too.

 

[biglou26]

sugar and yeast in a 2 liter bottle, with 5 dollar diffuser
oversized gravel mixed with regular size gravel (beach stones)
live plants take forever to stick to the gravel, but the end result is worth it
i cover the intake to the aquaclear with a sponge (same as the one inside)
i do NOT run c02 when lights are off
-with this, my plants grow slowly, but there colors are always vibrant

what works for me, may not work for you.

 

[Freezekougra]

I tend to not mind(haven't actually purchased the fish yet) overstocking a tank sometimes. Example: 75g bare minimum for an oscar. If I had an oscar, I would add in 1 more cichlid and a group of clown loaches. Most people would be like omg clown loaches grow to a foot and you have 6 of them fish torturer!!!11!1one!1 but honestly it'll take years for them to even reach 5"...

 

[GuppyGirl1230]

My rule of thumb is to go here to post any questions I have.

-I have one guy that I talk to about my tanks at my LFS, he is the only one I trust. You gotta have someone like that!

-I over-feed my fish, 2 times a day, 1x/day regular veg and bottom feeder food

-I do twice weekly water changes 20-50%, mostly "unnecessary" but I feel like my fish need fresh water to swim in. I would if I was a fish...

-I test daily with strips, if anything looks off, I use my master kit.

-I no longer use salt. (learned that here)

-I do not mess with my gravel at all, including vacuuming. I swish the water and suck it out with my siphon. I haul buckets, as I do the water changes myself on all three tanks.

-I cycle the tanks with fish food-the decaying food produces it's own cycle process.

-I use carbon

-I have an aeration device in each of my tanks

-I use filters that are designed for tanks slightly larger than I have

-I want to convert my tanks to live plants instead of plastic, but am still researching how

-I overstock my tanks with small community fish

-I am OCD about my tanks

-I have a full time QT tank, I end up never Q/Ting my new fish and am thinking of setting the Q/T tank up as a regular tank.

-I breed guppies, and I love them

-Every single creature in my tanks has a name

-I pet my fish, hold my shrimp and let my cories eat off my fingers.

I know some if this is "wrong", but it's my hobby and I will do what I want to!!! Oh yeah, if one of my fish dies, I cry.

Maribeth

 

[blue2fyre]

Here's an update on mine

-I have sand in all my tanks
-I don't vacuum my substrate yet it stays very clean.
-I stock my tanks reasonable and use my gut to determine when to stop. the exception is my 80 gallon mbuna tank which I purposefully overstocked.
-My non planted tank is my favorite and takes the most work.
-I will rehome fish if it's clear things are not working out in my set up(usually aggression with the mbuna).
-I name my fish that stick out to me.
-I have snails in every tank and I put them there on purpose.
-I love snails
-I don't use salt unless I have a fish that's really beat up. It seems to help them heal faster.
-I don't use carbon.
-I have a red tail shark in my mbuna tank and endlers in my Tang tank. They seem happy despite being in the "wrong" water parameters.
-I never test my water unless there is a problem.
-I used feeder fish to cycle my first tank. Since then I've used media from that tank to instant cycle all my other tanks.
-I don't care if my fish/snails eat my plants. I like the critters more than the plants. Hince why I don't use C02.
-I don't QT fish
-I rarely clean my filters.
-I was too cheap for a python so I use a garden hose and the laundry sink downstairs to do water changes on my 80 gallon.
-

 

[Kerry121774]

Here goes...

I have six tanks, only one is bigger than ten gallons.........

I live in a two bedroom apartment!!! :grinno:

I ALWAYS lie about how much my fishy packages cost when speaking with both my husband AND my mother!

Water changes for every tank weekly.....however much I eye as appropriate for the day

The fact that I spend so much time fiddling with the tanks pisses off my husband ROYALLY

I OVER stock significantly

I over feed significantly (they eat all but it's a lot)

Live blood worms for everyone!

I have guppies in with seven angels so their babies will offset the food consumption

I have sand in two tanks and gravel in the rest (one of which is BLUE!!!!)

I NEVER wash my hand before playing in the tanks

I either buy rock with live bacteria or "borrow" another tanks filter media in order to skip the cycling process :duh:

Water straight through the PYTHON from the faucet to the tank for my 54 gallon, I throw in a capful of PRIME at the begining!

I forgot one more.......I never QT dought!

Ahhh thank you all this has been very cleansing!
OFF TOPIC I am a HORRIBLE speller and usually put my post in an email to give spell check a run for it's money!