r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Fuck_dis_place • 9d ago
I asked my roommate to feed my fish while I was away and came home to this
I told him 2-3 pellets a day, and was gone for 4 days. A quick look at the directions on the food canister would have told him the same thing. He also didn't clean the cat boxes and came home to the house reeking of cat piss( he has one cat and I have 2). I'm furious tbh because this motherfucker has been jobless for over 6 months and does nothing but play computer games.
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u/SaveusJebus 9d ago
People that don't own fish, ALWAYS overfeed. I had my brother feed my fish while I was gone. Came back to the tank smelling like death, cloudy as hell, and multiple fish dead.
Lesson learned. Poor fish.
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u/Fuck_dis_place 9d ago
I'm so sorry that happened to you! What kind of fish did you have?
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u/SaveusJebus 9d ago
This was years and years ago. At that time, I think we had a big school of tiger barbs (various colors), giant danio, bristlenose plecos. I THINK we may have had clown loaches too at the time, but I can't remember. Those may have come after this incident once the tank parameters calmed back down.(125g tank)
I lost a lot of the barbs and plecos and I think about half the danios.
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u/Cobek 9d ago
He killed a pleco? Wow, that's not easy.
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u/MagZero 9d ago
It is if you know what you're doing - I simply throw them out of the window (I live on the third floor), and I haven't had one survive it yet.
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u/stilljustacatinacage 9d ago
stupid weak baby fish
"wahh I can't breathe in open air"
"my skeletomusculature is designed to exist in a buoyant environment"
grow up
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u/Phauxton 9d ago
Imagine not being able to survive a fall at terminal velocity
Couldn't be me
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u/SnipesCC 9d ago
Are you a squirell? They can survive a fall from any height.
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u/hotcollegegirl420 8d ago
Tell that to the fully intact, seemingly unharmed DEAD squirrels on my street. Definitely just fell from the sky and died
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u/Mourning_Aftermath 8d ago
I saw a dead fish on the pavement and thought, "What did you expect? There's no water 'round here, stupid, should've stayed where it was wet”
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u/CaptainTurdfinger 8d ago
To be fair, plecos can breathe air. Falling from 3 stories onto pavement, not so much.
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u/LadnavIV 9d ago
Pardon my ignorance, but what makes overfeeding fish so hazardous?
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u/ponderosa-pines 9d ago
Also whatever they don't eat decomposes in massive amounts, overloading the system and causing it to crash
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u/toth42 9d ago edited 8d ago
They don't self regulate eating, so they simply eat themselves to death.
EDIT: seems I did not learn correctly when I had fish as a kid - read comments below for corrections, apparently it's the decomposing uneaten food that's the problem.
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u/Sophiathedork 9d ago
This and if they don’t eat it all then the food starts to decompose which causes spikes in ammonia and nitrite (which stresses fish out and increases chance of death)
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u/yellowboat 9d ago
This is a myth. Fish do not eat until they die from overeating. There is simply far more food than they will eat, so the food rots and releases waste chemicals that are bad for fish (ammonia), cause bacterial blooms (hence the cloudiness), and release nutrients for algae (hence the algae blooms).
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u/4evaN_Always_ImHere 9d ago
I was gonna say, I’ve heard of this before but I don’t think it’s true.
I overfed my first roomie’s fishes way back 15+ years ago when he left town & gave me zero instructions what to do. Just a text saying “feed my fish.”
I had no idea, I overfed those guys by like 5-6X easily for 10ish days straight. And them fishies were just fine. Happy as a clam with their full stomachs. My roommate… not so much. But it was his fault & he knew it, I didn’t cop any blame.
But his tank was starting to get pretty nasty when he finally got home about 10 days later. I bet the fish were not happy about that. I didn’t even know anything was wrong at the time though, just figured it was regular cleaning needs 🤷🏼♂️
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u/NocturneSapphire 9d ago
Fish food becomes ammonia, either by being processed into fish waste by a fish's digestive system, or by simply dissolving and rotting in the tank. Ammonia is poisonous to fish even at fairly low concentrations. A properly-maintained tank will have beneficial bacteria that can process the ammonia into less harmful nitrates.
