What Can You Do, Huh?

[Unome]

I love my brother. I really do. We were the ones that got him interested in freshwater fish and he has 2 tanks - 55G & 75G.

But no matter what we suggest or have him read, he & his wife will not listen. They put all kinds of fish in their tanks which are not compatible and overload their tanks like you wouldn't believe. In her 55, they have assorted tetras, tiger barbs, rainbow sharks, platys, gouramis, etc. And they must have 65 - 75 fish in their. He has 4 plec*s that are about 10" long in this tank. :huh: And similar thing with his 75.

They place all kinds of ornaments in there which take up so much space, the fish don't have much swimming area. In the 55 alone, they have the Roman columns set which one piece barely fits in tank with about 1" in front & back of free space.

And don't get me started on the 2 - 2 plants in each tank with the bare minimum lighting(i.e. - the lights that came with 55G are all they have running :sad: )

[fishcatch22]

are they hard of hearing?!?! when an expert tells you not to do something, you do it!! some people!!! :mad2:

[rosita]

Hmmm, I diagnose two serious cases of eye-to-brain-connection deterioration. Basic observation would tell most thinking humans (and maybe some of the brighter animals, including fish,) that "Durn, man, some people sure can be dumb as dirt."

[khombre]

Haha, I know some people who are like that. Very annoying isn't it? First thing that comes into mind is "How much dumber can they get". Their fish and tanks should be confiscated? :devil:

[UncaBret]

Do they know how to use a computer?

Can you show them this website?


Will they take advice??

[Emg]

Ahhhh....leave em alone, it's their tank.........lol........

One of the downsides to being a "fishgeek" is that you have to put up with other people's choices with thier tanks...even those who don't seem to give a rat's behind about what's the right or wrong way to do this.

You can try and help by making a few tacktfully offered tips...if they listen, fine....if not you just have to learn how to walk away and leave it alone. :huh:

[Unome]

Do they know how to use a computer?
Can you show them this website? Will they take advice??No computer and will not take advice. They have couple of books I have given them about freshwater fish and supposedly have read them.

Visited with them on Saturday. He has broken down the 75G to start all over. Placed white marble chips and some small blue rocks as substrate and has this huge castle in middle of tank. Looks okay. He is going to put 1 plant on each side of the display he has in tank. I did talk him into a sword on each side and 3 bundles of mondo grass across front. His wife wasn't too happy with that. I offered some java fern from our 75(we have bunches) for them when they come visit next week.

Well, we go to store to get some plants and we walk in. First thing she starts doing is tapping on the front of the tanks. :thud: I thought my wife would slap her. Then they start looking at fish and I'm pointing out some of the ones he had talked about getting - i.e tropical community fish like bloodfin tetras, etc.

Next thing I know they're over there looking at the gouramis(Oh, did I mention he had taken 4 of the largest ones I've ever seen out of the 75G when he broke it down and stuffed them in the already overstocked 55G? :huh: ) and tropical aggressive and semi-aggressive fish. I try to point out that semi-aggressive and aggressive fish are not going to get along too well with community fish. Again, I get hateful looks from his wife. I finally give up and we leave.

We're scheduled to go back next month and here's what I envision:
The white rock is no longer that but almost black because he won't clean the rock when doing his partials.
No plants. Okay, maybe 1 scrawny looking half dead thing but that's it.
Algae all over the ornament he has in tank.
A large group of non-compatible fish.

[khombre]

My advice... get the gun.. kill the sister in law jk :idea2:

[Unome]

My advice... get the gun.. kill the sister in law jk :idea2:You don't know how hard it is for me to keep wife from kicking her behind. :rolleyes:

[mtiller]

lol, wowzers man, i'm glad i never met ppl who do that to their fish when they know it's wrong. i could understand if you're in a predicament because you've just now learned the proper care for the fish you have and aren't able to upgrade tank sizes and stuff, but other than that-pure ignorance.

[Sploke]

Hey at least he does water changes. Thats more than a lot of people know (or are willing) to do.

[Rowangel]

Man tough situation! I’d have a hard time keeping my mouth shut over something like that. Unfortunately IME, I find family can be even harder to educate because they expect you to be 'on their side' without questioning their choices. The only thing to do is to keep trying to help in a non-confrontational way, but be prepared to be ignored, especially from in-laws!

[fishcatch22]

I would hold them up at gunpoint and rob them of the fish, then move to mexico to escape the cops.

[Unome]

I would hold them up at gunpoint and rob them of the fish, then move to mexico to escape the cops.Good idea except I couldn't leave the 11 grandkids behind. :D

Hey at least he does water changes.Those are actually questionable. I can only recall a couple of times where he's mentioned doing changes in past 2 years he's had his tanks.

[fishcatch22]

Good idea except I couldn't leave the 11 grandkids behind. :D
take 'em witich ya!

[tai95]

Did you ever think that the advertising in fish magazines, tank boxes, ect leads to overstocking? I had one of those walmart 10gal tanks and the box showed something like 6 angels and 10 swordtails in a 10gal tank. Also if you look through any fish magazine you'll see severly overstocked tanks being shown. Looking at a TFH the oceanic add shows a 72gal tank with about 40 clown fish and at least 10 other fish. So you tell people they are overstocked and they grab a magazine and see those tanks and figure there tank is fine. Also to a lot of people fish are disposable, if fish cost as much as other pets (dogs, birds) people would probably take better care of them. When was the last time you heard about the ASPCA going after someone for abusing there fish?

[khombre]

That is quite true. A lot of people see fishes as disposable ornaments. Their way of thinking is that if it dies, it dies, I can go get another one. Quite sad. The saddest part is, the ones hardest to convince to change this way of thinking are "family members" lol :duh: