How Misinformation Is Destroying Hobbies: The Hidden Risks

[@daneframpton7480]

There is a shrimp-keeping hobbyist on KZbin by the name of Mark who is deadly. The amount of misinformation he spreads must have caused thousands of shrimp deaths. This is such an important video!

[@ShrimpSanctuary]

You are not the first telling me that, and i know i get hate remarks but we honor the shrimps as lives.

[@gb-wd2jd]

There a few KZbinrs, especially like the one you mention who have little credibility. His main focus is producing content, all of his content is contradictory from video to video. One basic example, without going into more complex subjects. He was promoting cheap aquatic food as the best way to be successful, only to contradict that video with another soon after advocating the most expensive shrimp food as the way too feed. Enough said. These type of KZbinrs should be avoided! There are many very good shrimp KZbinrs out there and they are beneficial to the hobby. It easy to see who the good KZbinrs are, they are the ones producing and providing consistent and excellent content Hobbyists need to avoid the attention seeker type mention earlier

[@ShrimpSanctuary]

@@gb-wd2jd yes i think what is worst than no information is misinformation, bad data causes poor decision and their way of silencing true hobbyist to prevent them being corrected or outshine, is simply a system to protect themselves and maintain a facade of expertise. Seasoned hobbyist, aware of the dangers of this behavior often retreat rather than waste their energy fighting a losing battle. The result? communities dominated by inaccurate information, where the blind lead the blind, and newcomers pay the price.

[@artisikers2628]

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. 😁

[@daneframpton7480]

The problem is that people new to the hobby will go on KZbin looking for information and think that because a video has a lot of views it is correct, it's not! The above mentioned keeper is now advocating not doing "water changes", what, so nitrates don't exist anymore!? It's like saying if you want your dog to live longer just keep it's head under water for 10 minutes each day. Shrimp keeping can be really hard when you first start because most people have kept fish in aquariums and think it's the same. I'm not sure what the solution is? Even if you created an invite only forum or website which stops misinformation, how would the people who really need that information find it? I guess it's the same with any topic, even politics. The internet gives people a voice who sometimes clearly don't deserve it!

[@PapaShrimpTX]

I've been keeping aquariums since I was five years old ... 50 years of "learning by doing". I followed various channels trying to learn. The main thing I learned is to use information as a guide vs the rule. What works for me may not work with others but I try to share what I learn, what I think, what I've observed and hopefully ppl will utilize their own experience and knowledge to blend various methods to find what works for them. Great job Bene!!! #iloveshrimp

[@ShrimpSanctuary]

Missed this comment because i don't usually see the held comments, i don't know why YT held your comment but thank you for the kind words. Yes i agree "practical + theory" helps a lot. Keep progressing forward.

[@darthvader1494]

I am a hydroponic grower. I never thought about it in this way. I have been growing hydroponicly for 10 years and i notice alot of the things you talk about in this video now that i reflected on the subject. Very accurate in my opinion 👍 thanks for a great video.

[@ShrimpSanctuary]

you are most welcome that this video resonates with you.

[@kevinsheppard3920]

This is way you're my FAVORITE 🤗. You teach the ABC of the shrimp hobby 🤓🧐💯💥✌🏿

[@ShrimpSanctuary]

@@kevinsheppard3920 appreciate the kind words.

[@RJ.Shrimps]

Great topic Bene.

[@ShrimpSanctuary]

Cheers!

[@RWAquariumPages]

Great video and great series of useful information of videos. It's true there's lots of information and hard to tell what works and what doesn't as aquariums have different variables and parameters and there's almost no 2 tanks alike. I've seen a few channels giving information that's doesn't seem right in my opinion but it works for them. keep up the great videos!

[@ShrimpSanctuary]

Yes just different level. Living vs Thriving. Normal vs Competition. Normal beef vs Wagyu beef. The higher it goes, the lesser the people.

[@garthantash]

I have a few techincal and artistic hobbies and none are as rabidly contradictory as shrimp keeping. Ask *any* 2 experienced keepers a question and you are likely to get "never do X" from the first and "always do X" from the second. KZbinrs, Facebook groups and people not on the internet at all, it is just a fact of this hobby. If people ask me for advice on what I do, I can only tell them what works for me and I tell them it might not work for them. KZbinrs tend to not bother with these caveats after a while and I don't blame them much, people (myself included) go online hoping to find a definitive answer when often there isn"t one or at least not a convenient, easy answer which can be presented in an engaging video. As much as we might like to pretend otherwise because we are deep into the hobby, shrimp keeping is a fairly new thing in a lot of the world and is poorly understood even by many people we would call experts and because of that opinions, even tried and tested ones, can vary from person to person, region to region.

[@daneframpton7480]

That being said, there are a few fundamental basics everyone with experience would agree on; Ph, bacterial 'control' and water changes are never contradictory topics. Not one breeder I know would disagree on Ph buffering or water changes! The problem is, how do you know who's an "experienced" keeper!?

[@garthantash]

@daneframpton7480 water changes is one of the most contentious topics going, the prime example of "never do X" "always do X". pH is right up there too. Some people swear they get crystals to breed at pH 7.2+, others claim it can never happen above pH 6.5.

[@garthantash]

@daneframpton7480 and to be contentious myself, I think pH buffering for caridina is a deeply flawed practice established by vested professionals that hobbiests have accepted as normal. Instead of selectively breeding shrimp for hardiness and the ability to tolerate a wide range of water conditions, they are instead bred to only tolerate the absolute narrowest range of conditions that are utterly alien to their rapidly fluctuating conditions in the wild. The mercy from nature to neocaridina is that they do not exhibit interesting patterns with mutation so have been allowed by humans to keep some of their natural hardiness despite our best efforts.

[@daneframpton7480]

@@garthantash It is not contentious at all though. That is the whole point of the video, learn where to get information from. You might get some cowboy on a Facebook group saying they don't do water changes or they keep their shrimp in high ph, pretending they know what they're doing. 2 years later they're not in the hobby though. There is a difference between "keeping" and "breeding". Ask 20 long term breeders, I guarantee they all use the same soil for ph reasons and they all do water changes. There is a huge difference between surviving and thriving.

[@louiscastero6566]

Kind of agree, so long if your own method works for you then stick with it.

[@SimplyAquaticCT]

I think this is a fantastic point to make, as the rule goes - look at their tanks to see if what they say is actually working 🦐

[@ShrimpSanctuary]

That is the first step, and many other steps ahead to validate.

[@olivier8761]

Hi. I love the channel and the info you share with us. I get that there is alot of misinformation about shrimp breeding. One youtuber says this, the other something else. And I also believe alot of shrimp don't survive because of some of the info out there. But in my opinion, if you're a beginner, you will always lose shrimp, figuring out the best way to do it. When I started out, I lost alot of shrimp trying to find my way. It's sad, because they are animals that need our care to survive. Even the 'right' way of shrimp keeping could cause a lot of losses in the beginning. You have to find a way that works best for you, and stick with it. Channels like Marks, are the reason I started keeping shrimp and I really enjoy watching them. If youtubers bring more people into the hobby, than that's a win. People should not blindly follow anyone, and just do their own thing, that works best for them. Just to be sure, this is in no way said with ill intent. I really like the info you give us! Cheers.

[@ShrimpSanctuary]

Awesome! thanks for getting on the journey with us.