how attached are you to your fishy pals
 

came home today and found my flame angel that i had for 3 years wedged between rocks. now many of you would say it's just a fish go get another one, but for me when i looked at my angel who would no longer flit and dart between rocks and come out to snatch tidbits i felt sadness and somehow the same loneliness that cropped up when a friend passed away. now am i being too sentimentally attached to my fish and putting them on par with canine or feline pet which i both had and enjoyed at one time but was too emotionally wrecked to try again. yes you may call me softhearted.

When my tailspot wrasse that I'd had for 4 years (he was full grown and "second hand" when I got him) got too inquisitive of my crocea and met his demise I was heartbroken.

I did think about giving away my butthead regal tang last year but my husband (of all people. this is the guy that rolls his eyes heavily when I start to over nerd-out about my tank in his presence :razz:) was quite upset so I kept him. He's not aggressive but very dominant of all the other fish. I'm hoping a tank move might shake things up a little and mellow him out more.

I love all of my fish and they all have names. I can always account for each and every one of them. When my Majestic passed away last week I was devastated. I lost my dogface puffer in a freak accident and shed some tears. I cried over my foxface when he died, big time.

Fish have personalities, some more then others. When I buy a fish at the LFS I watch them for a long time to see which one stands out above the rest.

I think it is normal to be upset over a loss of a fish. We feed them, care for them and watch them thrive in our tanks, of course we have feelings for them.

When I suffer losses in the fish tanks, it has a terrible emotional impact for me.

Maybe I'm softhearted too, but .. truth is that's who I am.

Yeah there are those who will not see it that way, but I can guarantee you're not alone in your thinking, not by any stretch.

Sorry for your loss. I know *exactly* how you felt, I had a pair (a PAIR!) of flame angels that I had had since they were 1", and at the time of a GFCI trip they were 3". They perished due to lack of oxygen and I'm still choked about the loss 9 months later. I saw them go from skittish to friendly, and then poof, one day they were gone just like that. It sucks.

It is great that there are people in this hobby like you with such affection for their fish. :wink: It is people like you that truly care about there animals that makes this a great hobby!
I am even sad when my corals are not doing well!
Sorry to hear about your flame angel.

I talk to my fish and any other animal I own for that matter. They don't all have names, but I feel horrible when one of them dies. Especially if it's a long drawn out thing and I try everything to fix em

Sorry for your loss, it sucks losing a fish. Even more so when it's one you're attached too. I cried over the loss of my mandarin goby and my black velvet angel, so believe me you're not alone.

Some time ago I lost Betty, my powder brown tang that I kept for 11 or 13 years.
She was the boss of the tank but in a friendly sort of way.
When it was obvious to me that her time had come and that she was slowly going down hill daily, I still remember her beautiful clear eyes looking back at me and telling me that she was still the boss of the tank.

It's hard to post this post as I am sure it is for others who have posted on their loss.

I do feel very sad when a fish goes. If it's by a cause that i could have avoided, then i feel guilty to boot (and i make sure it doesn't happen again). I admit that my grieving doesn't last long... In my line of work, i deal with a lot of fish deaths so i guess ive become desensitized in a way? Still, I think it's important to take each one personally so you can better your methods.

To be honest it really depends on the fish for me.

Some I feel bad because they were a living creature in my care and passed. But its nothing more than a guilty feeling. For example, my scissor gobies all passed one by one. No tears shed or any real sadness at all but I did feel "bad".

Now I have lost puffers and been DEVASTATED for weeks. Not even wanting to look at the tank sometimes.

I am very attached to most of my fish right now. Especially my Rabbitfish.

It really depends for me how long I have had them I think.