You certainly are entitled to have a few rants after that! I suppose it is a part of the mourning process!

And you were doing soooo well! I was really tickled for you that you could get that tank and had learned so much about the aquarist's craft.

This points out the need, as we learn about the hobby, to also educate our family members about it. When my brother and I were kids, our Dad got us a big goldfish bowl. We mowed lawns for the fish. Then we discovered the cat's interest in the most expensive goldfish and Dad made a hardware cloth cover to fit around the rim of that bowl. He line the edge of the cover with a colorful duct tape. More recently as the raccoons were getting into the container fish & water container gardens in the back, I had to get a roll of plastic covered mesh and fit tops for those and the surviving plants. Who would have guess that those midnight bandits would develop an appetite for rushes and water hyacinth!

Likewise around the home, I encourage the family to not leave anything, which might go into a fish tank, on the floor. Insecticides, including pest strips, and herbicides should not be used in the room and probably not in the house. If we ever had to get the house fogged for termites or something like that, I probably would have to rent an apartment for a long and very laborious month and move quite a number of aquariums and lots of gear there!

If painting must be done, cover the tanks. Maybe stop the power filters. Stuff like furniture stripping should be done outside for your sake, never mind the fish! ;)

The biggest need for education is that of fish-sitters while one is on vacation. For a week, either don't have the fish fed or leave the right amount of food in little sealed plastic containers  - such as the little plastic cups offered in some fast food places. And don't bother with those chalky vacation food-feeders!

Do leave the furnace on in the winter or the AC in summer. The furnace can be a little low and the AC a little high.

If you Google search Guppylog for vacation you will find quite a few tales of woe shared on that theme. Leave sitters with the instructions and a cell phone number. In most cases, "If I didn't ask you to do something, pleased don't so it."

A nearby discus buddy left on and trip and a friend of his was watching the fish. The sitter was quite experienced, but messed up on something and then did some panicked water changes with unseasoned/treated water. Several 100 to a couple 1,000 dollars of dead discus later, he realized he should have called a couple of other aquarists for reinforcements. And almost more sadly, that friendship didn't do too well afterwards.

We once were gone for three weeks on a research/vacation trip and separated fish, mostly males and females, which would harass each other. We lost a couple of very old ones, but returned home to far more fish than we left.

Unfortunate our nosy, well-meaning and dim-witted landlady decided to feed my poor starving fish just before we returned. After driving back to Chicagoland from western New York, I got to spend my first couple of hours muttering under my breath and siphoning the flake food carpet off of 40 fish tanks!

We moved as soon as we could.

You mentioned maybe getting some fish after getting school sorted out. A lot of neat things come to aquarists who wait. :)

The IFGA season is almost over, but there is still one big show - probably their national convention. They also have local chapters meeting in various cities, See if there is one near you and if you could visit a gathering. If held in a home, you might get to tour their fishroom!

http://www.ifga.org/Show%20Rules/showrules.htm

The fall will also see a lot of local general aquarium societies holding auctions or shows and auctions. There is a section called local resources in Immediate Help. One of those has a bunch of sites listing local clubs. Many of those links still work.

Your could also Google your area and Guppy club, aquarium club, aquarium society and see what happens. If you urban area doesn't work, try state, region, province or even country.

We want to buy guppies, which are relatively young. They travel better. They adjust to quarantine, a preventative treatment for parasites and their new home more easily.

One difficulty in buying "young" guppies in an auction is that we (certainly I) don't know if they are indeed a couple of months old or just stunted. The first thing I will do is find the seller's name on the bag and ask around until I can find him or her and simply ask how old the fish are. If we don't nab them while they are in a heavy conversation or bidding on a particular fish, most people are pretty willing to give you the lowdown and offer some tips on how they were raised.

Another angle is to look at the show fish. Many times they will not be for sale. (The labels should provide that info too.) Then look in the auction for the same fish with the same seller number or name.

Even better might be to attend a local club and make the acquaintance of a guppy breeder. In time you will be comfortable in asking if you could see their set-up. You will learn tons, both good and not so good. ;)

Assuming I'm here, my door is usually open to visitors, though it can be a bit disillusioning. (The fishroom is in transition, as usual.) If the phone call is enough ahead of time, I'll put on coffee, heat the water for tea or make sure we have enough ice for pop and drinking water in the refrig. And no, despite teasing to the contrary, I have never handed a visitor a bucket and siphon. ;)

This hot weather makes it a little hard. I have a care package (Daphnia, killies, killie eggs possibly) for a guy in New York. I've been told to expect some guppies for Alaska. But none of us are shipping in this heat wave.

A lady from the North side of Chicago stopped by the other day for some Daphnia - which really need coolness more that guppies. She had an air conditioned car and a picnic cooler. I still insisted in packing a freezer pack in there (thanks to methemom!)

Some friends dropped by for some green water and we just packed six gallons in the carboys and sent them on their way. Their admonition of course was, get that into the light. The female red-velvet swordtail was secure in a styro for the short trip.