College dilemma

[npbarca]

Well, senior year is already halfway over. Thankfully, I have been accepted to Duke University and plan on studying environmental science (and do some stuff with cichlids). However, that brings my dilemma. I have 14 tanks, and I know my brother and parents aren't into it as much as I am, and I don't want them to feel responsible if anything goes wrong. I have some pretty expensive fish, and some I definitely do not want to get rid of. They agreed that if left with one or two tanks, they could care for them.

My must-keeps are my WC Tropheops Mauve Yellow, F1 star sapphire quad, 13 adult and semi adult pseudotropehus saulosi, F1 Metriaclima Cyneusmarginatus Nkhomo Reef quad, and 7 adult Chitande Type Masinje.

Now, I'm thinking I could get the Mbuna into one tank, however I'm not sure how the Saulosi would fare with the Tropheops. And then the peacocks and star sapphires could go in a 75.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Especially with the Tropheops/Saulosi tank, size, etc.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[lkelly]

Honored that some fish I passed to you made the cut.


Is this a 4 year plan? That 75 will get pretty crowded down the road.

Congrats on getting into Duke. Matt Chambers can give you a secret handshake.

 

[Forester]

Congrats on Duke! I'm going to have the same dilemma in two years

 

[npbarca]

Honored that some fish I passed to you made the cut.


Is this a 4 year plan? That 75 will get pretty crowded down the road.

Congrats on getting into Duke. Matt Chambers can give you a secret handshake.

That group was the first group I got, it wouldn't be right to cast them aside

It'd definitely be a temporary solution, as I don't want to blow my savings on a nice setup with the whole 9 yards right before going to college

 

[dogofwar]

Honestly, I'd start getting rid of your fish and tanks. You'll have other priorities a long way away when you start school and the last thing you'll need to worry about is whether a family member is changing water

Matt

 

[Leffler817]

+1 on Matt's comment.

The hardest adjustment to college is how you handle your time. The average student takes 5 classes that meet for 3 hours per week, (more if they are labs or studio-type classes) totaling 15 hours per week. An incoming freshman just left HS taking 35 hours of classes per week plus jobs and clubs/sports. One's time was pretty well booked. Suddenly that student only has 15 hours of classes and a TON of "free" time! No one really stresses that a student should double the class meeting time when planning for homework which brings your time up to 30 hours per week. It seems like not a big deal, but you'll start to make friends, pledge a frat house, play a sport, club, meet girls, etc. and there went your time not caring for your expensive fish habit..... focus on college you'll have ample time to rededicate to the hobby later. Best of luck.

 

[lkelly]

Nick, I agree with the others. You're going to be 2 states away from home and won't be spending much of any time seeing your fish. Maybe there will be the tear-jerker Skype session or two, but otherwise they'll be back at home on foster care for months at a time. Unless your parents/siblings are willing to really get into the hobby you're likely going to be setting yourself up for disappointment when water changes aren't done frequently enough or some outbreak of bloat hits. And it's not really fair to them to expect others to have the same passion for your hobby. When I go out of town for a week I'm usually apprehensive about what's happening with my tanks with the kids and my wife doing the feedings (no water changes). Compounding the stress by stretching it over months doesn't do you any good.

Set up a nano-tank in your dorm room (if allowed) or wait until you get an apartment. There's always the old school Windows fish screen saver too.

 

[chriscoli]

Woot! Environmental Science degrees are the best!!!

I used to take a 29 and another two or three smaller tanks back and forth with me to college, but even then given that it was a two+ hour drive plus the time spent breaking down and setting up the tank, it was pretty rough on the fish so I didn't really have much that was expensive in the tank.



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[Becca]

You need to find out what your living arrangements will be, particularly if you plan to bring the tank with you. Most college dormitories will not allow tanks above 10 gallons and many do not allow any sort of pet.

 

[YSS]

Congrats on getting into a great school! Your parents must be very proud of you. You should use that to get more leverage.

 

[chriscoli]

You need to find out what your living arrangements will be, particularly if you plan to bring the tank with you. Most college dormitories will not allow tanks above 10 gallons and many do not allow any sort of pet.

Agreed. The one I went to didn't have a size limit, but they did have the restriction that whatever pet you kept had to be able to stay underwater (and live) for 30 minutes (i.e. no furry pets).

 

[lkelly]

Agreed. The one I went to didn't have a size limit, but they did have the restriction that whatever pet you kept had to be able to stay underwater (and live) for 30 minutes (i.e. no furry pets).

I think that was the genesis of the sport of Freediving. Rebellious college kids who wanted to skirt the rules.

 

[lkelly]

You need to find out what your living arrangements will be, particularly if you plan to bring the tank with you. Most college dormitories will not allow tanks above 10 gallons and many do not allow any sort of pet.

I have fond memories of Wes Weitzel who lived on my dorm floor at Penn State. He and his roommate managed to cram the following into their small dorm room: a Savannah Monitor, a baby alligator (a real jerk who would eat goldfish and just kill baby mice for sport), some huge frog that I'm not sure ever moved except to eat something in front of its face, a dozen or so 5" long lizards that lived under the papers on the cork board, and a full size ferret.

