The Ones That Go Silent...

I belong to a couple. The one betta forum I couldn't take it anymore. Lol. They were actually in favor of betta falls. Really. They thought it was the best thing out there. I honestly don't think anyone had over a gallon bowl. It was crazy.

I tend to keep my personal opinions to myself on most things. I tend to advise best practices and what's recommended or accepted hobby wide.

 

For me, it's when I see people arguing over treatment plans or stocking. Like actual arguing. Not polite disagreement. Everyone has their own ideas of how to treat or stock. I tend to avoid those tics unless I know what I'm talking about.

Also there's some instances where I've seen a forum newbie with, what I thought, good advice. I don't remember what it was, but I remember thinking that this forum newbie could actually have 30 years of real life experience with fish care.

 

I am surprised to see that Tapatalk isn't being brought up though. With the age of cell phones and apps, discovering and accessing forums through their webpages is becoming rarer. If someone wants a fish forum, this is the first place that comes up on a search of Tapatalk. And with the app, it completely bypasses all the info pages and the in your face stickies designed to get people the help they need before posting. (Heck, users even have an option to hide stickies.) I joined here the old fashioned way years ago, but the app makes keeping up with things a breeze.

The other issue with the app is that no one can see who is staff, and what someone's post count or signature is unless they go out of the way to check someone's profile directly. It levels the playing field in all the wrong ways for informational forums. That could be why you're seeing so many cases of newbies listening to newbies, because the OP has no clue who is more experienced.

It's also the age of instant gratification, and I know many people who will join multiple forums and Facebook groups, and then pick whichever is the fastest and most engaging, not whichever offers the best advice.

I had no idea of what tapatalk is!! thank you! something to keep in mind

I belong to a couple. The one betta forum I couldn't take it anymore. Lol. They were actually in favor of betta falls. Really. They thought it was the best thing out there. I honestly don't think anyone had over a gallon bowl. It was crazy.

I tend to keep my personal opinions to myself on most things. I tend to advise best practices and what's recommended or accepted hobby wide.

didn't know betta falls was a thing that existed. that hyperlinked to Amazon... it's very pretty but are those dimensions accurate?!!

 

Sadly it does exist. Yea each compartment is about a cup of water.

 

Sadly it does exist. Yea each compartment is about a cup of water.

that makes me sad

 

Oh boy, where do I begin here?

Ok, first I'm a newbie here and I'm guilty of many of these flaws myself.

Not that I have ever been Mister Pro fishkeeper. I've been keeping fish since 1974 and there are still lots of things to learn everyday.

That's what brings me here: free data, and high-quality too!

I've been a computer geek forever and I've been a professional since the 70s. I have attended many internet forums since 1990, I have served on several, and I have run a few of my own.

Every technical forum eventually has a thread like this one. Even Forums on things like comic book collecting, or restoring old cars, and certainly forums about computers.

Finally, I love Bettas and I hate the Betta Falls and everything about it. I don't have to explain to most of you guys all the flaws. But it's a terrific market gimick.

 

Random off topic question (I'm allowed because I'm the OP! mwuahahaaa! ): do yous think a 60 gallonversion of the betta falls is a feasible DiY? like each of the 3 chambers is about 20 gallon (top one bigger, last one smaller for the waterfall effect)?

 

Some person on here was going to make one out of 3 10 gallon tanks. They never make a follow up. Even if they were just 3 5 gallon tanks it would work.

 

I have been thinking about all of this and the reasons folks come in and soon disappear. I get all tongue (finger) tied if I don't think my answers through.

I am thinking some of them get all the info they need, get their tank on track and then feel they no longer need help so move on to other things.

I am thinking that some of them leave because they feel they have nothing to offer after they get their own problem solved. They live very busy lives so don't have time to hang around when they no longer need us.

Others come in knowing almost nothing but constantly offering bad advice, get tired of being corrected and decide to move on.

