I keep at the most two fish per tank. That may seem strange to some, and perhaps at the end of the day, it is. Well, I thought about this for a while today, and after some soul searching, i've come to realize the a few answers as to why I do this...
1. When I see a large aquarium with a lot of fish, my eyes, after drinking in the beauty, instantly look for signs of illness or non-robustness in a grouping of fish. I do this a lot at restaurants with tanks or hotel lobbies or whatever. And typically, if there are a lot of fish, I will find that one or two sickly looking specimens. Fish that don't eat, are sick or injured - Hole in the head, whatever. Let me tell you this drives me crazy. For some reason this totally ruins the experience. Why does this matter? Well, if the tank is a monster tank, how the heck do you net out such an ill fish? Or medicate it for that matter - if it is healthy enough to avoid the net? Therefore in my personal collection, I demand perfection so to speak with my charges, and or the easy ability to get them back to tip top shape, thereby eliminating the option of having large numbers of fish in a large tank. How the heck can I manage to see if everyone is getting enough to eat if I had large numbers of fish? Though I would INCREDIBLY enjoy a giant planted tetra tank, mixed with sparkling jewels from the amazon, I think the stress of ensuring everyone was health and eating would drive me batty.
2. I really like to fall in love so to speak with my fish. Take for example my fat fancy goldfish. I name them, and they become like puppies to me. This action becomes next to impossible with large numbers of fish in a large tank. I build an emotional bond with them, or at least as much as an emotional bond with a fish a human can possibly have (without the neighbors talking).
In the end, I think this speaks to my need for a certain kind of perfection, at least the kind of perfection my limited budget and abilities will allow me to have.
Again, at the end of the day, when I see a monster tank with, let's say for poops and giggles, a giant school of African cichlids moving in and out of a giant wall of rock, my eyes drink it in, but they also scan for imperfection in terms of health. And if I find that one sick fish, the whole thing is ruined for me in a way, because I know that in such a large tank, there really is no way to address that particular fishes situation.
You dig? Or am I alone in my, let's call it quirkiness - yes quirkiness, that word doesn't make me seem all that abnormal.
thoughts?
1. When I see a large aquarium with a lot of fish, my eyes, after drinking in the beauty, instantly look for signs of illness or non-robustness in a grouping of fish. I do this a lot at restaurants with tanks or hotel lobbies or whatever. And typically, if there are a lot of fish, I will find that one or two sickly looking specimens. Fish that don't eat, are sick or injured - Hole in the head, whatever. Let me tell you this drives me crazy. For some reason this totally ruins the experience. Why does this matter? Well, if the tank is a monster tank, how the heck do you net out such an ill fish? Or medicate it for that matter - if it is healthy enough to avoid the net? Therefore in my personal collection, I demand perfection so to speak with my charges, and or the easy ability to get them back to tip top shape, thereby eliminating the option of having large numbers of fish in a large tank. How the heck can I manage to see if everyone is getting enough to eat if I had large numbers of fish? Though I would INCREDIBLY enjoy a giant planted tetra tank, mixed with sparkling jewels from the amazon, I think the stress of ensuring everyone was health and eating would drive me batty.
2. I really like to fall in love so to speak with my fish. Take for example my fat fancy goldfish. I name them, and they become like puppies to me. This action becomes next to impossible with large numbers of fish in a large tank. I build an emotional bond with them, or at least as much as an emotional bond with a fish a human can possibly have (without the neighbors talking).
In the end, I think this speaks to my need for a certain kind of perfection, at least the kind of perfection my limited budget and abilities will allow me to have.
Again, at the end of the day, when I see a monster tank with, let's say for poops and giggles, a giant school of African cichlids moving in and out of a giant wall of rock, my eyes drink it in, but they also scan for imperfection in terms of health. And if I find that one sick fish, the whole thing is ruined for me in a way, because I know that in such a large tank, there really is no way to address that particular fishes situation.
You dig? Or am I alone in my, let's call it quirkiness - yes quirkiness, that word doesn't make me seem all that abnormal.
thoughts?
