Complaints about Nick Bingo

[Dark_Knightt]

Definitely not a good example. I hate it when people hold fish out of the water for any amount of time that’s unnecessary. If you want to film a fish, get a 5 gallon drip acclimation/photography tank and take pics of it there. It’s safer for the fish, you’ll get better photos, and you can drip acclimate with style.

I watched one of his videos, his lack of compassion towards his livestock is terrifying. There’s so much outside that could harm a reef or saltwater ecosystem, pesticides, rainwater, bugs, smoke, plastic, pollution, etc etc the list goes on. I can’t imagine trying to hold a temperature out there either without massive dedication and effort, especially in Florida summer.

I view his videos and practices as harmful to the hobby, and as you said, young viewers are probably heavily influenced by the people they watch on YouTube and he is not a good example. Allowing the death of dozens of fish, improper care, not caring at all, and picking out living creatures from the shop tanks like they’re nothing sickens me. The way he houses and cares for his livestock is unacceptable to me, and probably a lot of people in the hobby.

Treating living creatures like they’re disposable is completely against all of my morals and to me, my tanks and everything calling them home are precious and I dedicate many many hours a week to their happiness. If a fish dies, I take it personally. I cry, figure out the cause, bury them with respects, it really hurts me when an animal becomes sick or dies in my care because I’m responsible for them and their well being, they rely on me to provide for them and I do not take that responsibility lightly.

I don’t like him, I don’t like his videos, and the way he treats his animals makes my guts twist in disgust. He shouldn’t be keeping animals, and he definitely shouldn’t be posting it on YouTube where it could lead others to believe that his practices are even close to acceptable

Agree with this fullheartedly. This hobby isn't about getting views and having people like you while you keep incredibly complex ecosystems, its about appreciating the smallest snail and algae, all the way up to a majestic tang, even sharks. We "steal" the lives of these animals, we keep them in created ecosystems, so it is our duty to provide them with absolutely everything they need. *IMO, I always treat animals as equals to us, because all animals are highly complex. sure not all have opposable thumbs, but when was the last time you saw a human change its skin??(octopus)

 

[Dark_Knightt]

Oh, and another thing I forgot to mention, do yalls notice anything missing in a bunch of his tanks??? CORAL..... fish can live and look nice in tons of situations, but coral needs good care to stay alive, and even open, he simply doesent have it because HE KNOWS that his tanks are badly cared for....

^^^^^^^^ so true. stop flexing your saltwater pond with a few cool fish when you arent able to keep xenia, etc.!

 

[MohrReefs]

This thread is spicy ;Punch
I had to look him up to see what all the hype was about.

 

[Dark_Knightt]

Tbh Coralfish12g got me into this hobby, i watched all of his vids then convinced my parents to allow me to get clowns (i still had to pay for everything lol). Coralfish12g really cares for his animals, he has a great knowledge about this hobby, but he is a full-time youtuber who lives his life so that other people like his cool content.

 

[MohrReefs]

Kind of strange WWC would basically sponsor him if he truly doesn't take good care of things.

ReefDork (I think that's his name) is good, he tank is very nice.

 

[Dark_Knightt]

okay here is my personal opinion, I love that he loves animals and wants to share his daily life and animal keeping on youtube. The only thing about this is, you need to know what your doing and talking about before puting videos like his out to the public.

He just lacks knowledge for the aquarium hobby which is fine (No one is perfect). It makes me upset to see him have all of these 100, 200, 30 gallon aquariums that he barely even knows how to maintain. He needs to take a step back before making impulse purchases.

Agree! In this hobby, patience is KEY! You cant rush everything, things will go wrong! You have to do plenty of research, know what you're talking about slightly, then go ask more question when you go to your LFS.

 

[User1]

Instead of posting or bashing or complaining how about doing something righteous and provide direct feedback to the socialite / media personality. It doesn't matter what hobby we are discussing be it wood working, turning pens, flying RC planes, sewing, or saltwater aquariums. Social media is a thing, it isn't going anywhere, and people will follow the easiest path to turn a buck. We all have different personalities and knowledge levels and it is no different here.