When I see someone new to the forum with 500 or more posts in a matter of a couple of weeks I do tend to question the wisdom and validity of their posts. I don't just assume that their posts are basically spam posts. I actually go back through their post history and see that most of those 500 or more posts are twitter type reply's with no useful content.

I have spent a lot of time on forums and a person like the above was the first one I have ever put on an ignore list. Those types usually don't last long but I am sure another one will come along and take their place. It takes all kinds to make the world go round.

But then we have one like the OP of this thread. Fairly new to both this forum and to fish keeping in general and is now a real asset to this forum. Someone that I admire and listen to. She has been through the fire and came through with flying colors.

Thank you for starting this thread Jenoli42

 

I will give voice to my situation here. I always make the effort to be polite and to the point. I do not give one sentance answers to most questions but rather the information that is needed.

I am not going to back up when 50 years of fish keeping shows that someone that just started is dead wrong.

But I am tired. I work 60-70 hours a week, and still find time to attempt to help.

But after all the years I have been fortune enough to be a member here, I as of three weeks ago now have started an ignore list and it is becoming long.

It comes down to this: I have enough aggravation driving a semI all day, and getting grief when I truely try to help people is repidly becoming not worth it.

 

...But I have had and seen very simple posts straight to the point just sit there for weeks with no answer. Then very vague posts go so far off the rails with replies that you can’t even remember what the original post is about. FWIW.

On point.
I see that most new member do not use the search function. Same questions get asked every single day. Searching the forum would answer most if not all of those questions. However, those posts get tons of replies. On the other side, like you, I've seen simple, straigh to the point posts/questions go unreplied for the longest time. I wish I could help in those cases, but I am not sure or have no experience I rather not say.

 

Unfortunately it's a very difficult business to tell people they are wrong and particularly when you like them. It's just as difficult being told.

And face it: we're all wrong sometimes.

But the big problem for me is that people get emotionally invested in a particular position. God knows it happens to me too. Once folks become emotionally invested in the wrong direction it's often impossible to get them on track.

We had one guy on Motorcycle USA who was the newb and a rather small guy.

He was emotionally invested in a motorcycle that was way too big and powerful for a new rider, and no one could talk him down from that decision.

Within a couple weeks he had gone out and bought a bike that he almost immediately turned into a pile of bent metal and plastic, which he still owed a ton of money on.

Fortunately he survived without too many broken bones and lacerations. Unfortunately the experience didn't teach him a darn thing.

He had to come back to the Forum to tell us that he was right and we were still wrong, and none of this was actually his fault, and had everything to do with the bike or someone else's poor driving.

He was so emotionally invested he could not see the truth in front of his eyes and accept it.

Having a bad attitude, no motorcycle, lots of anger, and a lot of time on his hands he quickly became a troll. I had to throw him off the Forum three or four times before he finally disappeared.

I had to close down one forum because people there who had bad ideas and couldn't get their own way became troublemakers and started making threats.

And they were middle-aged adults on the staff!

So it can be a thankless business, and particularly when the ones who need the most help are the least accepting.

I have a huge number of posts here for the short period of time I've been in attendance. Lots of it is me just wanting to show off. Hopefully some of it has been helpful and not just me polishing my ego.

Because I am retired with lots of free time, the most work I do these days is taking care of my fish and my wife, and running one small forum for old geezers who skate.

Something else typical to internet forums is you always have thousands of members who post once or twice, Then There are a hundred members who post on a fairly regular basis. Then there are a dozen members and staff who post many times a day because they basically run the Forum.

It is just the Nature of the Beast that a lot of people will drop by but not even hang around for a reply to their question. Some people will ask and never get an answer.

Some questions can simply not be answered.

So if anyone is upset because this forum or life in general is not perfect hopefully things will improve and the feeling will pass. But there's no guarantees in life, and most of the time we just have to grit the teeth and bear it.

 

I will give voice to my situation here. I always make the effort to be polite and to the point. I do not give one sentance answers to most questions but rather the information that is needed.

