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When talking to fellow aquarists, I often get the feeling that they consider me kinda weird due to my enthusiasm for fish which I rarely see and which more often than not aren't particularly colourful.

Do you experience similar things ?

You mean the famous question "why is your tank empty"

Be honest who else gets asked that?

or when the fish you own have have no colour (brown) and never move, we see as interesting with character, others see it as being boring. Who can call a guppy interesting!

If so yes i get this all the time.

I get razzed all the time at work by my friends for enjoying this hobby. The way I see it, the cats may not be active but if you setup the tank right you shouldnt have much of a problem viewing the creature and keeping it happy

the two cats I have now are not seen often, but can easly be coaxed out with a shrimp pellet its awesome to watch it swim out and gank the food, then dart back into the cave, he's my little paranoid freak ;) hehe

For the last week, a new game has developed in our aquarists club where I keep my fish: Who can find most of my nine (semi-)buried banjo cats - Pterobunocephalus dolichurus ? They may think I'm a little strange in keeping fish like that, but I've certainly seen slight glimpses of interest/fascination. Some of them might even see the light !

Magnum4 wrote:You mean the famous question "why is your tank empty"

About a month ago I transferred 4 adult Synodontis cf. petricola 'dwarf' and 4 adult Synodontis contractus to a new 250 liter tank. A couple of weeks later I was asked: Don't you think that tank has finished cycling ? When will you put fish in it ?

I have been asked all those empty tank questions a lot of times... And of course no one saw my fish because 1) they had no fancy colour, 2) they were hiding in a cave, 3) they had dug themselves down, 4) they did not move, 5) and of course if they saw it; is that fish alive (?!) and why do you only buy ugly fish?!!!?

Last year I had to look through all my books and search for some fish swimming in the upper part of the tank; I had bottomfish only!
Some food got stuck on the upper side of leaves etc, without being eaten. This caused some algae etc.. Then I had to buy some schooling fish...

I have this Sagittaria forest so dense and huge, that fishes and shrimps can hide there unseen for months! I like such wilderness, and it is like christmas eve when I see my Cameroun Giant Shrimp! I've seen it three times since august, and maybe soon again?

A greenhouse full of cacti doesnt help either. They are not huge saguaros like in the John Wayne movies. Noooo... they are mostly tiny tiny, grey like a rock, dryish and spiny. And of course very rare. People think they are ugly, as well. Of course they think it is fascinating that someone is able to collect thousands of these small things and even know their latin names! Fascinatingly weird...

Everyone think we are the weirdos, but ha ha ha, we are not, IT IS THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT ARE MAD!!! Catfish for president!

Heh, my friends don't so much think of me as odd for the fish I keep... They do think of me odd for my enthusiasm, as well as the prices I have paid for certain fish. I normally keep that fairly low-key with non-fish friends... but you do invariably get asked. It is not so bad though, actually. ;) One of my few friendships has come from reading fish books. I was at work and it was a slow day, so I had some book out reading and a coworker I didn't know walked by and asked what I was reading(bright pictures attract attention). ;) I was known as "fish guy" for about 2 weeks but I actually got a friendship out of it eventually. Of course I believe everyone thinks I'm odd about fish. Could be worse, I could be Michael Jackson.

Ahhh,the great feeling you get when your in the lfs eyeing some new cats and you overhear someone ask a question to a friend or say something false about a fish and you butt in and give them the whole scientific break down and they reply with "uhhhh,yeah,but its a fish man". I even get it from the employees when i hear "oh you want the brown ones in the back" and i reply with a swift "yes i want the Megalechis personata,commonly known as hoplo or armoured catfish,infact give me four as they preffer to live in groups and might not fair as well alone." haha,but i like to think its a good thing that no one else around here likes the cats,that means i dont have to make impulse buys becuase im affraid the fish are going to be sold out.

Hi!

Well I often have people saying to me that they don't understand why I keep which that are only coming out during the night, that are awfully ugly, no colour, and hide all the time...
By then I usually tell them that I have no clue of what they are talking about!!!
Cheers
Yann

I'm sick and proud of it!

Much better than Stamp Collecting!! Muhhhaa!!!!







Graeme.

Graeme wrote:Much better than Stamp Collecting!! Muhhhaa!!!!







Graeme.

I like stamp collecting.

At least better than stamp collecting and sneezing...

My boyfriend (bless his heart!) made me t-shirts that read "Catfish Nerd" and "I Love My Cory Cats"!! He's talking about making me a sweatshirt that says "Pictus Rock!" on the back, but I haven't seen it yet. *L*

I think my co-workers practically know my fish with all the stories they've heard about them. I let two co-workers name one of my schwartziis and my panda, so now they know who it is I'm talking about.

