Justifiable homicide?

[pupeluv]

Is it legal to kill someone because they messed with your tank? My idiot brother (who is 31 and should know better) dropped a whole algae tab about the size of a nickel into my TWO GALLON tank to try and make my crab come out to eat. He didn't tell me about it and I discovered it about five hours later. Fished it out in pieces and did a 25 percent water change--luckily I've been keeping water premixed for just such an emergency...maybe not this EXACT one though.. I'm wondering how long it would take to show a nitrite spike if this hurt the tank? I tested today and had zero nitrite reading. Any help would be appreciated, either with advice or in removing my hands from around my brother's throat. Just kidding. I did make up a few new cuss words and left them on his answering machine, tho

 

[Jrsydevi1]

I know that injecting aiptasia with a strong slurry of Kalkwasser works to get rid of them.. Probobly work on your brother too.

 

[Quillen]

My friends & family know they would suffer my bad mood, if they touched my tanks

. It really drives me nuts when someone messes with the tank at school and I have to go fix it (at times, missing a class in the process). I understand your frusteration

.. too bad canopies don't come with security systems.

 

[Snook65]

Don't be silly. You can't kill someone for doing something like that. It clearly calls for a minimum of 15 lashes with a cane!

 

[Anonymous]

I doubt your aquarium or crab was ever in the slightest danger. A properly functioning biological filter should be able to handle the occasional dead fish. An algae tab that hasn't even disolved is unlikely to give you an ammonia spike. I sure hope your 31 year old brother never needs a kidney transplant.

 

[swreefer]

Don't feel bad. I had someone stick their hand in my reef one time to "see what corals feel like". It happened so fast all I could do was yank their arm out and yell a few colorful phrases. I also had another person look at my tank and ask if I was raising the shrimp to eat. They are cleaner shrimp NOT cocktail shrimp! Some people just don't have a clue.

 

[lil_ol_me]

My one and only water change(in 8 months), was the cleanup operation after some jackass spilled a full beer into my reef. Everyone went home about five minutes after I noticed it. I second the kalk/ turbocal injection!!

Dave

 

[Jrsydevi1]

I LIKE that, Quillen...
A security system for the canopy..... yes...
YES... I can see it now.. Remote on the keychain..
A smell a new DIY project...

 

[Quillen]

I have a 95 neon, so the fish tank is most likely worth more at this point - hehe. Steal the car, I don't care, it is insured. Take/hurt my tank and years of care go down the drain

.

I was thinking about one of those full house systems and just include sensors on the tank.
Although something with a keychain might be nice, too. I live in an apartment right now, so maybe that will be a goal when I have a tank two of me long and a couple feet tall.

 

[wstubbs]

I am a college student getting ready to start a new year. I plan on having a kickoff BBQ to start of the year right. Well I also plan on building a canopy and paddlocking it. It's not that I don't trust my friends... I don't trust their friend's friends.

 

[slojmn1]

I had a FOWLR tank in my classroom a few years back. After a weekend I came to class on Monday and the stench was horrible. We were sure there was a dead animal in the wall, behind the cabinets somewhere. So I calleed the maintenance guys. They looked and looked and kept coming back to the tank. The fish looked fine and the smell was around the bookcase where the tank was. So I did a closer inspection and found the flake food container completely empty. This thing would have lasted a year. One of my students had dumped the entire contents in to the tank on Friday afternoon and it sat like that till Monday. Needless to say the water change began and the smell worsened. Oh my god, it was awful. I thought I was going to puke the whole time. The entire building was rank. We did not lose one fish. I could not believe it. It had to have been so toxic in there. Needless to say the students did not make that mistake again 'cuz they had to sit in that stench for two days and try to do their school work

.

 

[Jeff Hood]

Thats why I want a fish room with the tank built into the wall with a metal door. Then the worst thing I would have to worry about would be cleaning all the greasy finger prints off the glass. Oh yes, don't forget to put the sign-


" Don't tap on the Glass!"

Jeff

 

[suckair]

I was having a problem with a snowflake eel that liked my overflow way better than the tank.. Getting him out had become a reguar occurance. "I have eel proofed the overflow since then".

Well one day I was getting my little finger biting friend out of the over flow when a friend stoped by. This guy is like the lawn mower man. He cuts grass for extra money and his hands are very dirty, greasy, and just plain sick. Well I turned my back and he said.. I will get it! I turned around to see him digging in my tank!

I asked him to get his hands out of the tank NOW and that I was not kidding and he kept saying I won't hurt it.. I almost had to get physical to get his arm out of my tank! I don't talk to him much anymore as he was mad at me for being mad at him. I explained the toxins he could and probably had on his hands are arms but he just did not get it!

The whole family and any of the friends I have left know to keep clear of my tanks.. They can look but that is it!

I just thought I would share that with you as I still growl at the thought.

PS My leather went on strike for a week but everything is fine!

 

[pupeluv]

The security system is a good idea. We just need a way to give the intruder an electric shock without hurting the tank...or attack train a lionfish.

It's good to know that he probably didn't hurt my tank. He has freshwater fish and he definitely knows better. I don't know what he was thinking.

 

[esmithiii]

Had some friends from church over to the house a while back and Dillon, who is 5 comes in and says "brother Smith there is a red thing in your fish tank"

I went in to my home office where the tank is and there was a red annodized mag-lite flashlight at the bottom of the tank. I quickly removed it along with a matchbox car. I then asked Dillon:

"Dillon, Did you drop the flashlight into the tank?"

He lowered his head, looked at his feet and said "No..."

Since then I have put a lock up high on the french doors to the office which can simply be latched or can accomodate a small padlock. The flashlight was ON in the tank, and still works!

E

 

[jdeets]

I have a 180 with a fully enclosed canopy that is 12" high. The design of the canopy is such that it looks fully enclosed, and the average person just looking at the tank wouldn't be able to figure out how it opens. I've had guests ask how I get into the tank to work on it. I just tell them that it doesn't open up!

Seriously, I can't imagine finding a beer or something else dropped in my tank. And if my yardman put his arm in MY tank, I think we'd have to go outside so I could put his arm under his lawn mower...

 

[JohnD]

esmithiii -

That just goes to show you how well those made in the USA maglites are built!!

No comments on the matchbox car, however.

Glad to hear that was the only problem.

 

[Quillen]

so.. jdeets.. I am never going to meet you. How do you have your canopy built?

That sounds like a WONDERFUL idea! I want the tank to be accessable, just not too very.

 

[jdeets]

Quillen--the canopy was custom built by someone else. It is 12" high. The tank is rectangular.

The way it works is the top and front are cutouts. The hinges are on the back. So when I open it, the part that moves actually has an L-shaped cross-section. When it's open, the whole front panel and top lifts up for unrestricted access to the tank. (When it's open, the top edge of the tank is higher than the frame of the canopy--so there's almost no restriction of access to the tank.)

Most people can't figure out how to open it because the whole front lifts up--and they think the front doesn't move.

This isn't a very good description, but I hope you get the idea. If this doesn't make sense, email me and I'll snap a pic for you.

 

[Quillen]

Thank you so much.
I think I can imagine it properly and can do a design of some kind of my own. I really like designing things, I may just get carried away and add shelfs . If/when I change from the hood I have now, I'll need to do the light structure and filter differently. It sounds perfect for what I would need, not wanting to buy generic.