If you suddenly increase the amount of food being put into the tank, the resulting ammonia spike will be too much for the existing bacteria to process, and the fish will start suffering. The ammonia will burn their gills, causing them to effectively suffocate from lack of oxygen.
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u/Vanishingf0x Well that sucks 9d ago
My cousin has a huge tank and like 5 of those fish you win at fairs. All of them are super healthy and huge. We joke that he keeps finding the koi. It’s amazing what a little love can do for fish. I’m sorry about your rescue fish.
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u/2wheels30 9d ago
Those goldfish from the fairs are actually supposed to be in relatively huge tanks. They are in the same family as koi, and if properly cared for, will grow to be 8"+ long
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u/lIIlllIIl 9d ago
This applies to all goldfish actually, they're all carps and whatever one might think is an adequate sized tank is too small usually. For smaller species 29 gallons+ is the absolute minimum - for a single fish.
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u/camwow13 9d ago
The only reason goldfish are so popular for no effort bowls is because they're so durable they can take being stunted in a tiny bowl with little oxygen breathing their own waste for a while longer than normal fish who technically require less care.
Apologies to my comet goldfish Fishy when I was 7
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u/TheTrueBobsonDugnutt 9d ago
My parents have fish and trusted my grandparents to feed them while they went away.
To save any confusion, my dad measured out the food for each day and lined them up in labeled containers (I.e. Monday, Tuesday, etc.).
They got back and the water was so cloudy you couldn't see anything. Miraculously, they only lost a couple of the smaller fish.
When they asked what happened, my grandmother said she didn't think there was enough food in the containers my dad left out so she put the week's worth in on the first day and just kept adding a similar amount each day.
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u/ZoulsGaming 9d ago edited 8d ago
Okay since i see this sentiment all the time.
did you say "feed my fish" or did you put out a deliberate schedule or sheet on how to do it with measuring jugs or measured portions?
I have never done this and considering how finnicky it is i would never do so.
asking someone to feed your pet with instructions like "fill this one bowl, cup, measurement twice a day" and they just give them 4 times that is one thing. But it sounds like in 99% of these stories its always "Hey feed my pet, oh you didnt feed it precisely how i would and now im mad"
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u/MooPig48 9d ago
Oh man back in the early 90s I had a beautiful saltwater tank that I loved. It was healthy and gorgeous. I had a cowfish, a spiny puffer, a lionfish, a couple of cool eels, a horseshoe crab, a seahorse and a freaking little octopus.
I had a roommate. We had cats. The cats had fleas. My bf and I were going to Disneyland and my roommate wanted to flea bomb. Probably 50 times I said what do you do before you flea bomb? “Turn off the pump and plug the holes and cover the tank”. You promise you will do that right? It’s really important.
Guess who didn’t do ANY of those things, called from Disney to say hi and check in only to be told that my many many hundreds of dollars of beautiful prized fish were all dead. It was heartbreaking. And I never really forgave her
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u/Fuck_dis_place 9d ago
That sounds heartbreaking. I don't think I would be able to forgive someone for that either.
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u/MooPig48 9d ago
Yeah it was pretty rough. My tank never recovered and I’ve never picked the hobby back up. So many hundreds of hours of work and research and checking ph levels and finding fish. They were so colorful and cool
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u/MisterDonkey 9d ago
I lost a whole bunch of Malawi cichlids in a big tank full of rocks. Did everything right. Three filters. Frequent quality testing. I even bought textbooks specifically on Malawi cichlids. But one day I saw a sick fish, and then they all died within three days. I couldn't try to save them fast enough.
Super bummed.
That tank sat dark and empty for so long after that. A depressing reminder of failure. I couldn't bring myself to try again.
I eventually got it going again. But even today, no cichlids. I have goldfish in there now.
