Fish Keepers In My Family

[mscichlid]

I have people in my family, even a few close friends, that keep fish...oh my God!

The conditions! Their fish, (some of them dominate the tank and survive after years of ambiquiguty (sp)).

Do you have a similar experience?

CONFESSION:My mother has a 30 gal with 1- 4 "kissing guorami, 2 - 2 " - :silver dollars and a 7" pleco with a castle and sunken diver/ chest, and saltwater background. The tank is subjected to direct sunlight and an abundant amount of algae tabs and flakes. I've supplied my mom with an Aquaclear 300, a Python, and a new regimen for feeding and water changes, but lordy, lordy, the water is still cloudy.

How do you handle less informed family members who just don't care like we do?

 

[maddog10]

I gave my brother and sister in-law a whole set-up for their 3 kids. Explained everything they needed to do and why. They still went out and bought "pretty fish", something like 20 of them (some would have grown to be over 12"). Then they put them all in the 20 gallon tank. Never cycled the tank or anything. Add water then add fish, thats it. All dead within a couple of weeks. Never did a water change. Said the tank was too much work. All they did was feed the fish and it was too much work!! I told them to get a dog. They now have 2 Yorkies, they look to be in good health. :smashfreakB:

 

[tash]

how are dogs easier then fish? you have to take them outside. and thier food is heavier to carry. and thier poop is stinkier.... and they are harder to train.....

 

[cyradis4]

lol..... One of my uncles had a fish tank, but while my aunt stocked it (usually with an assortment of livebearers and other small, pretty fish) he did take care of it. Later, he had a single Piranha in it. I think it was a 20 gal. It was always spotless and the fish was happy. But that is the only one of my relatives that had a tank, and the one friend of mine that has fish takes good care of them. I've been lucky in that regard. But I've heard other people's stories.,.....

Amanda.

PS: Dogs are easier then fish if you don't want to do a little listening or a little research. But if you do your homework (and assuming the tanks don't multiply) then they are easier.

 

[Sonny Disposition]

My 83 year old Dear Old Dad has a 29 gallon high in his living room. It's a steel frame tank, which he bought before I was born, from a pet shop that's been out of business for at least 45 years now.

That tank has been going ever since I can remember, stocked at one time or another with guppies, mollies, neons, blue gouramis and lots of other little tropicals that have been popular throughout the years. About 10 years ago, I brought him back some wild sailfin mollies from a trip to Florida.

Pop changes the filter once every couple of years or so and doesn't believe in water changes, just topping the tank off when the water evaporates. The mollies did well for a number of years, until the population finally crashed. A couple of years ago, he went to the store to find something to repopulate the tank with. Pop's vision isn't what it used to be, and he never was what you would call a detail person. Anyway, he picked out what he thought were a couple of black mollies. But the fish kept getting bigger and bigger. When they got to be the size of a baseball, and one of them turned orange, he realized that what he had bought were black moor goldfish.

That was a couple of years ago, and the goldfish are still swimming around in their crowded little tank that doesn't get any water changes.

I have people in my family, even a few close friends, that keep fish...oh my God!

The conditions! Their fish, (some of them dominate the tank and survive after years of ambiquiguty (sp)).

Do you have a similar experience?

CONFESSION:My mother has a 30 gal with 1- 4 "kissing guorami, 2 - 2 " - :silver dollars and a 7" pleco with a castle and sunken diver/ chest, and saltwater background. The tank is subjected to direct sunlight and an abundant amount of algae tabs and flakes. I've supplied my mom with an Aquaclear 300, a Python, and a new regimen for feeding and water changes, but lordy, lordy, the water is still cloudy.

How do you handle less informed family members who just don't care like we do?[/b]

 

[Pat Kelly]

My son bought a town house last year. It came with a tank and fish. He did not want it.

