Let's share our blunders!

[Troender]

What's the stupidest thing you've ever done to your tanks or fishes? I just love those stories, probably because of the amount of stupidities I have myself. So let us shere them with each other.

I can start with "how to break a tank".
A year ago I bought a second hand tank on an auction. I did a great buy, and was very satisfied. It was a 125-liter tank, and I knew exactly what I would use it for. So after a few days, I wanted to start preparing it for the new inhabitant. First: sand. I had a bucket of used sand in my car, and as I had planned to let this tank be running without fish for a while, I didn't care for washing it first. So I fetched the bucket, and brought it back in. This was in February, and it was cold outside. So cold that the sand was totally frozen. But instead of doing the senisble, putting the bucket aside, waiting for it to melt, I thought why not just put the bucket upside down into the tank, and when the sand melts, it will fall into the tank. Yes, sometimes my brain just doesn't work! I have no idea what I was thinking of, or rather, i wasn't thinking anything sensible at all. I turned the bucket upside down, and heard a bang and a crash. Yes, the whole block of sand-ice came straigt out of the bucked and broke the bottom of the tank. And I was a bit agry with myself...

[Jase]

three brothers wrestling in a room with a 10 gal fish tank never ends well.

one scenario is that in a turn of events, the youngest brother's head is put through the front, resulting in a lot of water, broken glass, some very unhappy tetras and a very unhappy mommy. the tetras survived, but our bottoms will never be the same

[groovitudedude]

My little brother ran into my 100G once, almost sending 1/2 ton of water bursting into the house. Luckily, my tank is acrylic.

Oh, yeah, and getting my two tinfoil barbs for my 20 Gallon. They probably rank like #20 on the top 1000 tankbusters list.

[groovitudedude]

Oh yeah, but not cycling my 100G properly tops the list.

[crazedpuffer]

I have plenty but I can only think of 1.
One time my friends were over and they were near my closet looking at kittens or something? I don't remember then they started like pushing each other and the door swung right into my top 10 gallon tank which was a guppy tank. I switched them over to the bottom tank with no problem (which was a fry rearing tank) but still my mommy wasn't happy! But our butts suffered no damage!

[groovitudedude]

Yeah, we had a 10G break while cleaning it a couple of years ago.

[Jase]

groov, lets share the threads with everybody.

[groovitudedude]

Okay, it's not like I'm stopping other people from talking!

Fine. I'll shut up. It's just that I have SO much to share on this topic! jk

[DRRT]

I've almost killed my valentini twice while trying to clip it's teeth.

I was cleaning my dad's tank when I asked my lil bro to fill the slop sink with water. He came back and started watching TV. When I was ready to use the sink, I asked him if it was ready, and he had never turned it off. We had water covering over a 100 sq feet and it started seeping into cirtain areas where there was carpet. I started to help him clean and left the tank half empty for over an hour. Then realized I forgot about it and the niger trigger tried to eat my finger as punishment.

I was feeding the fish and dipped the cup into the water when the humu trigger jumped into the cup. It ate half of the food, but I was able to pick up the cup and showed it to everyone in the house. No pics though.

The first night we had an eel it went into the vertical overflow and was stuck there for a week until I rescued it.

That's all I am willing to share.

[Jase]

I bet!

we also once went on vacation when I lived in AL. well my grandma came by to check on things and decided to shut off the AC to save the electric bill. when we got back, we arrived to the smell of rotten fish and the sight of our first pet bass boiled. we took the temp before we cleaned everything up... 98 degrees F!

[Troender]

In 1997 I moved from one part of Norway to another. As the place I would live in only was a temporary room, while looking for a more permanent housing, I didn't bring my furniture yet. I only brought what was necessary, which also meant my aquarium (at that time I only owned a very small one, with 10 fishes). And I went there by airplane. I started out in the middle of the night (4 a.m.). I caught my fishes, emptied the little tank (only took out the water, but let the gravel stay), packed it into a cardboard box and went to the airport. As I said, sometimes my brain just doesn't seem to work, and this was such a moment (maybe I can put this into my being blonde account). Because at the airport, I sent the aquarium as baggage!
Two flights later, I was to get my baggage. After a while, I saw water on the band where the baggage came. Then my little box came, with water around it. I picked it up and heard the sound of broken glass in it. Hmmm...why wasn't I surprised by that?
So there I was: I had been awake all night (and was of course very tired), moving to a city I hated (I had to because of job), it was very hot and the whole city stank of trash, I had 10 homeless fishes in plastic bags i my backpack, and less than half a dollar on my bank account. And realized how extremely stupid I am sometimes.
I had to lend money to buy a little second hand tank, and when I put water into it, it leaked a little. It was only at the top of the tank the leak was, so I could fix it without emptying it. I still use that tank today - it's my breeding tank for corydoras. Actually it also was the first tank of my first puffer. When I bought it, I thought "Wow, that's a big tank!" It's about 15 G...
So the point in this story is: who is stupid enough to send an aquarium with the gravel in it as baggage when going by airplane? The answer is: Inger Anne

[DRRT]

LOL

[SpockthePuffer]

Thats is such a funny story Inger Anne! And I love that you still have the tank too, funny memories

[hadla]

heh i cracked a 10g once, but it was a hamster cage. and luckily the hamster was out of it cause i was cleaning it... i had it tipped over a garbage bag and started knocking it with my knee to get the stuck on wood shavings out when all of a sudden the bottom like shattered! i freaked out and started crying cause i had nowhere to put my hamster, so i called my mom and she stopped at walmart to get a new one on her way home from school. and i still dont know if it was because the tank was like 5 years old or because the hamster and the ones before it had chewed on all the glue sealings in it.

[Jase]

maybe it was your knee being kinda hard and glass kinda fragile...