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MTS...Just how bad do you have it ?

Melll said:
I have running

1400 litre community tank.
700 litre Discus tank.
700 litre fancy Goldfish tank.
450 litre Endler species only.
240 litre marine.
190 litre neolamphrogus multiphasiatus, species only.
240 litre Species only, female Flowerhorn.
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I'd love to see pictures of these tanks, especially the endler and tanganyika setups.
 
Andy Taylor said:
I would like a second tank but the wife said she would leave me........Hmmm time to look for another tank
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I dare you to let her read this ;)On topic: With my ex I experienced my worst case of MTS. At the worst moment (or best) we had:
- 1 tanganyika tank, 150x90/60x50 with Callochromis melanostigma, large group of cyprichromis (forgot which one, just remember them being red with blue), neolamprologus brichardii, and a group of neolamprologus brevis, No plants, just rock and sand.
- 1 community tank, 120x50x40 with 2 angels and I forgot all the other fish in there :) Dutch style tank
- 1 Malawi tank - dont remember which fish, those were given to us and my ex wanted them, I had already kept those as a teen and wasnt interested in them anymore. This was mostly her project :)
Then we had a set up of large plastic tanks with (leaking) overflows containing:
- Couple of cichlomasoma meeki
- Couple of nannacara anomala
- couple of Hemichromis bimaculatus in a seperate plastic container

So all in all, we had 6 tanks at the worst moment. And one room that was constantly damp/wet floor. We decided that our hobby had gone to far & we split up, so we sold it all and I didnt have tanks for 5 years, then started off with a nano, then got a 70x50x45 and added a slightly larger tank instead of the nano. I've managed to keep it down to 2 tanks max at a given time ever since, mostly because I dont enjoy maintenance much :) Not counting spring when we set up the nano tank to house frogspawn for the kids. But I have to admit, in my dreams I sometimes wander onto the attick in my house (which does not have an attick in reality, at least not one where you can stand) to discover huge racks full of tanks that clearly I forgot about, so maybe I'm still infected on some level.
 
sciencefiction said:
I am going to speak for myself here but I am personally very disappointed of all the fish shops I've had to encounter for one or another reason in my entire lifetime so far....

To start, the fish you listed above have never ever been on my personal want list...Even though I never follow the "fish fashion", those are fish mostly newbies purchase or species enthusiasts perhaps...We, long time fish keepers, that have the time and finances to support this hobby, evolve and want something else...We don't kill fish every 2 months anymore so to be a regular customer, some thinking on the part of the offering is needed...


Other examples:

Advertises next day delivery in big letters, orders never processed in the first 2-3 days. If you order fish, you've got to be home to get the order so it's not like one can wait for them to deliver on random days. People work during working hours but they act like they're selling ancient stones..I've cancelled full orders numerous times because of delays.

Others refuse to provide a delivery date even if the city where the shop is, is 2.5 hours away by car.

Lists items that one can purchase, only to find out after payment they don't have them in stock, asking customer to buy something else, wait a few weeks or cancel the item....additionally causing delivery delays with the rest of the items in the shopping bag, inclusive of fish you planned on for to receive by a certain day...

Stocks the exact same items and fish for years.....no change, no progress whatsoever. One has to shop around foreign to get newer and different stuff..., also often charges double than elsewhere that arrives within the same time frame..

Does not offer orders for non-common fish, too much trouble to win a customer...

Stocks only poor quality stuff, including fish food with ingredients not suitable to give to a pig.

If a local shop, dead and sick fish seen around. If online shop, sends poor quality fish even if one purchases rare and expensive fish...A group of corys I once ordered arrive with their bottom halfway out of the water due to the way they had placed the bags in the box. The tails on 3 of them never recovered.

Vindictive to customers. I once did not receive a fish food order. I sent numerous emails, no reply. I opened a paypal case. They agreed to re-send the order after blaming me for lying. When I received it, they had opened the New Life spectrum tubs and spilled them all inside the pack. 2 weeks later I get an email that the original order was returned back to the seller and then they apologized...Too late, isn't it? I buy expensive fish food, their choice...

Sells gone off stuff...I've bought stinky bloodworms on numerous occasions that seem to have been defrosted and re-frozen....I even stopped buying my dog food from there....

There's a lot more...I just can't think that far back but I have never seen a shop local or online that satisfies my customer needs....So I've started buying the bare minimum these days, not that much of a loyal customer...and I shop around as they're all bad...

.
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Yes, I have often thought there is a gap in the market where I live, but I think the sheer logistics and low volume of running the kind of fish shop you describe means it won’t happen. I think the people who buy fish have created the shops you describe. Very few are serious about it.. depressingly large numbers are just in to get a fish for their grandchild / as a temporary hobby. i Get the impression they would complain in they had to pay for decent food or were asked to pay higher prices for decent stock. We live in a consumer culture, where fishkeeping is another commodity.
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Got MTS?
Maintenance getting you down?
Don't worry, help is just a quick phone call away. . .

Not really, don't ring that number 😁

IMG_8911.jpeg
 
I have 2 at the moment(35 and 20 Ltr) not including a floating plants bowl and a jar with a large Pinnatifida happily growing in tank water. I cant kill that plant!
The 20 Ltr was set up to mess about with DIY CO2 and put my stem cuttings. I now have a tank jammed with stems and don't know what to do next? Need a big scape session, but more interested in ways of growing rather than how it looks I think. Thats why i like messing about with the DIY CO2 mixes. My version of Breaking Bad!
Si
 
Tim Harrison said:
Anyone else want to confess to MTS?
How many tanks do you have? :)
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I've got it quite badly. I started with a ten gallon in January when my 15 year old was discharged after five months in hospital to bed rest, because I thought it would be lovely for her to watch the fish. Then I got a five gallon for my bedroom. Then that seemed too small so I replaced it with a 20 gallon. But I didn't actually replace it. Then I found a little 22 litre aqua cube. Then a friend gave me a 20 gallon. And I currently have a 250 litre cycling in the living room. I have combined the two tiny tanks into the second 20 gallon though.

I fully admit it's displacement activity -- my daughter is palliative and has been for some time -- but it's healthier than a lot of other things I could be distracting myself with :).
 
I used to have three , a big 100 litre one, a 30 cm cube and 30 cm paludarium. Before moving houses the 30 cm cube started leaking. Sadly the new house has limited tank space and inevitably I had to downside to the big one and the paludarium.

Previously I used to have tanks in two different rooms but now that I have both in the living room I get to enjoy them more.
 
I'm always looking for potential, less-utilised tank space around the apartment to add to my four nanos. Atop the fridge, below the sofa... those kinda things. Maybe have no sofa. And to heck with that screen of a TV. Replace both with better glass displays. Better still: a full, three-tier rack system. Hmmm. Less furniture, more solutions. Future me flat on the floor, watch aqua worlds float by.

But therapy works so yeah, four will do.

For now.
 
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