A Fishkeeper's Seven Deadly (stupid) Sins

[Avatar]

(1) Bringing a tank into your home
(2) Filling it with water
(3) Filling it with fish
(4) Filling it with plants
(5) Replacing fish that die
(6) Replacing plants that die
(7) Resealing/repairing a broken/leaky tank

Since everyone reading this is probably guilty of all or most of these transgressions, let's turn our attention from fatal sins to fatality-causing sins common to our shared and particular disease of imprisoning hapless members of the freshwater chordate phylum, and most notably Percifomes, Cypriniformes, Siluriformes, et al.

Every fish I've murdered lately has resulted from one of the following:

(1) Too massive or rapid water changes;
(2) Excessive feeding of rich foods (e.g., bloodworms);
(3) Abject neglect (rare but there was that incident with the guppies);
(4) Trusting parents not to eat their broods;
(5) Trusting other fish not to eat the eggs of others until I get to them;
(6) Trusting my landlord to take care of feeding in my absence;
(7) Allowing room temperature to exceed limits for cool-water species.

In the 18 months of my return to the life aquatic, the above have cost me a school of juvenile Scleromystax kronei (temp.), two exceedingly large and beautiful male Apistogramma macmasteris and a number of various other Apistos (too much rich food), a couple of mature female Sceleromystax (water changes), several spawns of 200 Bolivian Rams (hungry parents), 50-60 S, kronei eggs (hungry Pleco), and about 40 juvenile rams (landlord).

Forgive me Neptune for I have sinned. I will/am doing better, as are thy minions over whom I now hold absolute dominion, as well as what I can to improve behaviors among my own wretched excuse of a species that has yet to find a niche that doesn't come at the expense of someone/everyone else.

"Prayers are of no use, but frequent water changes can work miracles".
— Transcendental Medication, Chapter IV, Volume XXX, Encyclopedia Aquatica

"

 

[mscichlid]

"Forgive me Neptune for I have sinned". Too funny!
I try not to think of things that way. Otherwise, I'd give up instead of trying. Hang in there!

 

[minifoot77]

color me crazy but all animals lower on the food chain than me (all of them) where put on this earth for my entertainment anyway so why not try to keep them alive/happy and breed them insted of the mindless and savage way i used to kill them (ask ophelia77 about a curtain story involving a possum and my pocket knife i carry on an every day basis)

 

[Julie]

I remember the time... way back when I lost a fish and would mourn their tragic little deaths whether it was my fault or no.

And then moved onto having a passing regret, but recognizing that it happens...

To the jaded... "oh boy! An empty tank, what new fish can I get now!!"

and back to full circle... regrets for that which is lost, learning how to let it not happen again, and relief when a sick fish rescued from a tank of murderous tropheus is nursed back to full health and sucessfully reintroduced to the herd!!

 

[SubMariner]

(1) Bringing a tank into your home
(2) Filling it with water
(3) Filling it with fish
(4) Filling it with plants
(5) Replacing fish that die
(6) Replacing plants that die
(7) Resealing/repairing a broken/leaky tank

Since everyone reading this is probably guilty of all or most of these transgressions, let's turn our attention from fatal sins to fatality-causing sins common to our shared and particular disease of imprisoning hapless members of the freshwater chordate phylum, and most notably Percifomes, Cypriniformes, Siluriformes, et al.

Every fish I've murdered lately has resulted from one of the following:

(1) Too massive or rapid water changes;
(2) Excessive feeding of rich foods (e.g., bloodworms);
(3) Abject neglect (rare but there was that incident with the guppies);
(4) Trusting parents not to eat their broods;
(5) Trusting other fish not to eat the eggs of others until I get to them;
(6) Trusting my landlord to take care of feeding in my absence;
(7) Allowing room temperature to exceed limits for cool-water species.

In the 18 months of my return to the life aquatic, the above have cost me a school of juvenile Scleromystax kronei (temp.), two exceedingly large and beautiful male Apistogramma macmasteris and a number of various other Apistos (too much rich food), a couple of mature female Sceleromystax (water changes), several spawns of 200 Bolivian Rams (hungry parents), 50-60 S, kronei eggs (hungry Pleco), and about 40 juvenile rams (landlord).

