What’s your worst nightmare regarding your fish/pets?

[ThatFishGirl6231]

that does happen tho. If department of fish and game get a tip, they will raid properties and confiscate whatever they want. they did it here in Perth some years ago. They went to a stack of houses and took everyones fish

that’s fuplie stupid and so are the people who gave them a tip

 

[Colin_T]

sometimes they don't get tips form the public but get information from people they investigate.
eg: a shop got done for selling illegal fish and when fisheries went thru the books, they used the info in the books to track down some of the fish that were sold and busted those people too.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

just don’t call the fish and game people. who needs to make the fish legal? it’s not like people are going to come to your house and check all of your fish tanks to make sure the fish are legal. hedgehogs are illegal in my state but i know 3 people without licenses who have/had hedgehogs.

Well, I try to stay on the right side of the law as a matter of principle, unless the law violates my principles. Most of these regs exist for a good reason, and if I find myself accidentally in violation, I'll try to make it right. This was an unusual occurrence, though. I find that law enforcement people are just normal people doing a tough job which I respect, and they are almost universally cool once they realize that you're trying to do the right thing. These guys were an exception.

 

[Sunnyspots]

My worst nightmare remains to be the one based on the harsh memories of beautiful community tanks dying, as a direct result of extended power cuts in winter.

Ah. The Winter of Discontent. I loved it because we got to have candles everywhere - very exciting. I was actually really disappointed when there were no power cuts the following winter. But I was too young to have fish.

 

[Essjay]

@Bruce Leyland-Jones How did you manage in the summer of '76? I know different water boards did different things - I lived in Cardiff in '76 and we only had water between 6 am and 1 pm. I had to run buckets of water before I went to work so I could cook, wash etc after I got home.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Ah. The Winter of Discontent. I loved it because we got to have candles everywhere - very exciting. I was actually really disappointed when there were no power cuts the following winter. But I was too young to have fish.

Yup...the tanks were my Mum's. Candle light was ace and, as we were into Scouting, cooking meals was less of an issue. That said, it got a little tedious once I'd read my limited library three times over and the early bedtimes.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

@Bruce Leyland-Jones How did you manage in the summer of '76? I know different water boards did different things - I lived in Cardiff in '76 and we only had water between 6 am and 1 pm. I had to run buckets of water before I went to work so I could cook, wash etc after I got home.

Super easy...barely an inconvenience, (to coin the phrase)...
Again, Scouting's training allowed us to manage what water we had, even to the point that all 'waste' water went into a large tin tank my Dad acquired from his work...and I mean ALL waste water. As for the two large community tanks, me and my Mum actually donated part of our self-imposed rations to keep them topped up.
A truly glorious summer, that was...at least, for a 13-year old.

 

[Essjay]

I was in my mid 20s. Fish keeping had never entered my head at that stage in my life. I lived in what was laughingly called a flatlet - it wasn't a bedsit as I had my own kitchen and shower & toilet in a partitioned off section but it was basically one room, the original master bedroom of the house. The buckets of water I needed took up enough space without trying to find somewhere for water change buckets as well.
How people with young children coped was a mystery to me.

 

[Sunnyspots]

I was 11 in the summer of '76, which would make me the youngest of us, just. I don't remember having major problems with water in the West Country. We didn't need stand pipes or anything anyway. We had a plague of ladybirds - the sky would be black with them and they were so hungry they'd eat your skin. It didn't hurt as they couldn't bite too far down, just the top layers.

Oops. Off topic!

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I was in my mid 20s. Fish keeping had never entered my head at that stage in my life. I lived in what was laughingly called a flatlet - it wasn't a bedsit as I had my own kitchen and shower & toilet in a partitioned off section but it was basically one room, the original master bedroom of the house. The buckets of water I needed took up enough space without trying to find somewhere for water change buckets as well.
How people with young children coped was a mystery to me.

"...own kitchen and shower & toilet"
LUXURY!

We 'ad just a bucket...wi' holes in the bottom for a shower-effect!

"The buckets of water I needed took up enough space..."

Buckets!?! BUCKETS!?!
We 'ad one...(see above).

(Cue Monty Python sketch )

To answer your question about young children and coping, I can assure you that, at school, we soon became aware of who was coping better than others, simply down to the obviously increased pong of certain kids.

 

[Essjay]

Now I come to think about it, as a student I was in lodgings in Cardiff. After I graduated and moved on to a flat share and then on my own, I did visit my ex-landlord and landlady and they had just got a fish tank. I remember it was full of neon tetras. I have no idea how they coped with the water cuts - though back then I understand that water changes are not done as regularly as we do them nowadays.

I think water shortages and power cuts would be my nightmares. Though I do know that, having forgotten to turn the filter back after a water change and only realising a week later with no ill effects, it's the heater and the light for the plants that I would worry about.
Luckily I now live in a town supplied by Northumbrian Water. During the 30 years we have lived here we have never had even a hosepipe ban thanks to Kielder Water.

 

[Herpin Man]

I have recurring nightmares of finding tanks with fish that I forgot I had and the fish are on death's door and I'm working to try to save them because it's been so long since they've been fed or tank has been maintained

Same here. I dream that I’m visiting my childhood home, and I realize that I still have animals in the basement that haven’t had any care in a LONG time.

 

[Anonymous Fox]

not a Nightmare, but a fear.
I'm re-hydrating freeze-dried shrimp and bloodworms and they come alive - _ -

 

[ThatFishGirl6231]

"...own kitchen and shower & toilet"
LUXURY!

We 'ad just a bucket...wi' holes in the bottom for a shower-effect!

"The buckets of water I needed took up enough space..."

Buckets!?! BUCKETS!?!
We 'ad one...(see above).

(Cue Monty Python sketch )

To answer your question about young children and coping, I can assure you that, at school, we soon became aware of who was coping better than others, simply down to the obviously increased pong of certain kids.

imagine being a young child during covid (i’m only 13!)

 

[WhistlingBadger]

My 12 year old rode out the 2020 lockdown OK (she was 10 at the time). We lived in the country at the time and went for lots of long walks. We felt sorry for people in big city apartments, though. That must have been terrible.