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Are fishkeepers the nerds of the pet owning world?


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Heres where Im coming from...even since Ive started keeping fish, Ive detected that its a scource of quiet amusement from some of my friends and family. By that I mean...they will sometimes make wry comments or sly innuendos about how geeky fishkeeping is in general conversation. For example....someone will ring me on the cell and ask what Im doing and I say "just laxing at home" and the reply will be "Playing with your fishes huh?" ...and it will kind of irk me because I am indeed sitting in front of my tank oogling the politics and soforth

Well when I say "irk me"...I dont really mean it. Im far too old and secure in myself to really care if people find my fishkeepers nerdy or weird or whatever, but I do find it curious that they would see it that way. I mean....What is nerdy about fish?....exactly?

I only know one other fishkeeper IRL, and he is indeed...a giant nerd. Glasses/ bookwormy/ teetoller etc. So I was wondering two things...is it just MY associates that seem to consider keeping fish nerdy and worthy of this mild ridicule? Or is this something that some of you have noticed from your friends as well?

OR.... infact, PERHAPS fishkeeping IS really nerdy? So are all you lot a bunch or nerds or what? :thup:

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I am a Fish Head and proud, yeah some of my workmates look at me sideways when I tell them about which fish died or performed a backflip on the weekend but I think they are just as weird. Some people just don't get pet keeping at all.

I have been a Fish Head for about a year or 2, I would say I aspire to be a real Fish Nerd. :smln:

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one of the guys at work has a rule with regards to my fish keeping :

'your fish is not better than anyone elses fish, and any dog is better than your fish.'

Hes an old stubborn man and theres no amount of argument that will change his mind.

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one of the guys at work has a rule with regards to my fish keeping :

'your fish is not better than anyone elses fish, and any dog is better than your fish.'

Hes an old stubborn man and theres no amount of argument that will change his mind.

He sounds like a total snob. What he is saying is totally untrue. A better way for him to put it would be "I'm not really a big fan of fish, but I quite like dogs" or something like that. I really hate it when people insist that fish are boring and lame. I wonder what they'd think after sitting in front of a reef tank for half an hour...

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don't see the problem with being a nerd. i guess i'd have to say i'm fairly nerdy. i was in the debating team and chess club at school. i even played the flute. at the same time i am now a builder and used to be a semi-competitive snowboarder (big mountain), which doesn't really fit the steriotype. which i guess shows how much steriotypes are worth.

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To clarify...I dont think there anything wrong with being nerd. Its not ideal when you are 15 or 16 but as an adult its definetly +EV.

Anyway it seems Im not alone so there is this perception of nerdiness associated with fishkeeping. I want to know WHY. Its just seems weird to me with no logical association between the two things. How is creating a piece aesthetically pleasing nature in your very own living space anything other than 100% awesome?

PS dogs are NOT particulary "cool". They slobber and crap everywhere...and ANY dog is better than a fish? Wot? Considering some the mangy yappy annoying mutts about the place vs the pure beauty of some fish Id ignore that guy completely, he sounds deranged

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There is no logical reason why, it's just personal bias based on whatever they want to see or don't see and worrying about it is not worth the brain cells being wasted doing so. Cat people are weird, dog people are control freaks, fish people are nerds, bird people are odd, no pet people don't care about life .... the list of stereotypes goes on, there are so many and each culture will have it's own, and it's probably all rubbish. In some cultures it's probably a mark of wealth or dignity to have a large fish swimming about your lounge or in your garden. Does anyone say Amano is a nerd in a negative way? I doubt it.

:smln:

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Personal bias? That doesnt really make sense.... and theres nearly always "a reason" Im not sure about your other examples, but Cat people get called weird because they can get obsessive in their utter devotion to their pets. To the point many use them a crux or excuse for not cultivating a "normal" family (ie a spouse and kids) Thus "the crazy cat lady" And Im not being judgmental here in any way, I love cats and own two. Im not sure what it is you have against Sterotypes, but they are generally not "rubbish"

Also.....is appears some of you are admitting you are nerds. And when I think about it, all the dudes at my LFS are pretty nerdy. So perhaps is true that nerdy people are attracted to fishkeeping :gigl:

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you've just shown the exact trait you're questioning in other people. cat people are no different than fish people other than the pet they chose to keep. are you saying that people don't get obsessive over fish? read some of the posts on this forum. the fact that you're posting something on a fish forum would make some cat people think you are obssesive and nerdy. and steriotypes are rubbish. you can not categorise someone based on such a small aspect of their life. the human personality is a complex thing and can't be so easily generalised. personally i would probably partially fit into atleast a dozen steriotypes, each contradicting the other. as for why other people think fish are geeky, perhaps it is because it is a quiet hobby requiring patience, knowledge and probably a degree of obssession.

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are you saying that people don't get obsessive over fish? read some of the posts on this forum..

No. Where did I say or even imply that?

and steriotypes are rubbish. you can not categorise someone based on such a small aspect of their life. the human personality is a complex thing and can't be so easily generalised.

