Have you ever had to defend your fish?

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LydiaGreen

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Messages
99
Location
Ontario, Canada
Okay, I admit it... I have a severe case of MTS.

After a LONG nightshift I have this brainwave (well, it is a good idea and it was well thought out) - I want to start utilizing sand as a substrate because I intend to use it in my dream tank (the 375) and want to actually know what I am doing before I get there. So, I go out and buy 250 pounds of sand (most of it is in storage), a caulking gun (hubby has lots of them but, I want my own that isn't full of a variety of chemicals from his work that might transfer to my aquarium stuff) and 3 tubes of aquarium safe silicone.

I decide to start with my smallest aquarium... the 5.5 with the ADF's. I drain the majority of the water from the top of their tank into one of my "clean water" 5 gallon buckets, add their fake plants and fake log so they won't feel so alienated from their home and cover the bucket with crafter's mesh so noone will escape while I'm playing Little Johnny Do-It-Yourselfer. The silicone is to use for transforming a large collection of polished riverstones into caves that won't fall down on anyone's head in any of the tanks. I filled an old pillow case with sand and stuck in a sink with water running over it to get rid of the dust. That went really well.

THEN, I tried building little stone caves. Remember, I had a two hour nap the day before and then worked 12 hours and came home to do this stuff. I wasn't exactly co-ordinated or thinking very clearly. I had NEVER used a caulking gun before. I cut the little nib off the end (I wasn't thinking clearly but I wasn't brain-dead either) and pumped and pumped and pumped the handle. Nothing came out, at least not the end it was supposed to :oops:. Now I have this huge mess in the barrel of the caulking gun and caulking all over my hands trying to clean up the mess! So, I call my hubby on the cellphone and asked him not to laugh at me. Bless his heart, he didn't laugh when I asked how to clean silicone off your hands - I was covered.

Okay, time to start over with tube #2. Same thing happened. By this time my hubby is home with my uncle (who's staying with us for awhile). NOWHERE ON THE TUBE DOES IT SAY THAT YOU HAVE TO PUNCH A NAIL THROUGH AN INNER NIB :evil: So, now hubby wants to know why I didn't just wait for him to get home and what am I doing with those GD tanks now!?!

FOOOOOOOOOOOF! Lydia sees red.

Then, he decides to make it worse! He tells my uncle about my 55 arriving on Monday and my dream tank that's in the works and says that it's "crazy" and "stupid" for a person to have that many fish tanks.

OOPS - he didn't just say that. Lydia sees black Full on rage now people! I don't get angry often. I'm one of those people who takes it, and takes it, and takes it. But, when I loose it, you had BETTER watch out!

I managed to reel myself in just a tad though and promptly reminded my husband that my only "thing" is my fish-tanks. I don't have three vehicles in the garage that I'm going "restore" someday (that's him, BTW). I don't go out to the bar every night off like my friends. I don't gamble, I don't drink. IF I ever go anywhere or do anything it is with my family as a family. If my only indulgence in MYSELF is my fishtanks, then he is lucky and better remember it.

He promptly apologized.

Moral of the story - don't attempt ANYTHING with silicone when you are sleep deprived and most importantly, NEVER MESS WITH MY FISH :!:
 
Wow. Good for you for standing up for yourself. I am pretty lucky that my husband is understanding about my fish obsession. That really stinks about the silicone. Are you going to try again?
 
Oh yeah! I did finish the project! At least I got one cave done for the frog tank. It set really hard after a couple of hours, and after only a few minutes it was still moldable but sturdy enough that I was able to kind of "chink" the seams like a brick layer would. I'm actually quite happy with my first attempt. I'll keep doing one tank at a time like this until I am really good at it. That way, my 375 won't just be my dream tank -- it will actually LOOK like a dream tank.
 
