I feel guilt when I think about re-homing my fish

[cloudywithachanceofminnow]

Does anyone else have a tank/tanks that don't excite them much anymore?... but they keep it up and running because they have trouble re-homing their fish? I've grown semi attached and worry someone uneducated will give them a bad quality of life. I've always been envious of the hobbiest that can just go to the aquarium shop, drop off the fish they no longer are excited to own and redo their whole tank. Any advice for re-homing them without feeling guilty?

 

[Uberhoust]

I have similar issues. I kind of feel when you get an animal it is yours for life. Normally it hasn't been a problem but I decided to breed some angels, mostly for the experience of breeding Angels. The breeding ended up being easy the real issue is getting homes for all the new baby fish.

I ended up with so many angels that I did have to sell/give about 200 to our LFS but they don't want any more so I have another three tanks with the angels I decided to keep because they are interesting. They are getting larger and I have to rehome about 50% of the remaining.

I am going to have to suck up the guilt and offer them all to a new homes. Don't know anyway around the issue. I am not breeding angels anymore because of the difficulties in finding homes, let alone good ones, for all the juveniles.

In noticed you are from Wasco, Oregon. Drove through your town once while looking for unique rock collecting sites 3 years ago, if I remember it was pretty small but located in an interesting location up on the plateau above the Columbia. Oregon is one interesting state, my only criticism is that you can't pump your own gas.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

I like your name "cloudywithachance of meatballs", not quite but I like it

When it comes to animals, it is good that you care enough about where they might end up. It means you are human and have feelings.

I used to breed fish and sold lots to different shops. I only sold to shops that I knew and those shops did the best they could for their fish. That is all you can do. Just hope that someone who gets them, cares about them like you do. Unfortunately it's all you can do.

 

[FishBearer9845]

My guppy tank gets culled as often as I can as I don’t want much, if any, cross breading (although I appreciate that’s easier said than done and in fact, my next cull is down to males only). I digress. Each cull I’ve taken them to the only LFS I know locally that are super fierce with the questions they ask when you buy from them. They’re the only place I now buy from and I trust my gut instinct on their attitude towards selling, and that’s enough for me.

 

[GaryE]

I figure that if we are unable to take proper care of living things we take on, then we have to find them homes. It's always better to be able to tap into networks and get them to hobbyists we trust, rather than to stores, but we seems an isolated bunch in many areas, so you do the best you can. There's a difference between taking fish back and selling young you've raised, but in the end, if they are going to linger on neglected, give them a better chance.

If they are fish you feel attached to but you've lost the taste, you may want to look at talking to someone about that loss of motivation. For many, it can be a symptom of depression, and there is medical help for that. You have to take care of yourself too.