When I was first getting into this hobby I really liked his content and it all made so much sense. After some time and much more research, and seeing other nature aquarists content, learning about the walstad method and why water changes are important (while father fish said never to do them) I don't find myself agreeing with him at all anymore. Of course there's some things that he says that are true but I think he is an extremist and dangerous for beginners in the hobby.
Posted by Fer_al8
35 Comments
I agree getting into this hobby again after years of not having tanks I was researching do and donts to refresh myself on things and came across his vids. Some are good and others are smh water changes are a big part of an aquarium there are many things involved in this like minerals for plants and keeping everything in the perfect parameters. One of the biggest things to me was how he stated on cycling a tank with dead fish it seems unethical to me and inhumane like what if we did that with humans? One I can say is the plant situation he states using as many plants you can afford when setting up a new tank that is a good one but with most fishtubers you gotta pick and choose good advice vs bad advise.
I dont know anything about biology or water chemistry, but is it really that bad to not do water changes as long as you remineralize? Or is it even more complicated than that.
I do weekly water changes so Im just curious
Personally, I’m a big fan!
But it’s complicated to grasp all the subtleties of his method because he explains things slowly and they’re scattered across hundreds of videos.
For example, regarding water changes, he clearly states that he does them whenever it can solve a problem, but he’ll never do them to reduce nitrates since you practically never have them in a heavily planted aquarium.
Im not a disciple. But I don’t understand the hate. He has a system that works. Take what you want and leave what you dont.
On a separate note, why are water changes important if all parameters are good?
Hate the guy, he’s okay but too much of an old time traditionalist, I’m more into neutral planted tanks and aquascapes and his aquariums always just produce ugly results, plus the no water change thing is bad advice for most newbies, you can in theory get away with it but it’s risky
Honestly though still appreciate that he at least opens up the fish keeping discussion are. It more thanks to his more unique opinions
Crackpot.
As long as we all understand that ‘his way’ isnt *the* way. I think its fine.
His videos got me started down the rabbit hole.
But I also consumed a bunch of other content.
I was also sold 10 feeder goldfish for my first 10 gallon tank at the pet store. “You sure you dont want a few more?” The lady said.
There are far more nefarious people in fishkeeping than this old guy.
the man is a dangerous(to the wellbeing of ones pets) idiot, political nonsense aside(known to go on alt right rants at random). He knows next to nothing and will give flat out harmful advice and incorrect facts like his claim that its abusive to keep bettas in anything larger than a 3 gallon
The only fishkeeping YTers I follow are Tanks for Nothin’, SerpaDesign, and Girl Talks Fish. There are others I enjoy, sure, but those three I feel are always focusing on the wellbeing of their animals 1st and cool factor / asserting expertise / engaging in debate 2nd, 3rd, or not at all.
They’re not pretentious, they explain their process and reasoning, and they have all owned up to making mistakes and learning as they go.
Father Fish, IMO, has some good takes and some bad ones, which is fine. What makes me step away is the ‘this is the One Truth’ approach he takes – which is something a lot of fishkeepers do in general.
We’re all learning, none of us are exempt from making mistakes, and all of us have different goals in the hobby. There is nothing inherently wrong with any method of fishkeeping that results in healthy fish, IMO – whether that’s a no tech walstad, a high tech meticulously scaped show tank, or a confetti gravel pineapple.
Took the good old things, meshed with new methods. Heavily planted and water changes. Light feedings and lots of filtration. Amazing results almost care free never do anything other than change water and feed. Glass and water crystal clear, plants/fish colorfully happy
My opinion on him is: anyone who claims their way of doing things is the only right way and that others are idiots for doing things differently is a major redflag and a dick.
He knows what he is talking about based on experience that worked for him
Lot of new comers trying his method doesn’t work because he is way too advanced.
People whonfuck up rolling his methods are just new.
He’s a blowhard who is sometimes right but believes he’s only always right.
He gives bad advice for new comers imo. You can definitely find success with his methods, but you have to read the fine print so to speak, listen to him ramble to catch all the nuances of his methods and not just the hot takes he drops.
Mixed bag. I don’t agree with some of his stuff, i agree with parts of it, and a lot of it i think works but is overall outdated. His system works for him, you can take it or leave it at that.
In general though i think he’s a benefit. You may not care for his personality/methods but he’s a damn sight better than a lot of the fish keeping content that posts to instagram which for better or worse is where most of the eyeballs are. If he’s your starting point for fishkeeping then honestly, compared to most other people i see walking around petco eyeballing their first goldfish you’re way better off.
He is just a store owner who uses some of the principles of Walstad tanks, but Walstad is the actual scientist who understands how it works, while FF doesn’t really know a whole lot by comparison. Most of the things FF has said are factually incorrect, but he does have loads of experience working with his own (Florida?) water and keeps very nice fish.
I too have tanks that I do not fully understand why I was successful with them. I have the opposite kind of water as FF, which changes so many things about maintaining that aquarium (going without filtration isn’t so shocking when unionized ammonia can never easily exist in acidic water).
Much better to buy Walstad’s book than learn from FF’s channel.
This opinion may not be popular but I don’t like him
He once did a video for a beginner setup during which he put a bunch of mollies in a 10-gallon. I asked if it was too small for that many and those types of fish, and if they tank would need a heater
He said “no”
No explanation or anything, just “no”.
