Most non hobbyist still think fish are little more then floating vegetables, goldfish having 5 second memorys is still widely believed, I know a few vegetarians that eat fish as they don't have enough intelligence to feel pain. This type of thinking is encouraged by the food industry as trying to humanly kill fish on a trawler would raise the cost considerably. The sale of monster fish to unsuspecting hobbyist is not something that most people have a problem with, if the knowledge was raised in the majority of the general population something might happen, but then you run the risk of do gooders banning the hobby and sports fishing.
Big fish are BACK
- Thread starter HarleyK
- Start date
dan518
LOL floating vegetables. That about sums up most vegetarians! I have a real problem with vegetarians that think it's acceptable to eat fish because they are stupid, don't feel pain or whatever excuse they come up with. Own a monster fish and tell me you still want to eat them... Most eaten fish are absolute monsters and are highly intelligent fish. Most are bigger than anything we keep in aquariums.
That's a very good point. Fish keeping is a wonderfully kept secret, and I hope to god that in my lifetime I don't see any sort of restrictive regulation on the fish keeping hobby or sports fishing. I enjoy fishing with my partner, and it gives you another insight into how intelligent fish are when you are trying to hunt or stalk them.
I have been a member of this forum for a year. I for the most part, like what I see and hear, and find more activity here than on some other fish forums to which I have for longer time belonged and still check out from time to time.
I am just looking for more clarification on the MONSTERFISHKEEPERS name. Was it referring to large fish, large tanks, large numbers of tanks or what? Was it just an attention getting name that meant nothing other than a name that stands out? Were you really trying to attract only a narrow segment of the people interested the fish hobby? I do not pose these questions in jest, I am really interested in the origins of this site and if has it remained true to its original intent.
Do you need to pass a means test to see if your tanks are big enough or fish long enough? I guess because I have frontosas they let me squeak in. {Okay, this paragraph is in jest}.
I am just looking for more clarification on the MONSTERFISHKEEPERS name. Was it referring to large fish, large tanks, large numbers of tanks or what? Was it just an attention getting name that meant nothing other than a name that stands out? Were you really trying to attract only a narrow segment of the people interested the fish hobby? I do not pose these questions in jest, I am really interested in the origins of this site and if has it remained true to its original intent.
Do you need to pass a means test to see if your tanks are big enough or fish long enough? I guess because I have frontosas they let me squeak in. {Okay, this paragraph is in jest}.
We have members from England here I beleive they already have restrictions on the hobby there. Could someone let us know if this is true or not.
I am from the UK and I don't know of any restrictions yet. Round my area I don't see alot of the common monsters, most I would have to buy over the net, not that it's necessarily a bad thing. On a plus side there are no banned species.
Own a monster fish and tell me you still want to eat them... Most eaten fish are absolute monsters and are highly intelligent fish. Most are bigger than anything we keep in aquariums.
That's a very good point. Fish keeping is a wonderfully kept secret, and I hope to god that in my lifetime I don't see any sort of restrictive regulation on the fish keeping hobby or sports fishing. I enjoy fishing with my partner, and it gives you another insight into how intelligent fish are when you are trying to hunt or stalk them.
Regarding the staking part, all i need to do is pull out my net and the smaller fish go running... they definitely remember when their own species have been netted out before...
It was when i joined mainly about monster tanks, i remember drooling over many 500-25,000+ gallon tanks on here...
But the problem is with large tanks comes large expenses, and life happens... so over time it just seems there arent as many around, but you still see the odd thread here and there pop about another member taking on the impossible of starting tanks in the 2500G+ range...
Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that us hobbyists are keeping some species from going into extinction, this is true. I started a thread some time ago about the humble bala shark and dennison barb. I didn't realise until i read a few articles that indeed these fish (along with hundreds of other species) are in serious trouble in the wild. So good for us for keeping the demand up for such fish that fish farms are needed to supply us. Not ideal i know, we'd all like these fish stocks in the wild to be flourishing.
It's interesting that i used the bala shark as an example of us helping this species out by keeping demand for them up at the LFS. Just listen to this and be totally gobsmacked by the irony of it all. It was only yesterday i went to pick up a flagtail that i'd ordered a few weeks ago. Whilst i was waiting to be dealt with a bloke comes in with a large styrofoam box and plonks it on the floor. He takes the lid off and as he was doing so he said to the owner of the shop, "these are them two fish i rang you about". Apparently a friend of his had these two fish in a small tank and felt he couldn't house them anymore so he rang the owner of the shop to see if he would take them. The fish in question......two bala sharks about 12-14" apiece. Huge things.
So one side of the coin sees us hobbyists keeping bala sharks from going into extinction with our demand at the LFS. And the other side of the coin sees us treating said fish in a lousy manner by not housing them properly when we get them. From heroes to zeroes.
It's interesting that i used the bala shark as an example of us helping this species out by keeping demand for them up at the LFS. Just listen to this and be totally gobsmacked by the irony of it all. It was only yesterday i went to pick up a flagtail that i'd ordered a few weeks ago. Whilst i was waiting to be dealt with a bloke comes in with a large styrofoam box and plonks it on the floor. He takes the lid off and as he was doing so he said to the owner of the shop, "these are them two fish i rang you about". Apparently a friend of his had these two fish in a small tank and felt he couldn't house them anymore so he rang the owner of the shop to see if he would take them. The fish in question......two bala sharks about 12-14" apiece. Huge things.
So one side of the coin sees us hobbyists keeping bala sharks from going into extinction with our demand at the LFS. And the other side of the coin sees us treating said fish in a lousy manner by not housing them properly when we get them. From heroes to zeroes.
