MYTHS. Nuff said.

Sk8r

Staff member
RC Mod
1. stress causes ich. No. A parasite causes ich.
2. fish only grow to the size of their tank. No, they can outgrow the capacity of their tanks and then they die due to lack of exercise and oxygen.
3. fish need bacteria-laden water to breathe and live. No. They can live very nicely in water with no bacteria at all. The bacteria are just processors for fish poo. If you filter the poo and uneaten food out, then toss the filter, you don't need bacteria. This is why uncycled qts work. But they do require frequent filter changes.
4. you can 'train' a fish to eat or not eat whatever. Not so much. If it's angels in reefs, it's luck of the draw. Some will, when others of the same species won't. Once they DO figure it out as a food source, they will nosh on it. I had one mandarin learn to eat pellet because she followed a tang about obsessively and he did. Only one I've ever had learn it---but I'm not sure it's good for mandys.
5. there are aggressives and non-aggressive fish. Not so much, either: in general, most ocean fish can be quite aggressive toward others of their own kind. Now, if you ask will one fish eat another, I'm not sure you class that as aggression. It's more like dinner.
6. ich is always present. Funny thing, I haven't seen it on a fish of mine in the last decade. No, it's like having fleas in your carpet. You do or you don't. If you have them, you try to avoid letting Fido run on the flea-infested lawn and then bring him in to sleep on the shag rug. There are precautions against letting these 'fleas' into your house. Take them.
7. All corals are hard. Nope. Some are downright invasive species. Be careful when putting mushrooms or green star polyp or xenia on your structural rock---the stuff you can't remove and sell. There is NO WAY to scrape an unwanted shroom off a rock: it generates 10 more. IF you paid 50.00 for it, however, it will fail to thrive with the gentlest care.
8. I can trade my full-grown tang in to the fish store. First, fish stores come and go. A lot. Second, how many people in your city have 300 gallon tanks? How many fullgrown hippo or naso tangs do you think your fish store CAN take in?
9. I want a pair of fishes. They'll be happier. Mmm. Be careful. Pairs' behavior can be hyper-aggressive. Two clarkii clowns want about 50 gallons of space around their nest. And will bite the owner. They have teeth. In general, one of a kind can be a balanced, peaceful tank. Two of a kind can be WWIII with everything in sight. And two of the same gender can end up mortal enemies.
10. I have a fish-only and all I ever need to test is ph and ammonia and nitrate. No. PH is a moving target in a marine tank: track ammonia and nitrate, but also test your alkalinity once weekly or whenever concerned about water quality.
 
Thanks again for another well written post. You must be a writer or something:spin3::spin3::spin3:
 
1. stress causes ich. No. A parasite causes ich.

This is just like the myth that exposure to cold will cause humans to catch a cold. The cold germs don't survive the cold temperatures. But the human's weakened immune system from exposure to the cold allows for one to succumb to the cold germs easier. The stress weakens the fish's immune system which makes it harder to fight off ich.
 
I thought fish grew to the size of tank. If the fish is in a tank that is too small for it. It will get to certain size and the organs will stop functioning properly. Because their organs are either to large for their body or didn’t grow correctly?
 
There's one part you screwed up on, you stopped at number 10. We need you to continue to 100. :wavehand:
 
Ditto on the growing fish myth GilliganReef. I've been told the same. Good thing I didn't listen!!!
 
3. fish need bacteria-laden water to breathe and live. No. They can live very nicely in water with no bacteria at all. The bacteria are just processors for fish poo. If you filter the poo and uneaten food out, then toss the filter, you don't need bacteria. This is why uncycled qts work. But they do require frequent filter changes.
.

May I quibble with this? I don't think there are any filters that would catch fish pee, which is mostly ammonia. Also, even a bare tank will have bacteria on the glass.

Living dangerously today; cleaned a window right next to my tank with Windex
Ivy
 
Great post as usual. :) Though, there are some amendments I gotta suggest.