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u/Nay_nay267 9d ago
I had an outbreak of columnaris that killed all my tetras and cories in a 29 gallon. I quarantined new fish before putting them in, I guess I didn't quarantine them enough. That was 3 years ago, only thing I have now is a betta in an 8 gallon. I have an empty 10 gallon, an empty 20 gallon, and the empty 29 gallon. I am too depressed to get them up and running.
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u/KnowsIittle 9d ago
Rather than fish you might try your hand at plant arrangement. Maybe along the way you'll become inspired to try again.
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u/Nay_nay267 9d ago
I am really tempted to re-start the 10 gallon. Put some ember tetras and Cory habrosus as a bottom dweller.
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u/KnowsIittle 9d ago
One of my favorite or most successful tanks started as a neocaridina shrimp tank. Some java fern attached to cholla wood cactus, aquatic moss, pearlweed and some elodea. Cycling I got to see ramshorns populate the tank. Various micro organisms such as copepods and daphnia. Cycled introduced 15 shrimp. Was content for a time, 3 months later juveniles carrying their own eggs so I'd established a healthy colony going decided to introduce a trio of male endler's livebearers. Maybe they nipped up a shrimplet or three but for the large part I saw zero aggression towards adult shrimp. Another 3 months passed and I decided on taking what I thought was a big risk as Betta can be temperamental but I thought my tank was prepared. Lots of plants and decor to block line of sight and provide refuge for shrimp. Females can be less aggressive so I decided against a male. Beautiful plakat globetta. Personable fish, loved swimming through the tall leafy plants. Again I'm sure they nipped up small shrimplets but the colony continued to thrive. Didn't see any aggression towards the adults but she loved to go after their sinking catfish wafers.
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u/Nay_nay267 9d ago
OMG, I had a betta in the 10 gallon and every time I would feed the cories, she would go after it even after I fed her. Her name was Athena and the cories were Moe, curly and Larry. Cas, Dean, and Sam.
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u/miss_antlers 9d ago
Tbh I only leave my tank in the care of aquarium hobbyists for extended vacations, and that’s why. No one understands how much care and effort goes into an aquarium until they’ve taken care of their own. I once paid a friend to visit my apartment weekly and clean the tank because I simply didn’t think my non-hobbyist roommates could have managed it.
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u/FCkeyboards 9d ago
People not in the hobby don't realize how much money goes into it. Do I love my dogs more? ...Yeah. Have I put more money into my 30-gallon tank? For sure. And we don't even have crazy expensive fish. And saltwater is a whole other level of expertise and money.
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u/MooPig48 9d ago
Yeah and back then I had to learn everything through books of course, no internet. I bought and read so many. I every payday I would get SOMETHING for my fish. I really really loved it
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u/shokalion 9d ago
I've read through all your replies and it sounds (understandably) like a sore point that still hasn't really healed.
Why not have another go at it?
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u/MooPig48 9d ago
Honestly because I am now spending my disposable fun money sponsoring a rescue horse and taking lessons lol.
You know I actually apparently kind of blocked this out, I DID try again once. Had an acquaintance who was getting rid of a nice reef tank, got it from him for a good price, started adding some fish to it. Came time for a water change, basically you remove all the water but about 6 inches, mix the new saltwater into a big tub and SLOWLY add it back in. My now ex husband decided to cut corners and just violently poured the whole tub in at once, this causes the sediment that’s supposed to stay in the coral substrate to all come to the surface and…you guessed it, kills the fish. At that point I gave up completely.
Man I had totally forgotten about that.
Anyway. Thank you for the suggestion. I really did love it, it was a cool hobby
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u/SawaThineDragon 9d ago
Seeing as he's an ex now, you could start again, again lol. If you have a partner right now I would sit with them and just let them know how important it is to you before hand and see if they have any problems with it lol, I collect shiny cardboard and had to stop because I lost 1-2k$ in a car crash and wasn't mentally ready to start again, I still wish I knew where the car went afterwards because we lost a good chunk of stuff other than that.
