I am disenchanted with this hobby

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:21:48 -0800, wrote:

Thanks guys...

I just had a gourami that quit on me literally. it had popeye and I was
coming home with some medecine... too late... I am still battling Ich but
I thing the worse is gone for now.

Damn fish like them too much.


I just had to have my dog put down. That is FAR WORSE. She was nearly 15.
Losing fish stinks but not as bad to me as losing a dog. It's like losing
a kid to me.

Tom

wrote:
Hi guys,

I own a tank for more than a month now and right now I have mixed
feelings about it.

It is not what I expected it to be and I am starting to think of
getting rid of it.

It's just I like animals and it stresses me to see fish die and I am
the one to blame for it due to my inexperience and for putting fish
into a tank and play with their lifes...

I had fish that died because they got sucked into the filter,
because the water didnt have the proper qualities and now because of
disease...
It's a constant battle for me to take care of the fish and I am losing
it.

I think one of the best pieces of advice that *anyone* starting off in
the hobby is simply: "Start slow and taper off from there."

I've just been reading "Nature Aquarium World" by Takashi Amano, and he
has a short story about a tank he had to set up for a resturant -
hundreds of gallons, the ceterpiece of the resturant, and he only had 18
hours to do it and get it to presentation quality for the grand opening.
He was able to pull it off, but not without a lot of effort. Going into
it he knew it wasn't a good idea, an afterwards he swore he'd never do
it again.

The thing he remarked upon, however, was listening to the people talk
about the tank, commenting on how it was set up in such a short time,
and remarking on how "easy" it was to keep tropical fish. "You can put
them in right after you set up the tank."

The reason it worked out was that Amano is a master and has a lot of
experience. For the rest of us, it's slow going and *a lot* of research
before doing anything.

Another comment that Amano made in the book was that the reason he got
where he is today was by making mistakes. Do the best you can to avoid
mistakes, but you're going to make mistakes at some point - sometimes
tragically (he notes one time where he killed all the fish in a tank
with a faulty CO2 setup). The key is to learn from the mistakes and not
get discouraged.

Start slow, start small (but not in regards to tank size or live plant
amount), and research, research, research. And don't be afraid to ask
questions, even stupid ones. We've all been there (some of us are still
there).

This might sound pretty fu*ked up but losing my dog was more traumatic on me
than losing my mother. I never cried so hard in my life.


"Tom Randy" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:21:48 -0800, wrote:

Thanks guys...

I just had a gourami that quit on me literally. it had popeye and I was
coming home with some medecine... too late... I am still battling Ich but
I thing the worse is gone for now.

Damn fish like them too much.


I just had to have my dog put down. That is FAR WORSE. She was nearly 15.
Losing fish stinks but not as bad to me as losing a dog. It's like losing
a kid to me.

Tom

I too lost a tank full of marine fish to a crash. All died except my
beautiful Yellow Tang who looked so sick and pathetic. I too wanted to just
sell it all off and find something else to occupy by time. Instead I read
and gathered information from these newsgroups and other net sources, picked
the brains of the LFS's. My marine tank is now full of fish (and other
awesome marine life) again and thriving and the Yellow Tang looks fantastic
again.

The key to getting the marine tank better stabilized for me was the
installation of a UV Sterilizer. Best investment I ever made. I am going to
install them on my freshwater tanks as well.

It's part of the hobby I guess. Hang in there and know that everyone here is
pulling for you.



"Justin Boucher" wrote in message
...
I had an entire 240 gal marine system crash on me. I received a sick fish
and the stress of moving made things worse. 8 fish later, I sold what I
could and converted back to freshwater where I have nearly 20 years of
fishkeeping experience. I still dream of sucsessfuly running a marine
tank
and have learned a lot of tricks that only experience can teach: Even
after
extensive reading on the marine system, the minute secrets aren't in most
books.

As for my new freshwater conversion, I still can lose fish in a new tank
set
up. Mostly, it's the dreaded cycle that claimes at least one fish life
for
me unless I have access to an established tank to where I can kidnap some
mature filtration media.

There are a lot of very knowledgable and helpful people available and this
newsgroup is a great source. Spend some time reading, researching and
asking questions to other sucessful aquarists. If you have a favorite
fish
that you would like to have, find others who keep them well and see if
they
can help. Experience is the best teacher and although there will always
be
some that we can only gain for ourselves, try to gather as much as you can
from others.