The way to change it, with any social media, is to help those willing to accept it or ignore them so they lose popularity. We saw similar posts with the cable show Tanked. We don't need to be mean, aggressive, rush to cancel, laugh at them, or anything else. I do believe though you would have helped more by sending the person you posted about direct feedback and then just moved on.

I see a lot of videos pop up on the suggested pane and ignore 99% of them for this very reason. Just my opinion not that you asked.

 

[Dark_Knightt]

Another thing, I am 14yrs old and have been in the hobby for 4yrs. I definitely don’t know everything in the hobby and no one does. I know the basics of keeping a saltwater/reef tank. I bet majority of the people on here would definitely want to have 2-3 tanks. We can’t because we know how demanding they are to take care of. Nick barely knows the basics of keeping a saltwater tank. I feel that he doesn’t research he just goes off of others and what he hears. I am not saying he is a bad person but before he puts information about live animals on the internet, inexperienced or newbies will see his vids and think it’s okay for what he is doing. This is hurt not the fish but the community.

Oh I forgot to mention this in my original post! He once made a vid, where he got a small tank, named it the "Finding Nemo" tank or something, it was like 20g or smth, and he put a pair of clownfish and a blue tang and royal gramma in it !! First off #TangPolice come get ur mans. Second, i believe those fish ended up dying and he never mentioned it.

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

Tbh Coralfish12g got me into this hobby, i watched all of his vids then convinced my parents to allow me to get clowns (i still had to pay for everything lol). Coralfish12g really cares for his animals, he has a great knowledge about this hobby, but he is a full-time youtuber who lives his life so that other people like his cool content.

oh yeah, I should have mentioned him as a goodtuber, he also partially got me into reefing, I really started watching when I got serious about being able to keep coral alive, he was honestly the one who built up my confidence, while still keeping me in check. The main difference with him is he only has a few tanks at a given time, and you can tell he really cares because he spent time admiring corals in the wild, instead of just buying new fish and tanks.

 

[Dark_Knightt]

Instead of posting or bashing or complaining how about doing something righteous and provide direct feedback to the socialite / media personality. It doesn't matter what hobby we are discussing be it wood working, turning pens, flying RC planes, sewing, or saltwater aquariums. Social media is a thing, it isn't going anywhere, and people will follow the easiest path to turn a buck. We all have different personalities and knowledge levels and it is no different here.

The way to change it, with any social media, is to help those willing to accept it or ignore them so they lose popularity. We saw similar posts with the cable show Tanked. We don't need to be mean, aggressive, rush to cancel, laugh at them, or anything else. I do believe though you would have helped more by sending the person you posted about direct feedback and then just moved on.

I see a lot of videos pop up on the suggested pane and ignore 99% of them for this very reason. Just my opinion not that you asked.

1. I actually loved Tanked.
2. Absolutely, I wish I could find out if Nick Bingo was on Reef2Reef, or maybe I can share the link with him on Instagram.

 

[Dark_Knightt]

oh yeah, I should have mentioned him as a goodtuber, he also partially got me into reefing, I really started watching when I got serious about being able to keep coral alive, he was honestly the one who built up my confidence, while still keeping me in check. The main difference with him is he only has a few tanks at a given time, and you can tell he really cares because he spent time admiring corals in the wild, instead of just buying new fish and tanks.

Coralfish12g is my favorite youtuber by far lol, super entertaining, got me into saltwater, and I hadnt actually thought of keeping corals it was kind of just supposed to be fish, but then I started watching Tidal Gardens and BRS lol. Now I'm hooked lol

 

[Dark_Knightt]

Never watched him but not knowing the names of common fish but still taking on massive projects sounds a bit silly.

Acclimation is a whole other subject. I never drip acclimate fish and haven’t since I started about 10yrs ago. But I can understand your frustration. He probably shows general lack of care and responsibility for his animals.

Ill have to look him up. I have a feeling I may have came across a video or two of his.

