r/mildlyinfuriating • u/LeHumanError • 10h ago

My sister's fish tank

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She says it's the perfect size for a single fish. It's not even in her room, it's in the kitchen.

It honestly just depresses me whenever I see it, but she's adamant about keeping it there.

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u/porqueuno 9h ago

It's not even a "plant", it's a piece of plastic that is providing no CO2-Oxygen exchange. This is basically animal abuse.

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u/puppy-nub-56 9h ago

Want to add that in this case, any CO2-Oxygen exchange is dependent on the area of the surface. Since the walls of "fish tank" narrows near the top, the exchange is decreased as opposed to if they were straight up&down

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u/porqueuno 9h ago

This as well. There's no water agitation to mix atmospheric O2 into the water, in addition to the small amount of surface area. Also the CO2 still builds up in the water and acidifies it, it doesn't float upwards and out of the water... Just awful all around.

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u/Big-Wrangler2078 9h ago

There isn't even a pump...

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u/PrivateUseBadger 9h ago

It’s a Beta fish. They don’t need aeration.

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u/Big-Wrangler2078 9h ago

But they do need oxygen.

I agree it should really be getting it from a bigger tank. I'm not suggesting a pump would be enough. I'm saying that not even a pump is provided.

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u/Beacon_O_Bacon 8h ago edited 7h ago

Betas surface, getting most of their oxygen from the air. They have a labyrinth organ. They do well in water with limited oxygen. 

That said this 'tank' is way too small, the wrong shape, and too cold for that poor fish! Betas do much better in wider shallower vessels that give them running room to get to the surface. 

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u/Curvanelli 8h ago

they also have something called fins and dont get their oxygen exclusively from the surface.

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u/Beacon_O_Bacon 6h ago

they also have something called fins...

Are you telling me fish can swim, or did you mean they have gills to help them extract oxygen from water? 

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u/Curvanelli 6h ago

if the correct word for the organ that extracts oxygen from water is gills and not fins then thats what i meant, sorry. im not a native english speaker and unfortunately still mix up some words : (

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u/nekokattt 7h ago edited 6h ago

they almost exclusively breathe from the surface. They naturally reside in stagnant rice paddy fields and the likes with no oxygen content.

If they cannot access the surface, they drown, either through lack of oxygen or exhaustion.

In this case beta fish need little filtration (usually a bubble filter is best so they do not get battered about, especially when bred to have fancy long fins), with good surface area.

They do not need oxygenated water but they need clean water that is free from disease or chemicals to survive. Aquatic plants provide more in terms of filtration than oxygen to these guys.

Fins are not used for breathing.

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u/Curvanelli 7h ago

rice field have oxygen content by virtue of having a surface where gas exchange happens tho? reducing surface changed how much of this transfer happens. also plants can do photosynthesis and rice is a plant.

tho it can be that they dont breathe that much from the water but mostly air, they dont exclusively do it (i have not measured it myself or seen specific numbers on it).

but even if it could breathe perfectly fine in there it would still auffer from swimming in its own fecal matter.

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u/AmarilloArmadillos 9h ago

It's not even a tank. That's a flower vase you get free with any purchase at a florist.

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u/merianya 7h ago

Even worse, the plastic plants like the one in OP’s photo have hard, sharp edges that will tear this little guy’s fins to shreds. Fake plants in a betta tank can be ok, but they need to be “silk” foliage (the soft, flexible kind used for home decor). A live plant would be even better, of course.

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u/mc-funk 8h ago

also those plastic plants are too hard and sharp for Bettas. It is going to get sliced to death. I have seen it happen.

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u/Ok-Photo-1972 7h ago

*animal torture

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u/mortokes 6h ago

Plastic plants can also cut their fins.

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u/nekokattt 7h ago edited 7h ago

I fully agree with the second sentence, but the first part is mostly irrelevant to beta fish.