The monitor was the best. They named him Joe Bag-o-Donuts and started training him Pavlovian style by playing Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" every time they fed him a mouse. After 10 or so feedings he would jump to attention every time you played the song. Wes also put him on a leash and walked him down to the communal bathroom to give him a bath in the never used tub. The RA saw the parade, stared slack-jawed for a few seconds, and said "I'm going to pretend I never witnessed that because I'm not even sure how to write it up."

Quite the Noah's Dorm Room for a school with a no-pet policy. Nick, maybe you should be bold and go for a 180. I'm sure your roommate won't mind sleeping in a sump.

 

[dhavalsp]

Congratulations.

Agree with others, get rid of everything...may be take time and sell the expensive ones at right price only.

I have tropheus and saulosi in a same tank...but they are 2-3 inches only so their real aggression is not yet tested. I often see damage to the fins on saulosi but nothing major to worry about.

 

[Vinh2o]

Whenever I get fish from someone in a situation like what you are in now, I always offer back Fry and Juvies from the fish I got from that person. I feel like it is the right thing to do. I would hate to see a person start all over again paying retail prices for fish when they never wanted to part with them to start with. I just tell them when you are ready to come back to the hobby, if I have this group still breeding I will give you Fry or Juvies to get you back started. I actually have a guy coming by this weekend to pick up 7 Red Top Lwanda Juvies because I did that arrangement with him. My advise would be to consider selling to people in CCA with a proven track record and long term commitment to the hobby who can offer you back Fry or Juvies if they have that group still going or a similar breeding group when the time is right. I do agree with the others, start selling them off now so you can get the price you want for your equipment and fish. If you wait to long you will have to slash your prices too cheap.

I went thru that college move thing as well. When I went to collage I decided to give up all except of my fish and tanks except my Oscar. The Oscar was more like having a dog then having a fish. I purchased him at 1 inch / $1.99 size back around 1983. I left for college in 1988. He was huge, but super easy to care for. Just a few pellets each evening. One day while talking to my Mother she said that the fish had disappeared. Turns he jumped out of the tank and flopped all the way across the room under the bed.


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[lkelly]

I went thru that college move thing as well. When I went to collage I decided to give up all except of my fish and tanks except my Oscar. The Oscar was more like having a dog then having a fish. I purchased him at 1 inch / $1.99 size back around 1983. I left for college in 1988. He was huge, but super easy to care for. Just a few pellets each evening. One day while talking to my Mother she said that the fish had disappeared. Turns he jumped out of the tank and flopped all the way across the room under the bed.

I'm surprised she didn't tell you that your oscar ran away to the country to live on a fish farm.

 

[JLW]

My Sophmore year, I had a 29 gallon with a divided pair of Jack Dempseys in it. They were fine for most of the year, until break. Apparently, the male finally decided to spawn, and rammed down the divider. The female hadn't yet decided she wanted to spawn, so ... she died. The water then got foul enough that he died. Came back, and the entire dorm smelled (worse than usual). Opened my door and ... woof, it was bad.

Oddly enough, my roommate moved out the next semester, and I got a single after that. Go figure.

 

[lkelly]

My Sophmore year, I had a 29 gallon with a divided pair of Jack Dempseys in it. They were fine for most of the year, until break. Apparently, the male finally decided to spawn, and rammed down the divider. The female hadn't yet decided she wanted to spawn, so ... she died. The water then got foul enough that he died. Came back, and the entire dorm smelled (worse than usual). Opened my door and ... woof, it was bad.

Oddly enough, my roommate moved out the next semester, and I got a single after that. Go figure.

Before departing did your roommate try putting up a divider?

 

[mchambers]

My vote

Honored that some fish I passed to you made the cut.


Is this a 4 year plan? That 75 will get pretty crowded down the road.

Congrats on getting into Duke. Matt Chambers can give you a secret handshake.

I concur that you should take a hiatus from fish keeping. You should focus on academics, ACC basketball, and trips to the Outer Banks, not necessarily in that order.

Also, I'd recommend picking and choosing your spots as to disclosing your Duke status when in Maryland. Never mention the 2001 gone in 53 seconds game, for example. Now that Maryland has fled to the Big Ten, things are a little easier, but you still risk property damage.

 

[mchambers]

Great story

I have fond memories of Wes Weitzel who lived on my dorm floor at Penn State. He and his roommate managed to cram the following into their small dorm room: a Savannah Monitor, a baby alligator (a real jerk who would eat goldfish and just kill baby mice for sport), some huge frog that I'm not sure ever moved except to eat something in front of its face, a dozen or so 5" long lizards that lived under the papers on the cork board, and a full size ferret.

The monitor was the best. They named him Joe Bag-o-Donuts and started training him Pavlovian style by playing Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" every time they fed him a mouse. After 10 or so feedings he would jump to attention every time you played the song. Wes also put him on a leash and walked him down to the communal bathroom to give him a bath in the never used tub. The RA saw the parade, stared slack-jawed for a few seconds, and said "I'm going to pretend I never witnessed that because I'm not even sure how to write it up."

Quite the Noah's Dorm Room for a school with a no-pet policy. Nick, maybe you should be bold and go for a 180. I'm sure your roommate won't mind sleeping in a sump.

Wonderful!

I remember our RA in my freshman dorm telling us we couldn't have "pits" in our room. He was from New Zealand, I think.