I am not going to back up when 50 years of fish keeping shows that someone that just started is dead wrong.

But I am tired. I work 60-70 hours a week, and still find time to attempt to help.

But after all the years I have been fortune enough to be a member here, I as of three weeks ago now have started an ignore list and it is becoming long.

It comes down to this: I have enough aggravation driving a semI all day, and getting grief when I truely try to help people is repidly becoming not worth it.

I understand the feeling. I have another hobby that I’m very competent in and had many more years in time and experience with than I do in fish-keeping. But I gave up on it a long time ago because nothing makes any sense there anymore.

 

. . . getting grief when I truely try to help people is repidly becoming not worth it.

It's very easy to get fed up to the point where you have to put up a barrier between you and something else in order to maintain your sanity. You see, it drives us insane to constantly be irritated. It drives us insane to feel repeatedly punished for our best efforts.

If you've operated a big rig or a motorcycle in America you understand irritation and what it does to you. I struggle against road rage, and I have cut way back on driving.

I drove for AAFES before I got out of college, so when all the aircraft plants cut back after Vietnam, rookie engineers were flipping burgers and waiting tables, but I was able to become a Teamster. Much better money.

Fortunately it was only 2 years. (I hated that union.)

Teaching other people is something that you can do until it just becomes too difficult to deal with the people.

We all have our limits on that and I found my own were fairly low, but eventually nearly everybody gets fed up with it buddy.

My wife is a teacher and both of my children are teachers, and the guys that I worked with for the past 20+ years were both married to teachers.

I taught adults about computers and engineering, which is not quite so irritating. It's so nice when people really want to learn!

But truly the most irritation ever was operating a big internet forum. I think this was because it brought me into contact with 100 times as many people as I would normally a meet in any single day.

At some point I just had to unplug.

<shrug>

 

This. You’ll never hear me tell someone to rehome their fish. That doesn’t mean I’m completely against it, as long as it’s done tactfully. Unfortunately, a lot of times it’s not. This is how I see it: would you tell someone to get rid of their fish in a casual and abrupt manner face to face, in real life, not behind a computer or phone screen? I wouldn’t.

If someone told me to rehome some, I’d completely agree. But rehome to where? No good answer for that one.

 

I understand the feeling. I have another hobby that I’m very competent in and had many more years in time and experience with than I do in fish-keeping. But I gave up on it a long time ago because nothing makes any sense there anymore.

It's the people that don't make sense anymore. Everyone nowadays is so emotionally invested in their own desires and beliefs that reason and logic are given little interest.

I have watched people receive endless television lessons about how to be a goldbrick, or a wiseguy, or a troublemaker, or a criminal, on dozens of TV shows over the past 60 years.

It is a matter of Pride among much of our population, this skill at being rude and troublesome. It's not surprising since they've seen these lessons their whole lives.

The other thing that has been well taught us is a lack of patience. When life occurs in 12 minute segments separated by commercial breaks, you get very used to expect a life where things don't take very long to happen.

When people don't learn to appreciate the results of enduring and concerted effort nothing worthwhile gets done.

I'm sorry for going off on a political rant here folks I think we have very much misused television, and I think only the advent of internet access like this is making a dent in the problem.

Unfortunately, with the YouTube generation, way too many people have graduated from watching TV to being the TV. This can give them a highly inflated sense of what they deserve out of life, this accessible form of publicity and display.

When the hard lessons fall on those folks you see the anger erupt. We're going to see more of this I'm afraid, rather than less.

 

That some times is the problem. Not everyone has a lfs that will take unwanted fish or know any one with a fish pond. The common pleco I have now can out of a young ladies 15 gallon tank, I traded her 4 guppies for it. Shes much happier and her tank is in much better shape now. She got the taknk for Christmas and got a bunch of fish that needed much bigger tanks as per petco advise. They all died but the pleco and her parents wouldn't let her get anymore fish since she couldn't care for them properly. Thing is nobody ever helped stear her in right direction so of course she wasn't taking proper care of them, she simply didn't know how. My daughter and I got her back on track and helped her understand how to continue.