Check out the vid i mentioned its kinda hilarious to ppl who understand the BASICS of this hobby lol. He looks into a tank of firefish and says "oh thats a cool blenny, i want one" XD

 

[PeterLL]

Instead of posting or bashing or complaining how about doing something righteous and provide direct feedback to the socialite / media personality.

He turns off comments because people in the comments frequently try to tell him how he is not appropriately caring for his animals.

 

[Dark_Knightt]

Kind of strange WWC would basically sponsor him if he truly doesn't take good care of things.

ReefDork (I think that's his name) is good, he tank is very nice.

Lol I forgot who ReefDork was, turns out I've seen tons of his vids

 

[Dark_Knightt]

He turns off comments because people in the comments frequently try to tell him how he is not appropriately caring for his animals.

smh *shaking my head*

 

[HuduVudu]

For one, he doesn't know the name of any animal! He will look at a firefish goby, (which lets be honest is a very popular and well known fish for people who know even just a little about saltwater tanks), and call it a blenny! Or he'll call a fish a tang when its clearly not that!

Why is this even remotely relevant? Who cares if you know what the fish is or not. I know what it looks like and based on my experience I could probably figure out what it needs and where it fits in a reef. Possibly too this person does this for shock value. I now know this guys name, and if I didn't think you were duped by the whole thing I would go look at his stuff just to see. You are promoting this person that you say you don't like. Gratz.

Second, the way he acclimates his fish. I was watching a video of his entitled "SALTWATER FISH SHOPPING SPREE For My AQUARIUMS!! *NEW FISH and CORAL*" , where he goes to WorldWIdeCorals and purchases some fish and some corals (he walks around the store like he owns the place but can't name a firefish), then gets home and acclimates them: WHERE HE DOESNT ACCLIMATE PROPERLY AT ALL. Drip acclimation should be like, 1 drop per second for like, at least 45mins, but he just sucks the tube and puts it in, releasing a full jet into the bucket full of fish! Drip acclimation is something all hobbyists need to learn, no matter saltwater, reef or freshwater!

I use my hands all the time to handle fish. It is safer for them, not neccessarily for me.

Lastly, the way he shows fish to the camera. He picks them up with a net *OR HIS HANDS* and shows them to the camera, keeping them out of the water for extended periods of time which could be unsafe for the fish!

I get the fish from the bag with my hand because nets can tear up a fish that is moving a lot and I plop him in my tank. That is how I do it. It is your OPINION that he is doing it wrong.

In conclusion, I don't mean to show hate to Nick Bingo, his videos can be entertaining, I just hope he sees this and learns that YOU NEED TO LEARN BEFORE YOU BUY in this hobby!

What is it that he needs to learn? What you have learned?

Especially if young kids watch your videos, they will get the wrong information!

Oh boy ... when someone makes a for the children argument that means they have no argument to make.

If you are so offended by this guy then ignore him and move on. That is the best way to deal with it. Now you have brought him what he wants ... attention. You are helping him and fueling marketing. I am not sure that is really what you wanted to do.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

For sure, it was just a bit of a tongue in cheek comment. There are amazing youtubers on every topic you can think off, just that you do have to be careful on the whole when deciding who to take information from and who to not, especially when it comes to live animals.

Isn't that part of the fun of the internet, finding things YOU enjoy and possibly not others. This is why FB and Tweety have ruined their companies trying to feed you information you don't necessarily want to see or read, reason 3000 why I dropped them like fresh dog poooopooo 7 years ago

 

[Dark_Knightt]

So in a video of Nick Bingo's I posted a comment telling him how its important to learn before you buy, etc, most of the stuff thats been said on this thread. I forgot that in the video he walked by a tank and saw and ACHILLES tang and was about to buy it!! Those are one of the hardest fish to care for, even for experts!

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Than with Tidal Gardens for example!

He's got amazing and informative videos, wish I could purchase from them.

 

[MohrReefs]

You should reach out and offer up some advice, help him out some. Turn his bad habits into good habits.