Forgive me Neptune for I have sinned. I will/am doing better, as are thy minions over whom I now hold absolute dominion, as well as what I can to improve behaviors among my own wretched excuse of a species that has yet to find a niche that doesn't come at the expense of someone/everyone else.

"Prayers are of no use, but frequent water changes can work miracles".
— Transcendental Medication, Chapter IV, Volume XXX, Encyclopedia Aquatica

"

Since I am the Prince of Atlantis...I forgive you my son!

 

[UNCLERUCKUS]

YES WE ALL HAVE UPS AND DOWNS IN THE HOBBY. I LIKE TO CALL IT THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE BECAUSE I TRY TO NOT DO WHATEVER IVE DONE IN THE PAST TO KILL A FISH. SOMETHINGS YOU CANT CONTROL OTHERS YOU CAN. I HAD A 120G WITH OVER 100 AFRICAN CICHLIDS IN THERE. CAME HM FROM WORK WITH FISH DEAD AND DYING TO TO SOME IDIOT HITTING A TELEPHONE POLE AND TAKING OUT HALF THE NEIGHBORHOOD. DID IT HURT? HELL YES IT DID. TIME AND MONEY INVESTED GONE IN AN INSTANT. I THOUGHT ABOUT IT AND SWITCHED UP TO CA/SA BRUISERS. WHEN THE POWER WENT OUT NOT ONE OF MY OTHER TANKS THAT HAD SA/CA FISH DIED OR SHOWED THE SLIGHTEST STRESS. SEEMED LIKE A EASY DECISION TO ME BUT IM SO GLAD I DID I GET TO SEE MORE WITH THESE FISH AND BREEDING THEM HAS BECOME MULTIPLE PROJECTS. I LEARNED TOO THAT IT WILL BE VERY BENEFICIAL TO HAVE A BACKUP GENERATOR FOR MY FISH. HONESTLY IN THIS HOBBY YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY FROM YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES OR SOMEONE ELSES ON THE FORUMS.

 

[Avatar]

color me crazy but all animals lower on the food chain than me (all of them) where put on this earth for my entertainment anyway so why not try to keep them alive/happy and breed them insted of the mindless and savage way i used to kill them (ask ophelia77 about a curtain story involving a possum and my pocket knife i carry on an every day basis)

I really hope this is only what passes for humor in your neck of the woods - if not have to say it's not a particularly enlightened view for someone that imagines themselves the 'crown of creation', "food chain" being a decidedly antiquated and unsophisticated world view here in the dawn of the Third Millennium.

Have zero interest in any stories involving possums (or other small fur-bearing mammals) and pocketknives. If that sounds harsh please allow for the possibility that I've had more than my fill of mindless slaughter and disregard for animals and nature by people who wear their contempt for that which is hon-human like some stupid badge of honor. Not saying you're one of them, only that it's doesn't work for me.

 

[minifoot77]

I really hope this is only what passes for humor in your neck of the woods - if not have to say it's not a particularly enlightened view for someone that imagines themselves the 'crown of creation', "food chain" being a decidedly antiquated and unsophisticated world view here in the dawn of the Third Millennium.

Have zero interest in any stories involving possums (or other small fur-bearing mammals) and pocketknives. If that sounds harsh please allow for the possibility that I've had more than my fill of mindless slaughter and disregard for animals and nature by people who wear their contempt for that which is hon-human like some stupid badge of honor. Not saying you're one of them, only that it's doesn't work for me.

you got your views mine wasn't a "badge of honor" it was just for the pleasure... and yes as "MAN" i am the top of the food chain.. i have changed a little bit with the presence of my three year old who you met at the meeting btw. i don't and didn't kill just to kill but rather to see who was better me and my knife or the animal be it kangaroos and king brown snakes in austrailia or larger mammals and snakes in japan and the united states