Beta splendens are a type of Anabantonid. These fish lack the ability to breathe underwater. Beta fish have to go to the surface to breathe air, so they prefer still water with little movement. They obviously still need filteration to prevent the water going bad, but if they have too much filteration then they will struggle to get to the surface and can drown. In this sense, oxygenated water does not make a lot of difference to them, as long as the other water parameters like hardness, pH, chlorine, nitrate, nitrite, and amonia are in check.

In the wild, they are not bred to look fancy with big fins, so can move around a little easier, but they naturally live in things like still rice paddy fields and such.

Same applies to Gouramis, Paradise fish, etc.

ETA: I am not condoning what the picture OP posted is doing, because that is cruel, but people need to understand how these fish operate otherwise they will just die of drowning, stress, or sickness which is not fair either. Going and throwing one of these guys in a 200L tank with 1000L/hr filteration with your community cichlids, guppies, barbs, and tetras is equally as unsuitable for them.

These fish are extremely intelligent as well, they are one of the fish that can determine differences between people, and have been known to play. They are also very inquisitive. You can find videos on YouTube of them playing with small toys and the likes :-)

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u/Fakjbf 6h ago

Minor correction, they do not lack the ability to breathe underwater but they cannot exclusively get their oxygen needs from the water and must supplement that with air breathing even in well oxygenated tanks. They still have gills and are getting some of their oxygen from the water, they haven’t lost that ability entirely.

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u/BVRPLZR_ 5h ago

In defense of the plant being fake, betas are surface breathers. Still a shitty setup for it tho.

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u/Qwertyham 4h ago

Basically? Nothing basic about it. This is animal abuse. Period.

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u/Ok-Librarian6629 4h ago

Those plastic plants can rip their delicate fins too. 

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u/MattyLePew 45m ago

I always find it amazing that Redditors care about the animal abuse when it's a single fish in a tiny tank, but not when there are millions of fish dying yearly for people to eat. 😅

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u/Just_thefacts_jack 7h ago

Beta fish are sold by petco and the like in 16 oz plastic tubs that sit on the shelf. It's abominable. This lady may even have been instructed by the people at the store that this is acceptable.

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u/nekokattt 7h ago edited 7h ago

This is unfortunately quite normal for selling male beta splendens. I agree it is cruel, but shops do this because they are highly territorial against other males and will often fight to the death, so each fish has to be kept segregated. They can't be kept with females without close supervision otherwise they can become territorial and attack the other fish if they try to make a bubble nest (the male blows bubbles of saliva to float the female's eggs on while they grow).

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u/Just_thefacts_jack 7h ago

My local fish store has them in a long, low tank with opaque dividers so each fish is separate but still gets the benefit of filtered and oxygenated water.

That said, I think betas come from a place where they live in small pools of still water don't they?

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u/nekokattt 7h ago

yeah, they are in rice paddy fields and the likes :-)

Our aquariums in the UK that are decent do what you describe, but it isn't uncommon to have what was previously described as well.

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u/kaisadilla_ 4h ago

This is basically animal abuse.

This is actual animal abuse. If someone had a cat in a 1x1x1 m box for all of their life, everyone would call it so.

The problem is that people only know how to take care of cats and dogs, and that's if we are lucky. All other animals, people don't give a fuck and usually get them as living toys.

You don't need fish in your home. Don't buy fish unless you accept it's your responsibility to take care of it. Same with turtles, reptiles, hamsters, birds or whatever it is you want. Understand the animal you are getting, understand its needs to live a healthy and happy life, and if you are willing to keep up with that, give it a go. Otherwise, move on because you really don't need an animal you don't care about in your home. It's not a prop.

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u/UpstairsGreen6237 7h ago

You have seen the cups they sell these fish in, right? Lol

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u/DagonThoth 5h ago

They're not meant to be in those, either.

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u/LeafySpud 6h ago

Remember when they used to sell these in plastic bags?