I was teaching again at Murdoch University yesterday and thought I’d share this idea with you.
Whenever I teach a group of students, I always ask the participants, “How many people have kept fish in their life?”
Usually, 1/3 of the class would show their hands.
My next question would be, “Of those who have kept fish before, how many no longer keep fish?”
Two thirds of the respondents would show their hands.
Do you know why these people give up? The resounding answer is, “Because they died.” And their experience is that deaths would occur in the first few weeks of fishkeeping.
A lot of people are amazed when I tell them that the lifespan of a goldfish could be 15-20 years or more, but unfortunately, the average lifespan of a goldfish in captivity could be as low as less than one month! Why is this so?
The most common problem is new tank syndrome. It is a real invisible killer of fish and the hobby. Fish keepers must familiarise themselves with this ahead of anything else when they do their research. And this is always my emphasis whenever I teach about fish health. This condition can also affect established tanks!
I have deviated from my point…
So, in a class of 100 veterinary students, 33 would have kept fish before and of these, we would lose 22 of these from the hobby. The ornamental fish industry would do much better if everyone worked together to educate new hobbyists about fish keeping. Just imagine, our industry could be at least three times the size it is now!
How can we do this?
Every fish store and pet shop should have leaflets to hand to new hobbyists so that their customers may learn about the nitrogen cycle and that shops should request the new owners to test their water regularly in the start-up phase, or to request them to bring their water in for testing.
Sorry when a person goes into many shops there is just an emphasis on selling stuff – many of the staff are school children who probably dont know anything about the nitrogen cycle. This leads to death early in the set up phase and loss of interest in the hobby.
Fortunately the LFS I visit has qualified staff trained in the keeping and maintenance of fish, just just the short cut motto of sell sell sell.
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The chain pet stores selling fish don’t give advice or accurate advice. The local aquariums though, aren’t bad. But yeah, there is an emphasis on just selling.
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