Being a fish keeper isn't hard, you only need to keep a fish, being good at it is a whole different thing.
What defines a Fish keeper?
- Thread starter TheLastKon
- Start date
I actually think the hard part is to learn to keep fish alive for full life spans, exceeding the averagely quoted time....Anyone can keep fish...but a lot of people "kill" fish prematurely.....So having a fish or a bunch of fish does not qualify one as a fish keeper....
patients and self discipline two hardest for me.
One learns. It is not always a natural trait. I am very impatient by nature and not very disciplined either but when it comes to fish I've learned to have a lot of patience and not slack on things. I am almost like a completely different person in regards to my attitude towards keeping fish. The passion for fish and enjoyment I get from seeing them doing well is my motivation to keep putting in the hard effort day after day.
So last night I proved our points in who is a fish keeper. My brother got a 10 gallon aquarium last Saturday. The next day he wanted fish (I told him no) but he kept begging so on Monday after testing water (which was pretty good there was just 0.25 ammonia and that is all) I said fine you can get like 1 Gourami or something. He came home with 1 Gourami, 7 Cherry Barbs, and 1 Dension Barb. Yesterday we came home from a friends house and we look and the dension is breathing INCREDIBLY hard and is swimming/falling upside down. Both signs of Nitrites and Nitrates. How did this happen? Well I specifically told him that since he has a small tank he needs WC every other day and he needs to feed 1 every other day and like 1/2 pinch. He forgot to do WC and he fed fish every day twice a day 1 pinch. Now his fish all survived cause I made him do a WC using my aquarium water and i told him to put his dension in my 150. Little did I know that the Arowana was hungry :/ No more dension Barb but all other fish survived (AROWANA WAS VERY HAPPY) 
Now instead of rebuilding he is debating returning entire setup or to attempt to continue (he really likes aquariums but hates taking care of them)
Now I would defiantly not classify him as a fish keeper more like a person that is attempting to keep fish. If he keeps setup and does his own research and his fish start to live their entire life span than yes he is a fish keeper.
Now instead of rebuilding he is debating returning entire setup or to attempt to continue (he really likes aquariums but hates taking care of them)
Now I would defiantly not classify him as a fish keeper more like a person that is attempting to keep fish. If he keeps setup and does his own research and his fish start to live their entire life span than yes he is a fish keeper.
When I think of a fish keeper to me in my head it is someone who successfully keeps their tank running, and understands the nitrogen cycle and need to test water parameters.You don’t need a monster tank or to be a fish farmer. I mean what are you going to do with all the fry. How many tanks can you really manage, The cycle never ends... Don’t get me wrong that stuff is cool but it doesn’t make you more of a fish keeper or better then the next guy.
I agree here. Somebody that can make a functional tank that meets the requirements of their fish and can look after them well. There's soany different types of keeper that it's hard to categorise. However basically every successful keeper knows the nitrogen cycle, how to feed their fish, keeping the tank clean and the needs of their livestock.
A man who maintains a high needs specie should get just as much credit as a guy who breeds bread and butter fish. Some fish will breed anywhere, and some fish will live anywhere. So who knows, we're a crazy bunch after all