 

Serious question. Is it wrong to call someone out on very bad advice? Meds, water change or stocking wise. An example would be to suggest my stocking to a new hobbiest.

No sir. If you ever see one of my answers that have totally missed the mark please please please let me know. I try to help but SirI does miss things occasionally. Whole pages sometimes. Unless it’s a good thread like this one, if it’s too many pages, I’ll listen to see if I learn something but won’t get involved.

 

Sadly it does exist. Yea each compartment is about a cup of water.

 

Random off topic question (I'm allowed because I'm the OP! mwuahahaaa! ): do yous think a 60 gallonversion of the betta falls is a feasible DiY? like each of the 3 chambers is about 20 gallon (top one bigger, last one smaller for the waterfall effect)?

Oh my! Just had a vision of a spiral staircase complete with waterfall aquariums! Cool! Thank you!

 

I will give voice to my situation here. I always make the effort to be polite and to the point. I do not give one sentance answers to most questions but rather the information that is needed.

I am not going to back up when 50 years of fish keeping shows that someone that just started is dead wrong.

But I am tired. I work 60-70 hours a week, and still find time to attempt to help.

But after all the years I have been fortune enough to be a member here, I as of three weeks ago now have started an ignore list and it is becoming long.

It comes down to this: I have enough aggravation driving a semI all day, and getting grief when I truely try to help people is repidly becoming not worth it.

Don’t ever go away. We need you. I didn’t realize you worked such long hours. I’m sorry.

 

Sadly it does exist. Yea each compartment is about a cup of water.

It would be awesome if it were made on a bigger scale... Instead of 0.5gallons of water if each were 3gallons with a slower filter I would buy it! But with the fast filter and 0.5gallon room with visible sides to the other bettas... WAY to stressful.

 

Don’t ever go away. We need you. I didn’t realize you worked such long hours. I’m sorry.

Nothing to be sorry about

I am not going anywhere.

 

I’ve almost left this forum. I was bribed to stay with a water lily. Totally not fair! Lol
The biggest reason was feeling, how to put this nicely?, beaten up. Being new to the forum, I thought this guy was right since he’s a legend. It seems I was giving opinions when I hadn’t been asked for them.
Luckily, a water lily came my way. Then others too. I’m glad I stayed.

 

I have been thinking about all of this and the reasons folks come in and soon disappear. I get all tongue (finger) tied if I don't think my answers through.

I am thinking some of them get all the info they need, get their tank on track and then feel they no longer need help so move on to other things.

I am thinking that some of them leave because they feel they have nothing to offer after they get their own problem solved. They live very busy lives so don't have time to hang around when they no longer need us.

Others come in knowing almost nothing but constantly offering bad advice, get tired of being corrected and decide to move on.

When I see someone new to the forum with 500 or more posts in a matter of a couple of weeks I do tend to question the wisdom and validity of their posts. I don't just assume that their posts are basically spam posts. I actually go back through their post history and see that most of those 500 or more posts are twitter type reply's with no useful content.

I have spent a lot of time on forums and a person like the above was the first one I have ever put on an ignore list. Those types usually don't last long but I am sure another one will come along and take their place. It takes all kinds to make the world go round.

But then we have one like the OP of this thread. Fairly new to both this forum and to fish keeping in general and is now a real asset to this forum. Someone that I admire and listen to. She has been through the fire and came through with flying colors.

Thank you for starting this thread Jenoli42

what a lovely contribution to wake up to! yay thank you for being you and being here

On point.
I see that most new member do not use the search function. Same questions get asked every single day. Searching the forum would answer most if not all of those questions. However, those posts get tons of replies. On the other side, like you, I've seen simple, straigh to the point posts/questions go unreplied for the longest time. I wish I could help in those cases, but I am not sure or have no experience I rather not say.

