The Puffer Forum

I have come to the conclusion that people with out fish just don't understand.

I just got my new fahaka puffer and he's a little on the sick side, just has IPs. So I went to class today and told my friend who is another zoology major, fosters dogs and cats, and is all around a good person that I had to run about twenty minutes out after class to go get the IP meds for Ratchet. Well she looks at me and goes your crazy to be doing all this stuff and spending all this money. It's just a fish! So basically she told me to just let it die and then get a new one...no problem. So I came back at her and was like well you spend lots of money on your animals. What about your cat that had to have all that dental work done last month. Of course she says that's different the cat's not a fish and if she didn't do the dental work then the cat wouldn't be able to eat. I countered with if I don't treat the fish, it'll starve and die. Isn't that the same thing? She didn't have an answer and we were going in different directions so that was the end of it.

This experience just made me really mad. So it's just a fish: that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve care, particularly wild caught fish like puffers. I took this fish out of its natural environment, where for all intent and purpose it probably would have been better off, for my own selfish pleasure. I took this fish out of the wild and brought it to my home because I want to care for it and watch it in the tank. As a moral human being I owe it to this animal to give it the best care and environment I can provide, and treating for illnesses is certainly included in the care part. I don't care if it's not a cat or a dog and can't curl up in my lap or whatever. It's still an animal. It feels hunger, pain, fear, happiness whatever. Fish are not expendable commodities! It's true I can't rush it to the E-vet if it gets sick but I can still do the best I can for it.

Okay I'm done now. Sorry I dumped that on everybody. I just got really irritated and needed to put it down somewhere. Has anybody else ever had to deal with this?

Yes, I have. Whats worse is when your family says something like "you knew she was old" OMG my Aunt said that to me about my Joy (14 yr old cat) who was put to sleep because She all of a sudden was very very ill. We have spent over 1000.00 in vet bills the last 8 months and I could not afford to treat my Joy. Credit cards are maxed. It's the worst feeling in the world to go through. You feel sick.

People think a pet is just an animal.......to me they are part of the family. My counselor told me take all the pets to the pound. All my fish, cats and dogs are part of my family! Most of the time it's ppl w/ no pets that act so uncaring. I'd be upset to if my friend made a remark like that.

I know what you mean StormySkiez .... when I was having some problems with my husband, my friend told me to "get rid of" my 3 dogs and go back to America! Like my dogs were something I could just throw away! My dogs are very much a part of my family, and I am not ashamed to say so.

I also know how people can be so insensitive about fish/puffers. I've heard the old, "just flush it down the toilet" phrase when I've had sick fish in the past. And I feel like you do qtrhorse89, in that this puffer was most likely caught in the wild, minding it's own business, but our selfishness dictates that we must have puffers/fish in tanks so we can be entertained by them. Speaking of which, on another forum, one of the members had gotten a turgidus puffer, and he really didn't know what to expect of it, and he said he wanted to get rid of it because it wasn't as entertaining as he thought it would be!! So we should just throw living beings away because they aren't entertaining us enough?!

Personally I don't care if people think I'm a looney, my animals mean alot to me and I would not give them up for anything because they make me happy, and they are always here for me. That's better than what alot of people can offer.

Your friend's attitude is terrible! She's definately in the wrong profession.

I don't think people are able to see that fishes has personality until they experience it themselves. I've had some eyerolling against me when I talk about fish personality. Fishes are just fishes to most people. But when you start keeping them yourself, you can see that they are personalities (another fish keeper I know actually has named her lawnmower blenny "the personality" ). My parents don't understand my fascination of keeping fishes, but my mother now seems to see a little bit of what I see now. They visited me last week, and my mother told me she misses seeing Hufflepuff. He always greeted her when she passed his tank.

But we can't always blame people for thinking what they think. We've been taught all our lives that fishes are "just fishes". I think it also has to do with fishes being "cold blooded" (I'm not sure of the English expression - I'm only translating directly from Norwegian). They are not so warm and cuddly as cats and dogs. And besides, many LFSs has the same attitude as well. No wonder people don't understand. I visited one of the LFSs in my town today, and a woman visited the shop at the same time, asking for a "golf ball" gold fish. The shop owner tried to explain that she didn't want to sell such fishes, as they were bred so badly that they lived only for a very short time. The woman said that there was nothing wrong with such gold fishes, she could see it the way they moved: they were moving very slowly through the water (meaning that they weren't able to move much at all), and thumping into the glass and decoration. But honestly, she didn't know better. She's probably never seen a healthy gold fish in her life, and certainly never been able to see their personality.