My daughter took the tank and the fish. It came with a Parrot fish thing, two feeder goldfish and a pleco. You never see the pleco, the parrot sits there and when you get up to the front of the tank, it picks up the large size gravel and spits it at you against the glass. I was in the room one day and kept hearing this tapping sound. Took me a while. When I looked at the tank, he did not do it. When I looked away, he would do it again. But when I sat in front of the tank he got pissed and kept spitting at me. He does it until you feed him. She wants to get rid of them and redo the tank but her boyfriend likes Fred(the spitter). One day maybe. One day.

 

[longstocking]

lol that's a cool fish even if it's a hybrid ! :lol:

The only person in my entire family that has ever kept fish other than myself was my uncle. He's one of the crazy scientists that does hydrolic design for Disney etc. Retired at the ripe old age of 50 !lol

So needless to say... his tank was always spotless.

THe rest of my family just looked at me weird when I told them I have tanks.

 

[tash]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cyradis4 @ Feb 7 2008, 11:08 PM) [snapback]13576[/snapback]</div>

....PS: Dogs are easier then fish if you don't want to do a little listening or a little research. But if you do your homework (and assuming the tanks don't multiply) then they are easier.[/b]

but the research is the funnest part!


(ok... I know... I am werid...)

 

[cyradis4]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

QUOTE (cyradis4 @ Feb 7 2008, 11:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
....PS: Dogs are easier then fish if you don't want to do a little listening or a little research. But if you do your homework (and assuming the tanks don't multiply) then they are easier.

but the research is the funnest part!


(ok... I know... I am werid...)[/b]

lol... I quite agree!!!!!!! But I'm also considered weird.... Course, my best friend thinks I'm crazy..... But then, the Mad Scientist is my father, so I wonder why..... :confused0083:

Later!
Amanda.

 

[dogofwar]

Especially when buying and getting info from chain pet stores, there are serious barriers to entry for keeping fish...and keeping them alive. So much bad advice and it's tough to afford a big-enough-tank. I just remember all of the BS that I was told when I was starting out. I had so many bottles of so many chemicals, so much contradictory info, etc. that my mind was spinning (the cash register at the LFS certainly was).

When friends and relatives are interested in keeping fish, I try to make it seem less intimidating. KISS: I tell them what to get (sometimes where to get it...or give them extra stuff), walk them through setting up, help them make good fish choices, and remind them that if they don't do anything else that they need to change the water. It hasn't worked 100% (some people catch the fish "bug" and others don't...and anything that's a chore will get neglected eventually).

Matt

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cyradis4 @ Feb 8 2008, 10:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE

QUOTE (cyradis4 @ Feb 7 2008, 11:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
....PS: Dogs are easier then fish if you don't want to do a little listening or a little research. But if you do your homework (and assuming the tanks don't multiply) then they are easier.

but the research is the funnest part!


(ok... I know... I am werid...)[/b]

lol... I quite agree!!!!!!! But I'm also considered weird.... Course, my best friend thinks I'm crazy..... But then, the Mad Scientist is my father, so I wonder why..... :confused0083:

Later!
Amanda.
[/b][/quote]

 

[marge618]

There are fishkeepers in my family. Their fish live a long time and multiply. All of that said, I don't know what they do with their tanks to keep them up and running. Never thought to ask.

I do know that my younger sister has had the same 29 gallon tank set up in her livingroom since 1975. She has moved so many times that no one kept count after 1985. According to her, "the house does not feel like home until the fish tank is set up." She has kept a variety of livebearers: guppy, molly, platy, gourami. There's always a green cory cat named 'Ambrose'. Now she has angels. There are always healthy fish in her tank and it never looks like it needs cleaning.

My sis has had dogs of many breeds and sizes over the years. At one point she bred and raised sled dogs. At the same time she had a chihuahua.

