If you had to choice.... what would u do?

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mr.bigglesworth

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 22, 2012
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By SF, Farther Inland, NorCal
If u had to choose between a tortoise or fish what would you choose?
My parents are making me pick between my fish or my greek tortoise. Torty is 5 years old he is about 10" shell. I'm pretty sure I want the fish and torty is going to live a long time. And I'm going away to college in 4 years. My parents already told me they will only take care of my cat and maybe some of my fish. And in about a week one of them is going permanently... torty is in a 180gal by himself during the winter if its too cold we let him roam the house. In the summer he goes through the garden eating flowers which my mom hates. But she loves it when he eats the weeds. My parents don't really care about the fish its all in my room and I have to fund the hobby myself being 14 thats pretty hard. I have to starve myself at lunch so I can buy fish stuff. My parents are rich so I don't really know why they wont fund it but oh well...

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If I was in that spot, I'd tell the parents to screw off, to be perfectly honest..

Honestly, why are you asking us? It's your choice to make, and someone else may make a decision that you would regret later.
 
a tortoise is a lifelong pet compared to fish which may live around 10 years, but it is really which one you would want more and which would be easier to take care of when you are away at college
 
First off I want to say that your passion is admirable, seeing how you're literally starving yourself to fund the love for your animals. More importantly though you should eat lunch! At 14 years old not eating lunch is not recommended for a wide variety of reasons.

If you were to choose the fish route I think the most important question you may want to ask yourself is - are my parents willing to diligently do water changes or will they get lazy? Seeing how a tortoise is more of a tangible pet, it just may be easier for them to take care of it and treat it as a real household animal.. That's just my take on it.

Best of luck.
 
If you absolutely have to chose between one i would go with the tortoise. Fish are certainly nice and all, but that tortoise will be with you a really good portion if not all of your life. And as Galaxy stated they are much easier to take care of which will come in handy when you are away at school. You can always get fish again when you are done with school and get settled down somewhere and that tortoise will be waiting for you.
 
I would choose the Tortoise in that position, since it'll be much easier to deal with for your parents.

Tortoises require less maintenance, and are a bit more robust than fish are. You could end up getting rid of the tortoise, only to find that your parents messed up a water change or overfed, and killed all your fish off by accident.

However, how did you get so many things in the first place? If your parents let you get them to start with, I'd really try and convince them to let you keep both at least until you move out. Why are they wanting a decision now, is it electric bills (if so, fish will be the majority of the problem), space, bad smells?

Best,
Paul
 
I fund my white's myself and I must say it is very bothersome, especially when you have the luck to pick two apparently healthy specimens with parasites, and have to travel half the place(rather small one) to get to the vet. I did starve for throughout a year or so, when I was your age two years back. In retrospect, it wasn't a great idea.

Conversely, the decision your parents made to let you have the pets in the first place and then now force you to choose between them; can be accused for failing to exact long term responsibility, and otherwise a regard for living creatures as playthings. Obviously, this can sour relations but it depends on how you put it across.

I would say keep the tortoise. You are likely able to successfully put these fish into proper homes, but the tortoise, besides being a more realistic companion, is also harder to place into reliable long term care.
 
If you don't choose the tortoise I'd buy him from you dude. He'd be going to a good home.
 
Thanks everyone but I gave him to a professional tortoise breeder last week. He has 40 years of experience in keeping tortoises. He grows his own food in a 100% naturally varied diet. He has a 80 year old sulcata the size of a small car with a perfect round smooth shell. He knows everything. I'm glad he went to a good home. :) he has 2 acres of land reserved for tortoises

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