Top Ten Things You Forgot To Research Before Adding Or Doing Something To Your Tank...

10) I thought it was a good idea to try and save those live crabs at the grocery store.
sbwood007 of Dallas, Texas

9) My credit card limit and savings account balance!
jeffltodd of Martinez, CA

8) I had a big, wild bunch of Peppermint and Striped cleaner shrimp - that is, until I added that nice, peaceful looking Spotted hawkfish.... Duh! Where did they all go?
kaptken of New Castle, DE

7) Forgetting to add salt in a saltwater tank. How awful is that! I forgot to simply add salt during a water change and killed a sand-sifting starfish!
Jesika_rose of West KY

6) Bloodthirsty Blue damsel - 200 pounds of rock. No way to get said damsel out without removing all the rock. Every-Last-Freaking-Piece-Of-Rock-Had-To-Come-Out!!!
Serk of Rowlett, TX

5) I bought a nice-sized live lobster to eat the next day, so I added him to my tank with my Clown trigger that was one-half his size. The next morning when I go to feed my trigger, I noticed he already ate my dinner, leaving me to order pizza. I guess this proves my fish really do eat better than me.
copperd of Pittsburgh, Pa

4) I work for a pet store, and I had a guy come in once a week and buy five gallons of saltwater. Oddly enough, never was interested in anything else. He came in, bought water and left. After about five months I told him, "Man, you sure are religious about your water changes." He said, "Water changes? I use the saltwater to top-off the tank from evaporation."
gunslingerone9 of between St. Louis and Springfield, IL

3) I failed to research all the miscellaneous costs such as buying gifts for my girlfriend to make up for the fact that I was paying more attention to my live rock than her.
Poorcollegereef of Clemson, SC

2) I knew they looked cool, but how was I supposed to know that at night my Maze brain coral would turn into a long-armed killing machine.
jmccomb420 of Grand Rapids, MI

1) Hmm, I wondered why my 10 huge feather dusters vanished, and my new Copperband butterfly was so fat.
Angela Short of Thompson Station, TN

Reefkeeping's next Top Ten for January: Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Never Go On Vacation If You Own A Reef Tank... Our thanks go out to melev for suggesting the next topic!

Honorable mention goes out to the following members for submitting 10 Top Ten reasons: Dragonet_Dude, jefftodd and Serk. Thanks, folks!

If you have questions, would like to suggest a future Top Ten topic or place an entry, visit our online forum or hit the button below: