who do i trust.

[csr mel]

i just talked to my mum about my fish. she said when she was a teenager she kept a dozen guppies in a 1 gallon fishtank with a bubbler and no filtration. she did a 100% water change every month and never lost any guppies except when they die of old age. she said she kept having so many fry she was almost continously selling or giving away guppy fry. she never had any problems with the fishtank.

i showed my mu this website and my mum said you are all psycho and anal obsessive about fish and fish dont need so much space and care as you guys say. she says just because some people make a website about fish and tell you how they think you should care for them does not mean it is the right way. the 1 inch of fish per 1 gallon rule is crap she says.
i am still pretty much new to the world of fishkeeping, so i am taking it slow. i currently have only 3 platies and 2 pictus cats in my 40 gallon tank.

but you guys make a compelling website full of information, which according my my mum, is mostly false. so i have to wonder who is right and who is wrong. i cannot argue with my mums results. but maybe there is a happy medium between obsessive fish keeping and her way?

is there any laws or regulations to define fish keeping? or is everything you and my mum say basically heresay?

but i have to wonder who do i trust. what my mum says obviously works, i mean she kept guppies for a real long time and never had problems. but you guys seem to know youre stuff as well.
i dont know who to believe.

the pet store seems to side with my mum.


what to do what to do.....

 

[Guppylover]

I know it's really hard to argue with your mum and everything... I had to get into this huge debate with her. My mum said that I feed my fish too little, I said no, I feed them too much and well we kind of get into this huge argument... I won though.
...I don't know how to say this but...keeping 12 guppies in a 1 gallon tank is kind of cruel. It's like keeping a goldfish in a small bowl.
About that fish store...are you sure you can trust it? Sorry, if it is personal question but now days most fish stores are a big careless with looking after fish and only want to sell them.
You said that your mother did 100% water changes, isen't that empting the whole tank?
We are obsessed over our fish, but in a good way.

 

[endparenthesis]

I think as time goes by, the minimum gallon requirement gets higher and higher for each fish. I think a lot of fish owners like to make themselves sound more humane than the rest... so they keep deciding on higher and higher requirements, which get passed around and around until it becomes the "norm". But of course there are levels at which fish fatalities start to go up... and that's something that needs to be paid attention to.

However, there's also no shortage out there of parents who go into know-it-all mode around their kids. It's a lot easier to sounds infallible around a child than it is to actually have a discussion about something with your peers and risk being proven wrong.

But in the end I think experience will be a better teacher than anything else. Read up on things, take what sounds valid to you, and run with it.

 

[kittybug]

Most info you find on fish ,IMO is just that...someones opinion. Everyone has different tank sizes, groups of fish, maintenance schedules, filtration etc.. So different things work for different setups. as long as you take it slow when adding fish and try to research each species requirements from a few different sources im sure you will find what works for you. Good luck and keep us posted on your tank.

 

[Ruby Shark]

Hi.

Oh boy...I don't even know where to start. lol

I agree with the previous poster...you have to do your own research(from many different sources) and go with what you think seems valid.

Yes the one inch per gallon rule is used as a guideline...and mainly for people just starting out with smaller fish.

I don't always trust lfs's...their intentions are not always right.

I also tend to go with the majority(in terms of what I hear) as well.
For example(and this is a basic and obvious one) if 50 people who have experience with fish say that they need a filter I am going to go with them as opposed to the one who said no.
You are always going to have people that like doing things different from the next...but there is a lot basic things that most do agree on...or it varies slightly.

I don't consider most of the people here psycho...I consider them people who want to give their fish the best care that they can.
I'm sure that over the years people have found better ways of caring for fish. Some things that people do now may seem ridiculous to others who were into the hobby years ago if they haven't evolved their methods with these changes.

