# And the award for most ignorant fish keeper goes to



## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

THIS GUY

for his "Everything they had at the store with water and gravel" biotope there...

"yeaah look at me. I can afford aaaalll these fish. yeah. And if they die I get new ones. Cuzz I'm gangster like that"


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

hey.... that looks like the tank at the zoo...


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Did you watch the rest of the videos this guy is a moron , someone should stick him in a tank with a tight fitting lid.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Another one from the same guy: 




Watch carefully and you can see a casualty, just in the short video


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## Grey Legion (Mar 20, 2006)

Wow, every aspect of that is bad.


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

What a nightmare for the poor fish!


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## Shattered (Feb 13, 2008)

Can't believe there are still people that think something like that is ok.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Shattered said:


> Can't believe there are still people that think something like that is ok.


A guy came into Menagerie for a week straight who wanted SEVENTY TWO (dont ask me how he came to that number) fantail goldfish.

For- are you ready?

A TEN GALLON.

Lo-ser

Kind of reminds me of that 'where is your calamari guy'.
We're sitting there having a drink with him and he's telling us how his blue acara in his malawi tank fights with his malawis, and his peacock in his barb tank doesn't seem very happy...

Im just looking at him thinking









Not to mention he showed up 2 hours late and kept asking "Ciddian! Where is your Calamari!"


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Chris Stewart said:


> Another one from the same guy:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


ya I saw it...


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Ciddian said:


> hey.... that looks like the tank at the zoo...


No nothing's as bad as the tank at the zoo but this is close.

BTW, for those who are uninitiated- long ago in a galaxy far far away we tried to set the Toronto Zoo straight regarding their dismally pathetic understanding and application of aquatic care... with no results...

We came, we laughed, we cried, we left.










5 000 Gallons containing- from the devil's mouth- EVERY Malawi Cichlid Big Als had in stock at the time--- and NO hiding spots.

And wait- they feed them Hagen Flake.

Oh yes.









"Darwin's Dream Pond"

I always like to joke that it's actually Darwin's Nightmare.

http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/111olbap/?action=view&current=fffff.jpg
Here they are fighting over some nice little wheat-flour sized pieces of nutritionally worthless (at this size) flake. By the way some of these fish are ten inches long.
If you didn't already know, feeding flake as the primary diet to any fish larger than your index finger is highly unwise.
Oh also in the picture we see a hamster exercise ball circa 1987 floating around for what reason I do not know.









Well cared for aquatic friends abound.

Visit the Zoo today!


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## JamesG (Feb 27, 2007)

I have to ask, how on earth did you find this video??


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

JamesG said:


> I have to ask, how on earth did you find this video??


Just search for the aquarium videos on you tube. Give an idiot a fish tank and a camera and you never know what you'll see next.

I warn you there are some VERY disturbing videos I wouldnt be able to post and woudlnt want to watch again... seriously...


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## JamesG (Feb 27, 2007)

Pablo said:


> A guy came into Menagerie for a week straight who wanted SEVENTY TWO (dont ask me how he came to that number) fantail goldfish.
> 
> For- are you ready?
> 
> ...


Did you work at menagerie Pablo? Or is that a reference to one of Harold's more colorful customer stories?


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

JamesG said:


> Did you work at menagerie Pablo? Or is that a reference to one of Harold's more colorful customer stories?


I may have briefly worked there at one point. 

I remember this one exasperated woman who looked like she was hard pressed to breathe and walk upright, let alone keep her 34,890 kids in tow (it was actually four) was walking them through the pet store trying to get them to stop crying and screaming, which, as we know, is what pet stores are there for. She gets to the fish section, and the kids all start pointing at the goldfish saying WE WANT THOSE WE WANT THOSE and she actually says

"If I buy you the fish will you stop screaming?"

Which is just ultimate parenting right there. Then she turns to me, asks me for a bowl, eight goldfish, and 'whatever the things eat'

And I'm like "I don't think so"

so she just explodes and starts throwing all the anger she has from her devil spawn my way. I told her than if she wanted to buy the correct size aquarium, take it home, cycle it as per these instructions, come back in a month, then I'd be very happy to help her choose some nice goldfish for it.

