Is it really about $?

I'm sorry about your blue tang. :(

I know it is tough. My fish are as much a part of my 'family' as my cats. They are all my kids.
 
I feel like it's a loss when I lose something.
I try to replicate their environment, it's my responsability since I am the one that brought them from the wild, $ is a factor but the life is whats most important. my livestock become part of my family.
Be it my chromas, tang or wrasse I look forward to seeing them.
 
Money does matter in the outcome I think. You still feel bad cause of the loss of life, and yet again, knowing you spent that much also hurts. Its still sad tho =/
 
i have had my first saltwater tank for 6 months now, and im am so addicted to this hobby all my fish and corals and my anenomes have names per myself, wife and kids money in todays economy is slim so i can see the money part but i enjoy keeping them healthy and watching them grow I lost a cleaner shrimp and i still can't get over it they all have there own personalitys
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13510680#post13510680 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kmf507
I'm more concerned with the loss of an expensive fish than a cheaper fish. Don't like either one though...

Is it tasteless for me to say I'm waiting for my damsel to die?
Click to expand...

No more so than me saying i cant wait for my tank of rainbows to kick it so that i can use that 90 for a reef system :)
 
The idea of cost entering your mind when a fish passes on is totally obsurd. I'm rather new to the hobby, and more or less started up my 29 gallon tank just so I could house 2 clownfish (at least that was all I wanted when I first got interested, now I have very big ideas as my mind runs wild when I visit this site:eek1: ) and one more I awoke to find one of my clowns on the bottom of the tank...well it was a very sad day to say the least. I don't think I'll be able to replace him for a while not because of the cost, he only cost $15 at a LFS, but because it's hard to find a replacement for his cute little personality.

Kind of off subject, I also had a Bearded Dragon for about 2 years, and always swore if she passed on I would get another. Well she became very ill and finally passed on one night, and it's been about a year since I've even thought about looking at another one.
 
wrxreefer823, you had a beardie too! I loved my beardie. He had such a great personality and loved people. He injured himself and got a very bad infection at the base of his tail. I didn't catch it in time so he had to go to the vet. 10 vet visits later and over $600 in bills and he passed. I didn't care that I could get another beardie for less than $50 as I wanted to save mine. I have looked at other ones but can't get myself to buy one because the new one will never replace my BigGuy.

After having an animal for so long you can get attached. It isn't always easy to just replace them. I had my beardie for 7 years before he passed.
 
When you name them they become a part of the family. $5 or $50 they are still family.

I had several tanks set up and had them for 10 years. Of course they had names and had raised most of them from babies..
My daughter and her family had to move in with us for a while. Gave them the family room to set up as their bed room, and while they were unplugging and plugging in their lamps and alarm clocks etc... they forgot to plug back in my tanks...OMG I went down and all the tanks looked like someone filled them with milk. Everything was dead. I cried for a month. $ never came to my mind until way after the shock of seeing all of my babies floating..

And wanted to kill my real babies for causing it all.. I gave everything I had away, couldn't get ack into it for about 4 or 5 years. But here I am again. And I love it. Still naming them and loving them.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13701984#post13701984 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cdness
wrxreefer823, you had a beardie too! I loved my beardie. He had such a great personality and loved people. He injured himself and got a very bad infection at the base of his tail. I didn't catch it in time so he had to go to the vet. 10 vet visits later and over $600 in bills and he passed. I didn't care that I could get another beardie for less than $50 as I wanted to save mine. I have looked at other ones but can't get myself to buy one because the new one will never replace my BigGuy.

After having an animal for so long you can get attached. It isn't always easy to just replace them. I had my beardie for 7 years before he passed.
Click to expand...