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u/MaleficentSummer8 9d ago
I agree with this, start again if you find the time. It sounds like you gave up on a dear hobby because of some shitty people and that freaking sucks.
It sounds like you still have a lot of knowledge of and appreciation for aquarium stuff (I wished I'd bother to read into it all because it looks and sounds really cool) and it'd be a waste to drop it completely.
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u/SawaThineDragon 9d ago
Maybe this is the start of a friendship between the 2 of you lol, maybe if they don't want to specifically start themselves they could live vicariously through you, and give suggestions and "mentor" or something and you could share the progress.
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u/InevitableError404 9d ago
Wow your ex roommate is a moron. One of my exes sold my fish tank and stand for weed money behind my back while I was in the process of moving and he was “helping” me. I dumped his pathetic ass so fast. I still miss my slugs and shrimpies.
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u/Astorya 9d ago
You kept a seahorse and a cowfish with a lionfish, a puffer, multiple eels, and an octopus and neither were eaten…?
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u/MooPig48 9d ago
Yep! I had several smaller prey type fish too, and clowns and damsels. I had one or two smaller fish eaten but that was it. Oh and I had a couple of anemones for the clowns and a starfish too. Was fixing to get a sea cucumber when it all went down. My eels were a ribbon and a little bitty moray. The moray was the only one I saw eat a fish that wasn’t “supposed” to be on the menu. I mostly fed them mollies. Mollies can live a lot longer in saltwater than goldfish. I loved watching the cowfish suck the eyes out of the goldfish lol it was pretty wild.
The key was just lots of stuff to hide in.
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u/liveforeverapes 9d ago
That sounds like an amazing setup, so you have any pictures?
Especially interested in the horseshoe crab— how big was that tank?
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u/MooPig48 9d ago
I have exactly zero pictures left from the early 90s sadly.
The crab wasn’t very big, couple of inches, somewhere between 2-3? We didn’t see him super often because they like to burrow into the coral. But sometimes he would come out and he was fast! He would come up out of the gravel and just fly around the tank for a few minutes, he was cute
The one that really killed me was the octopus. I hadn’t had him but a few weeks, back then I didn’t know anything about how smart they are. I wish I’d had more time with him and that I had known then what I know now about them. I can’t even remember what kind he was but he was super super interesting to watch
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u/Freezerburn 9d ago
AWWWW FUCK I'm actually mad now. I'm sorry bro, I used to have a fantastic coral tank...
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u/Life_Faithlessness90 8d ago
This was a perfect opportunity to sue someone in small claims court. Defendant bought a household poison and neglected your aquarium costing you hundreds of dollars. Defendant spent money to cost you more money. I'm tired of ignorance being these nitwits excuse.
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u/MooPig48 8d ago
Yeah thank you and I get it and agree, but like I said this was the early 90s and we were basically kids in our early 20s. I really didn’t know about small claims court and there wasn’t any internet to give us advice and my parents were already dead so I didn’t have anyone to give me good sage adult advice, you know?
It never even occurred to me to demand she pay me back. Just like it never occurred to me to sue the tow company that collapsed both quarter panels on my72 Chevelle SS. Now I know they hooked it up wrong and were liable, back then the tow driver said “they’re full of bondo, your fault” and drove away and I just assumed that was true.
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u/Life_Faithlessness90 8d ago
Hindsight is an annoying bitch sometimes. The amount of stupid shit done in our 20s, lol, people definitely took advantage.
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u/Tunafish01 9d ago
i would not even be friends with someone after that. I asked you to respect and care my things some of which are alive and you are so careless or stupid that you killed them?
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u/hentaisama666 9d ago
honestly, i wouldve absolutely lost my shit if this happened to me. i feel so sorry for you. people should never get away with that sort of shit.
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u/Jon-3 9d ago
did she just forget to do that? what did she say to you?
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u/MooPig48 9d ago
Oh and it was basically “guess what I forgot to do” or “I’m sorry I forgot to cover the tank” or something like that. I don’t really remember the I’m sorry part so I’m thinking that wasn’t part of her initial conversation with me.
