Pet fish for christmas.
#1
"Why not , you miserable git!" I hear you moan.
Well, there are lots of reasons, and while the old pros on here , myself included might quite like to spend their christmas money on a fish or two, here's why you don't buy a fish for someone else,
particularly if they have never kept fish before. Forgive your humble author if he makes these blindingly obvious points for the newbies and beginners who may think a pet is a good choice for a present, they need to know this. The pros as usual will do as they please no doubt. LOL .
So if you havent kept fish before, or your intended gift recipient hasnt kept fish before, you will find that there are a load of pitfalls to be avoided, and you may after reading this come to the conclusion that a fish does not make the best present. In fact youre very likely to kill the fish, and annoy the hell out of the recipient, and here is for why...
1) Fish are not easy to care for, especially not for children, and many adults have problems grasping the concepts at hand.
Water must be matured for around a month before fish ever go into water. DONT be folled by petshop advice about "just stick some of this is and it will be fine" because it wont. There isnt to date a chemical additive you can add at the beggining of fish ownership, that will help a fish get through the cycling period instantly. The fastest completion of the nitrogen cycle Ive ever heard of from a cold start too two weeks and that was unusually lucky. Most cycles conform to a worldwide average of 21-28 days!
Cycling a new aquarium with a fish in it is an extremely risky business. In the hands of someone who knows what they are doing its a risky time, perhaps 30% of fish will either be lost or suffer the kind of immuno depression that makes fish catch disease. The diseases have to be treated, most treatments kill filter bacteria, and the survival odds for a fish in a beginners hands are extremely low. The arrival of a new fish requires some pre- preparation , preferably a month in advance
at least.
2) Fishkeeping requires knowledge.
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A new owner will be responsible for the life of a biological organism, and to be able to handle that fish need lots of equipment,and an understanding of the nitrogen cycle. Its about a lot more than just chucking a fish in a bowl . A crappy little plastic novelty tank will not do. Goldfish in particular, are really pondfish, and millions are killed by bowls. In fact if you were to consider the minimum tanksize for goldies that are babies to be 20 gallon, the midsized adults to be 55 gallon, and the full size adults to need 100 gallon plus or ponds, you would not be far wrong. A far better gift for the budding fishkeeper would be a good book, some tank equipment etc, but not the actual fish itself. A fishkeepers checklist for instance, would be the tank, a good stand or table, an oxygenator, a decent filter, a tank hood, lighting equipment, a timer, gravel, decor, a thermometer,water conditioner,fishfood, and a few basic medications, and possibly a heater for those fish that need it. Youd also want to check the equipment wasnt faulty before you even purchased a fish, and that it was performing to specification properly. Also a fishtank is an environmental system that needs to reach a stability or equilibrium before living animals are included.
Some may say "my kid wont be satisfied with just a book, it wants a pet". To which I can only say that your child expects a pet that is alive, and expects it to stay that way. So even if the kid doesnt get a book (though I see not a damn reason why not, after all my own personal love of animals was initially inspired by books) the adult will still need the book, so that qualititive and responsible decisions can be made about the keeping of the animal, because lets face it, most parents have to take care of the animal initially, and if youre not prepared to do that little thing- never buy an animal anyway!
3) People can surprise you with their negligence and lack of responsibility when it comes to fishkeeping. Just because you love fish, doesnt mean other people will, and someone without the same love for a species can easily become a negligent keeper. Call me jaded if you will, but I have seen many people that you would consider nice and intelligent people in your daily life become completely clueless and immoral once presented with an animal to look after that they had neither planned on , nor particularly wanted. Consequently no animal should ever be a surprise present. If someone has no genuine interest in the fish, chances are it will be neglected , and probably die, or end up in the rescue system, and rescues for fish are few and far between , and certainly zoos wont want the fish.
If someone wants a fish for christmas it should never be a surprise. A new animal owner needs time to prepare, to school themselves a little, and at the very emotional time of christmas , people are prone to sentimentality that makes them likely to take on more than they can handle. For some a pet for christmas may be a childhood dream, but the hopes and dreams of a child should not be based on an animal, its extremely bad parenting to rush things to do animal keeping to coincide with an event. Its a bad example, and certainly no animal should find itself waiting around in bags and boxes, deprived of proper environmental conditions for the day of presentation. Disasters can and do happen, particularly in the context that the child may perceive the animal to be a toy, and it is most certainly not one. It is always in the animals needs that should dictate the pace of its introduction into the household.
