I've noticed how a lot of people use phrases like "How would you feel if you were locked in a closet" or "you wouldn't keep a cat in a kennel for life, would you?" to refer to keeping larger fish in less than preferred spaces. Now. Keep in mind I'm not bashing the forums advice (which is very reliable) on what fish can fit where, but then you also have to look at the rest of the world of different "hobbyists"
Whenever go into the LFS, which mind you is about once every week, if there is anyone there at all, it's usually a parent with a young child looking to get fish as a beginner pet to teach them responsibility. or maybe a teenager looking for a monster fish for his 3 foot long tank that he could treat irresponsibly to make his friends laugh. I usually spend a few hours a day there just looking at the fish and looking deep for signs of disease. In my year of fish keeping, I have never, ever, seen an experienced aquarium hobbyist. Everyone is always asking the employee what can keep which with what in where, and of course, the employee never really knows what they're talking about. I've never met anyone in the stores who even knows what a cycle is, who doesn't throw away their filter pads every 2 weeks, who doesn't run the filters under the tap, ect ect ect.
Now, looking at this forum, we do have a lot of mature, responsible, knowledgeable aquarists, old and young, but not everyone is like that. In fact, looking at not only the data I've collected of the "knowledgeable hobbyist" to "Wants a live decoration in the house and isn't going to research or provide maintenance" ratio from going to the store so often and looking around the internet and god forbid looking at all those horrible youtube videos, other people who care really well for their fish are almost non existent in comparison to people who treat their fish like crap, and don't even have the knowledge to know that.
Now here's what I'm getting at, no I wouldn't be happy to be locked up in a closet, and no I wouldn't keep my cat in a kennel. But if we can take care of a fish better and provide it a bigger home than what they're usually given, why shouldn't we?
I'm not saying it's okay to go out and get an oscar and shove it in a 30 gallon tank because you can take care of it better than somebody else who buys an oscar than shoves it in a 30 gallon tank.
But I'm kinda thinking, although 4'x2' footprint should be a minimum for an oscar fish, what is the reality that all, if any, of the oscars in the LFS are going to get a 4'x2' footprint tank, in a world where it's "okay" by the general knowledge to keep a betta or goldfish in an unheated, unfiltered, plastic 1 quart container? Should you pass up that oscar just because you can only provide a space of 4'x1.5', even though chances are it will be given a "home" in a tank merely 2 feet long, 3 feet if its lucky?
A while back, I was going to buy a 55 gallon tank from a family who wanted to get rid of their oscar. The oscar was in the 55 gallon tank, yes, and they wanted me to take it, I was tempted, but didn't have the room at the time. I asked if it came with the filter and heater, and they didn't even know what I was talking about. The oscar was just thrown in a tank full of water, no decorations, no heating, no filtration, full of pink and purple gravel and a little statue of the little mermaid. The tank looked over run with algae, and they also had a common pleco in there. I was surprised both of them were still alive.
Looking back at youtube, you will also see videos of people keeping bettas in 1 quart containers, some of them don't even have room to swim up and down. I've seen some "betta" bowls about the same size as those little Tupperware containers they keep them in at the store. some of them aren't even lucky enough to get that, and are just bought to be put in the same container with each other to fight to the death. So although I'd say a betta's tank should be around 5 gallons bare minimum, wouldn't something slightly smaller, say a 2 or 3 gallon instead be better than being shoved in one of the many plastic containers stocked in the exact same areas as the bettas with no filter or heater?
In regards to the new ideal tank size for a zebra danio school being 4 feet long, how often do you think those zebra danios are going to get that tank size? The common person who buys a 4 foot long tank usually gets it because they think it can house huge fish such as arowanas or sting rays so they can throw in feeder fish and watch it get devoured as they hit the tank water, not under the idea they can make a beautiful community tank out of it. not to mention those "glofish" which even have a little 2 gallon (or less) container named after them, chances are those will get stuck with the plastic container. So what if you have a 3 foot tank, or 30 inches? wouldn't that be better than a little tiny 2-5 gallon tank?
I mean, in a perfect world, I'd be all for giving every fish a proper aquarium environment, but chances are, very few of the fish you see are going to get that. Especially with people under the impression that fish don't have feelings and they can be kept in pretty much any body of water, and the tank water doesn't need to be changed unless it goes foggy, with products like betta bowls and goldfish vases, myths of "1 inch per gallon" or even "1 fish per gallon", that "fish only grow to the size of the aquarium," where the tags on fish say oscars only need a 30 gallon tank and they only grow to be 10 inches long, the list goes on
But, diving deep, shouldn't it be up to us to at least provide a fish a somewhat happy lifestyle, even if we are cutting back somewhat on the minimum tank size recommendation by a knowledgeable hobbyist? If our tank has the room for a fish to grow its full size without stunting, and still be able to move around easily and readily, should we be avoiding getting those fish because our tank isn't quite to its preference?
