What are your worst/biggest mistakes?
- Thread starter snorvich
- Start date
Ah, yes, I had a few of those types of mistakes back in the day
As have I. :eek1:
After being in the hobby since my early teens I have made some mistakes. It is a lot cheaper and less heartbreaking to buy good equipment rather than replace livestock.
My biggest mistakes were
1). Not having backup plans for heat issues. I lost virtually everything in my current reef over a weekend when my ac went out. Lost a pair of clowns, flameback angel and a pair of dottybacks and all but a few of my corals (long road to recovery for my remaining ones).
2). trusting an innexpensive heater on a quarantine tank. I lost a fully grown pair of black saddle clowns overnight when the heater shot the tank up to 95
My biggest mistakes were
1). Not having backup plans for heat issues. I lost virtually everything in my current reef over a weekend when my ac went out. Lost a pair of clowns, flameback angel and a pair of dottybacks and all but a few of my corals (long road to recovery for my remaining ones).
2). trusting an innexpensive heater on a quarantine tank. I lost a fully grown pair of black saddle clowns overnight when the heater shot the tank up to 95
Dang, you can't say c0cktail? That's harsh. I was trying to think, what kind of shrimp could possibly be offensive? Oh, wait.
Stanley-Reefer
New member
Old LFS in Charlotte sold me a masked butterfly fish and said it wouldn't touch my corals. By the time I got it out of my 180, it had eaten $500 worth of lps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bradleyj
Reefkeeping Mag Staff
Adding a Kleins B/F to my 65g to get rid of pest anenome's. Ate everything but.
Then doing it again 1 yr later in my big tank. Took me 5 days with my fish trap bated with sps to finally get him out.
Still can't figure out why I tried the second time.:hammer::crazy1::crazy1:
Then doing it again 1 yr later in my big tank. Took me 5 days with my fish trap bated with sps to finally get him out.
Still can't figure out why I tried the second time.:hammer::crazy1::crazy1:
rrnowwho
New member
Replaced both 96w Power compacts and forgot to clip them in all the way. Started to shut the canopy lid and watched them both fall and shatter on the center divider. Glass and dust into the tank everywhere. Nothing died but I still find pieces of glass in the tank now and then and itโs been a couple of years. I now cover the tank anytime I work on the lights.
Not performing the necessary due diligence in regards to fish selection, i.e. adding THIS guy
to a heavily aquascaped 500g aquarium. It lived for six years and killed about a half dozen fairy wrasse during its 'tenure'.
Also, my tendencies to be both impatient and stubborn have led to several of my greatest mistakes, such as continuing to add the aforementioned fairy wrasse to the scenario above instead of just tearing down the tank and removing the pseudo. But I'm getting better about it all now. This is due to my becoming a major proponent of the 'If it ain't broke...' theory of reef keeping. Of course, there was the Crosshatch incident last year, and the urge I've been having lately to add just one more fish to the tank...ok, maybe two. But other than those few things...
to a heavily aquascaped 500g aquarium. It lived for six years and killed about a half dozen fairy wrasse during its 'tenure'.
Also, my tendencies to be both impatient and stubborn have led to several of my greatest mistakes, such as continuing to add the aforementioned fairy wrasse to the scenario above instead of just tearing down the tank and removing the pseudo. But I'm getting better about it all now. This is due to my becoming a major proponent of the 'If it ain't broke...' theory of reef keeping. Of course, there was the Crosshatch incident last year, and the urge I've been having lately to add just one more fish to the tank...ok, maybe two. But other than those few things...
MikeandNicole
New member
Putting a blue LED strip on as nightlights that was way to bright. The fish were not sleeping and my flame angel and mystery wrasse went after each other and fought to the death and they both won/lost.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
Not performing the necessary due diligence in regards to fish selection, i.e. adding THIS guy
to a heavily aquascaped 500g aquarium. It lived for six years and killed about a half dozen fairy wrasse during its 'tenure'.
Also, my tendencies to be both impatient and stubborn have led to several of my greatest mistakes, such as continuing to add the aforementioned fairy wrasse to the scenario above instead of just tearing down the tank and removing the pseudo. But I'm getting better about it all now. This is due to my becoming a major proponent of the 'If it ain't broke...' theory of reef keeping. Of course, there was the Crosshatch incident last year, and the urge I've been having lately to add just one more fish to the tank...ok, maybe two. But other than those few things...
Yeah, I hate that fish.
LKGRenegade22
New member
-Not covering powerheads and having a huge condy get shredded and almost wipeout my entire tank
-Not thinking when I threw a small yellow tang in a cube tank I had my snowcassos in (b/c they always stayed in the anem and were very small). The YT brought in velvet and I lost the most expensive pair of clownfish I will ever own.
-Thinking a fish was way too big to get through a piece of eggcrate
-Buying a cheap heater...that of course stuck wide open
-Getting a 180G instead of a 220.
-Saying there was no way I could ever flood my sump because I had precisely measured out everything.
-Not thinking when I threw a small yellow tang in a cube tank I had my snowcassos in (b/c they always stayed in the anem and were very small). The YT brought in velvet and I lost the most expensive pair of clownfish I will ever own.
-Thinking a fish was way too big to get through a piece of eggcrate
-Buying a cheap heater...that of course stuck wide open
-Getting a 180G instead of a 220.
-Saying there was no way I could ever flood my sump because I had precisely measured out everything.
LKGRenegade22
New member
I should also have added buying a pair of engineer gobies. Man they caused havoc when they got bigger and are hard to catch.
DarthAWM
New member
They aren't so bad if your base rock is sitting on the bottom glass:thumbsup:
Mine has been pretty good so far.
But those who do not have them be warned they WILL burrow under every rock on your sand bed. All of them. Even ones you didn't know you had.
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