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u/brainburger 9d ago edited 9d ago
My ex GF had a tortoise given to her. Her dad either let her or made her keep it in a fenced off area around their pool. After she had it for a short while he sprayed the weeds in that area. The tortoise died. He is not a stupid man, but somehow had a mental blank. I don't think he intentionally did it, but it is pretty shocking. Poor thing. Tortoises are rare in the UK too. Funnily enough it just occurs to me that the fact that I had a tortoise was the reason we got into conversation the first time.
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u/MooPig48 9d ago
Allegedly yes. Like I said we called from Disney from a pay phone to say hi and check in and that’s when she told me. She’s probably lucky we wouldn’t be able to get home for a few days. I don’t think I will ever really know though. It was my one and only thing I’d asked. It was even the last thing we talked about before I left. Was it passive aggressive? I really have no idea. It could have been. I just didn’t and still don’t understand.
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u/LegalAction 9d ago
My old boss, a generally evil guy, had a salt water tank in the office.
There was a puffer, a small shark, a... something, maybe a lion fish, and I don't remember what else.
This was in LA for context.
One weekend the building lost power. Management didn't turn on the generator, which they had, and they didn't call my boss.
Monday we came to an office stinking with dead fish.
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u/arf8625 9d ago
Prob about 10 years ago had my wife's cousin come watch the house feed the animal. I had 3 tanks. Prob about 1000 worth of fish. I literally had the food in small cups to be fed every other day. For a week. Came back to 5 fish alive of the 50 or so between all the tanks and mass amounts of food on the bottom . I haven't restarted that hobby since. Still makes me mad to this day the one tank was prob 5 years old.
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u/Sam_GT3 9d ago
Former professional aquarist here. Unless you’re gonna be gone for more than a week, your fish are gonna be much better off not being fed at all than being fed by someone who doesn’t know/care what they’re doing.
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u/Fuck_dis_place 9d ago
Thank you for the advice, I don't leave town often but I'll keep it in mind the next time I do
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u/Junie_Wiloh 9d ago
You also now know to never ask your roommate to do anything regarding pets when on said trip.
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u/WeHaveAllBeenThere 9d ago edited 9d ago
you now know to get a new roommate or live alone
FTFY
Edit; the fact that so many of you think finding a new roommate is THAT hard is obnoxious. I have been in those shoes before. Does it take time? Obviously. Is it impossible? Fuck no.
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u/JarlaxleForPresident 9d ago
Ive found that even your best friends can make awful roommates. I don’t understand how half the dudes I know just be out there living like 6th graders whose parents have abandoned them and they just don’t care. Absolutely no desire to clean up after themselves or have hygiene or learn to cook halfway decently
I’m talking about men in their 20s-30s that ive seen. I’m sure there’s women like that too, I just havent had to live with em. I can see why women get frustrated with dealing with the shit and being expected to be their fuckin mother or something
Grow the fuck up people, it’s NOT hard to take care of yourselves and household chores
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u/Mrcheddarbacon 9d ago
Fr. Lost my best friend because I let him and his girlfriend rent at my house. They were struggling in a small bedroom at his parents place. They started rearranging everything, moving my dishes around, replacing boot Mats and trying to control all that. she was complaining about everything. Eventually I had to kick them out because they wanted to micromanage and control everything.
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u/JarlaxleForPresident 9d ago edited 9d ago
I let my buddy stay in an extra room and his girlfriend came over one night and rearranged my kitchen! Wasnt even her place! He didnt pay rent either lol
He never want to do his share of household chores and his idea of putting in on groceries was all gas station items
Never cooked but eat with me, which is fine. I never minded sharing dinner with anyone. But would get meat and bread and go for seconds and never get veggies and sides. Like, nah dude, if you eating dinner, you aint just gonna eat meat and rolls. I like having a plate of leftovers, you not gonna eat all the pork chops because you didnt want to eat carrots and corn and green beans and stuff because you’re a giant man child
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u/Mrcheddarbacon 9d ago
Lol! The audacity of some people! Like, it’s your house. How did they think that was fair of them to do? And wow, I mean.. gas station items are pricey, but I think living of $5 chips and Red Bull only gets you so far..