1. stress causes ich. No. A parasite causes ich.
2. fish only grow to the size of their tank. No, they can outgrow the capacity of their tanks and then they die due to lack of exercise and oxygen.
3. fish need bacteria-laden water to breathe and live. No. They can live very nicely in water with no bacteria at all. The bacteria are just processors for fish poo. If you filter the poo and uneaten food out, then toss the filter, you don't need bacteria. This is why uncycled qts work. But they do require frequent filter changes.
I think the most correct statement here is that 'So long as fish have clean enough water, they will live (and thrive). This means that even if there was no biological filtration (specifically using bacteria), the fish can still thrive, so long as there are other methods to keep water clean.' or something of the sorts. :)

4. you can 'train' a fish to eat or not eat whatever. Not so much. If it's angels in reefs, it's luck of the draw. Some will, when others of the same species won't. Once they DO figure it out as a food source, they will nosh on it. I had one mandarin learn to eat pellet because she followed a tang about obsessively and he did. Only one I've ever had learn it---but I'm not sure it's good for mandys.
So more so 'You can't really wean fish off a food, but you can wean many of them on any food.'

5. there are aggressives and non-aggressive fish. Not so much, either: in general, most ocean fish can be quite aggressive toward others of their own kind. Now, if you ask will one fish eat another, I'm not sure you class that as aggression. It's more like dinner.
Predation notwithstanding, there really is generally aggressive and non-aggressive species. Some are just more aggressive (to conspecifics or to other species or both) than others, as a species.

6. ich is always present. Funny thing, I haven't seen it on a fish of mine in the last decade. No, it's like having fleas in your carpet. You do or you don't. If you have them, you try to avoid letting Fido run on the flea-infested lawn and then bring him in to sleep on the shag rug. There are precautions against letting these 'fleas' into your house. Take them.
7. All corals are hard. Nope. Some are downright invasive species. Be careful when putting mushrooms or green star polyp or xenia on your structural rock---the stuff you can't remove and sell. There is NO WAY to scrape an unwanted shroom off a rock: it generates 10 more. IF you paid 50.00 for it, however, it will fail to thrive with the gentlest care.
8. I can trade my full-grown tang in to the fish store. First, fish stores come and go. A lot. Second, how many people in your city have 300 gallon tanks? How many fullgrown hippo or naso tangs do you think your fish store CAN take in?
Well it depends on the store. See, if the store allows it (ask them first), then of course one can. The store I frequent for example, would take in any fish. Because they have the capacity to do that. So I can really say 'I can trade my full-grown tank into the fish store'. Of course, it may close down, but then there's another I can't even count how many stores out there that would take it. :) Of course it is situational, because if you live in the middle of the desert with no LFS nearby you can't really say that, but it isn't a myth. It is just something to take into consideration based on where you live and what is offered there.

9. I want a pair of fishes. They'll be happier. Mmm. Be careful. Pairs' behavior can be hyper-aggressive. Two clarkii clowns want about 50 gallons of space around their nest. And will bite the owner. They have teeth. In general, one of a kind can be a balanced, peaceful tank. Two of a kind can be WWIII with everything in sight. And two of the same gender can end up mortal enemies.
Two of the same gender not withstanding, I would say they are 'happier' in that case. After all, they have someone to defend their territory and be a major menace with. :p Of course, that doesn't bode well for anything else, but hey that's not the point here eh?

10. I have a fish-only and all I ever need to test is ph and ammonia and nitrate. No. PH is a moving target in a marine tank: track ammonia and nitrate, but also test your alkalinity once weekly or whenever concerned about water quality.

Just a few things imo. Otherwise I do agree with ya. :)
 
6. ich is always present. Funny thing, I haven't seen it on a fish of mine in the last decade. No, it's like having fleas in your carpet. You do or you don't. If you dont have them, you try to avoid letting Fido run on the flea-infested lawn and then bring him in to sleep on the shag rug. There are precautions against letting these 'fleas' into your house. Take them.

Agree but think you meant this?

-d
 
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