Exchanging Fish

[parker313]

OK, so everyone seems to agree on aggressive fish etc, how about if you obtain some fish when you first get in to fishkeeping and really didn't research at the time, you then research as you get more in to the hobby (and don't rely on lfs staff as much - some give good advice but for every good one there's probably two bad in my experience) and discover that the fish are not going to be ok in your tank for the long term - do you exchange then? Or look after them as much as poss until the point you have to change....

I've swapped out a whole tank full of fish just because I changed my mind! I started with rosy barbs and rainbowfish and decided I wanted to go with cichlids so I scooped everybody up and brought 'em back to the lfs for credit on new fishies!

They don't have a problem with it (of course not, they give me 50% back of what I paid them in the first place ) so why should I?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I think everyone here agrees that its fine to exchange a fish for a variety of reasons already mentioned...The situation where i think its wrong to rehome a fish or where it is your fault in which case its wrong;
a. If say you buy a common plec in knolege that it will outgrow your tank in the future but you plan to rehome it when its too big- i think thats just unresponsable and not taking its feelings into consideration.
b. You are not a total newb and you know the importance of researching a fish before you buy it but you buy a fish you havn't reseached just because you want it.
c. You did not keep good water stats because of lazyness and now you have to rehome your fish because they cannot survive or you buy a fish when you know you have a desease in your tank or your fish are dying and you can't figure the reason out but you buy replacement fish anyway etc and you have to rehome because it cannot survive.
d. you buy a fish in knolege that it will not be suitable for your tank say because its too agressive buy you go ahead anyway just to see if you can still put it in your tank and all hell breaks lose and you have to rehome it.
e. You rehome it just cos you're bored of it- i think thats just unresponsable.

Fish may not be the most intelligent creatures in comparrison to other animals but i think the main thing is taking proper responsability for them and doing whats best for them thats important.
If you buy unsuitable fish for your tank because you didn't research them first and you are a total newb to the hobby i think you can be forgiven for that to a certain extent but it is totally wrong in if you know better than that in the first place.
I don't think fish are somthing that should be thrown/rehomed away just when you grow bored of them- they're living creatures not objects and the same rules/morals of life applys to them

In the end though if you cannot look after your fish for certain reasons or it doesn't do well in your tank, rehoming it is usually the best choice unless you can fork out for a new tank for it but i think the main cause of debate here is taking responsability for the fish and doing whats best for it.

 

[parker313]

I'm pretty sure fish don't have feelings

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Actually i read some news articles by the BBC website recently saying they had discovered guppys(yes guppys) had complicated social networks with each other; they discovered females guppys would only mate/shoal with their favorite males and even chase unwanted males away.
They discoved that some female guppys even appear to experience grief when a favorite male was taken away from them(their health/activity would go down) as so did when a favorite guppy died in the tank other guppy fish who liked him/her would also show symtoms of grief.
Apparently there was also a complicated socail network between the males and females or which female would let which male be the father of her offspring; father males also didn't eat their offspring or offspring of a favorite female too(even if they wasn't his) etc.

If guppys are capable of emoticians, then think what other more advanced fish may be capable of.
Even if they don't have feelings i think they should recieve the same amount of care/respect towards them.

 

[eudielynn]

I'm pretty sure fish don't have feelings

Well, let's agree to disagree. I've read any number of posts about bettas being moved away from "friends" in adjacent tanks becoming depressed and not swimming around or eating. Then when the friend is brought back they immediately perk up and go back to being their normal self.

 

[CFC]

Taking fish back because you have grown bored of them isnt irresponsible. Some species of fish can live for over 10 years in which time peoples tastes and interests can change wildly, taking fish back to the store gives people the chance to keep different fish and to broaden their fishkeeping knowledge and experience, it also gives people who need to buy larger fish the chance to get ready grown on fish to add to their tanks rather than having to grow them out theirselves.

Over the years i have returned many fish to free up space to try new species.

 

[parker313]

Well, I don't have guppies or bettas, so I guess I'm in the clear

 

[nightlife20]

i agree with cfc on this one... it is very easy to get bored of the fish you have... iv found myself gettin bored with my tanks before... soloution was always to upgrade the tanks... but id always have the same fish.... then when i got my 4ft i went for somthin different an ended up exchanging fish to get them