I asked him to elaborate and he never did
I refuse to trust a word of what he says because of this
(also the whole “take stuff from nature” thing… I’ve always been told that’s a good way to get bad stuff in your tank, like harmful pathogens, parasites, even predators like damselfly larvae)
I have ponds, aquaponics system, and home aquariums. The only water change my ponds gets is what nature provides. The aquapinics get topped off and only changed when all the fish are harvested. That being said replicating nature isn’t for the novice, just look at the biodome project. Overall I think fish Father is alright. As someone said already, he has some good takes and not so good takes. Like ever in this world there’s no one size fits all magic pill. You have to figure out what works best for your situation.
He’s another viewpoint with some advice I like and some I don’t. You listen to a bunch of guys and then you take what you can. Some you like more and father fish I like less but still listen.
Dudes got more experience than 3/4 of this sub combined.
He creeps me out with the intensity of his preachiness and the arrogant “I know the one true correct way to do everything” thing. Vibes aside, the whole “do exactly as I say with my specific products and it WILL work” deal seems… both financially motivated and unrealistic given how one’s local water parameters can influence setups. Frankly, father fish tanks are just not aesthetically pleasing to me either.
Overall I think Walstad’s methods are much more flexible and science based, and my preference by far. But, neither is for beginners IMO.
He gives often terrible advice due to the anti-science traditional bullshit that he insists is the only correct way to keep fish. And his far right political rants get really annoying.
Hes cool. I used pretty much everything he talks about in my tank before id ever heard of him. https://www.reddit.com/r/walstad/s/l8RcQnZJXE
He put me onto cultures as replenishing live food sources.
Marketers and the victims they’ve duped into spending thousands on useless sh*t hate him, cause …
Have found most fish keepers on YouTube to have issues.
FF has an outdated idealism and is too old to care about changing it.
Others like The King of DIY drink heavily and are ex-cons , ohio fish rescue big rich has been accused of sleeping with one of the younger girls that works there , predatory fins has anger issues.
The point being is to watch them as entertainment value only.
Not a fan at all and I think his attitude is harmful to the hobby. There are numerous other channels that are way better.
I don’t like that he suggests adding fish right away to a planted tank and doesn’t seem to concern himself much with water parameters of a planted tank. I’ve had issues with algae blooms and subsequent mass dieoff of algae leading to ammonia spikes in every tank I have set up. I would never have known for certain without testing the water and I would never add fish during that time. You do not need fish to establish the nitrogen cycle.
I don’t know about this guy, but the discussion is fascinating me
I love this guy… I mean, I would never do half the shit he promotes, but he’s awesome!
Even a stopped watch is right twice a day
My problems with him are actually my problems with a lot of fishtubers. He just ratchets it up to 100.
I think he has an interesting and important perspective to add to the hobby, but he doesn’t discuss it in a productive way. He makes it seem like his way is the only way and spews a lot of pseudoscientific nonsense. I once saw him go off about how fertilizers are poison and a trick from big corporations to make your tanks fail so they can sell you more stuff. I’m all for hating on big corporations, but there’s no proof of that at all.
I think he’s a successful aquarist and he’s clearly stumbled across a method that works well for him. But his reasoning for why his method works doesn’t stand up to scientific scrutiny. Which is admittedly very common in this hobby.
Because of this, I find it very hard to actually apply (or even understand) his method. It’s not clear why it works in some cases, but not others. I would like him way more if he approached his content from the perspective of “this is a method that works for me, let’s figure out why and maybe how it can work for you too”. But instead, it’s more along the lines of “this is THE way and everyone who doesn’t have success with this method just needs to try harder!”
Idek, I hope that makes sense.
Agree with the “dangerous for the newcomers” thing. I only came into the hobby in spring and really liked him because I enjoy older people on the internet. I unsubscribed within a week because of the sentiment “female bettas will eventually NEED to mate to stay alive and healthy” that sounded suspiciously like something women often hear from sexist gynos
I know they can become egg bound etc but from what I understand it will not happen 100% just because there’s no males around. He was so insistent that it genuinely gave me the ick
He is nice in the sense that he will gift plants to stores, help out fish groups and things like that but… he is so full of himself and to him is “my way or the highway” mentality. He also doesn’t really understand the science or how it works, which is fine, except for the fact that he makes up his own reasons which are woefully incorrect and sometimes ridiculous.
There are also creepy cultish undertones by his disciples.
I dont mind him personally, and I had been doing a lot of what he preaches well before I ever heard of him. Though, his most ardent followers are insufferable and most have never even tried to keep fish any other way.
I know longer really keep freshwater tanks but when I did they were heavily planted and I almost never did water changes. Now that I do mostly salt, I probably do too many water changes.
I’ve never watched his videos, but I got into planted tanks about 6 months ago and I randomly found out his store is located in the same town that I live in. I recently stopped in and met him – cool guy, all the tanks in his store look super natural but not bad. The fish looked happy.
I think he has some good opinions on things, and I think he has some massively outdated and frankly cruel opinions on others.
The reality is there is no single ‘perfect’ youtuber, you need to learn to pick your good advice from some and roll your eyes and ignore some others. Ultimately we’re all human, and therefore all flawed.
With that said, I’m not a fan.