Some people live on luck

[skimpy]

Ok, I want to know why people on here try to do everything right because they care and try really hard and then sadly get losses and others in the world do ***** all and just sail through. The following is completely true of someone I know.

A fish tank was bought for an 11 year old (about 12 gallons) and within a week stocked it with about 30 fish. Some of the fish died in the beginning (surprise, surprise) but quite a few survived. No one knew what fish they were and just fed flake and no one did any water changes etc. They had the tank running for about six weeks and then they moved house.

They bought a polystyrene box and put the fish into the box and put the box onto the removal van at lunchtime on the Wednesday. They moved to the new house (7 hour drive away) but did not get the delivery of furniture (and fish) until Thursday morning. This was when I first saw the fish. They were sitting on the lawn outside the new house in the sun to warm up a bit. The tank had also travelled down on the removal van with filter left to dry up and bacteria to die.

Well I explained to them the best thing to do next but they said 'na' these are hardy fish 'don't need pampering'. They filled up the tank and would have put the fish straight in (but i gave them declorinator and insisted they put it in, so they did) They also washed out the filter in declorinated water (again my insistance). They then put in their 12 neons and one platy.

That was 5 weeks ago. They won't test their water (no need! they say, fish aren't dead so they must be ok) - They've not done any water changes (it doesn't look dirty they say) and still the 12 neons and one platy survive. HOW!!!!

It does not matter what I say their argument is 'the fish aren't dead' so I'm talking rubbish.

How do some people get away with it, it does not make sense!

 

[sakaspuds]

there is a woman on our street she never does water changes, and i mean never, not for the 3 years i have known her, and the fish seem to thrive, she also mixes fish that the lfs tells her not to have and gets away with that, i guess the weaker fish died off ages ago and the remaining ones are tough as old boots?

 

[jacblades]

my grandma hasnt done a water change in 3 years. all she does is change the filter cartridge.

i think the water gets changed every 6 months when either my cousin or i visit.

she has a 20 gal with a gourami, a pleco (thats getting way too big for the tank) and a swordtail.
i think God has blessed those fish because theres no way they could survive otherwise.

 

[K-Holed]

Let me put it this way. You could go out onto a busy street and run across the road ... then back again ... then again ... ad again ... et cetera. You might never get hit by a car. Or you could use the pedestrian crossing and a car might not stop and you get killed. Both are -possible- scenarios but I know which one I'd prefer! Probability governs everything we do and some people call this luck.

 

[Aquascaper]

I have a friend who set up a marine tank with no prior experience of fish keeping. All he had was a light, some live rock, a heater and an internal filter (no skimmer!). He added the salt without using a hygrometer (sp?) and added 5 fish, 4 snails and a couple of shrimps.
That was 4 months ago and he hasn't done a single water change but still has all the fish surviving along with the invertebrates and a hell of a lot of green algae all over the place (so much you can hardly see the fish!)
He now wants to turn it into a tropical tank because they're 'less hassle' to maintain

Still.............i'm setting up a marine tank so I said i'd 'help him out' by taking the marine stuff off his hands and give him some mopani wood in return
I now have about £40 worth of salt, £100 worth of live rock and all the inhabitants all for £30 worth of wood

The phrase 'more money than sense' can be applied here

 

[skimpy]

Didn't know there were so many others out there. 3 years - OMG those tanks must look really dirty

Let me put it this way. You could go out onto a busy street and run across the road ... then back again ... then again ... ad again ... et cetera. You might never get hit by a car. Or you could use the pedestrian crossing and a car might not stop and you get killed. Both are -possible- scenarios but I know which one I'd prefer! Probability governs everything we do and some people call this luck.

Know where you're coming from - I know the scenario i prefer too!

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Yes, but on the other end of the spectrum you get people who are anally retentive when it comes to their fish tanks. They clean it every day, do more water tests than they check the forums measure out the precise amount of food, are constantly juggling the chemical levels and then whine because their fish die. There is such a thing as overkill, and this is it. Fish are....are they ready for this?...... FISH. That means that they lived in the wild (or were bred in farms, for those who would use this against me), they actually do have an immune system and can take care of themselves for the most part. That's not to say that people shouldn't change the water and all that, but quite a few people freak out over the slightest thing. Last time I checked there weren't people testing the water of the local river, treating all the fish for ich, and making sure all the fry survive.

