Need Advice

[GreenEyedTerror]

One of my close friends saw my fish tank and decided that he wanted to start keeping tropical fish, and after a few months of trying to advise him what he should get, he decided to set up a 29 gallon tank and after cycling it with goldfish (not my idea) he bought a short bodied green terror and a german blue ram, as well as three pictus cats, all these fish have since died due to low water quality and one got caught in a filter. Since then he has purchased a dwarf pike cichlid, a whiptail catfish, 6 clown loaches, two African butterfly fish and to top it off he picked up what he thought was a ctenopoma yesterday. it turns out when we went over to see his new "ctenopoma", it was a festivum cichlid. he refuses to take the festivum back to the store and says that the pike is peaceful and hasn't bothered him yet, so for this reason they will get along fine.

Should I keep advising him on what to keep (even though he listens less than half the time)?
Should I just let him figure it out?

What should I tell him about keeping the pike and festivum together?

It's painful to watch these fish die, they are usually expensive (the ram was $20, the pike was $30!!!) and worthy of a better home

 

[Truck]

Sign him up here, and we'll give him a royal TFF rollocking.

Tell him, that his ignorance is getting him no where, he should do some research before buying fish, and if no improvements are made, they'll die.

 

[Curiosity101]

Give him a list of the natural lifespans and max growth size of his previous fish and ask him to explain to you why they died when they weren't even fully grown.

That should hopefully make him at least think twice.

Also point out that many fish are peaceful together whilst young. If they all hatched as fry in the wild and started ripping eachother to bits then it wouldn't do the species much good. But once they start to mature they have to 'grow up' and act as an adult. Defending their territory etc.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Find a way to put in terms he understands, like if he's a car nut he would know you can't just randomly grab parts to put in and expect everything to work just fine together. Same with fish keeping. And I agree, send him here if you can, though he may hate you for it.

Otherwise it may just be watching him screw up tank after tank of fish till he gets t'd off at all the money he's putting into it, and then he gets rid of the set up (into your loving arms hehe). There comes a point when working with some people that you realize no matter what you say they just don't care, so why bang your head against the wall when you could be helping someone who actually cares about it?

 

[MewMew42]

I would say either get him a book or rent one from the library about fish keeping

referring him to here could turn him off fish keeping for life if the tff police get involved...

failing that let him get in with it, if he fails to listen why bother he will soon learn when they die, harsh but true!

 

[GreenEyedTerror]

thanks for the tips, i have recommended the site and he says he reads some of the articles, and 'does his research', me and my bf have also given him a fish book, but he left it at my bfs house and was disinterested , i have never kept a pike or a festivum, let alone together. What's the prognosis for the festivum?

 

[Dwarfs]

I'm Greeneyed's bf, the friend in question has, in the past, called fish not pets but decorations...so keep in mind his disrespect for the fact that they are living creatures...

 

[GreenEyedTerror]

update: too late, all the fish are belong to god now... except for the festivum and 1 butterfly fish...

 

[markandhisfish]

unfortunately you just cant help some people , they know better and thats that.

 

[Night61]

unfortantly i know the type, you can lecture to your blue in the face, but in the end they only learn from thier own experience...hopefully.

bless for trying though

 

[chrisbassist]

I say, if you've tried, and he's ignored, try one more time, then just wait to buy his tank nice n cheap

 

[GreenEyedTerror]

unfortunately you just cant help some people , they know better and thats that.

yeah that seems to be the case...