Approach to irresponsible fishkeepers

I had a friend who was keeping a betta in a small bowl because thats all her mom would buy her so I gave her a 2.5 gallon tank and gave her a lecture on changing the water weekely and all that and still have to get on her about turning the light on too much. (The light produces so much heat that if you leave it on too much that it will slowly rais the tempature of your tank to some astonashing heights before you notice it).

But most people seem more willing to learn how to take care of their fish than be stuborn about it.
 
nerdyguy83 said:
If you are impulsive you spend maybe 30 bucks at a maximum for fish stuff if you aren't really serious about stuff but are at least ambitious in your foolishness.
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:laugh: ... ambitious in their foolishness... I love that one!

nerdyguy83 said:
One serious fishkeeper is worth 10 impulse buyers at least.
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True. No doubt!

:thm:
 
Well I'm going to throw in my .02 worth here. LOL

At the store I work at, many of us (except for one *****) really do our best to educate people when buying tanks. Many people want to buy a tank AND the fish the same day. We explain to the (again except for one person if she should be called that) people why they can't get fish that day. Sometimes you run into a jack*** that just won't listen. What we do to try and get some sense is explain to them that if they buy the fish, the get no warranty on them. Luckily this is rare but does happen. Then you get the people that half listen. They will wait a week maybe two if we are lucky, then get their fish but when you tell them no more than 3 per week, half listen the other half go ahead and buy 10. Once again we try and prevent this by taking the warranty away. Now every so often (not often enough) we get someone that comes in who really has no clue at all about fish care but actually listen to our advice. I had one man and his family that did. They wanted a 10 gallon tank. I explained that a ten gallon won't hold many fish and explained the one inch per gallon. So he went 55 gallon. We went around and got everything he needed. Good filter, water conditioner, tank, stand, heater, gravel, ect and so forth. Waited a week, got some starter fish (many people don't like to get the starter fish) then slowly stocked up. This guy was so happy that he was given the right information it really makes my work worth while.

Anyways, my point in all of this is sadly no matter how hard you try to educate people, many times they still do what they want. Oh and my favorite customer (NOT!) is those who come in, buy a bowl and a GOLDFISH! A commet at that! They get told these fish need about 30 gallons each and that they can get around 14". The most common response, "I had a gold fish live a year and he was in a bowl. He didn't get big either." UGH! Well sadly that's people for you and it doesn't stop at fish either...
 
Unfortunately I've had friends that reacted VERY negatively to my new knowledge of fish-keeping. As a newbie I'd often ask things like "how often do you do water changes? I've read ....." :read:

This is becasue the friend have had fish for as long as I can remember in a 75 gal or so in their living room. I wasn't questioning their techniques but instead trying to learn from someone I thought had more experience! Have since found out they regularly empty the tank then "throw away that old stuff" and re-purchase new fish since they "get bored" with the same stuff all the time. :rant2:

I offered to take any fish they no longer want since I like them all but they gave me a disdainful look. Since then we have drifted further apart as I note more and more that they have mis-matched stock (goldfish and a red-tailed shark!), don't appear to do filter maintenance, etc. They consider themselves "casual" fishkeepers. I can't bear to think of the horrid conditions and defineitely can't sit in the living room with the tank and pretend all is great in the world.
 
nerdyguy83 said:
I agree with you that impulsive people who buy fish and aren't prepared for it are the driving force in the aquarium supply industry, but if half of those people actually read up, found out what they were doing, and bought all the necessary supplies, the industry wouldn't take a hit. It would actually probably do better. Better than that even, if everyone who bought a fish also bought a Bio-Wheel, a packet of Bio-Spira, a nice heater, etc. then the prices of those would come down to the serious aquarists benefit. As more people spent money on Penguin and Tetra and whatever other brand products, those companies would in turn be able to put more money into research and development, and again the serious aquarist would benefit because better products would come on the consumer market.

The impulse buyers drive the industry, but the only thing that would hurt the market is if they dried up. We would not be hurt if they became more educated.
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ahh..not so fast...

if this did happen the immediate result may actually be an increase in the price..then the industry catches up and produces an inferior product in their zeal to get more out there..

I actually see more impulse buyers purchsing the starter set ups..the industry ahs already set itself up tp provide an easy start..and smartly stock good enough equiptment to get the 'starter going'..they know that the 'starter' may eventually upgrade.

the product is out there and it is relatively inexpensive...for a starter..
I would not expect the 'biowheel' to start dropping in price since this is designed by the industry as an upgrade... :cool2:
 
Sometimes the easiest way to educate an individual is to go ahead and volunteer your services, or equipment. Most people do not like being told they are wrong or don’t know what they are doing, so IME instead of telling someone ‘that’s not how you do it!’ You can say, ‘I noticed your tank is a little green with algae, have you tried a python? They rock, I’ll let you borrow mine and see if it helps out with your weekly water changes…oh, you don’t do weekly changes? You know, I bet if you did, your fish would have more color, be more active and you wont have so much algae!’ If you talk to the person like they know what they are doing, they are far more likely to respond than if you point out how stupid they are.