I try to check the unanswered threads once a day minimum. if I can help, I do. I know others who tag people likely to be able to help, too. sometimes the question is very clear but so specific to certain cycle products or lighting or filters that I don't answer because is be guessing & don't want the question to get lost

Unfortunately, with the YouTube generation, way too many people have graduated from watching TV to being the TV. This can give them a highly inflated sense of what they deserve out of life, this accessible form of publicity and display.

When the hard lessons fall on those folks you see the anger erupt. We're going to see more of this I'm afraid, rather than less.

I have a rather dark sense of humour. That said, people may learn patience and hard lessons from TV if they watch Game of Thrones lolz... sorry had to...

 

Newbies (we could call them frys, right?) that post here want instant gratification or an instant solution to the problem. They are either:

A. will read the opinions and take the opinions and run with it or
B. they'll get agitated that they think we ask too many questions such as what are your parameters and what filter your running, they don't provide enough stats hence the through questioning.

Kudos for those who will take the initial beating of questions from all of us. If you don't like the questions part or the answers well, what else can we do.

Whats worse is that when they answer your question but you don't get back to them they get mad...like we don't care. I do sort of care about your problems, but hey I got a job that I have to do too. Plus the difference in hours are tough too on the newbies.

When the OP disappears or leaves the thread and doesn't answer, I really don't give much of the thought after that...I move on and read other posts and put my pennies and dimes in.

 

On point.
I see that most new member do not use the search function. Same questions get asked every single day. Searching the forum would answer most if not all of those questions. However, those posts get tons of replies. On the other side, like you, I've seen simple, straigh to the point posts/questions go unreplied for the longest time. I wish I could help in those cases, but I am not sure or have no experience I rather not say.

Totally agree. Don't know why, because I learned pretty much everything about getting started from searching mostly very old threads on here, and didn't actually join until afterwards. Who knows how many hours I spent reading old (good) stuff.
I also kind of get peeved about the same questions every day; the real questions that could actually use an answer get buried before someone who knows the answer sees it.

 

Totally agree. Don't know why, because I learned pretty much everything about getting started from searching mostly very old threads on here, and didn't actually join until afterwards. Who knows how many hours I spent reading old (good) stuff.
I also kind of get peeved about the same questions every day; the real questions that could actually use an answer get buried before someone who knows the answer sees it.

I did the same. I lurked for a while figuring out my mistakes and learned the nitrogen cycle and acclimation techniques after I killed tons of stock in rapid succession. After I stopped killing things and figured out a bunch of stuff I started helping simple questions and joined. Then I needed help for less generic topics. Now I'm breaking rules and trying all kinds of things. Some work, some dont. I try to help to more complex problems first, (like ph dropped to 6 but ammonia is 8, my fish are all ok, what's going on?) I still try to help basic cycle problems but it gets old seeing people post the same problem 6 times a day. I also won't add to a thread if the OP seems to know better, but is emotionally invested in not doing it. I'm an oddball here and don't emotionally attach to fish. They are decoration to me. I understand how some people get that way, but I'm more inclined to cull than to treat if treatment puts the rest of the stock in a bad spot.

 

I’ve almost left this forum. I was bribed to stay with a water lily. Totally not fair! Lol
The biggest reason was feeling, how to put this nicely?, beaten up. Being new to the forum, I thought this guy was right since he’s a legend. It seems I was giving opinions when I hadn’t been asked for them.
Luckily, a water lily came my way. Then others too. I’m glad I stayed.

Ouch, that honestly can be hard to swallow. But I do agree, sometimes we unintentionally place individual's on a pedestals- which is fine, they deserve it when they have quality advise - but fail to neglect that others may have fantastic advise that they are uncomfortable with sharing as not to upset the 'gods'.

I know that if I didn't have years of fish keeping experience prior to joining - any - fish forum, I would not be as active as I am now. I personally think that it's important tp acknowledge the ones that share their ideas, and not shoot them down for it... instead consider upgrading to a new model for optimal soar-ation.


