It May Not Make Sense to Everyone, But Just Think About It - Dec. 29, 2011

 Time for a story.

 Man tells me he keeps buying fish at another store and they keep dying.

 And although my skills around aquariums are relatively limited, I ask him about what size tank he has, is it filtered, is he feeding the fish too much, what's the water temperature?

 Nope, they're in a bowl.

 No heat, no filter, just a bowl of water.

 "Well, that's one of the problems," I said.

 Undeterred, he said he'd keep buying the fish.

 "That's not a great hobby," I mused.

 At Animal Essentials, we try and be responsible. A fish may not seem like much to many, but they are living beasts and should be cared for even though they don't bark,curl up in your lap and hang out on the window perch catching rays.

 In the end, what you do is your own business once you purchase a pet, but with fish, we do ask you have a filterted tank and keep the water warm with a heater.

 Yes, it's a little more expensive and yes you may only be paying a few bucks for a fish, but it's about principal.

 We've had some customers not very happy with us when we won't sell them a fish to put "in a bowl of water."

 We understand that, but we also believe it's about education.

 When dogs or cats are left unfed and in cold temperatures, we read about as neglect.

 Really, it may not seem as dramatic, but we don't want folks neglecting their fish, either.

 They live well at AE under controlled monitoring and the fish flourish for the most part. Many are tropical and warm water is what keeps them swimming.

 When they go from the comfort of a maintained tank to a glass bowl with nothing, well, think about that just for a second.

 We're not militant, but we're cautious and we believe when you're accepting responsibility for a fish, you can take it to the next step.

 We're always open to talk about.

 Keeping fish is like learning to play a guitar. It looks easy from the outside.

 Until you start trying to figure it all out.

 There's an educational component to it and that's one of our biggest traditions at AE...teaching when it comes to handling aquariums.

 Make sense?