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That One Guy
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Got up this morning and the power was out. Finally came back on about two hours later. My aquariums and fish are fine. The weather has been hot this week so the temperature wasn't a concern but I got to thinking about how dependent we are on electricity. Everything runs on electricity. Also been seeing some things on the news and on 60 Minutes about the vulnerability of the power grid to nefarious acts. Texas had their power woes a couple winters ago and I'm starting to think about cool water still tanks . Either that or move into a cave.
 
Everyone says you can't live without electricity, but you can. However, it's not as much fun and food goes off a lot quicker without power.

Solar panels and storage batteries are the way to go for everyone. We get plenty of sunlight in most places on Earth and the new panels convert more light into energy that can be saved in new lithium ion batteries.

Unfortunately governments have been short sighted and been lead around by fossil fuel companies for way too long and we are now paying the price. We have major power supply issues in the eastern half of the country because state governments sold off as much gas, coal and oil as they could. This left none behind for the people that live here.

Australia has huge reserves of fossil fuels but because the state governments didn't keep any in reserve for the locals, they now have to buy it in from the open market and are paying full price due to the war in Ukraine. The West Australian government did hold some back and we don't have that problem. The eastern states also let private companies provide power, water and gas, whereas the WA government controls ours. In my opinion, it's better to have the government control the resources than letting greedy individuals control it.

We also have wind power and hopefully be getting wave power soon.
 
Electricity prices souring everywhere too of course, cannot believe how high our electricity bill has gotten, and makes me feel really bad about having tanks. Has made me lean even harder towards less filters (I used to run two on each tank) and relying more on heavy planting and water changes. I added airstones to my two tanks running at the moment because of the heatwave we had, since the cories were dashing to the surface for air more often, but each time I plug something else in, I feel guilty and worry about the bill that will come. Considering moving to just sponge filters, for filtration and oxygenation.
 
If you're at all northern, that problem of electricity is a big one to ponder. Even low filtration, unheated tank (19-22 ideal) killies can freeze. I built my first ever fishroom here, and it's insulated to the eyeballs. It's holding heat extremely well - too well considering it's summer...

I am running one air pump, a low energy consumption one, 3 canisters and 3 HOBs for 40ish filtered tanks. All my lights are LEDs. I have managed to reduce my bill by a fair bit - LEDs were a gift. I have 2 heaters in use, but they are rarely on. In winter that may change.

There are outstanding fish that thrive at 20c...
 
If you're at all northern, that problem of electricity is a big one to ponder. Even low filtration, unheated tank (19-22 ideal) killies can freeze. I built my first ever fishroom here, and it's insulated to the eyeballs. It's holding heat extremely well - too well considering it's summer...

I am running one air pump, a low energy consumption one, 3 canisters and 3 HOBs for 40ish filtered tanks. All my lights are LEDs. I have managed to reduce my bill by a fair bit - LEDs were a gift. I have 2 heaters in use, but they are rarely on. In winter that may change.

There are outstanding fish that thrive at 20c...
Man, I wish I could tour this fishroom! Sounds amazing. Way beyond my skill level to understand how to run that many tanks at once, but I'd love to be able to walk around with you and ask questions! Do you have a thread about the fishroom by chance?
 
@AdoraBelle Dearheart I feel guilty about that too. You see people on the news in Ukraine , Afghanistan , Lebanon , Sri Lanka and Ethiopia just struggling to live and I fret over some minnows in a glass box. Sometimes I really feel like the Ugly American.
Yep, exactly. And sending the electricity bill for my family higher just because I want to keep some fish as a hobby - I pay the bill, but it's not the point. None of us are wealthy and that money could be going towards something else.

As things are going, I feel like I should be growing veg outside, unplugging everything I can and not keeping fish at all - but I feel heartbroken at the thought of not having them, then feel like a spoiled first world problem basic white girl, worrying about petty things while the world is crazy and people are dying...

I'm not expressing this very well at all. Hope you guys get what I mean though. We certainly live in interesting times...
 
As things are going, I feel like I should be growing veg outside, unplugging everything I can and not keeping fish at all - but I feel heartbroken at the thought of not having them, then feel like a spoiled first world problem basic white girl, worrying about petty things while the world is crazy and people are dying...
We need people to keep fish in aquariums because most of them are going to be extinct in 30 years.

