Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
Fish keeping is probably closer to a hobby than having another pet, especially in the case of keeping large aquariums with many fish rather than just a single one.
Many people mistaken fish as "easy to keep". It is harder than most people think. They often die within weeks, days, or even hours and minutes after they've been put into a new tank. People overlooked the importance of doing research before having fish. With other pets such as a dog or a cat, no way they will die that fast no matter how horrible the pet keeper is. Fish is just so much more fragile, and they will die when the keeper make a mistake.
Nobody should get into fish keeping hobby without extensive research first. Or the poor fish will get it...
RE: Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
I must admit, I've often thought of fish as quite "easy to keep" in comparison to many other pets. I guess it depends on how deep (mind the pun) you're willing to go. That's a long but informative guide. Thank you, I'll be sure to keep it in mind if I consider keeping fish in the future.
My favourite colour is green, my favourite number is 19.
05-07-2012, 01:53 PM, (This post was last modified: 05-07-2012, 02:00 PM by Ram.)
RE: Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
It really depends on the definition of pets for each person. Some people think it is not a pet if you can't pet it with your hands. That doesn't do for me lol. Many pets aren't appreciating to be petted. Many more can't be petted. Most people think fish can't be petted, but I have seen video of people petting fish! Not to mention it is actually quite common for some fish eat out of the owner's hands.
RE: Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
In my husband's case, fish keeping is more than a hobby - it's an obssession! We've just been through a very hot summer in Spain, and he was so worried about keeping the tropical fish cool, he's been freezing bottles of water to float in the tank. We have a couple of column fans, as we can't have air conditioning due to us both having breathing problems, and instead of them being positioned to keep us cool in the house, they've been trained on the fish tanks!
It's worked though - we've only lost four fish all summer, and we can't be sure that it was due to the heat, although we're pretty sure it was. We have around 60 - 70 small tropical fish in three large tanks, so that's not too bad. A friend of ours lost almost all of his 20 or so tropicals during the summer.
RE: Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
(05-07-2012, 01:53 PM)Ram Wrote: It really depends on the definition of pets for each person. Some people think it is not a pet if you can't pet it with your hands. That doesn't do for me lol. Many pets aren't appreciating to be petted. Many more can't be petted. Most people think fish can't be petted, but I have seen video of people petting fish! Not to mention it is actually quite common for some fish eat out of the owner's hands.
actually, i wish i had a camera when i had my small 10 gallon going. i had a chichlid that would swim into my hand when i put it in the tank and just chillax on it..his name was max :3 i also had a bichir that loved to eat out of my hands and swim through them..he sadly died because he tried to eat a pregnant danio and it got lodged in his throat came home to him dead with a fish tail sticking out of his mouth...i used to breed danios btw just the common zebra type.
RE: Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
(10-05-2012, 03:33 PM)SweSupy Wrote: Tell me about it. They are really fun to watch, i can watch them swimming for hours.
But keeping fish is not easy, and I hate changing the stinky water, so messy!
A well established, well maintained aquarium should never have stinky water. If your tank water is stinky, then there is something wrong. Either you are overfeeding, having leftover fish food in the tank, something is dead and rotting in there, or the filter isn't working, or maybe your tank is undersized and causing all of the problems above.
A healthy aquarium should have earthly smell. The only maintenance it needs is weekly partial water change to get rid of nitrate build up. Nothing should stink in there.
RE: Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
Many people see fish as being easy to keep for two reasons. First they are often cheaper. A 10 gallon aquarium may be $100 tops and you spend $5 on the fish. Versus for a dog you can spend $600 on the dog. If people spent $600 on fish for there 10 gallon aquarium, I'm sure they would worry a lot more about keeping them in the right habitat. However, when you spend $5 people see it as less significant and do not worry about the fish dying.
The second one, is a lot of common misconceptions. When people first get a fish tank, they are reluctant to get the proper size aquarium (hence all those betta bowls and similar you see). People keeping fish in these betta bowls has led to a lot of common misconceptions, along with the severely overstocked tanks at the pet store, and the unknowing workers. Few people know that goldfish can live up to 20 years, and if there goldfish dies in a year or two, they pass it off as old age.
RE: Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
(03-31-2012, 03:23 AM)Thor Wrote: Fish keeping is probably closer to a hobby than having another pet, especially in the case of keeping large aquariums with many fish rather than just a single one.
Many people mistaken fish as "easy to keep". It is harder than most people think. They often die within weeks, days, or even hours and minutes after they've been put into a new tank. People overlooked the importance of doing research before having fish. With other pets such as a dog or a cat, no way they will die that fast no matter how horrible the pet keeper is. Fish is just so much more fragile, and they will die when the keeper make a mistake.
Nobody should get into fish keeping hobby without extensive research first. Or the poor fish will get it...
Thanks for bringing this up. One of my first jobs was in a pet store, that I later went on to manage, and it never ceased to amaze me how much people really had no clue to properly take care of their fish and how to properly introduce them to their new tank so they didn't go into shock from the change of water temperature. I would give them instructions, talk about the particular fish they were buying that day, ask them what fish they currently had, what kind of tank etc... Still they would have so many issues with proper care. Fish are delicate and need more care than a cat or dog.
05-03-2014, 07:57 AM, (This post was last modified: 05-03-2014, 07:59 AM by Happyflowerlady.)
RE: Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
I definitely agree that keeping fish is a hobby, rather than having a pet. Where a pet usually enjoys being around you, and interacting with their human, the fish just swim around in their fishtank, basically unknowing, and uncaring, about the life of the human that feeds and cares for them.
Even raising birds, like parakeets or canaries, is closer to having a pet than raising fish is. The parakeets are very intelligent, and they actually enjoy being around people; even though they don't cuddle up on our lap, beg for our food, or sleep with us like our dogs and cats do.
I think that the closest that fish actually come to being considered a pet, would be the Koi, who can be trained and actually do come right up to interact with people who are feeding them in their ponds.
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Fish keeping is more of a hobby than just another kind of pet
came home to him dead with a fish tail sticking out of his mouth...i used to breed danios btw 
just the common zebra type.
