How to tactfully tell someone their tank is wrong?

[lyquidphyre]

This has been bothering me all night and morning. At the college of arts and science at my university there is a 29gal tank that has-
at least 4 goldfish (one fancy)
one blue gourami
some random tetras
a pleco
two piggishly large golden barbs
and some other odd and end fish

There are two filters on it and the tank is slightly brownish green. I think the two filters aren't extra filtration.. but two smaller filters hooked up to be adequate filtration.

Since its in the waiting room, I don't know who is responsible for the tank.. nor do I know who would care to listen to me.

What would you do?

 

[Jchillin]

There must be someone responsible for the tank. Since it's in the Arts & Sciences area, the dean may have some idea. You are a "volunteer" who would like to speak to this person.

(ie: "Wow, that is a great tank out in the waiting room. I would really like to know who is responsible for it").

 

[malkore]

"As an experienced fish keeper, I wanted to bring to your attention the poor quality of life that those fish are dealing with...."

 

[Fluff]

I have the same thing at my physical therapy office. They have a 75g tank with a 10" pleco, five sorry looking goldfish 3"-8" and a large silver dollar. The goldies are missing scales and their fins are tore up from the pleco and SD. I just came out and asked who maintained the tank. They said the receptionist did. I told her then that the fish weren't compatible and she said she knew and that all the fish in there were donated by patients. We got to talking about maitenance and such and she said she quit doing water changes and the fish are doing better. I tried to stress on her the nitrogen cycle but it fell on deaf ears. She also has two large hob filters on it but only one is running. I asked why the second one wasn't running but never did get an answer. She truly loves the tank and fish but didn't want my advice so, every time I go in, I sit and stare at the tank and it's poor inhabitants til it's my turn to go get tortured. :?

 

[caudelfin]

I have the same thing at my physical therapy office. They have a 75g tank with a 10" pleco, five sorry looking goldfish 3"-8" and a large silver dollar. The goldies are missing scales and their fins are tore up from the pleco and SD. I just came out and asked who maintained the tank. They said the receptionist did. I told her then that the fish weren't compatible and she said she knew and that all the fish in there were donated by patients. We got to talking about maitenance and such and she said she quit doing water changes and the fish are doing better. I tried to stress on her the nitrogen cycle but it fell on deaf ears. She also has two large hob filters on it but only one is running. I asked why the second one wasn't running but never did get an answer. She truly loves the tank and fish but didn't want my advice so, every time I go in, I sit and stare at the tank and it's poor inhabitants til it's my turn to go get tortured. :?

You might check with SPCA and get them to call. You might threaten to call and tell the SPCA. But check first and see if they will handle it if necessary.
caudelfin

 

[lyquidphyre]

Hmmm I could use what Jchillen said to get information... then use what malkore said to get my point across =o)

It's hard not to step on toes, but something needs to be said

 

[Fluff]

I suppose I could do that if there was intent to do harm to the animals but there isn't. She's an older lady and believes she is doing right by them. Other than some algae on the plastic plants, the tank looks clean and the fish aren't thin. I seriously doubt the spca would do anything since there is no real abuse going on and chances are, they probably know even less about fish compatibility than she does. She said the fish look better now than they did when she got them so, who knows. Being uneducated isn't a crime. If my printer was working, I'd print her off some info. I'm gonna give her AA's addy and maybe she'll get curious enough to drop by.

Sorry for the hijack

You'll come up with something. Good luck.

 

[talloulou]

Type up a note and tape it to the tank. Make the note a letter from the unhappy tenants (the fish) and address it to the landlord or more affectionately the slumlord

 

[fishyrican]

I agree with Jchillin. Sometimes a soft approach gets you in the door, where you can slowly and tactfully point out they don't have a clue as to what they're doing. At that point, their guard may be down and they won't figure out you have an agenda (or won't care by the time they find out).

