Hypancistrus
New member
I have a lot of animals. Their needs always come first. I don't add one without realizing that they may have vet bills that will need to be handled. Big vet bills? Well, I am not rich, but that is what emergency credit cards are for (you know, the ones you got ages ago and never use anymore, that have a balance of $0, always?)
My best friend thinks I should move to Ohio, where she lives, since I no longer have a significant other keeping me here and since I am being excessed from the school I am at (basically being forced to change schools, probably to a worse school). But I know I'll never move simply because it would be physically impossible for me to move 300 gallons of fish aquariums and the fish living in them, and I refuse to "trade back" to the local fish store ANY of my fish. I am attached to each and every one of them, and can tell you stories or personal anecdotes... likes/dislikes... about each fish I own. Most of them (with the exception of the schooling species) have names. And these are my FISH....
If something happened and I was physically unable to care for my animals, I would arrange for them to go to homes that were as good, if not better than, my own. That might be hard, as, in my opinion, no one else will treat them as well as I do. But if it had to be done for their health and happiness, then it is what I would do.
My issues have always been with people who buy long-lived animals intending on it being a short-term committment. There is one guy on our fish forum who buys BIG predatory fish for his 75 gallon aquarium. We're talking clown knives... red-tailed cats... all fish that grow to 24" or more, easily. He keeps them until they are 15" or so and cannot turn around in his 18" deep tank, and then "trades them back" to the LFS. But as I say to him everytime he has a new baby... what happens to the older ones?? How many people in your area are really on the look out for a 24" adult fish?? I do not think it is as many as he gives away each year.... :shrugs:
There was one guy on a snake forum who bought baby corns each year because he liked the way the babies looked... and then sold the adults. I just don't understand that mentality... it's like having a human baby and then putting it up for adoption at age 12 because it's "grown up." That kind of stuff gets to me....
My best friend thinks I should move to Ohio, where she lives, since I no longer have a significant other keeping me here and since I am being excessed from the school I am at (basically being forced to change schools, probably to a worse school). But I know I'll never move simply because it would be physically impossible for me to move 300 gallons of fish aquariums and the fish living in them, and I refuse to "trade back" to the local fish store ANY of my fish. I am attached to each and every one of them, and can tell you stories or personal anecdotes... likes/dislikes... about each fish I own. Most of them (with the exception of the schooling species) have names. And these are my FISH....
If something happened and I was physically unable to care for my animals, I would arrange for them to go to homes that were as good, if not better than, my own. That might be hard, as, in my opinion, no one else will treat them as well as I do. But if it had to be done for their health and happiness, then it is what I would do.
My issues have always been with people who buy long-lived animals intending on it being a short-term committment. There is one guy on our fish forum who buys BIG predatory fish for his 75 gallon aquarium. We're talking clown knives... red-tailed cats... all fish that grow to 24" or more, easily. He keeps them until they are 15" or so and cannot turn around in his 18" deep tank, and then "trades them back" to the LFS. But as I say to him everytime he has a new baby... what happens to the older ones?? How many people in your area are really on the look out for a 24" adult fish?? I do not think it is as many as he gives away each year.... :shrugs:
There was one guy on a snake forum who bought baby corns each year because he liked the way the babies looked... and then sold the adults. I just don't understand that mentality... it's like having a human baby and then putting it up for adoption at age 12 because it's "grown up." That kind of stuff gets to me....
