What is "Great Success"?

Paul B

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I have been reading through a lot of threads on here and elsewhere and I hear all the time, "I use this or that with great success" or "I fed my moorish Idol bagels and cream cheese with great success". Or
I never show my wife what I spend on my tank and have great success.

What exactly is great success?

Is great success when you buy a clownfish on Friday and it lives long enough to get it out of the bag without jumping on the floor and it is now next Tuesday but it ate a flake on Monday Is that great
Success"? Or did you buy a Moorish Idol because you saw it eating Hamburger Helper in the store and the store owner assured you the fish has been eating this for 6 months so you got it home and although it is covered in spots and is nauseous so you put Prizapro on it and it is still alive after 3 days.

I don't know but "Success and Great Success" should mean different things. To me, "success" is if you buy a fish and a year or two later it is alive and healthy. That means the fish is eating and thriving, disease free and seems healthy. But "Great Success" is only when you buy a fish, it eats right away and eventually, if it is a pair, it spawns and keeps spawning for it's entire presumed lifespan which in fish can be anywhere from 4 years to 40 years. If you have a clownfish and it is 10 years old, you are successful at keeping that fish. But is that same fish lives
30 or 40 years, that is great success because clownfish live into their 40s.

If a person lives 30 or 40 or even 50 years was he successful? I don't think so because a humans presumed lifespan is somewhere around 80 so anything else is a failure.
If we say we have great success at something, some people may get the wrong impression. As fa as I know, no one with a home tank has ever kept a moorish Idol for it's presumed lifespan which is "probably" 15 or so years. I kept one for five years which is a dismal failure.
I think we really need to pick our words more carefully.

Like if I say I am a real hunk of a Man and a great catch. I may be lying. :rolleyes:
 

JCM

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Somewhat related question, I wonder what the lifespan of a leopard wrasse is? I had a meleagris for 7 years, she looked great until the day I found her dead. I've always hoped that was just her natural lifespan and I didn't do something to cause her demise.
 

XNavyDiver

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success.png
 

XNavyDiver

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I have been reading through a lot of threads on here and elsewhere and I hear all the time, "I use this or that with great success" or "I fed my moorish Idol bagels and cream cheese with great success". Or
I never show my wife what I spend on my tank and have great success.

What exactly is great success?

Is great success when you buy a clownfish on Friday and it lives long enough to get it out of the bag without jumping on the floor and it is now next Tuesday but it ate a flake on Monday Is that great
Success"? Or did you buy a Moorish Idol because you saw it eating Hamburger Helper in the store and the store owner assured you the fish has been eating this for 6 months so you got it home and although it is covered in spots and is nauseous so you put Prizapro on it and it is still alive after 3 days.

I don't know but "Success and Great Success" should mean different things. To me, "success" is if you buy a fish and a year or two later it is alive and healthy. That means the fish is eating and thriving, disease free and seems healthy. But "Great Success" is only when you buy a fish, it eats right away and eventually, if it is a pair, it spawns and keeps spawning for it's entire presumed lifespan which in fish can be anywhere from 4 years to 40 years. If you have a clownfish and it is 10 years old, you are successful at keeping that fish. But is that same fish lives
30 or 40 years, that is great success because clownfish live into their 40s.

If a person lives 30 or 40 or even 50 years was he successful? I don't think so because a humans presumed lifespan is somewhere around 80 so anything else is a failure.
If we say we have great success at something, some people may get the wrong impression. As fa as I know, no one with a home tank has ever kept a moorish Idol for it's presumed lifespan which is "probably" 15 or so years. I kept one for five years which is a dismal failure.
I think we really need to pick our words more carefully.

Like if I say I am a real hunk of a Man and a great catch. I may be lying. :rolleyes:

Now I spotted the problem. Moorish Idol's are obligate Beef-a-roni eaters.;)
 

Crabs McJones

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XNavyDiver

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I need to leave this thread, cuz now I want beef-a-roni! You're not good for my diet @XNavyDiver !! :D:D
It's probably for the best. Just so everyone knows, I only eat organic, non-gmo, gluten free, free range, macrobiotic, Certified Transitional, grass fed Kale.;Hilarious
 
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Paul B

Paul B

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When I was stationed in Colorado I thought I was the hottest thing around. (I even had hair) I had this motorcycle and I was cruising out someplace on a deserted stretch of road in the plains and I spot these two beautiful girls in a convertible. (you didn't need helmets in those days)
The girls stopped and I pulled up next to them to put my moves on them. I stopped and put my foot down. My bellbottom pants leg got stuck in the pedal and I fell over in the street looking very stupid. I stayed there until the girls were very far away and I couldn't hear them laughing any more.
That was not an example of a Great Success. :rolleyes:
 

Daniel@R2R

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@Paul B does raise a great question that's definitely worth discussing. At what point do we determine something to have been a "success"? In my own case, I'd say it's when I've either achieved or beaten my previous experience with something...which is a pretty subjective bar. "Great success" is probably something I'd reserve for when I think everything went perfectly to the point that I'd duplicate what I was doing again exactly to recreate the level of success. Where fish are concerned, the longer I've been in reefing, the longer the time it has to be thriving before I'll call it a success.
 
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Paul B

Paul B

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Great success is having a great wife who is also your best friend and she is both of those things for the rest of your life. I have that. :D

Of course, I also have a fish tank. :rolleyes:

 

hybridazn

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I think with the high turnover rate of this hobby the term "successful" gets thrown around a lot. Most of time if someone can keep sps alive for a couple years is deemed "successful" but to me I think long term is 5+ years at a minimum, and sometimes I think that is a short time span.

Case in point my powder blue tang, i call him blue lol. He's been with us now for 12 years, and I still don't think I consider that successful. Maybe more on the line of lucky haha. Success is different for everyone, but at some point in time we all run into snags.

So that brings up the question, is anyone truly successful in this hobby?
 

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