In 30 years of keeping fish I’ve never heard of such things. “Toxic gravel” so they go out and get the same painted gravel in black and think it makes any difference. Telling beginners whom know nothing of cycling to get fluval stratum and a 10g so they can nitrogen bomb their new bettas. Because that death will be more humane right? 🤣 I’ve considered the gravel/poison theory an if even there was a smidge of truth to it your water changes would take care of it and there’d be EVIDENCE of it ever occurring. There’s nothing wrong with starting with the basics and taking it from there if you want to. 20 years ago there was some questionable decor on the market but not so much these days.
Bullying kids and parents cause the want a SpongeBob tank….why?! Why are we doing this! I agree people should be educated but to put the mom on blast who’s invested $50 to give their kids carnival fish a chance is just not right. I grew up in the hobby and if it weren’t for the learning curve I wouldn’t have the love I have for hobby today. I look back and can learn from my own mistakes and have deep knowledge of the science behind why we do certain things.
Attached is a new tank I just set up. Should grow in great. Lemme know what you think of if you agree/disagree.
Posted by Embarrassed_Job_2719
39 Comments
I agree. Frankly speaking the way some people are in this hobby it feels like it is all an excuse for them to be mean without consequence, than actually be helpful.
Mob mentality and parroting information.
They just want to feel valid and special. But they don’t know how to do this with out bringing people down.
Every hobby out there has a loud group of insufferable purist. Mock, ridicule or ignore them.
I agree. Also, I love your setup, looks so good
are we talking about fish occupied as police officers? if so I’m in favour, too much fish-on-fish crime, we need more fish representation in the policing of fish.
I love looking at the aquariums that people post on here, some of them look amazing. But you’re right what you say about some people. I would probably never ask for advice on here because I’ve seen the way that others have been pounced on.
Yeah, bullying people isn’t the answer. I didn’t change to a natural tank because of the bullies. I changed it because I was told about the benefits of the plants and someone on here told me about how it can help with needing less water changes and make my fry safer.
It’s better to give an opportunity to make informed decisions instead of making beginners feel like they’re terrible people who don’t love their fish because of an ornament.
Not that I disagree with the general point of your post. Sometimes the “shaming” can go hard. Just report people for being abrasive/abusive. But to counter I often see a lot of others provide gentle advisement about how some of the decor can actually be toxic.
>same painted gravel in black
I never see anyone suggest removing neon-painted gravel with black-painted gravel. What I do see is people suggesting natural gravel or even pourous lava gravel and fert tabs with live plants. If live plants are not an option I often see people recommend silk plants over plastic.
The Fluval stratum suggestion is for sure overly suggested from what I’ve seen BUT they also are always explaining how important a properly cycled tank is for the livestock. That would mean any ammonia plumes would be before the cycle is even complete and before livestock are added.
Yes, the internet is full of dicks but I also don’t see near as much of what you say on those posts where the tank is full of painted rocks and plastic. I see a lot more education and advocacy for the fish.
I personally don’t like plastic decorations in my tanks but I would never hate on someone for putting it in theirs. Just because everyone is a wannabe aquascaper doesn’t mean they’re right. I like seeing colored gravel and SpongeBob decorations on this sub, it’s variety, nostalgic, and whimsical. I agree with you, always take reddit advice with a grain of salt.
Yes but every corner of life has the sanctimonious group.
To your list I’d like to add those who are incessantly nagging people that their tank (which has plants) can’t possibly be cycled because their nitrates read zero.
Hey yeah I’m a fish officer and I say you gotta like give me a smooch or sumn
As a beginner myself, I feel it is a vocal few. I have found this community to be incredibly supportive and helpful.
I put a picture of my empty tank on here. But probably wouldn’t post a picture now. People are harsh.
Lovely post! Some people are too cut throat about this.
Always had a soft spot for angelfish
Well said OP! It’s not unique to this hobby, all hobbies are slowly being ruined by gate keeping experts online.
I got my gf into the hobby, she wanted rainbow gravel, sponge bob decor and pink fake plants. I did it in a heart beat. Because she now loves her tank! In fact we’re now looking to triple the size of it to 80 gallons!
She wants black gravel with a pink fleck! she shall get.
This time we shall go heavy on plants, and she can still have her sponge bob decor.
We have rules in place to handle those folks. Parroting something common with no evidence to back it up is low effort posting. A lot of times those comments can veer into personal attacks, derailing and trolling.
Use the report function, it does more than you think.
I will say that products have probably changed a lot over the past 30- years. “Toxic gravel” is a misunderstanding about the sizes of the particles in the gravel and their ability to trap food waste, create toxic ammonia pockets that get disturbed when the substrate is cleaned and then new keepers have dead fish and no reason why that they understand and so assume the paint is toxic to them. Compounding this is a lotta people use test strips to test their tanks and those go bad and require storage at controlled temps.
The learning bell curve ought to be a lot shorter these days with information so readily available, but people do not think of what they do not know of and it’s very counterproductive to bash and belittle those people, up to a point anyway. I’ll get mean on the ones being willfully ignorant despite lots of sound advice.
I used to mod a global fish forum. Believe me, these takes aren’t new. Dickheads gonna dickhead, whatever the medium by which they do it.
Some subs are definitely worse than others, but I agree. People are less weird about people putting 3d printed skulls, terrestrial plant holders and faux caves, which is a strange double standard imo.
There was an real issue with the SpongeBob decor a few years back where the paint would chip right off and that possibly caused issues with the water. There is also a long standing issue with a lot of decor of that type where the holes are just too small and animals get stuck, or they have sharp bits on them that can cut. Both of those are easily educated on and can be fixed by the owner with a nail file, hot glue and a bit of nylon window screen or panty hose. If someone wants to put goofy decor in their tank, it’s not your tank and you can keep your opinion to yourself.
