Bad Wolf

Okay, Today I was volunteering at my dads work, he's an IT guy, or something, and I was helping lifting old junk. We finished that, nearly, and his work mate said he was going to clean the class room oscar tank, 55 gallon, and he asked me if I could help. I said, yes, so we went off and I assumed we were going to do a small, 30% partial water change.

When I got there, I noticed the tank wasn't even filled to the top, the water was greenish brown, the rocks and sides of the tank were covered in 1 inch thick slime, the filter was clogged and the tank hasn't had any water changes for 6 whole months.

He asked me if I was ready to do a FULL water change. And I was like, what? I tried telling him that we should do a smaller change, and I should come back every so and so weeks to do small partial water changes. He said, no, it hasn't been changed since 6 months.

So we did that, we did a full change and we finally finished doing the gravel and put in the water, and he said, are you ready to put in the oscar? And I said, wait, now? I told him about the cycle, and here's the worst part. He has fish of his own, 6 foot tank, and he said he never does a cycle, never puts in conditioner or anything else.

After hearing that I was shocked. I then insisted I take the oscar home into my spare quarantine tank and I would do the the cycling for the tank. He said this, "I don't care, really, it's not worth the trouble. I can just replace it if it dies". I was completely shocked to hear that. I thought, out of all the people I know who has fish, how could he not care?

So, after a few times of telling him about the cycle, and about the quarantine tank I had, but still, in the end he just dumped it without any quarantine/conditioning the oscar, or putting any thought of checkin ammonia, nitrate, nitrate, pH or even putting in water ager.

I was really angry with this, I really really tried to talk him into letting me take home the oscar and let the tank cycle. He just used tap water, and dunked it in. The oscar is about 6 inches by the way, and has a 3 inch crayfish friend/dinner. It just makes me want to use words I can't on this forum. Also, all he feeds the oscar is common fish flakes, fish flakes! That's it!

I feel really sorry for the poor thing, it looked really depressed. When he took it out of the tank, it wouldn't move, and it was on it's side.

Anyway, I thought you might want to know. Am I over reacting? Or is he the bad guy in this?

Please tell me your opinion on this. (Wasn't sure where to put it, so I just chose here).

Thanks

Rhan

That is really, really sad Unfortunetly there are a lot of people that put little value on a fish's life, hence the 'I can just replace it if it dies'.

I don't think you're over-reacting at all, it sounds like you tried really hard to convince this guy to let you help out the fish, but there are some people that just don't want to be told they're wrong. At least you can rest assured that you tried to help the poor thing

I really don't know what else you could do

aquarist48

Hello Dead Wolf.

You did your best and that's about all any of us can do. Some people just don't understand the way we do and too some just don't want to listen because "it's just a fish". (as some would say)

Be proud that you tried to inform him and that you wanted to do the best for the Oscar.

Ken

scatty

You did your best mate, that's all you could do. I feel for you, I would have felt angry too.

bolivianbaby

Dead Wolf, I'm sorry you had to experience that. I know MANY people who don't value the life of a fish and won't listen when I try to explain the nitrogen cycle and what the fish require to thrive. The most common thing I hear is "I can replace it if it dies".

You're not alone. You did nothing wrong and should be very proud of yourself for trying to educate the person.

All you can do is your best and that is what you've done here. Keep doing your best and you will come across someone who will listen and many lives will be saved because of it.

mosin360

All you can do is show them the right way and offer to teach them. I'm sure if fish were $50+ or just simply expensive, people would take better care of them. I also know a couple with a Oscar and they didn't know about the cycle. I did a water test for them and showed them how bad their water was. I gave them some gravel as theirs was completely solid from never doing any cleaning.

I've not heard how they have done since but I just hope they will take what I said and shown them to heart and keep with it. Thats all we can hope.

Meenu

You did a good thing, Bad Wolf, trying to notify him of cycling and wanting to take the oscar home.

David C

I'm sorry you had to go through that, it really sucks. I'm sure we have all been there a time or two, especially when it comes to betta and the myth they are "mud puddle fish"

Dave

Bad Wolf

Oh, and he also used 'Oscars are strong, they can handle it' as an excuse too. The poor fish is still on my mind....

Red1313

<hugs>

Tigerlily

What a sad experience, Dead Wolf. You did the very best you could and I have to give you a lot of credit for trying. It's not the easiest thing for a young person to teach an adult. Hopefully you were able to plant a seed that will take root somewhere down the line.

Tigerfishy

You did the best you could and there was no more any of us could have done. I would have been just as mad and probably asked him if he would be happy breathing in his own muck with the lights constantly off, but I'm a little bit cheeky!
You can't blame yourself, what you did was admirable, he was just far too narrow-minded to care about anything like it actually mattered.