Dentists Aquarium: What would you do?
- Thread starter Fishfriend1
- Start date
lol, thanks!
Travis, I think you are kind to consider someone else's fish tank and the fish in it. I can see from your changing posts over the months you have been here, you are becoming even more and more mature-- I don't mean that in a condescending way in the least. Seventeen doesn't mean immature, necessarily, but it does mean having less life experience than some, simply based on the factor of time. Some of that experience has to do with dealing delicately with people in different situations in life. Boy, I wish I had known as much about "people skills" at seventeen as I do in my 40's-- and I am still amazed every day by what I learn!
I'm sure that you will handle this appropriately, and if it doesn't work out the way you would like, you will simply add the experience to your "people" bank and move on to more rewarding projects. I wish you good luck, and I think you have your heart in the right place, no matter how many cavities you have
I know I've been immature in the past (understatement of the year) and while I wouldn't say I've gotten a ton better, I would think that I have grown up a little in the or so years I've been here. I've learned that I'm not a brilliant guy, just average, and that sometimes it's best to just smile and nod (works on parents too!). Now, I'm trying to be humble here, but I'm not too good at "humble". And thanks to you too!
:laugh:
~Travis
I am done. You asked everyone what they would do and I answered you and gave an honest opinion. I didnt mean anything by my comment.
Maybe next time you should include:
"Please give me your opinion only if you are going to praise me and agree with me"
Maybe next time you should include:
"Please give me your opinion only if you are going to praise me and agree with me"
Well, it was more advice on how to approach the situation, not comments on my ability to take care of fish and how that related to teeth... I honestly have nothing against you thinking it's a bad idea, but your reasoning was... difficult to understand. I'm sorry if I upset you, that was not my intent with my reply.
Send a unanimous call to the Humane Society and let them deal with it. They can follow up and insist on changes. You can't, unfortunately.
OMG... There was a spider climbing up my arm! EWWWWW
OMG... There was a spider climbing up my arm! EWWWWW
For it to be unanimous, though, I think the majority of us would need to call...
And I'm pretty sure that the kid was trying to be helpful....not out to get anyone in trouble.
BTW, I've just dispatched the Humane Society to investigate the killing of a spider at your residence. Please bag the remains for evidence.
agreed. I didn't see anything wrong with his post...
lmao
FF I think you should just let it be, it's better to not get involved, as you're going to need a reliable dentist for years to come. It's not worth making him mad over it.
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I know. But I don't see how else to handle it. I had a similar situation, kind of, with this old age home that I was volunteering at. One of the budgies in a display cage had a horribly over grown beak. I didn't want to say anything and have them ignore me because what could I possibly do then? Nothing would change and the bird would be stuck with an overgrown beak. So I called the humane society and told them that I didn't intend for anyone to get in trouble, I just wanted them to remind or alert the home to the problem.
Turns out it was a waste of time either way because I don't think the humane society did jack because the bird's beak never was trimmed. Some humane society, huh?
The humane society has no authority to do anything on their own. While they do investigate animal cruelty, they have to get law enforcement involved to legally take any action. The time and manpower involved, means that only large scale animal cruelty gets investigated. Puppy mills, dogfights, that sort of thing. They would need an immense amount of resources to investigate every complaint about a single bird or overstocked fish tank, and they'd still need to get law enforcement involved, which for the purposes of single pets or tanks, simply isn't in the budget, nor would the majority of taxpayers be in favor of it being included in the budget.
There's also a huge difference between ignorance and abuse. There are far more fish tanks out there that are grossly overstocked or disease ridden than there are that are properly stocked and healthy. Most of the owners of these tanks aren't doing it on purpose, they simply don't know any better. They believe that the sign that says "small" at the pet store means that the fish will stay small. They have no clue what a nitrogen cycle is. They clean their tanks by taking everything out and cleaning it with soap. They don't do water changes, but instead add cold untreated tap water when the tank looks low. They don't do these things with the intent to harm their fish, they simply don't know any better. The pet stores don't tell them how to care for the lives they are selling them, simply because sales would be severely reduced. People would learn that they couldn't keep the kind of fish they want without huge tanks, and even small tanks require more maintenance than they'd care to do. On top of that, the employees are often ignorant themselves, like the Petco employee that tried to tell me that the first step in the nitrogen cycle was when the Ph in the tank goes down. My point being, that while these people do keep their fish in terrible conditions, they don't know any better. Most of us were in the same position when we first started keeping fish. The difference being that instead of selling off our tanks and equipment after a few failed attempts at keeping fish alive, we chose to research the cause of the problems, and try again, eventually gaining the knowledge and experience to keep our future fish happy and healthy. Before the internet, even doing that much could prove difficult. Even with the internet, there's often as much misinformation out there as there is accurate information.
In an ideal world, no one would ever accept responsibility for the life of any animal without the knowledge of how to properly care for it. The reality is, they don't. But it's not right to sick law enforcement and animal rights groups on people simply due to their ignorance. In many cases, simply approaching these people, and without laying blame, offering them the knowledge that you have to share, can be more than enough to solve the problem. Even when it's not, sometimes you have to realize that the world at large doesn't see animals the same way that you see them, and come to terms with the fact that often you can only save/be responsible for the lives of animals which you have personally accepted responsibility for.
There's also a huge difference between ignorance and abuse. There are far more fish tanks out there that are grossly overstocked or disease ridden than there are that are properly stocked and healthy. Most of the owners of these tanks aren't doing it on purpose, they simply don't know any better. They believe that the sign that says "small" at the pet store means that the fish will stay small. They have no clue what a nitrogen cycle is. They clean their tanks by taking everything out and cleaning it with soap. They don't do water changes, but instead add cold untreated tap water when the tank looks low. They don't do these things with the intent to harm their fish, they simply don't know any better. The pet stores don't tell them how to care for the lives they are selling them, simply because sales would be severely reduced. People would learn that they couldn't keep the kind of fish they want without huge tanks, and even small tanks require more maintenance than they'd care to do. On top of that, the employees are often ignorant themselves, like the Petco employee that tried to tell me that the first step in the nitrogen cycle was when the Ph in the tank goes down. My point being, that while these people do keep their fish in terrible conditions, they don't know any better. Most of us were in the same position when we first started keeping fish. The difference being that instead of selling off our tanks and equipment after a few failed attempts at keeping fish alive, we chose to research the cause of the problems, and try again, eventually gaining the knowledge and experience to keep our future fish happy and healthy. Before the internet, even doing that much could prove difficult. Even with the internet, there's often as much misinformation out there as there is accurate information.
In an ideal world, no one would ever accept responsibility for the life of any animal without the knowledge of how to properly care for it. The reality is, they don't. But it's not right to sick law enforcement and animal rights groups on people simply due to their ignorance. In many cases, simply approaching these people, and without laying blame, offering them the knowledge that you have to share, can be more than enough to solve the problem. Even when it's not, sometimes you have to realize that the world at large doesn't see animals the same way that you see them, and come to terms with the fact that often you can only save/be responsible for the lives of animals which you have personally accepted responsibility for.