Who can call a guppy interesting!

Hey - I resemble that statement!"

Guppyman

My friends think its a little odd, especially when I start talking about my plecs and my daughter at the same time. They teased me endlessly about my 200 guppies, then they realized I was raising guppies to sell to my LFS to save money on buying my cool plecs.
--A conversation I had a weeek or so ago.---
So what are you watching on tv tonight?
Ahh nothing I'm listening to music and watching my fish tank, theres as much drama in there as there is on the West Wing.

I love the empty tank theory, I get friends say exactly the same thing until I put some food in and then its, "where did the hell did they all come from?"
Perhaps we are not the ones that are odd?

michelle56 wrote:

Graeme wrote:Much better than Stamp Collecting!! Muhhhaa!!!!







Graeme.

I like stamp collecting.

I collect stamps (especially sports oriented ones like the hallowed Ballparks of yore), pennies, Beer glasses from places (breweries/brewpubs) I've been, Great Lakes Lighthouses (again where I have visited already), Chili tasting, beer tasting, homebrewing, camping, fishing, and MASH Seasons 1-4 on DVD (so Far).

OK....I may be past weird! My wife actually talks me into the colorful fish. I would have a tankful of several different cats if I had my way.

Thanks,

Scott

Drop ya Pants and show ALL!!!!!!

touch-eeee!!! LOL!






Graeme.

Whoo-ah!

Hi,
I am also frequently asked the question ''why your tanks are empty'' and i say them that my tanks are full of catfishes'' and i show my fishes to them and they always say me that i am crazy because i bought fishes that i dont see.In fact,if they had any catfish they wouldnt say that we are weird because the owner of a catfish see his catfish while a visitor dont see it.

*heh* My catfish don't hide a lot, so my *not* friends ask me questions like "Kelly, they're just stupid fish! What can you like about them? WHAT!!?? STUPID FISH!!?? And I yell at them about it. That's why they are my *not* friends now. *heh* My idea is, people who don't know anything about catfish souldn't bother people who do. So there.

people are so mean to me...
-Elle

p.s.- whoever said the thing about rhinos and apples in your tank- What would you feed the apples?

My old boyfriend came by last night, he came in the door and I dragged him straight over to my tanks. I had two when we were dating and I am up to three now, all in my living room. After looking back and forth from tank to tank for a couple minutes and blinking rapidly he got out a " ummm have your tanks multiplied?" On a plus note though he did get a kick out of the new Bristlenose and my blck ghost knife.
I don't think we're weird. We just have a hobby that not a lot of people know about. Plus isn't it fun when some drunk at the bar tries asking you your pets and you list them off in latin names? Come on get someone to say Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps three times fast after they've had a bunch a drinks. Its fun and amusing.

Elle wrote:

p.s.- whoever said the thing about rhinos and apples in your tank- What would you feed the apples?

That really depends on the apples! There are red, green and yellow ones, from a lot of different countries and habitats. When they are hanging in trees, they seem to grow a lot! So, I suppose that most apples eat trees, or somehow parasite on them.. Just like black Rhinos.

If one could grow Braeburn apples in their tank, that would make me happy. I wouldn't have to go to the store for them! How would you feed them trees, though? Do you think just a piece of driftwood would appease them?

Driftwoodfed apples... it is worth a try, but it doesnt look very much like the apples natural food. Maybe tankbred apples would adapt better to that kind of food. Our hobby has no limits!
The difficult thing is to avoid the Rhino stepping on the apples. Some stony caves helps the apples hide. But then of course you wont see them all to often...

*heh* Well, first of all, I think you would need a dwarf tree if it's going to be put in a tank. Right? Maybe the apples feed off the tree, and the tree feeds off fertilizer. I'm lost... I'm good in science, but this is,...well... wierd. How would you fit a rhino and an apple tree (or any other for that matter) in a fish tank?...

Hey! I know! If you can't grow apples, then what about LIMES!!! I love limes!(with salt) But could you grow them in a fisk tank?.... If not, then here. A list of all the trees that I can remember that have fruit growing on them.
-limes
-apples
-pears
-oranges
-lemons
-apricots
-peach
-cherry
That's all I can remember right now. Could you have catfish in the tank, too? No.... They'd either get stepped on or eat all the limes! Or whatever.... Anyone else like limes and salt? *crickets chirping* Anyone?

I like cherries, but they are very seasonal, like killifishes. Some of the other fruits might make the Rhino nervous, but you could try. At all costs do avoid bananas!!!
You wouldnt enjoy meeting a Rhino going bananas!


Rhinos are cool, but still catfish rules! Catfish going bananas are a lot safer! Probably your home insurance will be cheaper as well...

Best Fishes!

Bjorn