Also fish can live in environments that are less than ideal. However you want your fish to thrive not just survive...and that is what I think this board is here for.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Use common sense. And never trust anyone that says 'trust me'. I don't cycle my tank like a lot of people with all the ammonia and stuff, I set it up, let it run awhile while I figure out what I want to get and how many, then put some in there. Don't even follow the inch rule, if it was true I could fit three ten inch oscars in my tank. People get so freaky about their fish and pets anymore, they want everything just perfect and such, and I half think they've fogotten that fish used to live in the wild. Like bettas, (and I know I'm gonna get flack on this, so be glad for you that I feel like getting beheaded) when the lakes and paddies where they live start to dry up they don't get 1.5 gallons of water each and I doubt they always get stuck alone in the puddle either. I'm not saying you should stick them in an inch of water or together anything, but you get the drift. Try to find alternatives to meds. if you need them and if you can't try to get natural ones. Feed them as much as they can eat in five minutes, and if they don't eat it all at once, they'll eat it off the gravel when they are hungry again. I don't like to pamper my fish, I do what I think would come naturally in the wild. Sometimes I over do it with the food, then skimp for a few days. I don't know about 12 guppies in a 1 gallon, but they are small, and mine often swim in a pretty small area of the tank so maybe six.... back to common sense and good old trial and error. And if you don't believe in the trial and error part read some of the old aquarium books, they have all sorts of stuff they did wrong, but they were new to those kinds of fish then.... I'm rambling, sorry. Just have fun.

 

[Phantom Thief]

If you see my very first post, you will see just what fish i had in a 6.5 gallon.

P.T.

 

[The-Wolf]

I think that when your mum kept guppies they were extreamly hardy. now a days they have been breed so much from captive stock that they are no longer as hardy as wild guppies. so way back then what you mum did was right, but now we need to take into account all sorts of things. moral satndards have increased as well theses days.

 

[Stryker]

Good comments ninjasmurf, I share the same believes and ideals as you there. Its funny but I tend to find variety, in environment, food, etc seems to do my fish more good than any set rules.

However the guide rules are for new commers to fish keeping, to try and ensure their first experience of fish is a good one

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Well,

In the case of who you should marry or something, I'd say your mum but in this case not only us but other fishkeepers' points of reference. PFK website for instance, books and so on. She really can't argue with all those people and IMO guppies breeding doesn't say anything about their health, they are water rabbits. It's what they do.

You seem to have a good idea already by how yu tank is. Why would anyone want (not your mum or owt, just generally!) want to cram loads of little helpless creatures in as small a space as possible is beyond me. OK, if you don't know better but even then when you simply think about it. They are living, not plants and just because they are alive, this does not mean they are healthy and happy. Or does that now matter.

It really baffles me.

 

[Vip]

kind of like your mother having 10 people in her kitchen, bit cramped eh
But i dont cycle my tanks as well, i just chuck them in once the temp is where i want it, what i do follow is 1 inch per gallon or somthing like that, its differnt with cichlids cause you cant put to many in a tank.
As for no filter, you know yourself if she had one back then they would have grown bigger and lived longer than what they did.

 

[blakwidoe]

Basically I think you need to decide for yourself what is right for you and your fish.... Do you want alot of fish and watch them die off or do you want a nice count of fish to which you can become very attached to? Each fish has its own personality and you will become attached to all or a few. If I am going to take something out of nature or that belongs in nature I think I want to provide the most humane environment possible.
Also it used to be OK to smack your kids around but it isnt acceptable behaviour anymore same goes for fish it used to be ok to have alot in a small environment but isnt acceptable anymore.
I feel it is extremly cruel to overcrowd a tank I would much rather UNDERSTOCK it and give my best to a few than OVERSTOCK it and watch my tank crash then get bored and broke replacing everything. You deserve your own living space so do your fish

 

[canarsie11]

Well I beleive it is what works for you!

When I got into the hobby back in March, for the first time as adult. I was amazed at the things I researched . I remember joking with my mom saying to her, " I dont remember you doing have the crap that I am doing in this tank"

Beleive it or not she used to do 100 percent water changes.

And like guppylover asked isnt that all the water,the answer is yea she use to put fish in container and clean tank.

When I started and read about fishless cycle, put ammonia in the tank, I was like this sh*t is crazy! You should see some people face when they either see me putting ammonia in a tank while its cycling or when I try to explain about fishless cycle!.

In the past things were just different, and when you think you know it all you do not continue to research and learn new things.

My mom was keeping fish 70's early 80's imagine the lack of info on the hobby back then, no internet fish forums. They did it without the science!

So lets cut his mom some slack, she is doing it the way she knows, but you must take knowledge you gain and surpass what she did. If everyone did not surpass their parents knowledge the world would be nowhere!

 

[jaimoe]

Also it used to be OK to smack your kids around but it isnt acceptable behaviour anymore

No wonder kids are so lippy nowadays!

 

[Guppylover]

Also it used to be OK to smack your kids around but it isnt acceptable behaviour anymore

No wonder kids are so lippy nowadays!

My parents never use to smack me...they only hit me with chopsticks and that really hurt. That was ages ago though. Now only a few harsh words get me feeling bad...