Just some food for the thought. I dunno.
Whenever go into the LFS, which mind you is about once every week, if there is anyone there at all, it's usually a parent with a young child looking to get fish as a beginner pet to teach them responsibility. or maybe a teenager looking for a monster fish for his 3 foot long tank that he could treat irresponsibly to make his friends laugh. I usually spend a few hours a day there just looking at the fish and looking deep for signs of disease. In my year of fish keeping, I have never, ever, seen an experienced aquarium hobbyist. Everyone is always asking the employee what can keep which with what in where, and of course, the employee never really knows what they're talking about. I've never met anyone in the stores who even knows what a cycle is, who doesn't throw away their filter pads every 2 weeks, who doesn't run the filters under the tap, ect ect ect.
Now, looking at this forum, we do have a lot of mature, responsible, knowledgeable aquarists, old and young, but not everyone is like that. In fact, looking at not only the data I've collected of the "knowledgeable hobbyist" to "Wants a live decoration in the house and isn't going to research or provide maintenance" ratio from going to the store so often and looking around the internet and god forbid looking at all those horrible youtube videos, other people who care really well for their fish are almost non existent in comparison to people who treat their fish like crap, and don't even have the knowledge to know that.
Now here's what I'm getting at, no I wouldn't be happy to be locked up in a closet, and no I wouldn't keep my cat in a kennel. But if we can take care of a fish better and provide it a bigger home than what they're usually given, why shouldn't we?
I'm not saying it's okay to go out and get an oscar and shove it in a 30 gallon tank because you can take care of it better than somebody else who buys an oscar than shoves it in a 30 gallon tank.
But I'm kinda thinking, although 4'x2' footprint should be a minimum for an oscar fish, what is the reality that all, if any, of the oscars in the LFS are going to get a 4'x2' footprint tank, in a world where it's "okay" by the general knowledge to keep a betta or goldfish in an unheated, unfiltered, plastic 1 quart container? Should you pass up that oscar just because you can only provide a space of 4'x1.5', even though chances are it will be given a "home" in a tank merely 2 feet long, 3 feet if its lucky?
A while back, I was going to buy a 55 gallon tank from a family who wanted to get rid of their oscar. The oscar was in the 55 gallon tank, yes, and they wanted me to take it, I was tempted, but didn't have the room at the time. I asked if it came with the filter and heater, and they didn't even know what I was talking about. The oscar was just thrown in a tank full of water, no decorations, no heating, no filtration, full of pink and purple gravel and a little statue of the little mermaid. The tank looked over run with algae, and they also had a common pleco in there. I was surprised both of them were still alive.
Looking back at youtube, you will also see videos of people keeping bettas in 1 quart containers, some of them don't even have room to swim up and down. I've seen some "betta" bowls about the same size as those little Tupperware containers they keep them in at the store. some of them aren't even lucky enough to get that, and are just bought to be put in the same container with each other to fight to the death. So although I'd say a betta's tank should be around 5 gallons bare minimum, wouldn't something slightly smaller, say a 2 or 3 gallon instead be better than being shoved in one of the many plastic containers stocked in the exact same areas as the bettas with no filter or heater?
In regards to the new ideal tank size for a zebra danio school being 4 feet long, how often do you think those zebra danios are going to get that tank size? The common person who buys a 4 foot long tank usually gets it because they think it can house huge fish such as arowanas or sting rays so they can throw in feeder fish and watch it get devoured as they hit the tank water, not under the idea they can make a beautiful community tank out of it. not to mention those "glofish" which even have a little 2 gallon (or less) container named after them, chances are those will get stuck with the plastic container. So what if you have a 3 foot tank, or 30 inches? wouldn't that be better than a little tiny 2-5 gallon tank?
I mean, in a perfect world, I'd be all for giving every fish a proper aquarium environment, but chances are, very few of the fish you see are going to get that. Especially with people under the impression that fish don't have feelings and they can be kept in pretty much any body of water, and the tank water doesn't need to be changed unless it goes foggy, with products like betta bowls and goldfish vases, myths of "1 inch per gallon" or even "1 fish per gallon", that "fish only grow to the size of the aquarium," where the tags on fish say oscars only need a 30 gallon tank and they only grow to be 10 inches long, the list goes on
But, diving deep, shouldn't it be up to us to at least provide a fish a somewhat happy lifestyle, even if we are cutting back somewhat on the minimum tank size recommendation by a knowledgeable hobbyist? If our tank has the room for a fish to grow its full size without stunting, and still be able to move around easily and readily, should we be avoiding getting those fish because our tank isn't quite to its preference?
Just some food for the thought. I dunno.
I'm surprised his bettas and platy lasted this long. They've lived 2 months.