Growing your own fruit n veg outside is good for you and the environment. Plus it usually tastes better than the stuff from the shops.
 
We need people to keep fish in aquariums because most of them are going to be extinct in 30 years.

Growing your own fruit n veg outside is good for you and the environment. Plus it usually tastes better than the stuff from the shops.
Homegrown tomatoes are the best!
 
I read an interesting point the other month about growing food and sustainable living and it made me plant some bits in the garden mainly for my kids as they’ve love watch things grow and watering it etc but the whole article was about people being nurtured by governments and were only ever taught how to contribute to society by getting a job and paying taxes were never taught how to live and how to grow our own food and rear our own live stock because if we’re taught that we have no need to contribute to society... I’m not a conspirator but it made a lot of sense
 
We need people to keep fish in aquariums because most of them are going to be extinct in 30 years.
Do you really think many will be extinct so soon? Is there like a list other than CITES about fish that are almost extinct in the wild that we need to preserve? I know that corydoras world keeps a list of breeders of which species of cories etc, trying to preserve species that are at risk from human encroachment and habitat loss... it's devastating what humans have done to the planet. And each other...
Growing your own fruit n veg outside is good for you and the environment. Plus it usually tastes better than the stuff from the shops.
Very true! I'd really like to get into that. I'm not a bad gardener usually (good with aquarium and outdoor plants, terrible with houseplants for some reason).
I read an interesting point the other month about growing food and sustainable living and it made me plant some bits in the garden mainly for my kids as they’ve love watch things grow and watering it etc but the whole article was about people being nurtured by governments and were only ever taught how to contribute to society by getting a job and paying taxes were never taught how to live and how to grow our own food and rear our own live stock because if we’re taught that we have no need to contribute to society... I’m not a conspirator but it made a lot of sense
Very good point. I'd love to read that article if you have the link in your history still! I'm not a conspiracy person either, people can literally drive themselves insane if they dive too deep and don't question sources - BUT... governments certainly do want the majority of the population to be working drones and reliant on wages to survive...

In our recent history, our country survived terrible conditions and rationing post WW2. The mindset was very different, all about dedicating any land you had to growing food, not wasting anything, "make do and mend" etc. My dad lived through that time and remembers it well, and while not a hoarder, does have some pack rat tendencies that can be useful at times! I try to adopt the same mindset, while not going too far with it, you know. Times are going to be rough for everyone for a long while. Hopefully we can also remember and adopt the community minded attitude that dominated during that time as well, where we pull together and keep calm and carry on.
 
One of the funny things in the hobby is how many fish were coaxed through not only WW2, but the hard years after in Europe. A few killies even survived as keepers in German cities, bombed over and over, managed to prioritize them.

The problem when we look at the world and say what we are doing seems trite is that stopping won't change a thing. Come Fall, I intend to become involved in the local food bank (as a volunteer, not a user!). I've spent good chunks of my life doing things like that, just as I have maintained lots of tropical fish. When I had 3 jobs and was stretched thin, I had to be on the edge of community involvement, but I'm retired. There's work to be done.
Having fish doesn't take that away.
It may actually help keep me sane (if I'm sane, that is) in the face of the things that stress us.
If I had had no leisure and no escape into learning about fish, I may well have burned out and been a lot less useful to my family, and to the kids I worked with.

Growing my own food? I'd need a greenhouse where I am - it's cool. People here lived from the sea, not from farming. Plus other than growing tomatoes, I'm lost. Families where I grew up had window boxes on their front balconies.
 
We need people to keep fish in aquariums because most of them are going to be extinct in 30 years.
Do you really think many will be extinct so soon? Is there like a list other than CITES about fish that are almost extinct in the wild that we need to preserve? I know that corydoras world keeps a list of breeders of which species of cories etc, trying to preserve species that are at risk from human encroachment and habitat loss... it's devastating what humans have done to the planet. And each other...
I think the planet is screwed and everything that needs oxygen is dead unless people make drastic changes immediately. All the governments going on about reducing emissions to 0 by 2050 is rubbish. We need it done yesterday.