Bad Timing.
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Christmas is a lousy time for a fish to be introduced to the family. Overexcited children, people rushing about and doing other things, are all elements that will stress a fish. Many fish barely make transitions between under normal circumstances, and a family home at christmas with drunk uncles tapping on glass, and children rushing about could literally scare a fish, and shock it into an early gave.
Then of course the shops will be closed. You might not have the right equipment, or the fish will have a common infection like whitespot, and if you cant get medications for a few days, or other things like ammolock to stop the worst of a tank crash, filter parts need upgrading, or replacing, or you need advice, no-one and nothing will be available. Even your usually reliable online fish gurus will be paralytic in a chair somewhere unable to reach the keyboard for the 15 pints of beer, one cherry brandy, and 12 kilos of turkey they consumed at lunchtime. The fish will probably die.
Even a gifted fishkeeper who already has fish wont want some diseased fish bought from a chainstore to deal with over christmas, he or she will not thank you for bringing one to their home, and the last thing they will want to have to do is set up a quarantine tank, disease treat, and then possibly even rehome a fish after the christmas period, because its been chosen inappropriately for their setup, or they simply dont want a disease risk in their perfect community tank. Give them a nice cheque or a gift token for fish they do want however, and you'll have a friend for life. Moral being, never choose a fish for an experienced fishkeeper. Give them the cash and let them choose.Not only will they probably want an entirely different species from the one you have chosen, but they will want to pick it and vet it for disease themselves, which is quite simply, not something someone who isnt into fishkeeping can do.
Likewise christmas is the time when most animals of all species are abandoned, and the months after christmas are hell on wheels for care assistants at rescue centres. They will already be swamped by dogs, cats, pot bellied pigs, reptiles and god knows what else, and they will all be getting priority over the fish. Enough animals face the lethal injection every year because of this incredibly stupid trend of animal abandonment over christmas.Fish dont need to be added to this list of already abandoned creatures. More often than not, no-one will take the fish off your hands, they will be too busy,
for months, and you get the priviledge of watching your purchasing error unfold over the next few days as your fish suffocates in toxic water , and dies in front of you.
Midwinter is also not a good time for a beginner to buy fish, quite simply because fish get thermic shock easily, and if you were hoping to buy a fish, do the rest of your shopping, leave it in a cold car for a few hours and then just be able to drop it into a bowl once home, forget it.It will drop dead on you. People with ponds also wont want fish at this time. If you try to take a shop bought fish, and then give it to someone with a pond but no ready and cycled aquarium, the fish has to go into the pond at a time when most fish have acclimated to the cold slowly and are dormant. The shock of taking a shop bought fish kept in warm water and putting in a pond will odds on kill it.
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If that isnt enough reasons to put you off buying people fish for christmas I dont know what is. Lol
Im not trying to put people off buying fish any other time, but christmas is hell on wheels for animals, often the season of good cheer just doesnt apply to them , and in every predominantly christian country in the word, fish and numerous other animals suffer increased death rates and abandonment.
Having said that, theres no harm in asking an old pro or established new keeper what they might need for their tank, or like to read, or indeed how much money it might cost for them to make their existing aquarium better, as long as it isnt actually a fish. (hint hint)
and if you must get fish as a gift, particularly for children, preplan it months in advance , and get it sorted well before christmas.Put it this way, if you wanted a tank cycled and steady by christmas, youd have to have the setup complete by the end of next week. You dont want to be sorting out unexpected stability issues over christmas. Having a fish for life shouldnt equate to lasting about a week after boxing day.
A season of goodwill is one that passes without an increase in animal abandonment and deaths.
Sorry its a bit of a lecture, but a lot of people hear the message about christmas animal purchasing every year, disregard it, dont think it applies to them, and perhaps discard such warnings so easily because they dont appreciate the difficulty of fishkeeping. Perhaps they even think, "hey its not a puppy, its only a fish !" But to those that love fish, a life is still a life,and if you dont happen to love fish that much...why buy one?
Apologies to those who know all this already, its primarily for the benefit of new potential fish owners,and perhaps a vain attempt to stem some of the suffering that fish go through at chrimbo time.
Anything you guys would wish to add, any opinions of fish purchasing as gifts as xmas time?