this is less of a tip and more something I hope that more people in the hobby do, but MAKE SURE YOUR FISH ARE SUSTAINABLY SOURCED! Ask where they came from, and if they’re captive bred, that’s the best! The hobby has to move away from fish that are wild-caught in bulk without any sustainability
Official Entry: I tried to think of 1 tip that really helped me but i narrowed it down to 2. Tip #1- make sure you ask about a stores quarantine procedure on livestock and if possible quarantine anything wet you add to the tank yourself, i as a nieve new reefer thought fish parasites and diseases in general were alot more rare than they are and that it would only affect me multiple years down the road, fast forward 2 years later of not listening to advice about quarantine and ive lost 2 clowns, 2 damsels, 2 chromis, 3 mollies and the latest dagger my prized yellow tang from what i assume to be ich that i believe i added on one of my first purchases and thats just fish. Tip #2- I wish i knew that alot of aquarium products such as test kits and reagents, fish meds, palytoxin and my most recently discovered that calcium carbonate dust and calcium hydroxide are very toxic to humans and that you should always make sure to research and follow safety procedures for everything you do for your aquarium reguardless of what you or I see people on youtube or elsewhere doing. Even recently i was using kalk (calcium hydroxide) freely without any safety precaution and would always see powder flying into the air that i obviously was breathing in, and now i read it burns the airways and can cause tissue necrosis and may be linked to lung cancer and other cancers.
If there is something that could be a life threatening problem for your tank, find a way to back it up and monitor it. I'm talking heaters, oxygen supply during power outages, kalkwaser dosing, auto top off, even fish and coral disease quarantine. Long term success is reached by doing things right, and doing things right starts by preventing catastrophic tank events.
Bonus advice set up a tank in a way that won't require more energy and time than you can put into it years down the road.
Be prepared for loss, it’s going to happen and it sucks. Do everything in your power to stop it before it’s an issue. I believe I’ve been following other forums and Facebook groups since 2013 before I got my first tank about two months ago. So you can’t ever be over prepared. If you find a good LFS that sells captive fish support them your fish will likely be healthier, have better immune health and you’re supporting a movement that stops wild harvest and over fishing.
Official entry - best advice I received was learning how much copperband butterflies love black worms. I was able to source black worms from a local fish store and my CBB learned to eat out of my hand!
No not yet, really like Picos. One day in the near future, I’ll be starting one of my own. If I stare at something long enough, it seems to end up in my house. It’s like a magic trick lol. ROFL. XD So far I do think I like it. Seems like the circulation is great. Only issue is getting a heater...