Yeah. The final straw was them trying to get me to ask permission to do laundry in my own house!
They rented a room in the basement. He asked me one time if I could let them know before I came downstairs to do laundry. I thought about it and said “yeah man, no problem. I respect your guys privacy. So if you are home, I’ll let you know. No problem.” Well, one time they weren’t home and I went to do laundry. He actually had the audacity to yell at me for it! I said “when I let you move in, We agreed on shared accommodation. I’m not asking permission to do laundry in my own house!” And he wanted to keep arguing about it so that’s when I said “alright. I can’t do this anymore. You guys need to get your own place.” I made myself available afterwards incase he wanted to talk about it. Waited a week, he had nothing more to say. Even then, I let him decide on when they would leave.
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u/WeHaveAllBeenThere 9d ago
This is exactly why I live alone. All of my roommates have been disgusting and lazy.
The girlfriends I’ve lived with were all very clean though, I will say.
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u/WonderfulShelter 9d ago
Yeah realizing this was insane. I just had a big intervention with a good friend I lived with about how sloppy and messy he is and how sad it makes me to see him without self respect.
And now he’s making huge changes. Another housemate whose our youngest though blows my mind.
He’s 26 years old and literally just can not comprehend how leaving common spaces messy with the expectation other people will clean up after him is disrespectful. He just can’t make the connection in his head.
I always bring it back to respect for yourself or others. And if they don’t respect themselves well ok, but why would I respect them then?
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u/NomaiTraveler 9d ago
Easier said than done, I took a 35% rent increase to live alone and my current apartment is 1/4th the size of a place than had 2 people living in it.
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u/Junie_Wiloh 9d ago
Due to the current housing crisis and the rising cost of rent.. and well, literally everything else being on the rise, it is not feasible anymore to suggest moving out. And unless the apartment was absolutely trashed and short of him not paying his half of the bills, evicting a roommate requires a valid reason to be given. "Because he didn't feed my fish properly," or "Because he didn't scoop the litter boxes while I was gone," are not valid reasons for an eviction in any state. And if for some reason those would be acceptable, this puts OP in a situation of paying for all the bills and rent on their own until a new roommate can move in and put on the lease.
Far easier and more affordable to just find someone else to do the tasks while out of town.
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u/Sturmundsterne 9d ago
Roommate has been jobless for 6 months. Just how much longer you think they can pay the bills?
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u/Junie_Wiloh 9d ago edited 8d ago
That's a good question, but we also don't know if this roommate has a decent savings account or gets money from other means, either. My point still stands. You cannot go to court or your landlord to evict someone because they didn't feed your fish properly or scoop your litter boxes while you were out of town. Not paying their fair share is a valid reason.
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u/TL4Life 9d ago
Weaponized incompetence
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u/KinseysMythicalZero 9d ago
Yeah, it's the whole "if I do everything badly enough, nobody will ask me to do anything. "
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u/Chemical-Elk-1299 9d ago
OP I don’t see fishy in the pictures.
Is fishy alright? (Please say yes)
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u/Fanrific 9d ago edited 9d ago
You might want to think about changing the bowl as well. Bowls aren't as oxygenated as square or rectangular containers because they have less surface area. I've had goldfish that lived over 10 years in a small tank but they've never lived long in a bowl
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u/Yasuo11994 9d ago
I would also like to say I got a cheap auto feeder on Amazon for around $20 that is re chargeable. You can set how many times a day it feeds up to 4 times and how much comes out. Mine has been running 6 months on one charge
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u/The_Last_Ball_Bender 9d ago
Also you can buy auto feeders that feed 1 or 2x a day, it just opens and pops out what you put in it, it can't overfeed unless YOU overstuff each daily box.
