Has anyone else noticed this?

[Joe_D]

This is not aimed at this site.
If seems like on the net, some giving advise are just repeating what they read somewhere on the net and have little idea if what they repeat is absolutely true or not .

What i am referring to is things like..... you must have this number of a given fish, otherwise they will not be happy.. as if fish have human emotions.
For example.... Years ago, before I was told different, I had a single Cory cat for a couple of years and there was never an issue with it. Now some claim it's fish abuse
Personally, I have always kept at least three of any most kinds , but who came up with some magic number that they say is necessary?

As far as as duplicating a fish's natural habitat... just what is a fish's natural habitat that has been bred for countless generations in a fish farm....which are the fish equivalent of a puppy mill .

Now... one can say all these things were decided years ago but no one knows by who or when....
Am i missing something here?

The net has a lot of good info on it but there is also a lot of bad info on it
Info concerting the Aquarium hobby is not immune to this ..no subject is.

[Autumnsky]

That is a heavy unpacking.

We'll start with the puppy mill analogy. The large fish farms which farm to supply ornamental fish for the huge pet trade are not really equivalent to a puppy mill.

Although there may be well tended breeding facilities for dogs, there is a difference with the "puppy mill" terminology. I have never seen evidence of a sanitary, neat and tidy puppy mill - usually poor animals in a tiny (often wire) cages and little care, human or animal companionship with little medical care.

Large ornamental fish facilities make all their money in breeding and selling thousands, if not millions of fish and aquatic creatures, and the larger facilities have huge filtering systems to keep water cleaned and checked. And a very careful method for keeping fish alive and in good condition or else they can't make any money. It is really big business for many of these.

But you are right that these fish aren't raised in a "home" like where their species came from. If you look through information, written word, video, pictures, about where specific fish come from it is easy to see how they might like to be kept.

The environment to which certain fish came from originally will help the fish feel more happy and less stressed. In an aquarium we usually try to make our pets happy and get them caves, branches for cover, certain pH or tannins in the water, the correct pH and water conditions to which they are most content in. Because we care about them.

But if people only have a puppy mill to make money, or keep fish only to make money, or someone is overwhelmed by the amount of work they have in keeping them, the animals suffer.

Anyway a aquarium keeper can get tired of their fish and let them suffer as well.

Generally we love and care about the pets.

Before I knew Cory catfish like friends because they are social fish and enjoy the safety feeling in numbers, I had only 1. It wasn't fish abuse because the tank was cared for.

So perhaps some people give information based upon how the type of fish would be most comfortable. There is a great deal of information based upon actual keepers, scientists and fish enthusiasts.

Having 1 Cory is not the ideal way to keep them - it is a fact, based upon experiences and seeing them in their natural habitat. My fish seemed content, curious and sociable with the other fish and didn't seem to suffer.

After I got a few more though, he was even more "happy", behaving as a part of the group and chasing, following and nuzzling the others and laying on them, etc.

As for all the bad information out their, sometimes it is just misinformation. Sometimes it is because new information was found out and the old information is still there as well.

Usually some fish are group fish, some are very bold, some need to be kept alone due to aggression issues.

An aquarium is similar but not exactly like a river, lake, stream.

~~~~~~

This leaves the information up to you to double check and verify from more than one source.

You can never know every thing about keeping fish, or know too much about the fish you keep as new information comes up and you can find different fish to try in your tanks.

So it is true people who care about their pet / fish / animals want the best for them.

That is why I share information that I know and learn about and share my experiences with others. Because I want other people to have the basics and extra information to keep their fish the best they can be kept.

So welcome to the community. I hope you want to keep your fish in the best possible way, and can be here to learn and share your experiences and help others!

[Joe_D]

Yes fish farms must be kept cleaner than puppy mills but only because they have to be to breed the fish.

"Having 1 Cory is not the ideal way to keep them - it is a fact, based upon experiences and seeing them in their natural habitat."
That was my point in part... an aquarium is not their natural habitat. We might think we are creating it, bur we really are not.
Life evolves what it considers natural for them after many generations of breeding in something other than their original natural environment .
You put two or more together they will tend to school only acting on pure instinct. Having only one of their kind, their main instinct is to get food .
Yes, we like to watch them school and follow their pure instinct.

IMO we have to be careful and not assign fish the intellect of higher animals

About the compatibility of fish,.....
Any kind of fish that will fin nip or eat other fish is something we can all actually see for ourselves.

Too often we read " I think": this or "I heard" that which is not someone's personal experience.

This leaves the information up to you to double check and verify from more than one source"
Exactly my point