Keeping fish of any kind is potentially more expensive than having any other kind of pet, save the more exotic ones like snakes, monkeys or whatever, perhaps. As well as the obvious costs of the tank itself, the fish, the equipment and any plants, one also has to consider the non-obvious things: the amount of water involved, the cost of running the tank, the water parameters (pH, hardness, ammonia and nitrates/nitrites etc.) as well as weekly and even daily maintenance.
And that’s just if you’re a newbie. In the advanced world, CO2 diffusion, lighting and aquascaping are some of the many other things one takes into consideration, as the goal isn’t just to have a working fish tank, but an attractive fish tank.
There are also hundreds of different fish to choose from, but not every single one will be suitable for your tank. Male betta (siamese fighting) fish, for example, will greatly eliminate your choices of tank mates (if any), simply because they have a reputation of attacking other fish. There are many other kinds of fish, that, for various reasons, can’t be kept with certain others – either because they require different water conditions, or they are territorial, or just aggressive towards other fish.
Even if you’re able to decide which fish you want, your local pet shop or aquatics store might not have them in stock. Thanks to the power of the Internet, it’s now possible (in the UK and the US, at least) to find somewhere that does. There are even online shops that can mail live fish to you.
Fishkeeping is incredibly addictive, but I’ve found it’s very difficult to really be great at it. I have the aquascaping skills of a St. Bernard, going by the results of my recent tank setup, and I have probably lost more fish than I currently have right now.
But easily the biggest and most annoying problem with fishkeeping itself is the sheer number of overzealous, self-appointed experts.
Before Saturday, I thought they only existed in question and answer sites on the Internet. These are the people who, when someone new to fishkeeping asks an innocent question, jump on them with alarmist statements like
your tank is TOO SMALL!!! goldfish need AT LEAST 10 GALLONS of water EACH!!!!!!!11111111
That’s by far the most common example I’ve come across, regarding the controversy about goldfish being marketed as beginner’s fish.
But basically, whenever one of these zealots give an answer, they like to make the question asker feel small. (Even when the asker has as much, or even more experience then them.) They like to find just one thing the asker is doing “wrong” or “incorrectly”, and blow it out of proportion. And if there isn’t anything, they’ll rattle off bits of unrelated, random information.
My attempt at adding fish to my new setup was thwarted on Saturday, when I was stopped by one such person working in a Maidenhead Aquatics.
In fairness, the no-sale was because I hadn’t actually tested the water in the tank since setting it up (although I had let it cycle for just over a week). I’m also waiting on a CO2 diffuser, which will hopefully improve plant-growing conditions and lower the pH of the water.
However, once the guy found out about the tank water, he just wouldn’t shut up. I was basically treated like a complete newbie who didn’t know what they were doing, for the best part of five minutes. (It was a stark reminder, however, to test the water before adding fish.)
Another zealot – I call them that because of their attempt to make me feel small – recently criticised my choice of Boraras brigittae (chilli rasboras), which are already in the new tank as the only fish in there. Apparently they’re not a good idea for a new tank, which is actually news to me.
I’m not someone who has a problem with fucking up occasionally, as I invariably do in many areas. It should never be shameful to make a mistake when one is learning – believe me, it’s a bad enough feeling to find dead fish in your tank one evening.
Unfortunately, there are people who look to humiliate those who make mistakes. All this does is prevent people from asking questions or even trying, and that’s probably why there’s so much misinformation (or even a lack of information) on fishkeeping, as well as some other subjects.
Tags: Annoying Problem, Fish Tank, Keeping Fish, Kinds Of Fish, Question And Answer, Tank Mates, Tank Setup, Water Conditions, Water Parameters