So while I'm not saying that you should just let your tank rot, I do think that people should give fish some more credit.

Luck, chance, just plain fishy toughness?

I dunno.

 

[endparenthesis]

I'm with NinjaSmurf. Yes, you should take good care of your fish, of course... but I think all the "rules" have gradually gotten more and more elaborate as fish-keepers have crusaded to out-humane each other, and as the companies that make all the various fish health/safety equipment have figured out that the more afraid people are of what could happen to their fish, the more money they'll spend.

I'm always curious how many people on here who have these lists of set-in-stone fish-keeping rules follow them because they've learned from experience, or because they've read it in a book somewhere.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Thank god, I'm not the only one!

 

[endparenthesis]

Plus, since their conditions are so sterile, the anal neurotic fish-keepers end up having weaker fish than anyone else, and are ironically more likely to have deaths in their tanks.

 

[skimpy]

I prefer the scenario of being careful as I said. But in more detail I think we should get advice, look it up, read about it and then get a BALANCE. Take what you find out but don't do 'cos you're told to' do what you feel is right for your own fish.

One end of the spectrum is almost neglect the other being over protective.

Its like when I had kids. The books and professionals say you must sterilize everything, but if you sterilize EVERYTHING then how do they get an immunity to build up against germs.

Try to find out more than one view and get a balance and go with your gut instinct.

Well it works for me!

 

[Da_Oz]

My set in stone rule of haveing fish as pets.

Fishkeeping is easy, we make it hard.


Kind of like the old woman that swallowed the fly. Then had to find something to eat the fly and on we go from there. Fish live all over the world with out help from us all they get is food "sometimes" and clean water "sometimes". But we need to add alot of stuff that would never be in a pool of water anywhere. When I started back in the early 80's all there was chlorine remover. And noone told me to change water, just to add some when needed. So I did just that for alomost 10 years. I would clean it out maybe once a year if that. But luck I would not call this. I would call it being less informed.

 

[fishdudein]

quote: My set in stone rule of haveing fish as pets.

Fishkeeping is easy, we make it hard.



I have always liked a little "K.I.S.S." now and then :Keep It Simple, Stupid! Some of my larger tanks have power filtration units, my salt tanks have bio-wheels and protein skimmers, but the majority of my tanks run off of the old-fashioned carbon-and-floss box filters or simple sponge filters. I can't even buy these at any LFS anymore, they used to be standard operating equipment.

Long live simplicity!

 

[Arfie]

My mother can't beleive what I do with my fish, as a kid , we had 2 goldfish in a 2ft tank, they got a 100% water change without dechlorinator , just allowed to get to room temperature and a full tank scrub and filter media clean out all at once whenever the water was so dirty you couldn't see them usually 6 months or so, they lived to 17 & 18 years old and were about 9 inches in length AND they came from a fairground They were the hardest fish ever .

One of my mates used to keep tropicals until about 8 years ago, he never used dechlorinator, changed all the water when it got too green and had angels, guppies, tetra's and a betta all together without losses.

I wouldn't dream of doing any of this now, but some fish can obviously live in considerable worse conditions than we try to provide for them I've been diving in water so murky you cant see more than 1 metre, but the fish weren't dying off and floating to the surface.

Arfie

 

[mandi]

I'll admit it -- I started out that way (going on pure luck).

When I was about 13 or 14, my parents got me a 10 gallon "kit". I didn't know what I was doing -- I just followed what the booklet that came with the tank said -- to let it run for 36-48 hours and then add fish. I forget what all I had in there -- I remember 2 tiger barbs, 2 giant danio's, 1 pleco, and I forget what else (some guppies, I think). I never knew about doing water changes or anything. In about 6 months I wound up having JUST the 2 giant Danio's left, and a tank FULL of algae.

Now that I know better (I wanted to do things the *right* way this time) I feel horrible for putting those fish through that. But I guess everyone has to start somewhere.

Ignorance is one thing, but its the people who know better, and have been told that they're not doing it right -- but still continue to do the same thing that bug me.