I can sometimes even see some of this attitude in myself. One day I found myself looking upon guppies as "lesser fishes" than my others. I got very ashamed of myself, and had to tell myself that they have they same right to be treated well as my very expensive sebra plecos. Bad, bad Inger Anne!

But, just to mention it, I do get angry about this attitude, that fishes are just "things" and not animals that has the right to be treated well. And I've ranted about it quite a few times myself.

Im with everyone here about it. And troender, Its actually "fish" whether it be plural or singular.

Im also debating over whether or not to sell my dog to the guy that breaks the horses, She runs with him everyday doing everything, He trained her to help break horses, I trained her to be a gaurd dog, Payed for her shots, Micro-chip, Registered her and everything, Although I do think it would be best for her, Im having a hard time with the decision.

Sorry, If I thread jacked you.

"It's just a fish" drives me crazy. People spend insane amounts of money on their dogs and cats (I mean, clothes? For God's sake, the poor animals don't want or need Halloween costumes!), they spend thousands of dollars on veterinary procedures, and they spend all their spare time housing 20+ foster animals, and yet they look at a fish and think that it's incapable of feeling pain or fear, and they they're dispensable and replaceable. The idea that fish are so dispensable comes from the way that most people provide improper care, meaning that their fish always die, and when it happens to everyone over and over, it's just normal, who cares, go get another one.

And a brief rant on people who do too much for their animals: Please don't embarras yourself by spending thousands on your pets. When people all over the world are dying of hunger, do not spend $200 on a dog bed, $60 on designer elevated food dishes, or $500 on a fancy cat play tower thing. Your dog will be perfectly content on the floor (or with a blanket or two if they're arthritic), you can put their dishes on top of a box/bin, and your cat will be over the moon with a paper bag. And, seriously, air-conditioned kitty litter boxes? It's ridiculous.

I give my fish the same consideration I give myself, and I give our dog and cats no more than I give myself.

Bluntokian wrote:Im with everyone here about it.

LOL, coming from the fellow who started here because he wanted a puffer for a "chick magnet"! Your attitude has improved much, my young man!

Yes, "cold blooded" is the correct term, Troender .

Troender wrote: I can sometimes even see some of this attitude in myself. One day I found myself looking upon guppies as "lesser fishes" than my others. I got very ashamed of myself, and had to tell myself that they have they same right to be treated well as my very expensive sebra plecos. Bad, bad Inger Anne!

I do that sometimes. I hate myself when I catch it.

Ugh. I hate that. My dad said, when Bullet was almost dead, its just a fish, you can get another. Pff!! there's no other Bullet out there. I could get another one, but he wouldn't be the Bullet I knew. Very fustrating.

I catch myself too thinking as schooling fish and the danios, guppies, etc as lesser. I have to kick myself.

Funnily enough, I was having a discussion on another forum about this today, albeit from a different angle: people who claim to be vegetarian but justify eating fish because they think fish don't suffer. It's a worrying outlook on things.

They're piscitarians - someone who eats no meat except for fish. That's what my parents do, since the fish they eat isn't farmed, it's wild-caught, and it's healthier than most meats.

I myself will eat fish, but I have a different reason than the people you're talking about. Me, I think they're yummy and healthy. I'm sure that they suffer, just like cows and sheep and chickens. We try to get free-range when we can, but it's so expensive that it's usually beyond my family's means to buy it. Animals were meant to be eaten by other animals, including us. I include fish in that category. They suffer briefly, and they do not suffer in vain - other animals utilize their bodies for fuel. One day, my body will go to worms and plants for fuel. Life goes on.

Not sure where I was going with that... But yeah, I agree with you, MF.

I just don't like the taste of shrimp.

Whoops, I meant fish, not shrimp, although I don't like them either..

Yes, there's an old myth that fishes can't feel pain. I have no idea where it comes from, but it's been there for a very long time. I guess it's there to justify fishing (I grew up with going fishing in the mountains almost every weekend during summer). And I really don't know how anyone can believe that fishes can't feel pain. If you ever go fishing, you see that they can.