Anyone else have commitment issues?

[Bottomfeeder]

With a few notable exceptions, all my specimens are lifelong residents.

I believe that once you have an animal, it's your responsibility to see to it that the animal has the best chance and living a long, happy, healthy life. Personally, I believe their best chance to do so is to remain under my care.

I've kept a lot of animals, though, and I did trade or give away a few of them. I can recall at least two occasions where the animals either did not acclimate well to their new environments, or simply were not offered the same level of care that I gave them, and died. It just reaffirmed my belief that the best pets are pets for life.

Around here, bringing an animal back to the pet store is a death sentence. I rarely, if ever, buy livestock from pet stores these days, but if I do... they ain't going back!

 

[rodger]

With a few notable exceptions, all my specimens are lifelong residents.

I believe that once you have an animal, it's your responsibility to see to it that the animal has the best chance and living a long, happy, healthy life. Personally, I believe their best chance to do so is to remain under my care.

I've kept a lot of animals, though, and I did trade or give away a few of them. I can recall at least two occasions where the animals either did not acclimate well to their new environments, or simply were not offered the same level of care that I gave them, and died. It just reaffirmed my belief that the best pets are pets for life.

Around here, bringing an animal back to the pet store is a death sentence. I rarely, if ever, buy livestock from pet stores these days, but if I do... they ain't going back!

I find great values in getting trades from the LFS.

 

[jaws7777]

Kind of sort of lol once a fish is in the house for a while my kids name it and it becomes part of the family. When i first got back into the hobby i was rehoming fish all the time. Mostly to good homes like other members. But after being out of the hobby for such a long time and not being able to have more than 3 or 4 tanks going it was hard to really figure out what i wanted to keep or someone turns serial killer and i had no where to put them (my fault for not doing proper research) Now im really happy that i did "test the waters" with other species and couldnt imagine getting rid of my polys or or pearsei some of the others could go in a pinch if i had to but not with out a fight. Funny on another site my rehoming fish caused a war lol. Some people just think that there way is the only way. I cant see getting bored with a fish ive had for years but if after a month or so with a new fish if it isnt working out i'd have no problem rehoming it

 

[axs377]

I think my problem is not enough tanks...with only 2 up. I think 3 or 4 more might curb my thoughts of wanting to change any fish up. For now I'm keeping the fronts in the 320, and my odds and ends in the 125. I can't get an 8' tank in my basement and the wife is not going to let me have 2 large tanks on the main floor, so I think it may be time to try my hand at building something.

 

[NeonFlux]

I admit, I lose commitment sometimes myself, because sometimes my mind would wander off into something else (like an interesting topic, focusing on a project from school, work, etc) and I would tend to get really lazy to feed, water change, top-off, and do filter maintenance at times.. Then my commitment comes right back, because I feel really guilty of neglecting my fish tanks.

 

[spadoc79]

I change up stock and tanks about every 3 to 4 months...I get bored with my setup and have to change it.

 

[jamntoast]

I think my problem is not enough tanks...

I think this is pretty much all of our problem. I hear you though, some times you get bored.

 

[souzie]

I also usually think about the fish, and wonder what kind of life they would live being relocated after spending years in my house, with me, and my routine? A bit sappy I suppose, but I suspect that the stress could be quite significant for many of the larger more intelligent species, especially if rehomed as adults, and especially if rehomed to the hands of an idiot with terrible husbandry practices.

THIS x1000!!!

I tell my fish that every day when I sit with them...LOL...how lucky they are that they got to come home with me.

 

[kevbc03]

I used to have commitment issues when I was trying to find my hobbyist niche. I would constantly purchase different species, only to find they weren't the fish for me. I would then sell them to friends and family and try again.
It wasn't until 4-5 years ago when I found my Piranha/characin interest and have been a loyal hobbyist ever since.

I think it's normal or at least not out of the norm to want to re-scape your tanks. I rearrange my tanks once every 6 months for the change of scenery.

 

[pacu mom]

Fish keepers cannot be all lumped together in one category in terms of fish or commitment. Many fish have short life spans. Many fish are small and can easily be rehomed. When we bring home a bag of gold fish from the fair, we don't think, "I am going to love and care for this fish the rest of my life". We don't have much expectation to even form a close relationship with the fish, and we probably don't even expect it to survive for long.

Most people who bring a dog into their home expect to keep the dog for its entire life. The majority of people do not view or interact with their fish the same way that they do with their dogs and/or cats. For those of us who view our fish as family members, the commitment is usually for life. For people who view their fish as an investment, their commitment is until they sell the fish.

As far as commitment to a fish, I think it is only important if it is an extremely large, long-lived fish who would die from lack of an appropriate home if we were to get rid of it. Let's face it, there are hierachies of fish starting with feeder fish at the very bottom (poor fish). Our commitment level will be based on how we view the fish--beloved treasured pet, investment, entertainment, decoration. If our fish are entertainment/decoration, they will change depending on our mood and the season. Nothing wrong with that if we choose fish which are not harmed when they are dumped for something else. It is a great thing that there are fish for every type of fish keeper.