Its the only possible way to learn about the fish and understand them. I get upset getting rid of my fish, i grow too attached
Are we actualy MFK ?
- Thread starter waynes world
- Start date
kdrun76;4756110; said:
Hello
I think this is beyond the intent of the OPs comments. To me, you are a very responsible fish keeper. You bought the fish with the intentions of keeping it. You provided the proper environment and care taking. You actually kept your eel for 10 years
And you rehomed it only after your life changed significantly. And, you were responsible in looking after its re-location. Sounds pretty MFK to me (can MFK be a verb? lol )Red Devil has said it well...education. Another key word is "responsible". Of course things in life come up that could make you change your situation. But that's different than buying a juvie fish with the intention of rehoming it when it gets too big. (fostering is a different situation)
kdrun76;4756110; said:
We won't be able to move. Had a friend suggest more than once, that it would be cheaper to charter a plane and fly to the Amazon and release my fish. Can you imagine such a thing? My boys would swim up the first human they saw to greet them and .....I told my friend I didn't appreciate his comments.
My fish are not into traveling. They will be moved one more time when their new home is set up, and it will be their permanent home.
I keep my fish for life, BUT, there are always exceptions to the rule.
When I was sixteen (22 years ago - yikes!) I went away on a foreign exchange for my junior year of high school. My parents weren't willing/able to take care of my two monsters (a Managuensis and a Silver Aro) so I had to trade them in.
The second time was a couple years later. I had bought a Mystus wickyii that grew like mad and began eating all its tankmates. When I had to remove my 8" Synodontis from the 14" Mystus's mouth (the Syno was fine, after his slightly digested tail healed. I traded in the Mystus and learned a very valuable lesson about monster cats.
The third fish I've traded in over thirty years of fishkeeping was an Angel I traded in a couple months ago. The b*****d killed just about everything he could. After watching the thing sit in a 15G tank all by himself for a month I finally broke down and got rid of him. It was hard, I had raised the fish for about three years and was fairly attached to it, even with its homicidal tendencies.
So, like Manuel said earlier, it happens to the best-intentioned of us eventually. If you are in the hobby long enough (about thirty years of almost uninterrupted fishkeeping) you will probably have some hard choices to make.
When I was sixteen (22 years ago - yikes!) I went away on a foreign exchange for my junior year of high school. My parents weren't willing/able to take care of my two monsters (a Managuensis and a Silver Aro) so I had to trade them in.
The second time was a couple years later. I had bought a Mystus wickyii that grew like mad and began eating all its tankmates. When I had to remove my 8" Synodontis from the 14" Mystus's mouth (the Syno was fine, after his slightly digested tail healed. I traded in the Mystus and learned a very valuable lesson about monster cats.
The third fish I've traded in over thirty years of fishkeeping was an Angel I traded in a couple months ago. The b*****d killed just about everything he could. After watching the thing sit in a 15G tank all by himself for a month I finally broke down and got rid of him. It was hard, I had raised the fish for about three years and was fairly attached to it, even with its homicidal tendencies.
So, like Manuel said earlier, it happens to the best-intentioned of us eventually. If you are in the hobby long enough (about thirty years of almost uninterrupted fishkeeping) you will probably have some hard choices to make.
Red Devil;4755983; said:
Originally Posted by kdrun76
Does my giving away a fish that I couldn't care properly for any longer mean I am not a MFK'er? --- I had planed to keep that fish for life, but my life changed.
Hello
I think this is beyond the intent of the OPs comments. To me, you are a very responsible fish keeper. You bought the fish with the intentions of keeping it. You provided the proper environment and care taking. You actually kept your eel for 10 years
Red Devil has said it well...education. Another key word is "responsible". Of course things in life come up that could make you change your situation. But that's different than buying a juvie fish with the intention of rehoming it when it gets too big. (fostering is a different situation)
Thank you ^^^^
I've always kept small fish, community tanks, planted, etc...until I was inspired by this forum. Now I'm learning a lot and am even more obsessed. This is my first try at bigger fish (bifas) but they are only about 6 inches now so I plan to keep reading and learning from you guys and can't wait to watch them grow more and more. Thanks for your dedication to it all you true MFKers!
here on MFK, there are doers and dreamers...
the doers are the ones that accomplished the goal whilst the dreamers are the rest of us that continue to dream one of those days they will have that ultimate MFK tank
the doers are the ones that accomplished the goal whilst the dreamers are the rest of us that continue to dream one of those days they will have that ultimate MFK tank
Red Devil;4755983; said:
Sorry but I'll disagree I don't care how much water is changed, how well fed, or how healthy the fish appear to be. Keeping bettas in bowls, oscars in 55g or Silver aro, pacu, P-bass in a 180g in any but pathetic. These fish would be better of passed on to someone who will provide ALL that is required to properly keep these fish.
For anyone to suggest that I am not a "real" MFKer. Since I decided after raising my P-bass to 10" that I couldn't provide ALL that was needed to keep them. So I have let them go instead of keeping them cramped in a 180g tank for the rest of their lives. Well I find this insulting, and if this is what MFK is about, then I'm not MFK. If you can't provide all that is needed, stop being selfish and find the fish a proper home.
I am 18 now, live at with my parent and probably within the next year or so, I will have to get an apartment until I graduate from college. I know space will be a huge issue if I want room for monster fish anytime in the near future. In my house right now, the biggest I can go is 6'x2' and I already have the tank. Once I am out in an apartment, I know that will be the biggest I can have as well. So all of my fish, I want to make sure aren't going to get bigger than a foot so I don't have to get rid of them and they can live comfortably.
I almost always research every fish I buy before I buy it. Owning a fish that I know will outgrow my tank makes me feel like I am doing a bad job and that I am slacking by not working on a larger tank.
I avoid getting many fish that I really want (Aba Knives, Reticulated Knives, Hydrolycus Armatus, etc) just because I know that I cannot provide a comfortable home for them.
I almost always research every fish I buy before I buy it. Owning a fish that I know will outgrow my tank makes me feel like I am doing a bad job and that I am slacking by not working on a larger tank.
I avoid getting many fish that I really want (Aba Knives, Reticulated Knives, Hydrolycus Armatus, etc) just because I know that I cannot provide a comfortable home for them.
We all love the fish we keep and we all love fish in general.
But it happens- and to whom it hasn't happened has not had many years at fishkeeping - that we change fish, we sell them, we give them away. Either because they grow too big, too agro, or because we just want to try something else.
Fish, let us face it, are not dogs, nor cats, ,nor horses ( I am sorry if I am coming across bluntly ). These ,you get for life, they are your companions.
So either you have unlimited space and the capacity to keep adding extra tanks to your collection, or you do what you have to do, and rehome them when you have exhausted yourself with them, for any a number of reasons.
I admit that there may be some exceptions, but most of us, when we swear that we will keep that "fish" for life, we are fooling ourselves.
But it happens- and to whom it hasn't happened has not had many years at fishkeeping - that we change fish, we sell them, we give them away. Either because they grow too big, too agro, or because we just want to try something else.
Fish, let us face it, are not dogs, nor cats, ,nor horses ( I am sorry if I am coming across bluntly ). These ,you get for life, they are your companions.
So either you have unlimited space and the capacity to keep adding extra tanks to your collection, or you do what you have to do, and rehome them when you have exhausted yourself with them, for any a number of reasons.
I admit that there may be some exceptions, but most of us, when we swear that we will keep that "fish" for life, we are fooling ourselves.