Justin

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi guys,

I own a tank for more than a month now and right now I have mixed
feelings about it.

It is not what I expected it to be and I am starting to think of
getting rid of it.

It has nothing to do of taking care of the fish, the money spent on
hardware.

It's just I like animals and it stresses me to see fish die and I am
the one to blame for it due to my inexperience and for putting fish
into a tank and play with their lifes...

I had fish that died because they got sucked into the filter,
because the water didnt have the proper qualities and now because of
disease...
It's a constant battle for me to take care of the fish and I am losing
it.

Sorry for my venting but I am frustrated.
Thanks

wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks guys...

I just had a gourami that quit on me literally. it had popeye and I was
coming home with some medecine... too late...
I am still battling Ich but I thing the worse is gone for now.

Damn fish like them too much.

It's really tough to get a tank up and running. After you do though, it gets
much easier. I've had mine for about 20 years, and I don't remember the last
time I had a disease.

But I always always always use a quarantine tank.

A

"Tom Randy" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:21:48 -0800, wrote:

Thanks guys...

I just had a gourami that quit on me literally. it had popeye and I was
coming home with some medecine... too late... I am still battling Ich but
I thing the worse is gone for now.

Damn fish like them too much.


I just had to have my dog put down. That is FAR WORSE. She was nearly 15.
Losing fish stinks but not as bad to me as losing a dog. It's like losing
a kid to me.


Oh Tom,

I'm so sorry for your loss! They leave such huge holes when they go.

A

Once my tank was contaminated, I too purchased a UV. Unfortunately, by the
time I got it set up, the damage was done.

However, from that experience, I will now use a UV on every tank I have
unless it compromises the food source for some animals (such as the
phytoplankton for some corals).

I have already made notes for my next run at marine. I'm going back to
school and a marine tank is just not practical at this time, but there is
one in the planning again. And this time, I have more experience on my
side.

Justin

"Ray Martini" wrote in message
...
I too lost a tank full of marine fish to a crash. All died except my
beautiful Yellow Tang who looked so sick and pathetic. I too wanted to
just
sell it all off and find something else to occupy by time. Instead I read
and gathered information from these newsgroups and other net sources,
picked
the brains of the LFS's. My marine tank is now full of fish (and other
awesome marine life) again and thriving and the Yellow Tang looks
fantastic
again.

The key to getting the marine tank better stabilized for me was the
installation of a UV Sterilizer. Best investment I ever made. I am going
to
install them on my freshwater tanks as well.

It's part of the hobby I guess. Hang in there and know that everyone here
is
pulling for you.



"Justin Boucher" wrote in message
...
I had an entire 240 gal marine system crash on me. I received a sick
fish
and the stress of moving made things worse. 8 fish later, I sold what I
could and converted back to freshwater where I have nearly 20 years of
fishkeeping experience. I still dream of sucsessfuly running a marine
tank
and have learned a lot of tricks that only experience can teach: Even
after
extensive reading on the marine system, the minute secrets aren't in
most
books.

As for my new freshwater conversion, I still can lose fish in a new tank
set
up. Mostly, it's the dreaded cycle that claimes at least one fish life
for
me unless I have access to an established tank to where I can kidnap
some
mature filtration media.

There are a lot of very knowledgable and helpful people available and
this
newsgroup is a great source. Spend some time reading, researching and
asking questions to other sucessful aquarists. If you have a favorite
fish
that you would like to have, find others who keep them well and see if
they
can help. Experience is the best teacher and although there will always
be
some that we can only gain for ourselves, try to gather as much as you
can
from others.

Justin

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi guys,

I own a tank for more than a month now and right now I have mixed
feelings about it.

It is not what I expected it to be and I am starting to think of
getting rid of it.

It has nothing to do of taking care of the fish, the money spent on
hardware.

It's just I like animals and it stresses me to see fish die and I am
the one to blame for it due to my inexperience and for putting fish
into a tank and play with their lifes...

I had fish that died because they got sucked into the filter,
because the water didnt have the proper qualities and now because of
disease...
It's a constant battle for me to take care of the fish and I am losing
it.

Sorry for my venting but I am frustrated.
Thanks

wrote:
Hi guys,

I own a tank for more than a month now and right now I have mixed
feelings about it.

It is not what I expected it to be and I am starting to think of
getting rid of it.