 

[Avatar]

The last primate (farewell king snakes)

you got your views mine wasn't a "badge of honor" it was just for the pleasure... and yes as "MAN" i am the top of the food chain.. i have changed a little bit with the presence of my three year old who you met at the meeting btw. i don't and didn't kill just to kill but rather to see who was better me and my knife or the animal be it kangaroos and king brown snakes in austrailia or larger mammals and snakes in japan and the united states

Taking "pleasure" and joy in killing not something I can begin to understand but that's your affair - was just pointing out that it holds about as much appeal for me as say racism, child molestation or toxic waste. Do feel that if the notion that superiority ("who was better") of individuals or ideas ultimately came down to whom can kill whom, the US would more closely resemble and operate sort of like Mogadishu or Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge.

I personally don't have any questions or issues about whether I'm "better' than a kangaroo or a king snake, just know that I'm different and that the world would be a far less interesting place without them, which it's likely to be in less than 200 years by which time we will almost certainly have wiped out half the vertebrate species on the planet. As a biologist, pretty clear to me that with our traditional "food chain" cosmology, our species is rapidly munching, mining, mowing down, mulching, mincing and murdering its way through the one certifiable miracle in the universe, and that the "chain" is already beginning to come apart because of it.

I don't mean to impugn your character, more that I resent the needless and certain destruction of the culmination of 3 1/2 billion years of evolution. In so far as I see our collective indifference and smug sense of superiority as a big part of the reason for this, just letting you know that it's a non-starter for me except in ways that you probably don't care to hear more about than you already have.

 

[minifoot77]

i like hearing every ones opinions most don't and haven't changed my views. i am with you on a lot of senseless killing and environmental impact issues and only wanted one specimen of a couple of species that are know to hurt "MAN" when they are cornered. most are dangerous the king brown is in the top 5 deadly snakes in the world and the top poisonous animal in austrailia (i think)

 

[Avatar]

i like hearing every ones opinions most don't and haven't changed my views. i am with you on a lot of senseless killing and environmental impact issues and only wanted one specimen of a couple of species that are know to hurt "MAN" when they are cornered. most are dangerous the king brown is in the top 5 deadly snakes in the world and the top poisonous animal in austrailia (i think)

My Buddha nature tends to get misplaced when I get cornered as well, how about you? Brown snake is deadliest anywhere far as I know, drop for drop strongest snake venom in the world at least terrestrially. Think some of the sea snakes may be slightly more toxic to humans, all sort of the same at that level - unless you happen to be packing antivenin you're pretty much finished, especially if its something like a mamba or a taipan that delivers 50-100 times the minimum toxic dose with a single bite.

 

[minifoot77]

exactly why i had to try it

 

[Avatar]

Mitakuye Oyasin

exactly why i had to try it

I don't know. Considering that you outweighed him/her what, 50 to 1, and that relative cerebral capacity is probably even more skewed in your favor, hard to see it being much of a contest. Very edgy to be sure given the stakes, but a chimp with a stick is more than a match for most snakes. Only one I ever met that would have qualified as a fair fight was a 20 foot royal python in Gabon that was about a foot in diameter. I figured it would have taken three fully committed people to even consider catching it, and wouldn't have tried it myself with less than four. As it was I was pleased to watch it slither away under the log I was standing on, enough for me to reach down while I was filming once his head was a few meters away and brush his back. Not so much counting coup since I didn't regard him/her an enemy, more like communion.

 

[minifoot77]

the strike speed and the venom is what i had to try... i also tried while i was out of country to find a wild anaconda i still want to take one (over 18 foot) by myself with my pocket knife or one of the feral burmese in florida (still 18 +)

 

[Peacockbass]

I have plenty of animal and pocket knife stories. Not to mention lots of other weapons. To share minifoot.

Posted via mobile.capitalcichlids.org

 

[Avatar]

Weapons

I have plenty of animal and pocket knife stories. Not to mention lots of other weapons. To share minifoot.