Too funny. You know, whenever I hear of someones SO criticising their aquarium hobby, I alway suggest that the aquarist could be down at an exotic bar spending $200 on a Friday night instead...that usually fixes them.
 
yeah sometimes my husband will make quirky remarks about my fish obsession and then i just remind him of the hours he spends playing Xbox and he shuts his mouth... lol.
 
LydiaGreen said:
most importantly, NEVER MESS WITH MY FISH :!:

AMEN!! :D
thats just great.. :D

Toirtis said:
I alway suggest that the aquarist could be down at an exotic bar spending $200 on a Friday night instead...that usually fixes them.

I would have NEVER thought of that one! 8O

AshleyNicole said:
i just remind him of the hours he spends playing Xbox and he shuts his mouth

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: thats TOO funny.. :p

I just need to find something like this to say.. none are fitting my situation just yet.. :? I have never been to an exotic bar and really dont plan to (and Im quite sure I would be out a misses if I desided to start spending $200 on a friday night at one of those places :roll: LOL )... I cant hold anything like X-box against the misses.. sooo.. I must keep thinking.. LOL
 
Great story Lydia!!!! :lol:

Morals to your experience?

1. If you take on a project that you've never done before, expect the unexpected. Things will go wrong that simply cannot be anticipated.

2. When MTS strikes get out of our way. I've yet to see the person leave my home without pondering about my weird aquarium obsession. I simply say, "because I want to and I can". LOL
 
I'm lucky. My wife, although she reluctantly suffers through my MTS, always tells me that she would prefer this hobby to one that would keep me out all the time.
 
'' I alway suggest that the aquarist could be down at an exotic bar spending $200 on a Friday night instead''
I agree lol then i could buy more tanks with their money-Anne
 
I just need to find something like this to say.. none are fitting my situation just yet.. :? I have never been to an exotic bar and really dont plan to (and Im quite sure I would be out a misses if I desided to start spending $200 on a friday night at one of those places :roll: LOL )... I cant hold anything like X-box against the misses.. sooo.. I must keep thinking.. LOL

Is she a cronic shopper? If so then that could be your out. LOL
 
greenmaji said:
I just need to find something like this to say.. none are fitting my situation just yet.. :? I have never been to an exotic bar and really dont plan to (and Im quite sure I would be out a misses if I desided to start spending $200 on a friday night at one of those places :roll: LOL )... I cant hold anything like X-box against the misses.. sooo.. I must keep thinking.. LOL[/quote

Threaten to take up motorcycle-racing...or show a sudden interest in fly fishing (leave a few catalogues around...those $2000+ rods and $700+ reels should scare her)...its pricey and has you away from home many hours each week. :wink:
 
i quit smoke 5 years ago , and when people say wholey **** to my 8 fishtanks , 1 snake triarium and two big dogs, i remind them that alllllllllllll that money could have been spent on cigs!!!
 
whodini said:
i quit smoke 5 years ago , and when people say wholey *beep* to my 8 fishtanks , 1 snake triarium and two big dogs, i remind them that alllllllllllll that money could have been spent on cigs!!!

That is the best excuse ive heard yet! Kudos to you for quitting smoking!

I have a corn snake, 4 cats, my 55 gallon aquarium and a 1 gallon betta tank and i think there are much worse ways i could be spending money.
 
Ive thought about fly fishing.. a very long time ago.. (I was trying to learn how to build rods and flys way back then, I think I was about 12.. man I still cant escape my DIY adiction to saving money..)

So.. are those expensive rods in the GanderMountain cataloge? LOL
 
we are moving in a couple of weeks so yesterday we started packing some stuff...so i was trying to lecture my husband into the details of how to move the fish tank...of course he wanted to move it full of water fish etc...so instead of getting into an argument with him i said "ok ill leave you in charge of the fish tank when we move and ill be in charge of taking apart and packing everything up in your office" which holds a thousand different computers printers and stuff...his answer? "its ok honey...you move your stuff ill move mine..." :mrgreen:
 
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