My Megladoras uranoscopus! (irwini)

[MeglaAlex]

I am sad that I started it. On the up side, I'm thrilled we are having a relatively civilized, friendly discussion.

This is not completely off topic, as it pertains to care of large doradiids, but I think our (invasive) point has been made and Alex's too and it's time to let him exercise his freedom. Albeit I strongly agree with the warnings, it is not the end of the world when someone does not have a fully thought-through, solid plan.

It may not be a good practice, true, but it is even worse, far worse to cross that line where one starts trying to force some one else to do what they think is right, or even starts barking at somebody else and ordering them (not that the latter two have been happening here but it most usually escalates to that). That's perverting the very basis of our relationship wherein we are all independent fish-keeping hobbyists, equals in the sense of our freedoms.

I have killed most of the fish I ever owned by accidents, so who am I to speak anyway.

That's my two cent worth.

No Problem. Everyone has their own opionions and that's fine. I love that everyone has one. I just like to grow out fish and see how they progress. And then they go into a bigger tank than what I can provide. Are people going to disagree with me? Of course, I'm not perfect. That's fine, I know alot of fish keepers hate that. But it's what I like to do. But, I can say that I do like to keep fish that I can keep for life too. The Hassar Cats which I am thinking of just getting 6 I can keep for life.

[Jools]

Alex,

I note everyone has been polite and we have not sunk to any name calling - well done everyone!

I do have a question, would you call your plan with the

Megalodoras

responsible or irresponsible fishkeeping?

Jools

[MeglaAlex]

Alex,

I note everyone has been polite and we have not sunk to any name calling - well done everyone!

I do have a question, would you call your plan with the

Megalodoras

responsible or irresponsible fishkeeping?

Jools

There will never be name calling or anything of that nature by me.
I don't even know why you would ask that, it's a common sense question. But since I feel the need to have to answer it, I am going to say IT IS RESPONSIBLE Fish Keeping! Because I have them in clean water, they get fed every day, perfect water parms, and they have caves to hide in. And soon they will have a driftwood once it's ok to add to the tank.Don't wanna add it right away and have my water turn brown.

[Jools]

Hi Alex,

OK, so given a hypothetical person who buys a puppy with the intention of enjoying the young years of its life and selling it when it becomes a 4 years old young adult (let's call that a third into its expected average life). Would you call that responsible or irresponsible dog keeping?

Cheers,

Jools

[MeglaAlex]

Hi Alex,

OK, so given a hypothetical person who buys a puppy with the intention of enjoying the young years of its life and selling it when it becomes a 4 years old young adult (let's call that a third into its expected average life). Would you call that responsible or irresponsible dog keeping?

Cheers,

Jools

A dog is a dog and a catfish is a catfish.
It would depend on the situation. If the owner was moving to place where no dogs were allowed, or if they had a kid it' responsible.
My irwini are fine for now, they are moving in a 125.

[Scleropages]

given a hypothetical person who buys a puppy with the intention of enjoying the young years of its life and selling it when it becomes a 4 years old young adult

I think there is some info missing in order to make a judgement on the level of responsibility of our hypothetical person in this hypothetical situation, Jools. Does this person have someone lined up to take the dog when it reaches 4 years old? Or, are they buying the puppy and hoping they will find someone in 4 years time? That info would change how you and I feel about this hypothetical situation, no?

A dog is a dog and a catfish is a catfish.

Careful, Alex... many of us feel that a catfish is every bit as important and/or loveable as a dog. When I was doing all this extra work during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy just to try to keep my fish alive, when I would describe to friends/family/neighbors what I was doing, one of the more common responses was, "Geez! Sounds like a lot of work. They're just fish, you know." Most people might think that way, but to me (and many of us here on Planet Catfish), they are not just fish. They are great pets... even part of the family! And so much for that.

[Bas Pels]

I can only agree with Scleropagus.

I think, personally, nothing is wrong with keeeping an animal for a while and than the animal goes on. For instance, dogs which will be trained as help for blind people start with a year in a family. Only then they are trained.

But in all these cases, the people know where the dog will go to after they gave it back. If zomeone is able to finds someone who is trustworthy and would like to get a large O niger in a few years - perfect. The problem is, however, not many people would like to get such a large fish.

On the other item I also agree with Scleropages. Fish are not dogs, but that does not make them less worthy of a good life.

If fish could scream all people would thk so. Well, they do let you know they would scream if they could. You only need to learn to read the signals

[Jools]

All good points and an interesting debate. Scleropages is right, I wasn't specific enough but I think this aspect of the thread has run its course. Outside of PlanetCatfish I write about themes like this from time to time and it is useful for me to understand other viewpoints from time to time.

Cheers

Jools

[MeglaAlex]

Guys, I want to thank you all for being proffessional. I know on other forums, not gonna mention forum names but they would be jumping down my throat. I am glad you guys are here to help me w/ any mistakes.
And yes, I also agree more now after taking the time to read through the posts that I take care of my fish like I do my dog.
My irwinis are my babys. I feed them more than my other fish. They get flakes, pellets, shrimp, bloodworms, and even the occanional earthworm. They are swimming with golf ball bellies... cuties.. and now I am getting some driftwood ready for em.