The useless junk they try to sell you

So, it seems the consensus is - no aesthetic fascism! Decor is as much to please the owner as the fish..I prefer 'naturalistic,' but then, with zebra danios in a tank with corydoras, how 'natural' is that??? So my version of natural isn't a real, wild version and will not suit purists (and how natural is putting any fish of any size in any aquarium)? Where do you draw the line? People who care about fish can decorate their tanks in sky blue pink with sequins if that floats their boat - the fish could care less, I'm sure, provided water quality, food and space are 'sufficient' (whatever that means). Surely, keeping a 12-inch pleco in a 90 gallon tank is no more 'naturalistic' than keeping a betta in a cup, considering their respective 'natural habitats?' It's simply a matter of doing the best we can for a captive animal, given our available knowledge and resources (I have neither the space, the floor joists nor the funds for a 90 gallon tank, anyway LOL).

By all means knock what does not do what it is supposed to do (which I thought was the essence of this thread anyway), but once you start defining likes and dislikes, there will be no end to all the beefs that appear on this site and which will unfairly and probably unintentionally hurt feelings or offend a fellow aquarist.

Sermon over :)
 
Beta homes. And the people at the stores who say that betas don't move, so they don't mind. I put my little beta in a 3 gallon glass jar with a water lilly. He swam around more then my other fish.
 
"cleaners"
i hate when you try to stock your 15 gallon or something along those lines and they try to sell you a common pleco to keep the algae down
 
Incandescent hoods & lights. Great way to cook fish.
 
Incandescent hoods & lights. Great way to cook fish.

Yes, although I take out the incandescents and install compact flourescent bulbs - much cooler, brighter and cheaper to operate! For 10g tanks, this adaptation can be a good lighting solution (I have 2 x 14w CFs in an incandescent hood on each of my 10g planted tanks).
 
Yes, although I take out the incandescents and install compact flourescent bulbs - much cooler, brighter and cheaper to operate! For 10g tanks, this adaptation can be a good lighting solution (I have 2 x 14w CFs in an incandescent hood on each of my 10g planted tanks).

I do the same thing, but the incandescent lights are worse than useless IMHO.

Also useless: Stress Coat additive.
 
Stress coat is actually a good thing to have. My Dwarf Gourami had a scrape at the top of his head that looked red and raw on tuesday. I added some stress coat to the water that night, and the next day, the redness was gone. And now, this morning, his head had healed and scales had covered the rawness.
 
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