This also works with non-compatible fish, or ones that get too big. Instead of saying, ‘that fish gets too big’ or ‘those fish don’t mix,’ you ask what type of upgrades they have planned for their Oscar, or when they plan on getting that second tank for their aggressive puffer. If information on fish keeping gets exchanged during the process, all the better. Of course not everyone will think Oscars need a bigger tank, but if I just avoid insulting their intelligence and understand you can’t save them all, I find most people can be reasonable.

I have also given extra equipment to friends in an effort to help them out. A 10g is not expensive (often free at garage sales) and most betas will thank you for it!
 
star_rider said:
ahh..not so fast...

if this did happen the immediate result may actually be an increase in the price..then the industry catches up and produces an inferior product in their zeal to get more out there..

I actually see more impulse buyers purchsing the starter set ups..the industry ahs already set itself up tp provide an easy start..and smartly stock good enough equiptment to get the 'starter going'..they know that the 'starter' may eventually upgrade.

the product is out there and it is relatively inexpensive...for a starter..
I would not expect the 'biowheel' to start dropping in price since this is designed by the industry as an upgrade... :cool2:
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That makes sense, but in our hypothetical world of everyone being educated, everyone would see that those starter kits are inferior to mixing and matching your own tank setup (in some cases anyway, those kits with the snap on hoods with light and filter built right in are pretty solid). I admit that if you were to increase fish education only a little bit among the masses, people would buy the starter kits thinking they are better than some of the other junk out there, but if the mass-education was good enough, everyone would buy the proper stuff.

I'll admit the Bio-Wheel was an upgrade filter for me, but that is only because I bought the cheaper, sumbersible filter before I knew that an HOB filter will aerate your water better and the bacteria won't suck up oxygen like they do in a submersible. Education is the answer.

And who's to say that if the market boomed with well-educated aquarists that Penguin might not come out with a full tank starter kits that would appeal to the masses as a beginner setup? Wouldn't a reasonably priced Bio-Wheel concealed inside a nice hood with a light appeal to the experiencesdfish-keeper as well as the newbie?

*Edit: I forgot. The Eclipse tank setups already have the Bio-Wheel in them. Hopefully they would just get cheaper or better or both.
 
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What can you do really? You can inform the ignorant, but what do you do when they do something very cruel?
I know someone who I visited that had a 20 gallon tall. In it was ONE larger tetra(unknown species). She said they were waiting for it to die so that her son could pick out different fish, or possibly something other than fish(I don't know.. snake? Lizard?)

Instead of taking it to a LFS, giving it away, or at least euthenizing it.. what do they do? They stop cleaning the tank and turn off the filter, the light...for MONTHS! The poor fish held on for a long while. When I first saw him, was all by his lonesome in the corner. I saw him today.. he's dead and decaying in a artificial plant. THIS, is cruel. A flush would be more humane! But not in their minds...

But you know what? I can't say a thing... what's done is done...
 
Akysten said:
What can you do really? You can inform the ignorant, but what do you do when they do something very cruel?
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I would have volunteered to take the fish when I first learned of its condition/neglect. If I could not house it I would have donated it to a pet store for them. This is what I mean by ‘volunteering your services.’ Most people don’t do things because they either don’t know what to do or they don’t want to be bothered by it. Either way, offering to help out is sometimes the only way to educate the ignorant or fix a bad situation.
 
Nerdyguy, I spent 15 years in retail ..ever heard of preplanned obsolesence??


we have the technology to make cars that get great gas mileage.and won't wear out prematurely..the fact remains that they products won't hit the market.

the same line of logic applies to all levels of retail.
the cheap filter work.and will get someone started..but the companies that make the products will continue to use the run of the mill 'starter' set up.

this is how they introduce newbies to the field..it needs to be an effective price point..
the bottom line is most new entries into aquaria..seek to do so at the best price they can..once they get started they can 'upgrade'

they need to decide which is best for them..you like the biowheel..I like the aqua clear..

yes the aqaurium industry can set up better quality equiptment...but the cost needs to be deferred to the customer..the price of mfg the better equiptment and support it..plus pay for R&D is reflected in the price of the equiptment.

once people get into the field..they increase thier education..the formula works.

aquaria and aquarium keeping is constantly growing..and the education is constantly improving..as the industry grows..so does the education.
 
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