Gypsy13, I love your advise and never have thought otherwise! Glad that lily kept you here!

 

Interesting thread.

The first fish forum I was a member of was Compuserve's Fishnet. The rules were a bit tighter than they were over at AOL, so people thought we were a little too serious. However, if you had a sick fish, there was a form to fill out before you would get any advice. This method saved a lot of time, and since we had the only real tropical fish veterinarian online to answer these questions, they usually got the information they needed. A couple of times new people tried to answer some of these inquiries, and it was politely pointed out to them that they lacked degrees in aquaculture and veterinary medicine. In other words, leave it for the professional. Unfortunately, the forum died with Compuserve, and the veterinarian, Dr. Denise Petty, moved on to much greater things. Here we have no trained veterinarian to answer health questions, but a sticky recommending that certain information be given with the initial post certainly couldn't hurt. Not that people would use it, but it would look good.

Here I mostly stay away from cycling threads, since I don't cycle; and I stay away from stocking threads as I do not do community tanks intentionally. It is also safer for my sanity, because there are some cycling fanatics here, and I've seen some really heavy handed stocking "mandates". Yes, that is the word I meant to use. I can understand how this could scare away someone who thought he could just fill a tank with water and put fish in it. There are nice ways to explain these things, but coming at someone from such a fanatical position of absolutes simply does not work. Especially when those absolutes are not so.

I sometimes answer questions about particular species, and I do ID a lot. If there is an adequate answer already on the thread, I will agree and leave it at that. I may add information that was not given if I feel it is important, like scientific names, which are better for research than common names (if I think the OP will actually do research). The difficulty starts when someone gives an answer that is so wrong it is obvious that the person doesn't have anywhere near the experience that they think they have ("If you knew half of what you think you know, you'd know twice as much as you really do know"). I can understand when someone mistakes a female Black Phantom for a Serpae Tetra, but not when they mistake a Buenos Aires Tetra for a Congo. And I've seen far worse. So perhaps I have been known to get a little snippy with such persons. Wanting to help is not the same as actually helping.

One of the biggest problems I've seen is also the impatience of new posters, which others have commented about here. Some think this is an answer app where they can ask a question and get an immediate response. I've actually seen posts where someone asked a question, and an hour later complained that no one has answered them! That's a problem from our instant gratification society today. You can't fix people. "Be nice, until it's time to not be nice." (from the movie Roadhouse.:blackeye And let the Mods determine when it's time to not be nice.

 

I thought it was 2 lilies that kept her. Lol.

 

Ouch, that honestly can be hard to swallow. But I do agree, sometimes we unintentionally place individual's on a pedestals- which is fine, they deserve it when they have quality advise - but fail to neglect that others may have fantastic advise that they are uncomfortable with sharing as not to upset the 'gods'.

I know that if I didn't have years of fish keeping experience prior to joining - any - fish forum, I would not be as active as I am now. I personally think that it's important tp acknowledge the ones that share their ideas, and not shoot them down for it... instead consider upgrading to a new model for optimal soar-ation.


Gypsy13, I love your advise and never have thought otherwise! Glad that lily kept you here!

I am too. thank you for being so kind.

 

I thought it was 2 lilies that kept her. Lol.

One lily. Never did get the blue one. Hmmmm.... did get a blue flower though. Ok. Two it is.

 

Interesting thread.

The first fish forum I was a member of was Compuserve's Fishnet. The rules were a bit tighter than they were over at AOL, so people thought we were a little too serious. However, if you had a sick fish, there was a form to fill out before you would get any advice. This method saved a lot of time, and since we had the only real tropical fish veterinarian online to answer these questions, they usually got the information they needed. A couple of times new people tried to answer some of these inquiries, and it was politely pointed out to them that they lacked degrees in aquaculture and veterinary medicine. In other words, leave it for the professional. Unfortunately, the forum died with Compuserve, and the veterinarian, Dr. Denise Petty, moved on to much greater things. Here we have no trained veterinarian to answer health questions, but a sticky recommending that certain information be given with the initial post certainly couldn't hurt. Not that people would use it, but it would look good.