Of course, as she was the expert, she kept freaking telling me that goldfish went in bowls and that I didn't know what I was talking about. I think she ended up buying a betta, which I doubt made it home alive.

Another guy asked if he could make a half land half water tank, with an 'island for his hamster'.
I tried to explain hamsters sink and are ill suited to getting wet and humidity- as they come from the _desert_ in _Syria_. HELLO!?

Another guy had his 12" oscar in a 30Gal Hex. but it was cool because 'he can turn around in there' and 'he dances in the morning when the sunlight hits his tank because it gets it really nice and hot and he likes that...

Another one wanted to know if the fish could be fed chocolate as a treat when they were 'good'. They'll die if they eat chocolate in all likelyhood, and they're a little too thick to know what 'good' is.

"Can I feed my oscar Hot Dogs"

"Can I keep molly's with my 12" Oscar"

"I've got ten goldfish in a one gallon bowl but theyre really small can I put a pelco in there" 
(Yes a pelco. I'm not sure what those are)

A lot of people want to buy something called "Kitchlids" too...

The best one of all time I just heard from someone else who works there because I wasn't there at the time, but apparently, a someone walked into the store wanting to buy a tank and some seahorses. When an attempt was made to explain to her how difficult seahorses to care for, she cut the person off and said- wait for it-

"No no, I grew up with real horses so I already know what I'm doing"


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Pablo,

You have the funniest/sickest pet store stories. lol

As for the video, at least the gravel wasn't multi-coloured. What's worse than that fish tank in the video? The ring-tone music. 

I guess it's a shame there are people around who are like that, gives other responsible hobbyists a bad reputation.

And that fish tank in the youtube video reminded me of the one at the Toronto Zoo for some reason.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

dekstr said:


> Pablo,
> 
> You have the funniest/sickest pet store stories. lol
> 
> ...


They must both be designed by someone with the same mental condition.

I think everyone who's spent any time in a pet shop has seen it a few times.

A lot of people have it. "_Crammitis"_- the desire to buy the smallest possible box and cram the maximum possible number of animals into it. I don't know what causes it... but some people are just crazy like that... I saw one guy try to buy 100 angelfish and 50 clown loaches for his 65 gallon tank. Im not joking. Seriously. It was at a PJs in like 2002


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## Fishfinder (Feb 17, 2008)

i 'like' that one random and large Tin foil barb, poor thing, its the only one of its kind :'(

[email protected] the seahorses one, wow......
on a dif note, my friends grandpa has breed seahorses b4...they looked so cool!


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## Katalyst (Jul 29, 2007)

Pablo said:


> They must both be designed by someone with the same mental condition.
> 
> I think everyone who's spent any time in a pet shop has seen it a few times.
> 
> A lot of people have it. "_Crammitis"_- the desire to buy the smallest possible box and cram the maximum possible number of animals into it. I don't know what causes it... but some people are just crazy like that... I saw one guy try to buy 100 angelfish and 50 clown loaches for his 65 gallon tank. Im not joking. Seriously. It was at a PJs in like 2002


I've seen it and each time I go after these people and tell them what they really need to keep 506 goldfish alive. When I am in Big Al's the staff refers people to me about goldfish and snails lol. Weird.


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## JamesG (Feb 27, 2007)

Pablo I loved the stories, as did my girlfriend. I read them aloud as best I could to her, despite having no clue what you sound like. Either way she loved them. If you have more please do not hold back. Thanks.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Katalyst said:


> I've seen it and each time I go after these people and tell them what they really need to keep 506 goldfish alive. When I am in Big Al's the staff refers people to me about goldfish and snails lol. Weird.


Lol they should pay you for each referral. You can make a business card titled "aquatic care consultant"

By appointment only.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Id like to hand out a book to most people in fish stores called

"What you really want is a DVD of fish, and why you're too stupid to actually care for them"


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