This story is a long one, and unfortunately it isn't peppered with humour, simply because there is nothing humourous to be taken from what I'm about to write. So, make a cup of your favourite beverage and get a couple of choccy biscuits.
Anyone who you meet who's in the hobby who has the philosophy, "aquarium fish don't live long anyway, and in any case they're only fish", well you know you're onto a loser from the start as far as educating them goes.
Unfortunately this is the exact philosophy of a couple up live up the road from us. They're lifelong friends of my wife and according to her they have always had a fish tank for as long as she has been visiting their house.
The first time I was introduced to them we got talking about tank stuff, and it soon became apparent that our attitudes towards maintenance, fish care, research, all that goes with the hobby basically, were light years apart. One simple example, which will tell you immediately the level they are it, is that their maintenance consists of setting a full day aside every 2 or 3 months, and blitzing the whole tank! A full deep deep clean and scrub of everything. Yeah, I know.
When I asked if they had a fast turnover of fish the answer was an unsurprising "yes", and then the husband came out with the line, "aquarium fish don't live long anyway, and in any case they're only fish". So, you get the gist of what these two are about now. I could make this post extremely long giving example after example of their lack of fish keeping know how over the years. But I'll jump right forward to the present day, something that happened yesterday, which absolutely staggered me and just made me want to physically shake these two idiots.
I got home from work and my wife told me that her friend had rang her wanting to know if I would take some fish from her, again (I have taken rescue fish from her before), as her tank had sprung a slow leak. I purposely haven't been anywhere near their house for a few years, basically because of that first encounter with them, so I didn't know what to expect, what fish she had or anything.
I went up with a bucket and net. The tank with the leak was around the 55g mark. In the corner, already set up was a tiny brand new 10g tank. She said she wanted me to take the four biggest fish and the small ones could go in her new 10g. The four bigger fish she spoke about were 2 Bala sharks (about 4-5"), a pictus cat (about 6"), and a yo-yo loach (about 3"). I netted the fish out, put them in my bucket, netted her small fish out too for her 10g (tetras and neons and a couple of 1" plecos), I know I know, what can you do, I wasn't about to try and educate her about plecos, I just wanted to get the hell out of there.
I got home and then this is where the real sad part starts kicking in. I got my test kit out to test the water in the bucket, which was from her 55g. We know that the nitrate test is a 5 minute test. I kid you not, the colour of the water hit deep burgundy in less than 30 seconds, so that's a bare minimum of 160ppm. I shuddered at the thought of what the true nitrate reading was on her water. Over the next hour I slowly diluted the "soup" in the bucket with fresh treated and temperature correct clean water. I tested along the way and still, all I was getting was burgundy on the colour chart. It wasn't until my 5th or 6th partial water change in the bucket that I got a lower reading of red (typically 40-80ppm).
In short, her nitrate reading from her 55g must have been in the many many hundreds ppm. It sickened me to the core.
I ranted at my poor missus about her stupid friends but all she said was, "don't rant at me, get on your forum and vent your steam" lol. So here I am, not that it makes me feel any better.
Why do people like this, in this day and age of computers and research still exist in the hobby? There are simply no excuses for it.
Rant over!
Anyone who you meet who's in the hobby who has the philosophy, "aquarium fish don't live long anyway, and in any case they're only fish", well you know you're onto a loser from the start as far as educating them goes.
Unfortunately this is the exact philosophy of a couple up live up the road from us. They're lifelong friends of my wife and according to her they have always had a fish tank for as long as she has been visiting their house.
The first time I was introduced to them we got talking about tank stuff, and it soon became apparent that our attitudes towards maintenance, fish care, research, all that goes with the hobby basically, were light years apart. One simple example, which will tell you immediately the level they are it, is that their maintenance consists of setting a full day aside every 2 or 3 months, and blitzing the whole tank! A full deep deep clean and scrub of everything. Yeah, I know.
When I asked if they had a fast turnover of fish the answer was an unsurprising "yes", and then the husband came out with the line, "aquarium fish don't live long anyway, and in any case they're only fish". So, you get the gist of what these two are about now. I could make this post extremely long giving example after example of their lack of fish keeping know how over the years. But I'll jump right forward to the present day, something that happened yesterday, which absolutely staggered me and just made me want to physically shake these two idiots.
I got home from work and my wife told me that her friend had rang her wanting to know if I would take some fish from her, again (I have taken rescue fish from her before), as her tank had sprung a slow leak. I purposely haven't been anywhere near their house for a few years, basically because of that first encounter with them, so I didn't know what to expect, what fish she had or anything.
I went up with a bucket and net. The tank with the leak was around the 55g mark. In the corner, already set up was a tiny brand new 10g tank. She said she wanted me to take the four biggest fish and the small ones could go in her new 10g. The four bigger fish she spoke about were 2 Bala sharks (about 4-5"), a pictus cat (about 6"), and a yo-yo loach (about 3"). I netted the fish out, put them in my bucket, netted her small fish out too for her 10g (tetras and neons and a couple of 1" plecos), I know I know, what can you do, I wasn't about to try and educate her about plecos, I just wanted to get the hell out of there.
I got home and then this is where the real sad part starts kicking in. I got my test kit out to test the water in the bucket, which was from her 55g. We know that the nitrate test is a 5 minute test. I kid you not, the colour of the water hit deep burgundy in less than 30 seconds, so that's a bare minimum of 160ppm. I shuddered at the thought of what the true nitrate reading was on her water. Over the next hour I slowly diluted the "soup" in the bucket with fresh treated and temperature correct clean water. I tested along the way and still, all I was getting was burgundy on the colour chart. It wasn't until my 5th or 6th partial water change in the bucket that I got a lower reading of red (typically 40-80ppm).
In short, her nitrate reading from her 55g must have been in the many many hundreds ppm. It sickened me to the core.
I ranted at my poor missus about her stupid friends but all she said was, "don't rant at me, get on your forum and vent your steam" lol. So here I am, not that it makes me feel any better.
Why do people like this, in this day and age of computers and research still exist in the hobby? There are simply no excuses for it.
Rant over!
