Lost causes.

[A201]

I once had a job, which required me to meet with people inside their homes
I've seen beautiful aquarium set ups in those homes as well as putrid failures.
Often times my conversations with the clients would switch from business to aquariums.
Those who kept untidy tanks where usually just lazy. Others were just uneducated about aquarium maintenance. Advice was offered when appropriate. That's about all a person can do.
Just a personal observation; Oscar's seemed to have been the most commonly mis-kept fish. Viewing two full grown Oscar's in a dirty 55 gal. tank isn't very pretty.

 

[esoxlucius]

Countless millions of tropical fish die every day, for the sake of our hobby.

It's a double edged sword. In one way idiots like my wife's friends are keeping the breeding compounds and fish collection personnel very busy, and at the same time giving accomplished hobbyists a bad name.

I can forgive the odd bad error, we've all been there, but we become better due to those mistakes. Some people obviously don't.

As the thread title suggests, some people are just lost causes.

 

[RD.]

Yes, many fish do die in the wild, or shortly after being removed from it.

98% of marine fish headed for the aquarium trade die within a year in the Philippines (mongabay.com)

Analysis: U.S. Pet Trade Imports 6 Million Tropical Fish Exposed to Cyanide Poisoning Each Year (biologicaldiversity.org)

Fishing With Cyanide | Hakai Magazine

Aquarium Trade Kills Millions Of Tropical Fish Each Year - The Dodo

Even if the stats are off, you get the idea. It ain't so romantic keeping wild fish, when you understand how they got to the bag you took them home in.
A good read on how little anyone in the trade even cares. Google the following paper: A Systematic Review of the Ornamental Fish Trade with Emphasis on Coral Reef Fishes—An Impossible Task

Ever visit a wholesale facility, or shops that import fish each week? Same thing, millions die from the stress of simply being netted, and transported to another retail or wholesale facility somewhere. Then add in the disease factor, oops. I have seen entire shipments wiped out from one thing or another. Nasty business it is.

Fish die, lots of them, countless millions, long before the massive die off from the hands of ignorant hobbyists, such as the ones in this story.


It's just a simple fact really, as humans we kill tropical fish for our selfish pleasure.

 

[tlindsey]

Simple answer some people don't care about fish but keep them.

 

[Galantspeedz]

Simple answer some people don't care about fish but keep them.

Sadly, the same can be said about parents having kids too

 

[tlindsey]

Sadly, the same can be said about parents having kids too

Very sad but true.

 

[FINWIN]

My take on it is what I call "mammal bias" that anything that isn't a mammal or not human centric is less intelligent, less important, less long lived, blah, blah. Ignorance is easy because you don't have to change your mind or learn.

 

[Niki_up]

I think as responsible hobbyists on this forum we have all seen some degree of ignorance or poor aquarium habits of others in the hobby, and simply put they are not as passionate as ourselves.

I have a couple friends that care about fish and try to take care of them adequately but simply will not accept my explanation that excessive filtration does not replace a good water change. They think they can over stock and not change water as frequently bc they have some over sized canister filter that keeps their water “crystal clear and clean”. I’ve stopped trying to explain to them and have accepted their ways.

the number of people I met that think my 90% weekly water changes are excessive is exceptionally high and I have yet to met anyone who has the same maintenance standards as myself.

when I lost some of my zebra plecos due to me briefly switching to safe and potentially under dosing the tank people said it was bc I changed 90% of my water ?

this has turned into a long post as well lol

but to simplify we on MFK will most likely always have higher standards than the most common hobbyist. We will see the errors in their way and usually try offering advice. We will be the ones who regularly rescue their fish. We will always be upset as the lesser stands we are, but that’s what MFK is for. It a community where we can vent to each other, learn, share, and support each other.

i say rant away and know you not alone in the way you feel.

 

[Kelly_Aquatics]

I think that many non hobbyists have the problem that they view fish and aquariums as decor not living things. Sure its great to have a display tank many off us do! but people need to keep in mind that they are living things not just decor

 

[The Masked Shadow]

I’ve had this happen with a friend of mine. I let him feed my fish, and he put handfuls of food for the 6 tetras and 1 Delhezi Bichir for a few days. One of my prized Congo tetras died. Then, a month later, I got my moms friend to feed them. She probably thought it was a joke. I showed her how to feed my MANY pets, and she fed all of the ones correctly besides the fish, I got the LARGE canister Of flakes, and I used it for 3 days, so it was barely taken out of. She went ahead and used the whole thing the first day, and told us that they would be eating for a while. So for a week, my tetras got fat, and when I got there, the water was so cloudy that I couldn’t even see 4ft.