Fishkeeping superstitions

[GaryE]

I try really hard to be sane and logical, but this is a hobby that can drive a person to... superstition.

A friend in the business contacted me and said he was going to get a fish species I have wanted to try to keep for years. They are due in a month. This morning, I looked at an empty tank and made a few adjustments to start getting it ready.

Fool that I am.

Now those fish will vanish in a highway crash, get rampant tb, explode, get sent to another country or mutate into guppies. Sure, you prepare in advance, but only when the fish is where you can get it, and someone you know and trust has seen it. Man, that was a jinx move.

Now, if I get them and give them pet names, they will die. That is certain. Name a fish, kill a fish...

Do you have any fishkeeping superstitions?

 

[Back in the fold]

I try to be really scientific and patient because for years when I was younger I would run off half cocked and make big changes and adjustments in my tanks for any and every reason to stave off whatever disaster I imagined . Nowadays I figure that if something bad could happen then it will and if it doesn't then I'm surprised. I think my biggest superstition is filling a brand new aquarium for the first time. I fill them with water and let them sit for a full week and feel all the seams for leaks about a dozen times every day and especially first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Even when I have them all set up with fish I check them all the time for a month or so.
Be right back . . . . gotta go check something.

 

[bigroof]

You are right about naming them. Before i was in to cichlids i used to keep bettas. Everytime i name them they pass away. Since then i never have. You just dont want to jinx it you know.

 

[gilpi]

If I ever get to that point, I hope someone in my family takes me to a "doctor"

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

Schooling fish. If you want 6, buy 9. 12, buy 18. If you want 18, buy 27. No matter how good they look, no matter how well adjusted they seem. Eating well, so what, within the week you will no doubtedly have less in the school than you wanted in the first place.

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

Schooling fish. If you want 6, buy 9. 12, buy 18. If you want 18, buy 27. No matter how good they look, no matter how well adjusted they seem. Eating well, so what, within the week you will no doubtedly have less in the school than you wanted in the first place.

no Joke!

 

[JuiceBox52]

Haha i only have 2 fish that are named, if i name them, they almost always die

 

[Crispii]

Haha i only have 2 fish that are named, if i name them, they almost always die

You telling me that Peanut Betta almost died?!

 

[Uberhoust]

Name a fish, kill a fish

Its just the opposite for me. I find I am more attached to my named fish, and because of that perhaps more attentive to their needs. Curious do you have a dog named dog, and a cat named cat?

 

[itiwhetu]

Fish keeping is a fluid thing, every day something will change in your tank, it is your ability and the way you react to those changes that shows your understanding of this hobby. I have five Discus now; one is not hanging with the others. Why I'm not sure, just watching and observing, you can never spend too many hours in front of your tank, but if you don't spend enough time, it will bite you in the butt.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Fish keeping is a fluid thing, every day something will change in your tank, it is your ability and the way you react to those changes that shows your understanding of this hobby. I have five Discus now; one is not hanging with the others. Why I'm not sure, just watching and observing, you can never spend too many hours in front of your tank, but if you don't spend enough time, it will bite you in the butt.

Of course fishkeeping is a fluid thing....the fish are in water

Sorry I could not resist that.....

I sit and watch my hooligans for hours....better than what is on the telly most days

Superstition wise.....I don't think that I am tbh....I have one or two named fish in my hooligans....I haven't really thought about being superstitious really. I am more of a "c'est la vie" person I spose.

 

[GaryE]

Its just the opposite for me. I find I am more attached to my named fish, and because of that perhaps more attentive to their needs. Curious do you have a dog named dog, and a cat named cat?

My very old dog has a name. But with fish (and I know this is random - that's why it's a superstition) it seems a name is like a kiss to show the hitman/grim reaper where to get to work. Turtles too. I lost 2 38 year old sliders last year, and their sister is soldiering on in good health here. Even after almost 4 decades, I haven't named her. I'll wager she hasn't named me either, although from her general grumpiness, if she has I probably couldn't write what she calls me here.

Later today, I hope to make an order for some new fish from the place I used to work with. With my recent move, I had to give away my large group of 5 year old cardinals, and I miss them. Among the things I'll get will be either 50 or 100 new ones. I have to decide.
Name them? Nope! I realize that I now think of fish in their groups, and don't worry much about individuals. I have a species here that lives 2-3 years, and that I have bred and cared for since 1992. In that time, I have had a lot of them come and go, and yet to me, the ones are have now are as cool as the ones I had 30 years ago, and are the same fish.

This time, since I'm retired, I will breed those cardinals. I suppose I could seek out a list of Vatican employees and name them all, but that would be bad luck...

 

[JuiceBox52]

You telling me that Peanut Betta almost died?!

Nah shes alive and well

 

[Back in the fold]

Fish keeping is a fluid thing, every day something will change in your tank, it is your ability and the way you react to those changes that shows your understanding of this hobby. I have five Discus now; one is not hanging with the others. Why I'm not sure, just watching and observing, you can never spend too many hours in front of your tank, but if you don't spend enough time, it will bite you in the butt.

Not to cast aspersions but I wonder how many people really do just sit and watch the fish. Really watch, for at least a half hour at a time. Every so often you will see something that blows your mind. Fish are cool !

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Not to cast aspersions but I wonder how many people really do just sit and watch the fish. Really watch, for at least a half hour at a time. Every so often you will see something that blows your mind. Fish are cool !

I sit and watch mine all the time....if at the desk I get the reflection of the aquarium in the pooter screen and when watching the telly they are in line of sight...so til I go to bed, lights on or lights off, I am watching their antics