OKay, the question that most irritates me when people see my tanks is "Do you eat them?"
This happens so often I've developed a standard explanation, "Some fish are for eating like Salmon, and some fish are just for being pretty like gold fish. The same with shrimp. These are the pretty kind for a tank." yadda yadda
I talked to someone else who had that question and he said, "Sure you can eat them for $2000 a pound." LOL
Has anyone else had "Stupid" questions from others who see your tanks?
I get stupid questions all the time.... I can understand if its like a breeding question, what plant is that, what is this used for..... But when i feel its just plain common sense I usually give a smartass remark. Also, i sometimes wanna punch the person in the face when they say a remark like "not even that hard to do...." theyve never owned an aquarium before and have no background knowledge of it and they assume they can breed shrimp and setup a high tech planted tank.
Im a avid fisherman, been fishing my whole life. My mom seen my tank for the first time the otherday and she actually didnt ask that question. She asked if I used them as bait. i said yes mom, I use a $5 beautiful red and white shrimp to catch trout. "Five dollars for that thing, you got ripped off". then I had to explain how one mother could get me about 20 $5 shrimp and that they are so new to the aquatic seen that I feel like im contributing to the development of these soon to be world wide pets. I got way to into it for my mom so she just walked away.
Oh yeah, and for the people that really dont understand I tell them its a step up from freshwater fish keeping and a step down from saltwater and that I plan on keeping saltwater but it is more difficult. If that makes sense.
"Are those real plants?"
"I like how low maintenance it seems, so peaceful and uninvolved."
"Wow, I've never seen those at PetSmart before."
Better yet, I have found it to be even more amusing/annoying when they answer their own questions:
"Of course, those aren't real plants, right?"
"So you eat them in, like, ramen noodles, right?"
"I used to have some of those just like that when I was a kid."
By far the most annoying, though, is when they insult the hobby and its costs upon my accurate, patient explanation:
"Why the hell would anyone spend $120 on a glass box?" (Ha!)
"That's stupid, $60 for one shrimp?"
"But of course, you don't actually really make any money off of this, right?"
They usually back down when I tell them I make more than my friends who work at restaurants through my website.
One of the more disheartening aspect of humanity for me is how prevelant it is that folks will only assess value to an object or activity if it brings income.
I'm talking about the joy of maintaining a tank--coworker says I should start a business doing it, or that I should just hire someone else to do it for me.
Post a photo of a cool shrimp variant that's turned up in my tank--get asked how much I plan on selling them for. When I say I'm just raising them for my own enjoyment, the person launches into suggestions for selling them on-line "it'd be easy!!". Yeah, right.
One of the more disheartening aspect of humanity for me is how prevelant it is that folks will only assess value to an object or activity if it brings income.
Which is strange, as many people don't expect their own hobby to generate income. How much $$$ are they making re-enacting Civil War battles (is the uniform an "investment"?) or collecting salt and pepper shakers or training for triathlons? But you’re totally right about the aquariums. People often ask me about how much money my “investment” will bring me. So bizarre.
when my dad comes over he always says " those plants look fake." and them he goes "i know they are real but they just look fake" he doesn't mean to insult, but it feels that way. i guess it means my plants are super colorful.
"Why do you keep the lights on for 10 hours?"
"Why is the tank so big for little shrimp?"
"Why do you only have 1 fish in that tank?"
-_- <- explains it all. My mom is the most
annoying person I know.
But let’s be honest, stupid questions don’t just pop up about our shrimp and aquariums. I get soooooooooo tired of people commenting on how much my Mastiff must eat or how much it most cost me to feed him.
I *try* to keep in mind that often people are asking "stupid" questions as an ice breaker or because they really are curious, just maybe not good at starting topics of discussion. Its hard to remember that though in the heat of the moment. And of course some people purposely do it trying to make passive aggressive digs and to be a holes.
lol - oh boy I hear that. I have two great danes.
"You let that in the house with you?"
"Who is walking who?"
"You got a saddle for that thing?"
It's not so much the ignorant questions (there's no way for them to learn unless they ask) that get me but the often silly, dismissive remarks made after the questions get answered. Like, "That's dumb!" or "I wouldn't waste time on real plants - I would just get fake ones."
My favorite are remarks about the expense involved in the hobby. Usually from people who are in suits that cost more than MacBook Pro or from folks wearing $25K watches or earrings. I just smile and nod.
I have always had freshwater, never saltwater. While the fish look awesome, that tanks they are in don't. I hate the live rock, and I think corals are ugly so I simply don't do saltwater.
I had someone tell me that because I don't do salt water that I am not a true aquarium hobbyist, and that I know nothing about fish because freshwater fish don't require anything. Sure, you tell that to my puffer who gets extremely temper-mental over his ph, food, lighting, and filtration. No, he's not a hard fish to keep at all...
Calmia22: Sounds like that's coming from people with a superiority complex from marine keepers who have never really dipped their toes into the planted tank world.
I've had freshwater shrimp tanks that are way more complicated than many of my reef tanks. And high-tech tanks that constantly require replanting UG or frequent trimming? Definitely more work than some reef tanks.
The thing about reef tanks that makes them "hard" is the high pH lends itself to poisoning your fauna if you're not careful. Other than that, they aren't "hard" at all (or so my cousin says, and he's got salt water tanks in nearly every room of his house). He tried a planted tank after seeing mine, but got frustrated with the upkeep, LOL!
On the otherhand--a LOT of hobbies confuse and confound people who don't really have a hobby that requires real effort.
$40 for 10 shrimp? How about $50 for a tiny tube of paint? Or $200 for a single antique bead?
And you wouldn't (okay,YOU would) believe how perplexed people are that'll I'll spend an hour a day for TWO YEARS to finish a crocheted tablecloth that I then GIVE away.
I have another hobby I'm a part of where folks spend thousands of dollars on plastic horses. I've gotten enough stupid questions about that one so I was totally prepared when I entered the shrimp hobby. LOL! And I guess they aren't really stupid questions it is just folks ignorant of the hobbies themselves.
Though I DO get tired of 'do you eat 'em?' when it comes to the shrimp. Sigh.
I usually get asked "are you going to eat them when they get bigger* As annoying as it is answering the question a lot. I don't mind it too much, people need to learn one way or another
the answer is "yes you can eat them, but for $2-$100/ea this will be the most expensive meal you will ever have and you will not be full from it" followed by a 1,2, head kick combo
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