Here I mostly stay away from cycling threads, since I don't cycle; and I stay away from stocking threads as I do not do community tanks intentionally. It is also safer for my sanity, because there are some cycling fanatics here, and I've seen some really heavy handed stocking "mandates". Yes, that is the word I meant to use. I can understand how this could scare away someone who thought he could just fill a tank with water and put fish in it. There are nice ways to explain these things, but coming at someone from such a fanatical position of absolutes simply does not work. Especially when those absolutes are not so.

I sometimes answer questions about particular species, and I do ID a lot. If there is an adequate answer already on the thread, I will agree and leave it at that. I may add information that was not given if I feel it is important, like scientific names, which are better for research than common names (if I think the OP will actually do research). The difficulty starts when someone gives an answer that is so wrong it is obvious that the person doesn't have anywhere near the experience that they think they have ("If you knew half of what you think you know, you'd know twice as much as you really do know"). I can understand when someone mistakes a female Black Phantom for a Serpae Tetra, but not when they mistake a Buenos Aires Tetra for a Congo. And I've seen far worse. So perhaps I have been known to get a little snippy with such persons. Wanting to help is not the same as actually helping.

One of the biggest problems I've seen is also the impatience of new posters, which others have commented about here. Some think this is an answer app where they can ask a question and get an immediate response. I've actually seen posts where someone asked a question, and an hour later complained that no one has answered them! That's a problem from our instant gratification society today. You can't fix people. "Be nice, until it's time to not be nice." (from the movie Roadhouse.:blackeye And let the Mods determine when it's time to not be nice.

Love that movie!

 

It's easy to rank on the newbies when they come up with the same questions over and over, but I have to feel sorry for them because of the way the whole industry is organized.

It really runs on the fact that there are thousands of newbie fish Keepers every year who get frustrated and quit after spending a bunch of money.

Only the people that stick with this hobby for years and years are separate from that system. We either had good training or learned the hard way over many years. We didn't give up when our fish died. Not the first time and not the 10th time either.

But the pet store mass-consumer industry makes its profits off of cheap tanks, expensive accessories, and virtually-disposable fish.

In my younger days I did not walk through places like Petsmart with the realization that 90% of the fish sold from those tanks would be dead very soon after they were sold, and 30% of them never made it out of the store.

Do you guys have any idea how many empty 10 gallon tanks are sitting in attics and basements across America? Staggering!

So feel sorry for the noobs who don't make it here to the land of fish data, and commit their pets to a slow lingering death.

But also take heart because there is lots of love to go around in this business. People who keep fish a long time are not in it for quick thrills.

 

It's easy to rank on the newbies when they come up with the same questions over and over, but I have to feel sorry for them because of the way the whole industry is organized.

It really runs on the fact that there are thousands of newbie fish Keepers every year who get frustrated and quit after spending a bunch of money.

Only the people that stick with this hobby for years and years are separate from that system. We either had good training or learned the hard way over many years. We didn't give up when our fish died. Not the first time and not the 10th time either.

But the pet store mass-consumer industry makes its profits off of cheap tanks, expensive accessories, and virtually-disposable fish.

In my younger days I did not walk through places like Petsmart with the realization that 90% of the fish sold from those tanks would be dead very soon after they were sold, and 30% of them never made it out of the store.

Do you guys have any idea how many empty 10 gallon tanks are sitting in attics and basements across America? Staggering!

So feel sorry for the noobs who don't make it here to the land of fish data, and commit their pets to a slow lingering death.

But also take heart because there is lots of love to go around in this business. People who keep fish a long time are not in it for quick thrills.

I don't know about y'all but I have many a time thought wistfully about all of the abandoned attic tanks of the world. I can almost hear them calling my name...

 

Virtually any California yard sale is destined to contain a 10 gallon aquarium. It's like a law of nature or something.