Posted via mobile.capitalcichlids.org

Have never approached Nature like it was the competition, like to imagine there's tacit perception of such by the other denizens that insulates against the need for contretemps, more so as I'm the visitor. Do carry a knife outback, but not as a weapon as I also like to imagine that my wits are the deadliest thing about me. So far so good.

 

[Peacockbass]

Lets see your wits take on the attacking bear or put food on the table for your family. I also have never approahed nature like it was a competition, but then again Man did not climb to the top of the food chain to eat nuts and berries.

 

[Avatar]

Lets see your wits take on the attacking bear or put food on the table for your family. I also have never approahed nature like it was a competition, but then again Man did not climb to the top of the food chain to eat nuts and berries.

All the bears I ever met when I lived in Alaska were content to mind their business as long as I did the same, pretty rare thing for one to just 'go off', most cases the catalyst for incidents comes from the human side though it's rarely reported as such. And while black bears do occasionally go nuts and must be fought since playing dead will generally only get you munched, I'd never dream of sticking a knife in a 1000+ pound brown as any damage I managed to inflict would probably only **** it off. They're bloody huge and the most feral animals I've ever seen - may be a story or two about someone surviving a hand to hand with a brown (pretty sure it wouldn't qualify as 'winning'), but there's a lot more people who lived to tell about those types of encounters from yielding. Never my first choice and sort of flies in the face of masculinity, but then so does dying which is far more permanent.

So why did man climb to the top of the 'food chain'? I thought it was so we didn't have to fight bears and such, and truth be told I haven't met a soul since I left Alaska that feeds his family by hunting. Never said I object to doing so, but if society implodes to the point that food is an issue, the animals you'll be worried about the most won't be bears or snakes, it'll be the ones with knives and guns, and whatever 'game' there is hereabouts East of the Mississippi will be pretty much wiped out by the end of the week. Granted that's as likely a scenario as feeding your family day to day in this era with what you can kill, but if it was to pass, avoiding rather than seeking conflict would be the strategy of choice, and all of a sudden 'wits' aren't nearly so useless or limited an option as some might imagine.

Whatever. I'd take Home sap against T. rex any day of the week, weapon or not, so the 'contest' we're discussing is pretty much a 'no-contest' in my estimation.

"The need is not really for more brains, the need is now for a gentler, a more tolerant people than those who won for us against the ice, the tiger and the bear. The hand that hefted the ax, out of some old blind allegiance to the past fondles the machine gun as lovingly. It is a habit man will have to break to survive, but the roots go very deep."
— Loren Eiseley (The Immense Journey: An Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man and Nature)

Thanks for the tanks, everything made it home and up the stairs, think maybe half the fun is actually imagining what a tank will become...

 

[Ms. Wright]

Julie told me about this thread, which is a big reason I joined.
Avatar, the biggest sin I ever committed was the massive water change/filter change one. I did a "Come to Jesus" cleaning on a 55; and had a Nitrite spike that killed 10 gorgeous F-1 Placidochromis Phenochilus. I SO should have known better, and I was about ready to just quit the hobby. But I learned.
And the knife/small animal stuff.........I live in a very rural area, and I do know one family who lives on what they can grow in the garden and what he can shoot. These are folks whose parents got driven out of their mountain holdings when the government decided to make National Park out of it. They grow out a hog or two, maybe raise a steer. He has hunting rights on our over-large farm. He's an honest hunter; won't halfway shoot a deer or a bear and let it run, injured, into the woods. He finds them, and finishes them. These folks don't have much, and we're way overpopulated with deer.
But random messing with animals.....I don't get it. How small of a person do you have to be, to think that that's fun?
Side note here; my daughter was doing a Stroller Strides run with the younger grandson last week, at a Naval base in Virginia beach. Found a copperhead snoozing right there on the path; too close for her to stop, and too close to the grandson. Fortunately, the tires on the stroller are pretty softly inflated; she just ran over his hind end, and he moved along.

 

[minifoot77]

How small of a person do you have to be, to think that that's fun?

about 5' 10" and 205 lbs