It is sad to see him in such a small tank. To know that he could stay in small tanks for decades, just looking out.
There's a huge fish at our LFS, in a little tank that essentially allows him to swim in a tiny circle. When a person comes anywhere near the tank, he is right there begging for attention. He bobs his head at you, follows your finger on the glass, and plays, pushing his head into the gravel and picking up and spraying a bunch of rocks, then wiggling at the glass and looking you in the eye.
He craves interaction. If you walk away from the tank, he will follow you to the edge of the tank and hover there watching you go down the aisle away from him. When you come back around a corner into view, he will wiggle and immediately come to the part of the glass closest to you. He wiggles and his eyes beg you to come interact.
He has the most human-looking eyes--big round eyes with white sclera and green iris. His eyes are sad. He is about a foot and a half long. Way too big for me to take. Too large for a tank. He belongs in a pond.
It makes me sad every time I see him in that tiny tank. He looks so bored and lonely.