I agree cdness! They are wonderful animals to have... I was caught in almost the same situation of injury, but it was his left front paw that she injured jumping off of her rock (she loved to jump off of it). She had some trouble walking and would always smack her face into the sand...well one night I walked up on her and she was face down in the sand...apparently her airtube was packed with sand and she suffocated. Her body was still warm, had I walked up 3 minutes earlier she would have been fine :sad1: But yes, as you said, it doesn't matter how much a new animal would cost, there's always the issue of attachment to the one that you had, and though you may find attachment to a replacement, you can never have another BigGuy.
 
There is no reason every life can't be equally valued, while the possesion, in the vague sense of the word, does cost money.

Would you be more upset about breaking a $200 vase or a $5 vase?

There can be two different levels of loss here and they don't have to be mutually exclusive. One may regret the loss of life for a chromis substantially less simply because they are not regreting the minimal monetary loss compounded to the first as they would to the loss of a lineatus wrasse.

The problem is not whether one should respect a life form in one's possession more than another as long as suitable care is given to both.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13746385#post13746385 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fittiger
There is no reason every life can't be equally valued, while the possesion, in the vague sense of the word, does cost money.

Would you be more upset about breaking a $200 vase or a $5 vase?

There can be two different levels of loss here and they don't have to be mutually exclusive. One may regret the loss of life for a chromis substantially less simply because they are not regreting the minimal monetary loss compounded to the first as they would to the loss of a lineatus wrasse.

The problem is not whether one should respect a life form in one's possession more than another as long as suitable care is given to both.
Click to expand...

You got it down to a "T"!
 
Yes, its mostly about the money. All life is not precious in itself. Corn is killed when we boil it and eat it. A Chromis is not endangered. It lives in the ocean in the millions. Having one die in your aquarium is no more agregious that grinding one of its relatives up for a Filet-o-fish. Take heart in the fact that fish have a very primative brain function. They don't feel pain or have emotions or grieve for lost love ones.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13746385#post13746385 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fittiger
There is no reason every life can't be equally valued, while the possesion, in the vague sense of the word, does cost money.

Would you be more upset about breaking a $200 vase or a $5 vase?

There can be two different levels of loss here and they don't have to be mutually exclusive. One may regret the loss of life for a chromis substantially less simply because they are not regreting the minimal monetary loss compounded to the first as they would to the loss of a lineatus wrasse.

The problem is not whether one should respect a life form in one's possession more than another as long as suitable care is given to both.
Click to expand...


x 2 on that
I look at a fish like a dollar bill. If I lost a $100 dollar bill, I would be very upset ( I just lost 100 bucks!) who wouldn't be? on the other hand if I lost a $5 dollar bill I would be upset too, BUT I would be like crap I lost 5 bucks at least it wasn't a $100 bucks and move on..(unless it was the last 5 bucks to my name.) I can go buy lots of 5 dollar dams all week but I can not buy a $100 dollar fish a couple times a week..it only natural to feel this way people. I dont know why there is a discussion about it.. answer this, would you holding $100 in your left hand and $5 bucks in the right hand what would you rather drop and lose ?
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13504859#post13504859 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bbehring
Wife, kids, dogs, $200 tang, gold fish in pond, $5 chromis, cat in that order for me!
Click to expand...

ditto...:D
 
you may feel sad no matter what fish died but the sadness youre hearing is diffrent. youre hearing people mourning over the loss of money. if a $100 fish died along with a $30 fish you would probably be more upset over the finacial loss with the $100 one. If you dont belive then go out and buy a green chromis and a Fairy wrasse when they both die see wich you feel more sadness towards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dogstsx
New Build xxl900 lighting question.
Replies
2
Views
95
dogstsx
dogstsx
Paul B
The Benefit of Parasites
Replies
1
Views
156
Timfish
Timfish
dogstsx
Cleaning my xxl900 Is it safe?
Replies
3
Views
163
dogstsx
dogstsx
S
Thinking about starting again!
2 3
Replies
59
Views
2K
Reefing102
Reefing102
G
Best of the Best
Replies
7
Views
245
wvned
wvned
Back
Top