I dont think you know what a sterotype is, or at least...you take its application as an absolute statement, which is not what stereotypes are intended as. If you take a sample of 10,000 fishkeepers and 10,000 non-fishkeepers and you discover than the fish keepers are 10 times more like to own a pair of purple pants then you can absolutely correctly create the stereotype of "a fishkeeper wearing purple pants". Because statistically speaking, if you met a fish keeper they are 10 times more likely to have purple pants. Whats rubbish about that? Its just math and its extremely useful in many ways

Sounds like you want to say that "you know a fishkeeper who doesnt wear purple pants" and therefore declare the stereotype rubbish based of your sample size of (1) :dunno:

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I have rarely had someone question why I keep fish. When they do it is to ask why I like a pet they don't see as particularly interactive - ie it doesn't snuggle up to you, you can't take it for walks, it isn't 'cute and fluffy' etc.

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just because something is statistically more likely doesn't mean the stereotype is correct. the extension of your analogy is that fishkeepers wear purple pants, yet the majority of them wouldn't. the problem with stereotypes is that they oversimplify things. for instance the stereotype of the crazy cat lady. how many woman that own cats are in fact crazy? the percentage would be neglegable. racism is based on stereotypes, which may have some sort of statistical backing, but are rubbish. as i say the human personality is a complex thing and cannot be generalised so easily.

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There is no logical reason why, it's just personal bias based on whatever they want to see or don't see and worrying about it is not worth the brain cells being wasted doing so. Cat people are weird, dog people are control freaks, fish people are nerds, bird people are odd, no pet people don't care about life .... the list of stereotypes goes on, there are so many and each culture will have it's own, and it's probably all rubbish. In some cultures it's probably a mark of wealth or dignity to have a large fish swimming about your lounge or in your garden. Does anyone say Amano is a nerd in a negative way? I doubt it.

:smln:

So that means I'm weird, I'm odd and I'm a nerd... :lol:

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I don't care what people think. My business is my business. If they don't like it well that's their problem. I am happy.

Yes I agree with the Original poster in saying that some people look at you sideways when you tell them you keep fish, but I bet that they have some hobby that is a bit different too and they just are too scared to tell anyone else for fear of prejudice. Most who make fun of others are usually insecure themselves.

Life is full of different people, that's what makes us unique.

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just because something is statistically more likely doesn't mean the stereotype is correct..

Thats exactly why it is correct jack. A stereotype doesnt have to nail EVERY SINGLE example, it just has to be correct a reasonably high amount of the time to be useful. I suggest you never get a job in marketing if you cant grasp this.

I like what spoon said, I think he/she is saying that to be successful as a fishkeeper you ideally need to have some personality traits. Therfore....a certain type of person is attracted to it. (and stick at it) But heres the thing...I dont think non-fishkeepers would know or understand this easily. I never realised how much went into it until I bought my 1st tank. I just wanted pretty fish in my home office to break up the grind of staring at my moniters. So how do our random friends come to the conclusion that fish keeping is somehow nerdy?

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I find it relaxing excuse the cheese but almost therapeutic :smln:

Totally agree, thats what i love about fishkeeping the most. :love:

Its far better for unwinding after the workign day than the further stimulus of television, and if yuo are that way inclined its a great way to achieve the state of no-mind

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a stereotype is by definition and oversimplified idea. just because one thing is statistically more likely to happen than another does not mean it will happen the majoriy of the time. aswell as this, stereotypes are rarely based on any form of factual basis. for instance the stereotype that fishkeepers are nerds. you yourself say that you struggle to find the factual merit in it and that those instigating the stereotype don't have the insight to make the call. and yet it is a common stereotype. statistical analysis and sterreotypes are 2 different things. if you based marketing on stereotypes you would offend your target audience.

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a stereotype is by definition and oversimplified idea. just because one thing is statistically more likely to happen than another does not mean it will happen the majoriy of the time. aswell as this, stereotypes are rarely based on any form of factual basis. for instance the stereotype that fishkeepers are nerds. you yourself say that you struggle to find the factual merit in it and that those instigating the stereotype don't have the insight to make the call. and yet it is a common stereotype. statistical analysis and sterreotypes are 2 different things. if you based marketing on stereotypes you would offend your target audience.

I never said it would happen "the majority" so agree with that, but the simple fact you agree its "more likely" underlines my point. It appears you are then contridicting tyour own statement by saying that all Stereotypes are just wild guesses and completely incorrect? People will make stereotypes based on their observations. Sure...*some* may be incorrect but its much more likely that they will be right

Stereotypes is just unscientific statisical analysis. Often statistical analysis is impossible to gather or too expensive to conduct, so marketers will then fall back to stereotypes since many of them are just common sense

disclaimer: I dont work in marketing

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people are sometimes a little bemused when I say I keep fish but more often than not they say something along the lines of "Oh , that's an interesting hobby .. is it hard? then they recall their childhood goldie that died after a few weeks. "

I consider my fish and tanks as living ornaments that are both entertaining and relaxing. I generally get positive comments from my friends and colleagues. They all know we're animal mad in my house anyway.

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