And Foolkiller, you have a saltwater tank? How is that working for you, as they just seem to be alot of work last I remember.
Yes, although I have done brackish puffers in a freshwater tank before, but they get diseased too easily because that is a stressful setup. So, I finally went saltwater. It is a Fish Only With Live Rock (FOWLR) tank.
With a FOWLR tank the difference from freshwater is very small once you finish the setup. I might test one extra chemical level and then have to check my specific gravity (salinity), which is actually simple since I have a floating thermometer that measures specific gravity on the top by how far it floats out of the water. So, basically I check it just by looking over when I feed them. The biggest thing I guess would be making sure your clean water for changes has the proper gravity and pH before adding it in, because you have to compensate for evaporation, which doesn't remove salt. So, your new water must be slightly less salty than the tank water.
To keep from going off topic I suggest any more aquarium discussion be moved to the
proper thread.
1) Dogs actually give a crap about you.
My cat either is a good actor or truly appears to care about me and my wife, as if either of us is upset he comes and climbs in our lap and lets us hold on to him or whatever until we get it out of our system.
2) A dog can be a useful security system.
Depends on the dog. Mine is a chihuahua.
3) You can actually play with dogs. Cats do nothing. Kittens are slightly play-with-able, but they grow out of that.
Odd, my dog plays with both our cats. My cat is roughly three times his weight though and will knock the crap out of him with one paw swipe.
4) You can hug a dog (decent sized ones anyway).
So, my 14lb cat isn't huggable? See my response to point 1.
5) Dogs can be trained to take care of their own bathroom needs - whereas cats require you to empty the damn box when it starts stinking the house up.
1) How did you teach your dog this? Or are we talking the whole ring the bell on the door when he needs to go to the bathroom thing?
2) I have yet to see a dog turn around, pick up his poo, and put it in the garbage or wherever.
6) You can go on walks/jog with your dog.
OK, you got me there. My cat sometimes follows me but he is scared of cars so unless it is through wooded areas or fields he runs home. But, since I hate exercise it isn't a huge deal.
7) You can pick up chicks with a dog.
This I agree with. One night I had to go to puppy training without my wife and it seemed like every chick in the store came by to check him out and talk to me.
Yeah, but cats don't care whether you live or die, as long as you feed them. (Some) Dogs are smart enough to follow your moods... if you're happy, they're happy; if you're not, they'll settle down.
As I explained to Danoff, my cat reads my moods. When I am happy he rubs against me, when I am mad he stays back, when I am upset he climbs in my lap. Our dog on the other hand, he doesn't care what I am doing, thinking, or feeling he just wants attention.
I just can't really see why.
You haven't met a good cat yet, I can tell. Run across a cat that was raised by caring owners from birth and you will find they are quite personable, but if dogs were as commonly tossed aside and left to die and mistreated they would be more like many cats you see.
My cat was orphaned from a stray mother and someone found the litter and delivered them to the Humane Society. I took him in and so I am the only lifelong social interaction he has had for seven years now. He likes people and other animals, but when he is being petted by anyone all I have to do is say his name or snap my fingers and he will immediately leave them for me. Perhaps my cat's situation of being orphaned and never actually having a mother cat led to him bonding with me much the way some one-person breeds of dogs do, so it makes him different, but he is extremely loyal, shows a full range of emotion, and is the all around best pet I have ever had.
I will also admit that my aversion to dogs may have to do with the fact that I was attacked by our pet dog when I was two. He cut my forehead open from my left temple to my right eye. You can still see the scars. It was only a few years back that I got over my issues, because I had teased our dog with his food. I didn't know what I was doing and the concept of food aggression was foreign to me at that age. I have yet to see a house cat with food aggression toward humans, by the way.
I'm not quite sure that qualifies as a dog.
