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...

http://petskeepersguide.com/reasons-behi...fter-sold/

http://petskeepersguide.com/fishless-cyc...gen-cycle/

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.

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.

I just posted a video in another thread with a video about Jackie Chan training a fish.
http://petskeepersguide.com/forums/Threa...fish-video

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.

(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.

I just posted a video in another thread with a video about Jackie Chan training a fish.
http://petskeepersguide.com/forums/Threa...fish-video

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.

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!

(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.