# Things I'd do differently if I could start over...



## oneshot (Mar 5, 2010)

We have a beginners mistakes thread, but I'd love to hear what people have learned about the hobby in general, from experience, and what they'd do differently. "If I knew then what I know now" type of thing.

First, I would NOT have bought species that I was not totally in love with. I would have only bought the ones I can see myself keeping for as long as I'm in the hobby.

Second, I would have planned out my tanks better, in many ways. I would have put more time in the planning of how the tank was going to function and how it would look. But also I would have bought all the same sizes/built vert conversions exactly the same, etc. for aesthetic reasons.

Third, I personally would have bought only proven pairs.

Anyone else?

Brian


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

Hopefully you'll get some good feedback so we can all learn from those relatively minor "oops"...


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## jeeperrs (Jan 14, 2010)

oneshot said:


> We have a beginners mistakes thread, but I'd love to hear what people have learned about the hobby in general, from experience, and what they'd do differently. "If I knew then what I know now" type of thing.
> 
> Anyone else?
> 
> Brian


1) I would not have promised one tank because now I am building 4 more 

2) I would not try to "save" money on items as it would have been cheaper if I bought what I wanted from the beginning. It is better to take your time and shop sales the sponsors post.

3) Learned more about the plants as I spend more time maintaing the plant growth than anything else

4) Got to know one or two trusted people on the board instead of listening to every opinion on the board. Goodness, some of us make keeping frogs sound like building an atomic bomb!


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

I would have drilled all my tanks and got a misting system


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## frankrom (Jan 14, 2012)

Taken a little more time planning my tank design. I am impatient by nature. But it turned our well. Just say I would have done it a bit different.


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## frog dude (Nov 11, 2011)

I would have stayed on schedule for making my fruit fly cultures. It's not fun, not having enough flies to feed my frogs and make new cultures. if you fall behind, you have to buy at least one well producing and booming culture. Warning to all newbies. STAY ON SCHEDULE!!!!!


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## whitethumb (Feb 5, 2011)

i agree with this statement. 



oneshot said:


> First, I would NOT have bought species that I was not totally in love with. I would have only bought the ones I can see myself keeping for as long as I'm in the hobby.
> Brian


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

Im doing it all now.....

Not have gotten out of the hobby and gotten rid of everything. Rebuying, rebuilding, and searching for all the frogs you used to have but can't seem to find now....they all suck.

The one positive I guess is starting back over, all those little mistakes can be fixed. New approach at the hobby and really enjoying it. Definitely agree with obtaining some proven pairs especially early on.


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## whitethumb (Feb 5, 2011)

its funny cause you know you love dart frogs and you want to buy something but get sold into buying what you really didn't want to buy.


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## pdfDMD (May 9, 2009)

I would not have purchased so many expensive plants to begin with; it's tough watching your money literally wilt, rot, or get eaten by those slugs that keep popping up.


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## Elliot (Apr 6, 2011)

frog dude said:


> I would have stayed on schedule for making my fruit fly cultures. It's not fun, not having enough flies to feed my frogs and make new cultures. if you fall behind, you have to buy at least one well producing and booming culture. Warning to all newbies. STAY ON SCHEDULE!!!!!


I agree here. I still forget to make cultures and I've been making them for over a year. You'd think you'd learn on the first round


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## frog dude (Nov 11, 2011)

Elliot said:


> I agree here. I still forget to make cultures and I've been making them for over a year. You'd think you'd learn on the first round


yup, after the first time I had to buy a culture, I always make extra cultures as long as I have the flies to spare. for the last two weeks, I made 4 cultures each week (to make sure I'm back on track with som extra cultures) for a total of 8 cultures in the last two weeks. I'm going to make another two to four cultures this week, depending on how many booming cultures I have. Oh wait, is it really monday? I got to go make some cultures!  

It would also be nice if this got stickied, as I see it as a worthy thread.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

Not building an easy access area to water pumps/having water pumps. 

Starting frogs off in a nice ten or 15 gallon, then switching them over to something larger to end up with lots of unoccupied small tanks.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

Why? We see this thread anew every six months?

The key to fruit flies is being habitual (as has already been stated).

Keep groups of fruit fly cultures together (by date). 

Most importantly: NEVER FEED FROM NEW CULTURES TILL YOU HAVE MADE MORE CULTURES FROM THEM!

Ever.

This ascertains that you will continue to have producing fruit flies and not fall in to the trap of feeding everything out and having nothing to seed with.

s


frog dude said:


> ... It would also be nice if this got stickied, as I see it as a worthy thread.