My parents have had a community tank for decades. (29 g) There were always 3-4 types of fish in the tank and it looked pretty good. (My dad made me my first fishtank out of glass and steel.. around 80 g but that's another story.) Mom also had dogs (german shepherds and a poodle) and horses (ponies, a quarter horse and Arabs - just 2 at a time) for decades. Right now they don't have any pets. They are in their mid 80's now and reluctant to take on responsibilities. However, my mom has recently decided that she is interested in setting up that tank again. I suspect that my sister was responsible for the good condition of my parents' tanks over these last years. They swapped fish back and forth before sis got angels.

There's a Minnesota fish club that meets in Fridley, Minnesota not far from them. Mom would enjoy going to their fish show in April. It depends on her health...and if she has someone to go with her. I sent them info about our AquaFest 2007 and they thought it was really neat. They have been to horse shows and dog shows...never a fish show.

Their horses, dogs and fish all did fine. Pets have status in that household.

 

[tash]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dogofwar @ Feb 8 2008, 11:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Especially when buying and getting info from chain pet stores, there are serious barriers to entry for keeping fish...and keeping them alive. So much bad advice and it's tough to afford a big-enough-tank. I just remember all of the BS that I was told when I was starting out. I had so many bottles of so many chemicals, so much contradictory info, etc. that my mind was spinning (the cash register at the LFS certainly was).

When friends and relatives are interested in keeping fish, I try to make it seem less intimidating. KISS: I tell them what to get (sometimes where to get it...or give them extra stuff), walk them through setting up, help them make good fish choices, and remind them that if they don't do anything else that they need to change the water. It hasn't worked 100% (some people catch the fish "bug" and others don't...and anything that's a chore will get neglected eventually).

Matt

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cyradis4 @ Feb 8 2008, 10:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE

QUOTE (cyradis4 @ Feb 7 2008, 11:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
....PS: Dogs are easier then fish if you don't want to do a little listening or a little research. But if you do your homework (and assuming the tanks don't multiply) then they are easier.

but the research is the funnest part!


(ok... I know... I am werid...)[/b]

lol... I quite agree!!!!!!! But I'm also considered weird.... Course, my best friend thinks I'm crazy..... But then, the Mad Scientist is my father, so I wonder why..... :confused0083:

Later!
Amanda.
[/b][/quote]
[/b][/quote]

I sorta remember people telling me werid stuff. But I used to go to the fish chat on prodigys pet area and there were some people there who knew lots of stuff. This was way back when we first had the "internet" though. (like 94/95 maybe?). drove my parents nuts because we still had to pay for internet by the hour :lol: before that I was more intrested in the genetics. but I had a few books too.

 

[longstocking]

It amazes me how people treat animals sometimes !

I must say my family is pretty cool about it. They want fish tanks but also know it's a lot of work so they don't get a tank. Which is a good thing !

My dad wants a tank but knows it's a lot of work. So he has asked me to set him up with a tank that has automatic water changes and put an auto feeder on it. At least he knows he wouldn't take care of the fish :lol: His wife will have to remind him to fill the auto feeder though :lol: It's going to be a big project when ever it happens. He wants about 350 gallons on a second floor :lol: So Bill is going to have fun structurally ! LOL

My mom hates fish LOL.... it's from when I was a kid and had a tank. She did the water changes back then. All she can think about now is having to suck out the poo ! HA HA HA HA So needless to say she will never have a fish tank again.

Ps: Francine.... your bro likes my fish better than yours Sad this " wow your fish don't hide" :lol: HA HA HA HA HA

 

[DeeCee]

I'm the only animal-lover in my family! My sister had a cat for awhile, but it ran off before she moved to Florida, and she seemed pleased that it relocated itself.

DC

 

[mscichlid]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (longstocking @ Feb 8 2008, 01:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Ps: Francine.... your bro likes my fish better than yours Sad this " wow your fish don't hide" :lol: HA HA HA HA HA[/b]

I know! LOL! he tells me that all the time. However, his favorite fish are convicts and I'm about to gift him a few.