 

[DeFeKt]

I'm a kind of upfront, don't beat around the bush kind of guy.
Here would be my chain of events.
"Excuse me do you know who looks after that tank?"
"can you go get them for me"
"Hello, i'm Matt."
"This and this and this are all wrong. You @#$@# idiot. Change it or your fish will die"
"Thanks for your time"

regards
Matt.

 

[fishyrican]

I'm a kind of upfront, don't beat around the bush kind of guy.
Here would be my chain of events.
"Excuse me do you know who looks after that tank?"
"can you go get them for me"
"Hello, i'm Matt."
"This and this and this are all wrong. You @#$@# idiot. Change it or your fish will die"
"Thanks for your time"

regards
Matt.

Sometimes that method is effective and even necessary, but most of the time, the person who does that comes off looking like a jerk. This will prompt a defensive reaction from the other person, and the whole effort is wasted. Furthermore, while the point is made about the dirty tank, the person on the receiving end never gets educated about the tank, which would be the goal in the first place.

In my job, I find that a cordial approach is often the best way to get a desired result.

 

[Fluff]

I'm a kind of upfront, don't beat around the bush kind of guy.
Here would be my chain of events.
"Excuse me do you know who looks after that tank?"
"can you go get them for me"
"Hello, i'm Matt."
"This and this and this are all wrong. You @#$@# idiot. Change it or your fish will die"
"Thanks for your time"

regards
Matt.

While that may get thier attention, I doubt it would get them to listen. Being rude isn't gonna get them to change anything.

 

[Zagz]

I'd probably offer my assistance and end up taking care of the tank for them.

 

[Xzap]

How about finding a someone in the Yellow Pages that does tank maintainance. Copy down their phone number and pass it along to the person in charge of the tank.
Maybe call the maintainance people yourself and see if the would clean the tank up for free the first time then maybe they could get a contract with the office.

Dave

 

[lyquidphyre]

How about finding a someone in the Yellow Pages that does tank maintainance. Copy down their phone number and pass it along to the person in charge of the tank.
Maybe call the maintainance people yourself and see if the would clean the tank up for free the first time then maybe they could get a contract with the office.

Dave

I could prolly clean up the tank and fix it.

The only thing im concerned about is the goldfish. What happens if they do take my advise? Is he going to flush some fish? Is he going to get a new tank? Im going to ask my advisor at school if he knows who keeps up the tank. Im going to test the waters before I make any moves

 

[odobenus]

I felt the need to talk to my favorite coffee shop about a similar situation. A while ago the owner set up a 10 gal tank with his daughter's common goldfish, which was quite small, and a common pleco. The goldfish is now over 7 inches, not including the tail, which brings him up to almost 12 inches. (When it sits along the short side of the tank it pretty much touches the long sides with its nose and the end of its tail.) The pleco is about the same size, and often attempts to nibble the slime off the goldfish. The poor goldie has a very difficult time getting away. I finally mustered up the courage to say something to the owner today. I happened to ask him the name of the goldfish a while ago, so I said in the most lighthearted, joking voice I could produce, "So, when are you getting Phil a larger tank?" By posing it as something of a joke I reasoned that (a) he wouldn't feel attacked, (b) I wasn't forcing him into an uncomfortable conversation where I would end up implying that he was a horrible person for abusing his fish, and (c) even if he blew it off as a joke, it might cause him to think about it and do some research and decide on his own to upgrade his tank. It turns out I need not have put so much thought into approaching him. He has, he informed me, what sounds like a 20 gal long that he'll be moving them into. He also knows that a larger one would be better, but that's what he's got right now. He's just waiting on a filter.

I guess the point of my rambling story is that taking a friendly, curious approach worked in my situation.

If the keeper of the tank decided to take your advice and get rid of some fish, could you take some of them as an alternative to flushing? Maybe you could offer to take the extra fish back to the lfs for them, which would save their fishy lives without asking a lot from either the tank keeper or yourself. Good luck! I would like to know how this turns out.

 

[jibboo]

why not volunteer to help maintain the tank? If the person who maintains it doesn't really care about it, you could easily take over and correct the problem.