Tropical Fish
They are the geekiest pet a person can own.

A basic pet, furry mammal – say cat – requires not much attention, feed it, worm it, stroke it and it will purr on your lap all the way through the star wars trilogy. And who has not laughed at a hamster running on its wheel?

Birds? Parrots are the coolest pet in the world. Fact. (Pirates had them?!?)

Insects? Well they sit in a box requiring limited feeding – you don’t even have to show them love. As long as they have some leaves they are happy to spend their days trying to impersonate a twig.

Reptiles? My mate owns a rather large snake. It requires a little heat and feeding once a week. Once a Week! He can happily spend his days clubbing and kissing girls like a cool kid without having to worry about Giles the pythons health.

Goldfish. “I won mine at an air gun game at the pikey fair. I am a crack shot. I am deadly with a tin pellet. I am a natural born killer. Clearly - I am cool”

Tropical fish then? Well you need to buy a certain type of tank. Fill it with a certain type of water at a certain temperature. If it’s too hot you will wake to find fish soup. To cold and you find them all belly up and slightly blue. To much chlorine…………zzzzzz.
Have expensive lights on a perfect timer. Have expensive and exotic food. Buy plants a rocks to best suit the fish you’re going to buy.

And then there’s the fish. From what I have been told it’s like a very hard game of top trumps. If you choose the wrong fish you will find in the morning that your collection of 30 fish has been reduced to 1 very fat and sleepy looking fish. And at £££ a go – it could be an expensive mistake. It’s the one pet that requires much planning and preparation and thought and you don’t even get a purr or much amusement out of them. Its the pet equivalent of warhammer.

Now im sure some of you must have some tropical fish tanks and will tell me how easy it is and how completely wrong I am. Please do. And offer tips. I would love to replace my screensaver with a real tank.
( KISS.ME.WHERE.I.POO Signed the sex offenders register on, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 11:05, 10 replies)

very true
Pet equivalent of Warhammer? Spot on!

I've kept tropicals for years, it's all pretty easy. It's when you start keeping marine fish that shit gets complicated!
(FerretTrout be illin', Fri 7 Mar 2008, 11:30, closed)

Fish
Pet equivalent of warhammer. Haaa haaa LOL your killing me!

I once had a marine fish tank (home made!) and had the grand plan of breeding lobsters, so I went to the fish mongers and purchased several large lobsters (still alive of course) They broke the tank and escaped all over the lounge and I presume out the back door as I never did find pinchy!
(3:16, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 11:35, closed)

Marine fish?
Excuse my ignorance, but aren't tropical fish marine, in that they live in the sea?
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 11:37, closed)

I own
A parrot (african grey)

and 'fancy' goldfish..


I wouldnt mind a marine tank tho......
(never-right -getting it wrong since '78, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 11:40, closed)

Never-right
Do you mean that your goldfish are those frilly little slivers

or

Are goldfish your sexual preference?

Oh - and very jealous of your parrot. I would love one!!! Please say you have one picture dressed up as a pirate with it on your shoulder. If so - post it!!!
( KISS.ME.WHERE.I.POO Signed the sex offenders register on, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 11:45, closed)

tropical... ????
try going for a marine tank set up, now that takes some looking after... water skimmers....high power filters, keeping the salt/water balance just perfect keeping the chemical balance is more important... but i think its worth it... all those pretty colour fish and corel reef oragisums that come out of the rocks... very pretty... i could turn the telly off and just watch it all day
(maxumus HEY!.... diddly dee, de de de de de de, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 11:59, closed)

K2k6
"Tropical" and "Marine" do not mean what you would expect them to mean when it comes to the glamerous world of keeping aquariums.

It was all explained to me by a client who kept tropical fish...or was it marine fish? Either way, he bought a new fish that introduced a disease and killed £800 worth of fish and he had to have the tank professionally cleaned.
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 12:58, closed)

Geek time...
I've kept tropicals for years. Generally it's fairly easy, depending on what you keep - I seem to keep killing guppies, for example, so I don't bother. Setting up the tank is relatively simple, let it stand for 24 hours after it's filled, with the filters running and the heater on. Most heaters have a thermostat, so you can fiddle about until the temperature is in the right range. All you need then are the fish...

I'd recommend getting a pair of kribensis so they can breed - relatively easy to keep and very good parents. Plus they look nice.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Fri 7 Mar 2008, 13:17, closed)

.
Tropical - not too difficult but I'd recommend 2 tanks (1 little one for quarantine of new fish). Ask around, the nearest place to me has a terrible reputation for supplying fish that are at deaths door, tanks are always crammed full of new fish for the weekend. Mollys don't like hard water (though every bloody aquarium place I've been sells them as an easy fish to keep) and fighting fish aren't happy if you put a mirror in front of them for too long (funny though).
Never tried marine but did get as far as a book on it....
(cmouse is pondering about life in other jobs, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 13:30, closed)

All I know about tropical fish...
Platies poo alot. Kribensis' shag alot. Shagging and poos are rude and funny.
( Tourette's ( . )( . ) has a monkey hair in her fried egg, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 13:48, closed)