It's like a $10-20 item these days. Shit you can probably get a bluetooth one that lets you spy on your fish lol
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u/michelobX10 9d ago
Yeah, I started my aquarist journey a year ago. I took a trip for a few days and Googled how long fish can go without being fed. OP was fine with not feeding them at all. I was gone for 3 days. Just feed them right before you walk out the door and they should be good until you come back.
These fish food companies would like you to believe that you have to feed them daily, but they don't even eat daily in the wild. It's in their best interest for you to buy their products as often as possible.
I'm assuming you have a betta based on those pellets and the bowl. Bettas can go 1 - 2 weeks with no food.
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u/CumFartConsumer 9d ago
Ah so the fish food companies learned from the human food companies, makes sense.
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u/PunchingCarrots 9d ago
Please don't let your humans starve for 1-2 weeks.
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u/CumFartConsumer 9d ago
After inspecting myself in the mirror this morning, I’ve realized some of us may need our owners to take a few weeks of vacation.
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u/Sam_GT3 9d ago
For most tanks a week is about the maximum I’d do. Maybe less for a reef tank with high end fish, or more for a betta or other small freshwater fish.
We had a lot of clients who liked to over feed their tanks, so for some of them we would ration out food in those weekly pill containers and make it clear never to feed more than one compartment a day even if they missed a day. That dumbed it down enough for most people and would eliminate the possibility of accidentally dumping half the can in because “it slipped” or whatever. I’d probably go with something like that if you have to be gone longer than a week.
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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 9d ago
your fish are gonna be much better off not being fed at all than being fed by someone who doesn’t know/care what they’re doing.
It's not like "feed 2-3 pellets a day" should have required an advanced degree in marine biology.
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u/Sam_GT3 9d ago
You’d be surprised. Lots of our accounts were cared for by nurses, in charge of keeping people alive, and those were usually the worst offenders for overfeeding.
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u/DanSanderman 9d ago
People love to feed tanks because the fish come out. Just look at how popular the fish feeding videos are on YouTube. So people without experience use feeding the fish as a way to generate activity in the tank for their viewing pleasure without thinking about or understanding the waste this creates in the environment.
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u/SadDingo7070 9d ago
Apparently it was the lack of a degree in being a decent human which was the problem. The roommate sounds like he’d make a better ex-roommate.
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u/Cinnamon-Dream 9d ago
When we are gone for a week or so, I get the neighbours in once for a feed and so far all has been good. I believe my fish can go up to two weeks without feeding but wouldn't stretch that long. They also have lots of love plants to munch. I have had one since 2008 and it's definitely one of things where less is more!
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u/Headmuck 9d ago
My first thought as someone who doesn't have fish but is thinking about getting some was to install a device that feeds them automatically and is connected to the internet to send a notification at least when it notices that it may have malfunctioned and made a mistake. Might be more reliable than the group of people you talk about.
Are there such devices and do you know anything about their reliability? I would probably only use them with a webcam that monitors everything and a backup person i could contact.
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u/Sam_GT3 9d ago
They do exist, but overall they’re not super reliable. The main problem is that the high temperature and humidity above the tank always makes the food clump together and go moldy super fast. I’ve never seen one last long enough to empty even half its contents without the food sticking together and going bad.
Also, auto feeders work best with pellets which are not the best choice of form factor for fish food. They’re harder for the fish to digest and are more easily lost in the substrate or sucked up in the filter. Flakes, frozen, or freeze dried food is the way to go for feeding, but none of those do well in auto feeders.
That said, I have used them before, but only as a last resort when we were actively losing fish from clients not feeding their fish for weeks at a time
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u/VeneMage 9d ago
Where fish? Did he eat them? Times must be hard for him.
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u/UnremarkabklyUseless 8d ago
According to OP, he took the fish out before taking 4his photo. The fish was ok, just bloated.
It is moderately infuriating that OP did not include this info the main post. It isnvery infuriating that the fish tank is so small for a majority of fish types.
