Letter In Pfk, 'experts' Ignore Oscar In 125 Litre Tank

[demonmagus]

Hi, if any of you have the march issue of PFK you may have noticed a worrying letter


someone writes in, they have some (can't remember atm) piranhas in a juwel 70 (70 litres) and a fully grown oscar in a juwel 125 (125 litres). They are getting a juwel 450 and want to know if the two fish can mix, obviouslt PFK says no, recommending just the piranhas get the 450, what worrys me is they don't even say a thing about the 10 inch oscar in the 125, I thought PFK was anti fish cruelty?

 

[MegTheFish]

Well maybe they're only going to answer the the question the reader asked, instead of pointing out other stuff thats wrong, I can understand why they did. I don't know what issue this was in, but a reader was wondering what fish would be suitable for a 2 gallon without a heater, and they reccommended danios. I was like wow, but I guess you can't know everything?

 

[YoungFishBreeder]

everyone hates complaint letters

 

[Gatorbait]

How many piranhas and what type are they?

Well, at least they prevented a quick death for the Oscar but without stating that 33 gallons is too small for an Oscar, he'll die a slow death.

I would think that if someone doesn't know you shouldn't attempt to put anything with piranhas then they should have also been told the basic requirements for the Oscar as they may be unaware of that also.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you know practically every month i see something like this in pfk, some of the advice given out can be pretty dubious. However it's a small team of people who answer the questions, each person dealing with a different speciality. The piranah question wasn't in the cichlid section, so it's pretty likely that the person who answered it doesn't know much about cichlids, you can't expect every person to know everything. This is why I always prefer to ask on a forum rather than ask 1 person, even the most experienced of us have some areas we simply know nothing about.

 

[Arimus]

It was this months... read it this weekend and was thinking in a way it would be kinder in the long term to put the Oscar in with the piranha's - a quick death compared to lingering slow death in a too small tank.

The reptile magazine's I used to get (we had to rehome a number of our snakes a while back) would make a point of addressing each point in a letter whether it was directly linked to the question or not - if something is wrong it needs pointing out. You can/should never assume the author of the letter knows better and unless good sound guidance and advice is given in response problems will be compounded.

 

[dwarfgourami]

PFK IMO are a VERY good magazine, but even they aren't going to get it absolutely right every time. I for one wasn't terribly impressed when Jeremy Gay (who ought to know better) recommended danios for a 10 gallon nano tank, or when another of the experts wrote re bullying: 'as long as you stick to commonly sold community fish you can't go far wrong' (oh yeah?). Still, this is just a drop in the sea compared to all the excellent articles and advice in there. You can learn so much from that magazine! And I do see Meg's point about the current issue; they were answering the question they were asked.

 

[demonmagus]

Hi, although 'it's a drop in the sea' it's a pretty big drop.

surely any fish keeper should know that 30 gallons isn't enough for a 10 incher

 

[dwarfgourami]

Hi, although 'it's a drop in the sea' it's a pretty big drop.

surely any fish keeper should know that 30 gallons isn't enough for a 10 incher

Yes, if they had recommended keeping an oscar in this tank, I would have gone ballistic. But what actually happened was that they answered the question (which was on something different), and omitted to spot and comment on this additional piece of information. That sort of thing happens all the time on the forum, and if it's a popular well-respected member, whom nobody has a grudge against, they don't get slated for it. In fact, there have been some very hostile threads lately against members who don't confine themselves to answering the questions put, but comment, uninvited, on the poster's general setup. Arimus has a good point, and perhaps they/we should address everything, but it's never made me popular in the past....

 

[bogusmove]

Arimus has a good point, and perhaps they/we should address everything, but it's never made me popular in the past....

It's a funny thing isn't it. If we were putting the wrong fuel in our cars each day, or anything else that caused long term damage to it, we would probably thank the person who pointed it out to us profusely! Why the difference in attitude?

Some people simply don't want to hear it is one thing, as they are content with their setup, and it's giving them pleasure. They don't want to hear that they should go out and spend a load of money on a (for example) bigger tank they don't have room for.

Another issue might be that people don't care to have their errors pointed out on a forum where thousands of people will read about them... especially if it's a cruelty issue...

And, perhaps people simply don't feel the 'pain of investment' when it comes to a few fish in the way they might do with a car they scrimped and saved for for 5 years...

Personally I think, that issues should be pointed out, albeit in the nicest possible way (I'm not suggesting anyone in particular doesn't by the way). I think the decision to comment is sometimes the only way someone will get to know they are doing something, uhh, suboptimally ...and it's kindof a shame for anyone to go on, not even realising!

 

[Mr Miagi]

Demonmagus, if you read the marine questions in particular (same goes for FW, Planted, CW, Equipment etc), some could require VERY lengthy replies. Obviously, a magazine has limited word counts/space. Im sure the questions printed in the PFK magazine are replied to throughly by the experts answering them, but more completely/thoroughly in an email/mail reply, rather then what you might read published in a magazine.

I dont think this is a case of neglect, "couldn't be bothered", or didn't care about the fish, more so they don't have room, and only select a portion of the reply to enter the section.

even the most experienced of us have some areas we simply know nothing about.

Not me.......

Hehehe, I had to do it when I read it MissW!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

even the most experienced of us have some areas we simply know nothing about.

Not me.......

Hehehe, I had to do it when I read it MissW!

he he he i'll remember you said that, every topic i open but i don't know the answer to i'll forward on to you in pm from now on mr fount of all knowledge

 

[George Farmer]

Most of the PFK Ask the Expert answers are heavily edited, as Mr Miagi suggests, because of limited space. I know, as I write some of the replies (planted only).

Human error may lead to some apparently important points being left out in the editing process.

 

[PRW1988]

Hi, although 'it's a drop in the sea' it's a pretty big drop.

surely any fish keeper should know that 30 gallons isn't enough for a 10 incher

I beg to differe, there are some spcies of fish that grow to 10" plus and that are relativly slow, calm and don't spend too much time moving. (Senegal Bichirs for instance).

 

[Thirdfloor]

I see no harm in tactfully pointing out a way someone can improve their fishkeeping practices even if its a bit off from the subject of the original post/question. As long as its worded correctly most people would welcome the pointer. The problem is that its sometimes easy to misinterpret tone and attitude on a forum. If someone is willing to post for help or advice then they probably aren't going to be offended by other advice.










*edited for grammar.