1. Fish are always hungry
WRONG!! The most common way to kill fish is by overfeeding them. If you add too much food, ammonia builds up and will definitely kill your fish. Most fish should only be fed once every other day!!!
2. The fish need the light on
Not Necessarily! Keeping the light on just makes algae grow faster and makes your tank look ugly. When fish are sick or stressed they also prefer the light to be off. A dark environment is always ideal for sick or injured fish.
3. When you clean the tank you take the fish out.
Super wrong! Netting the fish and taking them out will stress them 100x more than leaving them in. Also the fish can die in the bucket due to lack of air if you take too long or forget about them. The fish have a real chance togo into shock and die if you remove them during water changes.
4. You need to remove all of the water and rinse out the tank.
EXTREMELY WRONG!! When you take all of the water out of your tank, you kill all of the good bacteria along with the bad. That good bacteria keeps your tank free of ammonia and other waste. It is important to keep the tank and filter ‘a little dirty’ to preserve this biological environment.
5. The more aquarium products, the better.
Not really.. Some people think the chlorine in their tap water is killing the fish. I can count the number of times I’ve seen chlorine kill fish on one hand. The chlorine may stress the fish, but it is extremely unlikely to be the root cause of fish death. Testing the water and examining the fish is always a good idea if you lose one. No amount of products and chemicals will fix malpractice.
So those were my five most common misconceptions I’ve heard and seen about fish tanks. I think it’s really important to get these out there, the more people are educated, the better all our fish can look. Are there things you hear that irk you as well? Sound off in the comments below!
