Comparing Betta Tanks to Dog Kennels - A Visual

[IHaveADogToo]

My last trip to the pet store, I saw a young girl (probably around 13 years old) and her mom buying a betta and a tank. The girl had a .5 gallon tank picked out for this thing. Thankfully, they asked the employee for help, and the first thing he did was tell them that tank was way too small. They were shocked to hear this. The girl was upset because "the tiny tank is just so cute because it's tiny", and the mom couldn't understand why the employee insisted that the fish needed something larger.

It's a situation we've all seen, far too many times. So I have made a little chart here, comparing betta tanks to dog kennels. I suppose it would be applicable with many different types of fish, but with how popular bettas and tiny tanks are, it felt appropriate to do it this way.

Enjoy. Feel free to steal this image. In fact, please do.

I almost made the last panel say "Betta Falls", but thought that would lose too many people.

 

[SnailPocalypse]

I do like it.I just do not know if the 10 and 5 gallon one really fit.But otherwise I would agree.Its funny as I am 13 and I keep a well balance betta sorority in a 60 gallon lol.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

If I replaced the 5 gallon picture with this, would it flow better, ya think?

 

[Colin_T]

Still not sure why Americans have a fascination about crating or caging dogs in their houses. My dogs just lived in the house with us. They had their own beds to sleep on and were not normally allowed on the people furniture, altho the papillon sometimes got picked up and put on the couch by visitors.

We had the back screen door open a bit so they could go out whenever they wanted or needed to. The backyard was fenced off and the dogs were taken for several long walks each day, as well as a daily visit to the dog park to play with their friends. I never had a problem with them, unless you want to talk about a corrupt council fabricating evidence to declare one of them dangerous. That's another story tho

The cages in the pictures would have cost a bit, especially the bigger ones. For a little more money people could fence their backyard and let the dog run around in that.

 

[NickAu]

Same here Colin, our place had a 6 foot fence around it like most houses in Australia do and our dogs were free to roam the yard and come in and out when they wanted thanks to a dogie door. We had 2 dogs a German Shepherd and a Poodle that adopted us he showed up one day his fur was matted and he was hungry, my mum fed and clipped his fur and he just stayed on. Plus we had 2 cats.

I just cant see why people cage dogs like that, I can just hear my father now ( read this with a heavy European accent ) Why for I having dog if not protect my family.

That Poodle was the best guard dog ever

 

[seangee]

Still not sure why Americans have a fascination about crating or caging dogs in their houses. My dogs just lived in the house with us.

Leaving the door open in a UK winter (and large parts of the US) is not really an option. My labs live in the house as part of the family - but as puppys they slept in crates. Both were comfortable with this and usually just took themselves to bed at around 10 pm. They knew that this was there safe space (we never bothered them when they were in the crates).

Once they were 2 or 3 years old we stopped closing the door. They still chose to sleep in them so about 6 months later we dumped the crates and they were perfect citizens. Do you have any idea how much destruction a bored labrador puppy can cause when it wakes at 4am (sunrise in summer) and the rest of the family doesn't surface till after 6?

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Still not sure why Americans have a fascination about crating or caging dogs in their houses. My dogs just lived in the house with us. They had their own beds to sleep on and were not normally allowed on the people furniture, altho the papillon sometimes got picked up and put on the couch by visitors.

We had the back screen door open a bit so they could go out whenever they wanted or needed to. The backyard was fenced off and the dogs were taken for several long walks each day, as well as a daily visit to the dog park to play with their friends. I never had a problem with them, unless you want to talk about a corrupt council fabricating evidence to declare one of them dangerous. That's another story tho

The cages in the pictures would have cost a bit, especially the bigger ones. For a little more money people could fence their backyard and let the dog run around in that.

I used to crate my dog when she was a puppy, because I couldn't trust her not to chew up my couch when I wasn't home. Like @seangee said, she was comfortable with her crate, and knew it was her safe space. But if I was home, she was out. And after a few months, she outgrew her chewing habit, and didn't have to be caged anymore. She has free reign of the house, now, as all my dogs before her have. The crate is just a temporary thing for me, during training.

But there are people who leave their dogs in crates or kennels all the time. I don't get that, either. The vast majority of Americans believe it's inhumane to keep dogs in crates or kennels at all times, but there are some knuckleheads who do it. These people probably shouldn't have pets. Neither should the people who just keep their dog tied to a tree outside all year 'round. (Yeah, I said it, if you're that guy, no apologies, you shouldn't have pets.)

The point of this graphic was, I was trying to drive home the fact that keeping a fish in a tiny tank is like keeping a dog in a crate all the time. A 5 gallon is probably acceptable for a betta, though, and a 10 gallon definitely is, so maybe I could do some better comparisons with my graphic. Really I just wanted to drive home the point of how less than 5 gallons isn't enough, just like a small cage isn't big enough to be a large dog's home.

 

[Colin_T]

The point would have worked more effectively if you had a picture of a Betta too

 

[SnailPocalypse]

Yeah the connection with bettas and dogs in some cases can work if done with SMALL dogs but some of these pics are like goldfish lol

 

[IHaveADogToo]

So the general consensus is I need to just redo this.

Understood.

 

[Colin_T]

have your doggy pics and some betts pics. Ask Nickau for betta pics, he comes up with some doozies, like his video of the Asian guy walking over bottles that had bettas in

 

[NickAu]

Its simple.

This is NOT a betta tank.

These are my tanks

This is a Betta tank;

This is a Betta Betta tank.

 

[Colin_T]

I think this one's betta (better) than that one

 

[SnailPocalypse]

I mean your effort was nice.Just use smaller dogs lol

 

[IHaveADogToo]

I mean your effort was nice.Just use smaller dogs lol

Small dogs aren't real dogs.