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u/angelaguitarstar 9d ago
absolutely do not let non-aquarists feed your fish. or at least divide the food in like a pill-thingy and hide the rest. i work in a discord betta help server and the amount of people i’ve seen who have returned to a dead and bloated fish because their siblings/parents said “but he looked hungry” is horrifying to me
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u/stilljustacatinacage 9d ago
This comment makes me sad. Not because it isn't accurate or right. Just because I'm a non-aquarist, but if someone was like "hey can you look after my fish? Here are the instructions," I would follow them like holy writ. I'm just saddened by the callousness some people feel towards other living critters under their care.
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u/aplqsokw 9d ago
I don't know how right the comment is, but I am quite sure that if I had fish, most of my friends and close family would be capable of following some simple instructions. I guess I tend not to become friends with idiots... although the family might be just luck though.
I mean, if anything, I know 3-4 people that can even be too accurate following instructions. If you ask them to do you a favor, they will ask way too many details on how to execute it, to the point I would rather ask someone who will not ask so much detail.
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u/meowfttftt 9d ago
He probably just threw in a shit load the 1st day and forgot about it.
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u/john-douh 9d ago
Or, if lacking brain cells, threw in a ton of food the day before OP got back.
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u/delpreston27 9d ago
This. All those pellets looks fresh, they start to decompose after a few days in the tank.
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u/AltruisticCucumber58 9d ago
Ironically, I hear he set his highest score ever on Sim City: Pet Shop Employee
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u/Randy_Butternips 9d ago
Sounds like a good time to move or kick him out to me. Clearly, he doesn't bother taking care of his own pet, let alone yours.
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u/scrawnydepp619 9d ago
Getting rid of a roommate can be tough, especially if you joint sign a lease and they don’t agree to terminate it. You’ll also most likely face costs for early lease termination. It’s a crappy situation. You also can’t just straight up kick someone out for not feeding a fish. The leasing agency will not give a damn. The only thing you can get them on would be the state of the apartment, but you’ll most likely suffer for that as well if it’s found out your apartment is in that condition.
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u/Second-Creative 9d ago
He's also been jobless for 6 months. So, they may not be paying rent/their side of the lease too.
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u/Mundane_Librarian607 9d ago
First get rid of the deadbeat roommate
Then get a new fishtank setup
Lastly, move it away from the floor outlet. When that tank leaks or drips it's going right into the power outlet.
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u/Baby_Sparrow 9d ago
I scrolled wayyyyy too long to find this comment!! I just commented questioning that myself.
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u/Scazzz 9d ago
Can we talk about the fact you have a giant vessel of water over top a plug that faces upwards from the floor? Was there really no where else you could have put the giant water bowl?
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u/Few-Carpet9511 9d ago
That bowl is not ok to any fish
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u/Pluckt007 9d ago
I was wondering where all "the tank is too small people" were...
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u/Nostromo_USCSS 9d ago
i’m saying this because you obviously care about your fish because you’re upset with them being over fed- that really doesn’t look like an appropriate tank setup. i’m not going to pass judgement without all the details, so- how many gallons is the tank? what kind of fish do you have? do you have a filter? do you have a heater? bubbler? i’d highly recommend getting a larger tank in general- this looks to be a small bowl, probably no more than three gallons. smaller tanks are harder to keep balanced, so even though you can keep shrimp or a singular betta in a five gallon, a ten is the minimum most people should keep. i’d also recommend swapping out the plastic plants for real ones- they’re easy to grow, act as natural filters (to an extent), and if you have any kind of fish with longer fins, plastic plants can easily cut and damage the fish.
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u/Crystalb2005 9d ago
completely off topic but why the hell would you put a fish bowl on a stand that is over a floor outlet 💀
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u/daftidjit 9d ago
Does that bowl even have a filter? If not, that's cruel as fuck
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u/MandalorKayla 8d ago
how tf does your roommate afford rent with no job for 6 months
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u/CaptBlackfoot 9d ago
What happened to the fish? Was it raptured?!