Poor fish:(

[appleblossom]

I went into a quite expensive restaurant earlier today in Nottingham. The restaurant was called "aquarium" so the owners had obviously thought it was a good idea to have an aquarium inside it. As i walked through the doors behind the reception desk was a glass tank, i'd estimate at about 240 litres (66usg)
Inside was a marine setup with one clown fish and one other small fish I didnt recognise, not knowing much about marine...

The dead coral they had iused as decoration was completely covered in algae, I think it was coral, but it was hard to tell under all the crap. The tank was lit at the top, but there was so much scum on the water surface that the water was incomplete darkness, to the extent u had to cup your hands over your eyes against the tank to see what was in it...

I pointed out to the guy working there that it was disgusting conditions to keep fish in and his response was "oh we're getting a new one soon, that one's got really dirty and theres only 2 fish left" grr!

They then said they would offer me one free meal a month to come in once a month and 'maintain' the tank. I pointed out that as far as I know you need to test the water on a marine tank at least once a week for salinity & ph etc... he didnt have a clue what I was talking about, they had apparently never tested the water or changed it by the looks of the tank.

Poor fish

Needless to say I wont be eating there, but there didnt seem to be anything I could do being privately owned, I offered to buy the tank and fish from them and they said they would sell it to me for £400 which there is no way I could afford so I just had to leave the poor fish there

Just having a rant. And anyone that lives in the uK, DONT EAT AT THE AQUARIUM IN NOTTINGHAM!

 

[cometcattle]

If the first thing u see when u walk in is a filthy tank, it makes me wonder what the kitchen looks like.

 

[snowyangel]

I know your remorse Nutmeg, I also have a nice diner intown and they have 3 inwall tanks just for looks except that they don't look like much. The water is cloudy green, with some very big goldfish in one 5 gallon then in another 10 gallon. The algae on the tank walls made it hard to see even the fish!
Then my eye doctor has a 30 gallon fish tank in his office building and you know how busy those docs can get......... not gonna get into this ones health issues lets say......

 

[den]

Excellent post Nutmeg.
We all have stories of this. There should be some pressure to either not have this, or at least have city laws (bylaws where I come from) to make sure they are keeping it up. They are, after all, live animals.
What's the difference between NOT being allowed to keep a Crocodile in a bathtub in NYC, or a fish in depleted conditions? (I know, it's a stretch, but really..)

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

restaurants shouldnt be allowed to have fish tanks unless they r going to be looked after by a professional i reckon. its just so mean

 

[plecoperson]

There is a chemist near where I live. They have a big fish tank (dunno how big in litres, its about 3 times as big as mine which is 63ltrs) and its DISGUSTING. The sides are green, the floor is green, the ornaments are greenish grey lumps. They have about 30 or 40 live guppies in there and probably 50 odd dead ones. all over the place. God only knows the last time they cleaned it out. ahvent been in there for a while but I would like to see it again to see if they have cleaned it. If not I will kick up a stink.

 

[jjsdad]

Most of the Chinese buffet restaurants around here have 1 or 2 built in tanks.
They are usually 75-100 gallons that always have goldfish in.

I have to say that I have never seen one of these tanks in a bad state.

The company I used to work for had a 250 gallon at the receptionist desk and they were bright enough to pay a service to come in and care for the tank for them.

 

[Feline]

There's one big Japanese restaurant that I went to years ago and koi and comets were kept under the passageways! It's covered by a thick glass and you can see the fish swimming underneath you! I had no way to tell how big the "pond" was tho, it's too big! And it's kept in a good condition too!