I agree completely.
I always try to be nice to people who clearly just don’t know much about the hobby. We all started somewhere. I killed like half the fish I put in my first tank because I was ignorant and caused an ammonia spike. I bought the wrong kinds of fish to put together. I bought plants that didn’t work. It was a mess. But I got better.
We also forget that a lot of the people with the SpongeBob pineapple or other similar decorations are often young kids/teenagers. They need encouragement and guidance not mockery.
And while my personal preference is all natural, there’s nothing inherently wrong with a plastic tank deco as long as people are doing the right maintenance. I have a friend with a big plastic dinosaur skull in his tank and it looks cool. Or like the one you’ve posted here looks great. Fish can’t tell the difference between a rock and a piece of plastic decor.
I was talking to one of the owners of my LFS. Dude is a championship aquascaper and literally studied under Takashi Amano for a while. He told me that one of the biggest issues in the hobby right now is just the sheer amount of misinformation. That 90% of what’s on YouTube is just bullshit that’s been regurgitated over and over again. Confident talking heads that don’t actually understand but just repeat what they’ve heard. That 70% of people have a tank for less than 10 months and then leave the hobby for good.
I think it’s okay for a kids tank to be a kids tank it’s okay for it to have bright fun colors. They are learning to care for a life other than their own why not make it vibrant and engaging for them?
Fish keeping is such a fun hobby to get into why take away most people’s ground level beginning? The best part of keeping fish is learning how to improve their tanks. Not everyone starts this hobby knowing everything about fish. A lot of us started many years ago when we learned how to fish keep from books and others with experience. The longer you fish keep the more knowledge you retain especially if it’s something you are passionate about.
Just wait until these fish crusaders find out how we use to cycle and establish tanks back in the day lol
Its because once people see something on the internet they like to treat it as the absolute truth
We must encourage newcomers if we want the hobby to continue. This is a good post.
The internet is filled with miserable crabs in a bucket.
I agree. I’m on this sub a lot (or at least used to be) but alot of the ideas and sentiments here are just insufferable. So many people just parrot the same talking points they hear from other people because it sounds good and right without actually understanding how a lot of it works. I think the general intention of most things here isn’t bad, it’s for the well being of the fish, however more often than not peoples “advice” just comes off as wanting to feel knowledgeable and like an expert on something, and it gets condescending quick, it gets ridiculous.
The biggest thing that irks me personally is that every tank needs to look natural as if you just scooped the fish and its ecosystem right out of its natural body of water. Not every tank needs (or can have) live plants. Not every tank needs a beautiful scape with natural drift wood and rock. At the end of the day 99% of us are keeping this fish in glass boxes for our own amusement, so acting holier than thou because you’re not keeping bright colorful decor with fake plants is just stupid to me, as long as the fish are healthy…that’s all that matters.
The point is the learning curve can be avoided now easier than ever and less animals have to die.
What I find funny is the people who will scream about cruelty when there’s a betta in a ten gallon tank but then they go chow down on some fish n chips. The disconnect is absurd. Or eat bacon. The pig suffered 100 times more than a betta ever did
I was really into these subs when I was new and learned a lot. Now I just hear the same info parroted over and over whether it’s true or not. Too much anger over people trying their best and not really performing the “abuse” people are so certain is happening.
I rarely engage with the forum because it’s a lot of know-it-alls putting people down instead of just being helpful. You nailed it, OP.
Personally dont care about whats is in someone else’s aquarium.
I really dont pay attention to those posts
I enjoy the hobby and dont care for the negative crap.
I hate the fear mongering most
That I find is a bit much
I understand what you’re saying, and I agree that bullying is not going to educate or help.
But as a newbie in the hobby, who has done a ton of research already, I don’t trust painted gravel or most artificial decor. but if the fish keeper has a proper sized tank and are actually trying and willing to learn, they’re awesome.
I think it’s the people who keep their betta in a 2.5gal tank, with fake plants, pointy decor, and rainbow gravel who are the problem… it isn’t the artificial decor, it’s the fish abuse and being unwilling to learn.
bullying will NOT help though. it won’t change the mind of a fish abuser, it won’t help to struggling parent. use kindness, educate with care
Bunch of “elitists” that never come outside is what they seem to be. Those people forget that they started out once like that as well (and probably even worse).
Thank you for speaking up about it, there’s a way to educate others and then there’s bullying. Btw the fish themselves could not have positioned themselves more perfectly for this picture, what a beautiful set up
Also being super judgmental about people who prefer larger fish. It seems everyone on this sub is obsessed with nano fish. It’s totally fine to have a preference but I’ve seen critical comments when people post photos of their tanks with larger fish.
Claiming fluval stratum will nitrate bomb your fish is an interesting statement considering its not particularly high in nutrients. Claiming that painted gravel doesn’t have a chance of leaching toxic chemicals is also another interesting statement given that there are paints that contain chemicals that are toxic to fish. Can you guarantee that all painted gravel is aquarium safe? Unlikely. Can you guarantee that some are likely aquarium safe? Sure but it can vary source to source.
Depth of knowledge in this hobby isnt measured in years. It’s possible to spend a lot of time in the shallow end and never dive into the deep end and that’s totally fine if that’s what you enjoy. If we want to improve the hobby and the community we should take special care to avoid over generalizations when making prescriptive statements.
Too small need a 100gallon immediately or your a fish killer
Fish keeping is pretty easy tho tbh. It’s really not that deep. Run some filters have some live plants feed them occasionally top up the water. If it’s overstocked then actually change your charcoal it’s all pretty simple I don’t even do water changes
It’s kinda the same as googling your cold symptoms, it’s just a little sneeze next thing you know the internet is telling you that you have cancer