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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

Things I would do differently, wear gloves working with egg crate and screen. My hand hurt soooo bad right now and especially from accidentally pinching them (multiple times)in the pliers used to cut the egg crate. Also, I would definitely have either not used acrylic, or gotten thicker acrylic. I've heard of it warping and I'm absolutely terrified having just about finished my cage.


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## Gocubs (Apr 23, 2012)

I've got the mistaking (awesome for my 4 tanks), but now I drain once a week. Which sucks.. but. I have babies. I'd Deff drill my tanks. I feel I bother my pets while maintaining their habitat.


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## JacobP (Feb 21, 2012)

Since rejoining the hobby earlier this year after a 6 year break I feel the most beneficial things to me have been a bulkhead for drainage in the one tank I currently have, and a Mistking. It simplifies things so much, I can mist it as much as I want with never worrying about flooding the substrate.

It seems simple but takes a lot of the maintenance away and gives me more time just to observe them or take care of all the feeder cultures for them.


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## illinoisfrogs (Apr 16, 2010)

Pacblu202 said:


> Things I would do differently, wear gloves working with egg crate and screen. My hand hurt soooo bad right now and especially from accidentally pinching them (multiple times)in the pliers used to cut the egg crate. Also, I would definitely have either not used acrylic, or gotten thicker acrylic. I've heard of it warping and I'm absolutely terrified having just about finished my cage.


Do you mean plexiglass? it warps bad......acrylic glass can be fine if you siliconed it together well.....


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

illinoisfrogs said:


> Do you mean plexiglass? it warps bad......acrylic glass can be fine if you siliconed it together well.....


This confuses me. Acrylic glass? There is no such thing. There is acrylic and there is glass. You absolutely can NOT silicone acrylic together. It will seem to stick but it will quickly fail. Acrylic requires a special glue, such as Weld On 3, Weld On 4, Weld On 16, or Weld On 40.
Plexiglass is simply a different brand name of acrylic.
Glass will glue together very nicely with silicone, but glass is glass, there is no acrylic or plastic of any sort mixed into it.


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## poison beauties (Mar 1, 2010)

I wish we would have spent the last 10 yrs holding back frogs and preparing for the shift in the hobby of those only wanting proven pairs......we would have been more than happy to take two to three times the money you all want to pay out rather than raise your own stock and learn the basics that so few want to deal with now. Im sure quite a few would have liked to prep for this.

Elizabeth "mrs poison beauties"


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## srrrio (May 12, 2007)

Well don't lose all faith Elizabeth, because mainly buying froglets and growing them up learning the ways of each morph, species, figuring out the sexes, matchmaking, etc. has been rewarding to me and I do not regret a moment. I do regret buying anything labeled "probable"

Truth be told I also don't regret not having a misting system, for similar reasons..getting to know the ways of the frogs hand misting I really enjoy. 

I do regret not painting the room that became my frog room, and doing the floors, and most of all that 2 of my main racks bottom shelves are to close to the floor and it is a real pain to clean under them.


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## snodog (Feb 10, 2009)

I would have researched different plant and moss species to see the success rate vs spending a lot of money to find out which will not do so well. I would have also never even bothered with a larger tank without a door to access and clean. Glad I have them now. Otherwise part of the learning process is fun and educational. The fruit fly problems are ones everyone seems to have and remedies are simple enough. I'm learning a lot all the time thanks to a few great frog owners on here.


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## Seacore (Mar 15, 2012)

Drainage. I built a tank with no substrate barriers, or easy and accessible means of drainage. Means the layers became muddled and a sopping mess after 6 months. But, it did give me an excuse to make the new tanks better with the experience i picked up from starting as an uneducated beginner.


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## snodog (Feb 10, 2009)

I was surprised at how much water the mist kings put out. Definitely something to keep in mind.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

I would make a practice tank before building the real thing. There is so much about tank building that you just don't get until you try it for yourself.


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## JacobP (Feb 21, 2012)

snodog said:


> I was surprised at how much water the mist kings put out. Definitely something to keep in mind.


If you're going to shell out for a misting system, a bulkhead should be a must.
It will save you a lot of headaches down the road. 

I love the ability to switch on my Mistking for ten minutes or whatever I want when a storm comes rolling in and I want to take advantage of the barometric pressure. As long as my 5 gallon drain bucket has room I am good to mist. Its much simpler to drain a bucket than a tank that is planted, even if you include a siphon tube, which IMHO is just another place for a frog to get trapped.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

In addition to the MANY things I learned over the first 18 years of being in the hobby - I'll add something I've learned in the last two years.

Build your own tanks. Seriously. Costs less, fewer hassles.

s


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