LayzorBeams
Aquarium Advice FINatic
So i just want to start a discussion about how the sizes of aquariums we need for fish has drastically changed in the last several decades.
If you look online at documents written decades ago, and even as recent as the early 2000's, you can see these differences.
My first example is Oscars. We all know about these giant "puppy-fish" that starts off as an adorable black and red goofball and grows into a giant maelstrom of food and poo.
If you look at most earlier documents, you can see that the size recommended for a Oscar was between 30-40 gallons. After that, the amount of Oscars in a large tank didn't increase linearly, it seems to increase in a more exponential fashion. You can find examples of whole aquarium communities agreeing that a 75 gallon is perfectly fine for 4 foot-long Oscars. We now can just barely justify keeping a single Oscar in a tank of 75 gallons, with many saying that you need a 90 gallon tank for either a single O or a pair. Why? People kept foot-long Os in 40 gallon tanks for a long time.
(I choose to say a "foot-long" fish as this, or an inch or two bigger, is the usually the biggest you commonly see, although i understand they can reach larger sizes. Its a rare occurrence)
Betta fish are some of the most well known, popular aquarium fish out there. Why is it that people in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia kept them and continue to keep them in jars barely larger than the bowls you take them home in from you local Petco, and we have to give them 5 gallons to be acceptable? If they could create a breed of fish thats popularity could reach around the world and who's fighting spirit wouldn't be dampened by the confines of their homes, why do we feel the need to give them so much space?
However, there is another way you can flip this coin. An example is Goldfish. How many times did we see them at the local fair in tiny glass bowls, and think that it was ok before we realized that they grow into foot-long, food-gobbling, golden monsters. (I say that in a nice way)
So why do we still let stores sell them like this when they will die in weeks and nothing will be learned from it?
So obviously, sides are to be taken in every argument revolving around the size of tank you need. What do you believe, and why? I know lots of us would like to keep fish in smaller tanks but don't like to be put down by people who believe differently. There is evidence and decades, maybe centuries, of human experience we can learn from, or return to.
Also, why do you think some people feel this way? Is it that we want to be nice to a simpler creature who doesn't feel emotions or pain in the same way we do, and sometimes not at all? Is it because we have better access to them so we say "Ehhh why not?" Or is it because we need an excuse to get a bigger tank? Wht do you think?
The last things i want to say: please be nice and also, don't use the argument that they "thrive" in a larger tank. They don't thrive in anything less than a lake or river. The best we can do is allow there survival in our homes be as long as possible.
So what do you say?
Sent from my iPod touch using Aquarium Advice
If you look online at documents written decades ago, and even as recent as the early 2000's, you can see these differences.
My first example is Oscars. We all know about these giant "puppy-fish" that starts off as an adorable black and red goofball and grows into a giant maelstrom of food and poo.
If you look at most earlier documents, you can see that the size recommended for a Oscar was between 30-40 gallons. After that, the amount of Oscars in a large tank didn't increase linearly, it seems to increase in a more exponential fashion. You can find examples of whole aquarium communities agreeing that a 75 gallon is perfectly fine for 4 foot-long Oscars. We now can just barely justify keeping a single Oscar in a tank of 75 gallons, with many saying that you need a 90 gallon tank for either a single O or a pair. Why? People kept foot-long Os in 40 gallon tanks for a long time.
(I choose to say a "foot-long" fish as this, or an inch or two bigger, is the usually the biggest you commonly see, although i understand they can reach larger sizes. Its a rare occurrence)
Betta fish are some of the most well known, popular aquarium fish out there. Why is it that people in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia kept them and continue to keep them in jars barely larger than the bowls you take them home in from you local Petco, and we have to give them 5 gallons to be acceptable? If they could create a breed of fish thats popularity could reach around the world and who's fighting spirit wouldn't be dampened by the confines of their homes, why do we feel the need to give them so much space?
However, there is another way you can flip this coin. An example is Goldfish. How many times did we see them at the local fair in tiny glass bowls, and think that it was ok before we realized that they grow into foot-long, food-gobbling, golden monsters. (I say that in a nice way)
So why do we still let stores sell them like this when they will die in weeks and nothing will be learned from it?
So obviously, sides are to be taken in every argument revolving around the size of tank you need. What do you believe, and why? I know lots of us would like to keep fish in smaller tanks but don't like to be put down by people who believe differently. There is evidence and decades, maybe centuries, of human experience we can learn from, or return to.
Also, why do you think some people feel this way? Is it that we want to be nice to a simpler creature who doesn't feel emotions or pain in the same way we do, and sometimes not at all? Is it because we have better access to them so we say "Ehhh why not?" Or is it because we need an excuse to get a bigger tank? Wht do you think?
The last things i want to say: please be nice and also, don't use the argument that they "thrive" in a larger tank. They don't thrive in anything less than a lake or river. The best we can do is allow there survival in our homes be as long as possible.
So what do you say?
Sent from my iPod touch using Aquarium Advice