I doubt there are lists of fish that need saving besides CITES list. The WA Department of Fisheries doesn't even know what half the fish are in this state and doesn't care. They simply say "You can't take those fish or we will charge you". I was trying to get some Galaxias truttaceous that are endangered due to the government selling the surrounding land to a farmer sometime between 2016 & 2020, who cleared all the native bush to grow grass for cattle even though there are hundreds of acres of grazing land already in the area. The area was the last feeding ground for white tail black cockatoos and numerous rare and endangered animals and plants, most of which are now virtually extinct. The fish themselves are endangered from pollution from farm runoff, lack of rain and the introduction of non-native fishes that eat the natives and introduce awful diseases that kill the native fish. Instead of being allowed to take some of these fish into captivity for breeding purposes, we have to sit back and watch them disappear because of stupid government rules that do nothing to help or save the species.

These aren't the only fish being wiped out. There are Galaxiella species, Lepidogalaxias salamandroides, various perch and lots of rainbowfish losing habitat and dying from lack of rainfall in WA, and then there are other species around the rest of the country that are suffering the same fate. There is a hairy marron (freshwater crayfish) that was around when dinosaurs existed. It is being wiped out by lack of habitat and rainfall, and by the introduction of other species by the government.

The same government releases trout into native waterways so people can go fishing. The trout farms have Fish TB in them and that is confirmed by the government's own fish scientists, but it doesn't stop them releasing hundreds of thousands of introduced species into native waterways every year. And the trout eat the native fish and the food the native fishes need.

Spread this out over the globe and it isn't looking good for any fish, bird, plant, animal, insect, spider or reptile.

Serious damage has been done to the environment and we have already gone past the point of no return sign. Even if we stop all greenhouse gas emissions today, it will take years before things settle down, and significantly longer to get slightly back on track to having normal weather patterns and rainfall.

None of this means anything when the human race is growing at an alarming rate and chopping down every tree around them. Without the trees, there is nothing to encourage rain or to transpire water vapour into the atmosphere, nothing to stop the wind blowing, nothing to stop the soil eroding away, nowhere for animals and birds to live. We need to get greenhouse gasses under control now and replant the planet otherwise were all toast.

Sorry if this sounds alarming but this is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with right now, not in 5 or 10 years time and certainly not in 30 years time. We simply don't have that time left. It's now or never.
 
@Colin_T 100% True ! We're screwed. The United States was virgin wilderness 200 years ago. Unspoiled and pristine with clear water and abundant wildlife. The Industrial Revolution caused damage that will never be undone and big business busies itself with the further destruction of what's left. My generation was so idealistic. I remember the very first Earth Day and the anti-war protests that ultimately ended our involvement in Vietnam . But, sadly, my generations idealism turned to cynicism and then to resignation. Why do people stop caring ?
 
and then to resignation. Why do people stop caring ?

Because we feel small and powerless to change anything :(


The governments worldwide aren't doing enough, and we're being nagged to recycle and separate plastics, seeing the islands of plastic floating in oceans and destroying ecosystems, and do our bit by recycling stuff, but no one is preventing the manufacturers who are CREATING all the plastic and wrapping everything we buy in it.

Because no matter how green we might try to be, it feels like a drop in the ocean, and that it's already too late to save the planet. It's hard to get people invested in trying to save the big and popular animals like lions, tigers and rhinos. How do we convince anyone to care about rare and tiny fish they've never even heard of? How do we as individuals stop rainforests being logged and habitats destroyed? It feels like we can't stop it happening, no matter who you vote for, let alone what you buy - the illusion of choice there is only a trick...

Honestly, this was part of the reason I chose not to have children. I don't dislike them, and I have other personal reasons too. But growing up watching nature documentaries and amazed by the natural world, when there's always a segment talking about how close the amazing creatures you've been watching are to being wiped out due to human encroachment and habitat destruction... It's heart-breaking, and feels futile to prevent it. Learned so much about this wonderful planet and incredible variety of ecosystems, more than you could learn about in a lifetime - but as you get older, finding out that so much is already destroyed, how little time many species have left... crushed my innocence, for sure.

So while there were other personal reasons for my choice as well, there was definitely an element of "my genes aren't anything special, the planet is already overpopulated, and what world would we be leaving to them?" I feel bad for parents who have to think about that and raise children only to tell them about amazing creatures that used to live here, but can now only be seen on old videos.

Sorry for making this even more depressing!
 

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