WARNING SIGNS AND COMMON BEGINNER MISTAKES
Written by: tHEcONCH

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM OF ALL - BEING IMPATIENT

Setting up a marine aquarium is exciting and beginners are often tempted to buy cheaper equipment (or not buy certain equipment at all), chuck everything in their tank as quickly as they can, and hope for the best. Unfortunately that is a recipe for disaster. Setting up a marine tank simply cannot be rushed. There are no corners to cut. Patience is necessary with just about anything that you do with a marine aquarium, so DON’T RUSH IT.


OVERSTOCKING

A problem that goes hand-in-hand with rushing it - cramming too much livestock into your tank too soon, or buying fish that are simply too large for your tank and equipment to handle. Overstocking, or adding ‘just one more fish’ will doom all of your fish to a horrible death. Beginners will often blame the rapid decline and death of their fish on a disease or some other factor, but the reality is that marine fish seldom get sick in an appropriately stocked tank.DON’T OVERSTOCK YOUR TANK.


OVERFEEDING

Most beginners grossly over-estimate how much food they should feed their fish and invertebrates. Little Nemo dancing around hoping you’ll feed him is hard to ignore, but uneaten food just pollutes your tank. It’s far better to feed a small amount of good quality food (which is often more expensive) than larger amounts of cheaper stuff. DON’T OVERFEED.


INADEQUATE SKIMMING AND CIRCULATION

Skimmers are expensive. Good skimmers are really expensive. Likewise circulation pumps and the like can be pricey. Because of this beginners often buy cheaper skimmers and pumps that simply don’t work very well or simply aren’t big enough for the tank or livestock they want to keep. Don’t cut corners with cheap equipment ‘to get started’. Without buying good quality gear the chances of your aquarium succeeding are greatly diminished, so BUY GOOD QUALITY GEAR.


MISDIAGNOSING AND BLAMING DISEASE FOR PROBLEMS

Unlike a lot of other countries, New Zealand has strict quarantine procedures for imported live fish. Very few, if any, fish that are offered for sale will actually be sick. That is not to say that they won’t carry diseases or minor infestations of parasites (many fish tolerate small white-spot infections in their gills their entire lives) but their own immune systems will suppress the infection and prevent it spreading so long as they are kept in an appropriately stocked and well maintained tank. If they are kept in poor conditions (like an insufficiently cycled tank), however, their immune system will fail and the disease will spread to the other stressed fish in the tank. If an outbreak occurs it is very likely because all the fish are suffering from poor conditions, not because of the disease itself. To make matters worse, beginners often panic and start throwing various medications into their tank to ‘kill the disease’, when what they really need to do is admit their own failings and fix whatever it is that is stressing the fish in the first place. TREAT THE CAUSE, NOT THE SYMPTOM.


BUYING LIVESTOCK WITHOUT KNOWING HOW TO KEEP THEM

Many fish and corals require special conditions and foods – and they aren’t necessarily compatible with each other. Some will attack others; others will simply starve to death without specialist feeding. Before buying anything, take the time to learn about it’s particular requirements, otherwise you are wasting your money and probably dooming it to a horrible death. NEVER BUY ON IMPULSE.


LACK OF MAINTENANCE

Well-maintained marine tanks are a pleasure to keep and their keepers seldom have problems with disease outbreaks. Beginners often underestimate the cost of buying good quality equipment at the outset and the cost of salt, power, and test kits that are essential in order to keep a well maintained tank. They also underestimate the time needed to maintain a tank. Be realistic about the time and money it will take, and above all else, DO REGULAR WATER CHANGES.



So if you:

DON’T RUSH IT
DON’T OVERSTOCK YOUR TANK
DON’T OVERFEED
BUY GOOD QUALITY GEAR
TREAT THE CAUSE, NOT THE SYMPTOM
NEVER BUY ON IMPULSE
DO REGULAR WATER CHANGES

you'll get off to a good start to a very pleasurable hobby. Good luck.

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