The difference between a tropical/cold water fish hobbyist and...
- Thread starter Redearsunfish
- Start date
I was in my LFS and i took notice of the throng of people. I realized most of the people in the shop were casual fish keepers and not tropical/cold water hobbyists. Then I got to thinking - why in the world would you want to keep a fish tank as a piece of furniture or decoration? I mean, if you can't afford the service or don't want to pay for the service of keeping a tank, why would you want the trouble of keeping a tank if you wern't a hobbyist?
People ask me all the time... "isn't it a lot of work with all those tanks?" and I answer, "yes, but I love doing maintenance".
Weird to me, so many many casual "fish keepers" out there.
It's not like there are causal reptile keepers out there right... but I guess that's why there are so few dedicated reptile shops...
Now I'm rambling... the casual fish keeper is a strange being to me.
I think i'm going to become a casual farm animal keeper, like a cow or a sheep or a chicken.
By the way, if one more person at petsmart asks me "what size tank do you have", i'm going to scream. just kidding. they are doing a good job by asking. however i love saying that i'm going to be putting the fish I buy in a bowl to see there reaction.
By your definition, I am definitely not a hobbyist. I'm just a fish owner who is also a cat owner. I do not frequent LFSs, or pet stores and hardly give my fish a second thought when I am away. I am only a pet owner who tries to provide adequate housing for my pets. Tank maintenance is not my thing, and I want my set up to be as easy and maintenance-free as possible. Housekeeping in general, is not my thing. I do not live and breath and exist for my pets. As far as I'm concerned, they exist for me to enhance the quality of my life. If a person had a dog and all they did was talk about dogs, I would think they were wacko. Not every dog owner is a dog fancier or keeps dogs as a hobby.
I'm a fishkeeper. My two fish are beloved members of my family just as my cat is. I am not a fish hobbyist, but because of the time I spend browsing fish forums, I am a fish forum hobbyist.
You know, I used to go nuts when they played 20 questions with me before allowing me to buy an air pump or heater or whatever.. but I have come to appreciate it. Petco/Petsmart have a BAD reputation and I'm starting to think it's undeserved.. or at least in this day and age. I haven't been in there in the last year for anything when they didn't verify that what I was doing was reasonable for my situation i.e. chemicals, equipment and fish sales.
Last time I was at 'smart the employee refused to sell a family with two little boys a pair of goldfish in anything less than a 10 gallon tank MINIMUM he said. The family was complaining that they should be able to buy whatever they want and the father was like, "dude.. what happened to just throwing them in a bowl!?!?" but the guy held his ground.
I know they do stupid stuff because of some employees at a huge chain, but for a group that actually pays millions to bring a store to a lot of towns and at least tries to make sure their employees do the right thing.. Well it's admirable actually. Brick and Mortar is a hard road to plow in todays economy and with internet etc..