It has nothing to do of taking care of the fish, the money spent on
hardware.

It's just I like animals and it stresses me to see fish die and I am
the one to blame for it due to my inexperience and for putting fish
into a tank and play with their lifes...

I had fish that died because they got sucked into the filter,
because the water didnt have the proper qualities and now because of
disease...
It's a constant battle for me to take care of the fish and I am losing
it.

Sorry for my venting but I am frustrated.
Thanks

Hang in there! I'm sorry you feel frustrated, but I sure understand it
because I lost fish at the start too. The first three months of your
first tank are the absolute hardest. New aquariums are HARD to run and
trying to cycle with too many or fragile fish is almost impossible to
manage. Unfortunately, the person with a new aquarium doesn't know this
and it's SO hard to tell them everything.

Daniel gave you some great advice on keeping the tank lightly stocked at
first. My favorite sturdy fish are gouramis, danios, corydoras catfish,
harlequin rasboras, gold and cherry barbs, and I've had good luck with
the deeper bodied tetras like black skirts, bleeding hearts, head and
taillights, and pristellas when I buy good sized fish. Tiny tetras are
harder. Beware serpaes because they're nippy.

As for plants, I love java moss, which grows well and absorbs nitrates
even under low light. Anubias grows slowly but is virtually unkillable,
and java fern is attractive and also low light. Cryptocoryne spp. are
also very tolerant of low light. I've found that it's hard to find the
warm water version of anacharis. Hornwort is good if you have the light
for it, as is Rotala indica or Hygrophila polysperma. It can't be
emphasized enough how much lots of plants do for the water quality in
fishtanks.

I actually managed to cycle my first 29 gallon tank with 5 black skirt
tetras intact. All heck didn't break loose until I started adding more
fish too fast. The bacteria didn't keep up, ich started, I got bad
advice to treat with only copper, and I lost a bunch of fish to ich.
The stress from ich and copper started the angel fish finrotting and my
water was too soft for mollies and so forth...

Anyway, it WILL get better since you're taking the time to learn. Think
of your tank as a new house that's only just gotten water and electric,
and you're still waiting on the phone and furniture to arrive. It will
become a good home for fish soon.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

On 31 Mar 2005 15:53:16 -0800, "
wrote:

Hi guys,

I own a tank for more than a month now and right now I have mixed
feelings about it.

It is not what I expected it to be and I am starting to think of
getting rid of it.

It has nothing to do of taking care of the fish, the money spent on
hardware.

It's just I like animals and it stresses me to see fish die and I am
the one to blame for it due to my inexperience and for putting fish
into a tank and play with their lifes...

I had fish that died because they got sucked into the filter,
because the water didnt have the proper qualities and now because of
disease...
It's a constant battle for me to take care of the fish and I am losing
it.

Sorry for my venting but I am frustrated.
Thanks

Great you felt you could vent here. It is hard to play God. Things
get ill, die and then we gods make mistakes. I have known friends,
when I was in my twenties, that said they would "never fall in love
again" after a breakup with someone they "loved."

I have had to put my pet dogs to sleep for various reasons. I have
cried over them more than over the deaths of my parents. It hurts a
lot if you have any feelings. But, I cannot live without my lovely
dog friends. I have a 14 year old greyhound living on the edge. I
know I may have weeks or months with her and it hurts to think of it,
but I welcome every morning to see her and love her.

You may not be able to cope with such feelings. One must balance the
good and the bad. It is part of life. Perhaps you cannot live with
the bad things that happen. I know, as I approach 70 years of life, I
have rid myself of responsibilities so as to avoid unnecessary stress,
but my dogs and my fish are my closest companions. I don't want to
face a new morning without them.

You must do what is right for you. Stress is not a good companion.

dick

On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 02:16:06 +0000, Angrie.Woman wrote:


"Tom Randy" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:21:48 -0800, wrote:

Thanks guys...

I just had a gourami that quit on me literally. it had popeye and I was
coming home with some medecine... too late... I am still battling Ich
but I thing the worse is gone for now.

Damn fish like them too much.


I just had to have my dog put down. That is FAR WORSE. She was nearly
15. Losing fish stinks but not as bad to me as losing a dog. It's like
losing a kid to me.


Oh Tom,

I'm so sorry for your loss! They leave such huge holes when they go.

A


Thanks. This hole will take a while to repair that's for sure.