Omg

[snake007]

But that's the thing, because it doesn't say anything, people seem to think that they just plop these fish into there tank and they'll eat all the snails and you don't need to feed them, or know how to care for them.
These websites who sell fish, should tell people about what their buying, if they cant do this then they shouldn't even be selling a bag of rice.
The average person doesn't seem to do research.
Why they don't do it is beyond me.

 

[shelaghfishface]

It's called personal responsibility. Those fish are actually good snail eaters, so if i had a six foot tank and a snail problem, that's really not a bad price for a couple of those 'packs'. People have a responsibility to find out the appropriate care needs for whatever creature they buy, and everyone has access to this information online - there is no excuse. It's a shame for the fish who are bought by people who don't take a few minutes to check, of course, I don't dispute that - I got pretty irate listening to a woman go wanted two small orandas for her 17 litre tank the other day, but there wasnt a lot I could do about it so I just moved away.

It doesn't say on that site 'these grow huge, you need a tank X size', but nor does it say 'you can keep these in a little hex on the kitchen side' either. It's the buyer's responsibility to find out.

Even a certain chain that everyone slams on here has a sign above the clown loach tank listing the size they can reach. Same with the plecs, the sharks, even the goldfish. It's there, in black and white, next to the price. Personal responsibility of the buyer to read the information given to them. They don't even have to go away and research.

Business is tough these days, the morals and ethics of keeping clown loaches don't pay the bills.

so true.. if if a thicko like me was buying that id be expecting an algae scraper and a killer snail to be deliveered

 

[soybean]

But that's the thing, because it doesn't say anything, people seem to think that they just plop these fish into there tank and they'll eat all the snails and you don't need to feed them, or know how to care for them.
These websites who sell fish, should tell people about what their buying, if they cant do this then they shouldn't even be selling a bag of rice.
The average person doesn't seem to do research.
Why they don't do it is beyond me.

Precisely my point though, snake.

Ideally, yes, totally agree, the site should list everything about these fish, their needs, requirements, feeding regime, tanks size, allergies, favourite author, everything. But they don't, because if they did, no one would buy any, and they need people to buy them. That's the bottom line. Money. Not fish welfare.

Therefore the responsible buyer should research for themselves. The information is available everywhere online. And that's an online site - so chances are, the person looking at them has the Internet. "Hmm, what's a Bengal loach? I'll google it...". It's easy. So I have little sympathy for anyone who runs into problems without researching (I don't include bad advice from an lfs in that - the point is that site gives NO advice, not wrong advice). I do of course have sympathy for the fish, but my sympathy doesn't really do much to help them.