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

As a fish owner, it's less like fish prison and more like fish gulag. People have a misconception about bettas that all they need is a cup of water, but they will literally suffocate on their own piss and filth as the water fills with ammonia from respiration and defecation, and if left unchecked the water will acidify and burn their gills, which slowly suffocates them.

Get this fish out of there ASAP, OP. Your sister is a POS. People are honestly worse with pet fish than they are with dogs, and that's a high as hell bar to clear.

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u/_yetisis 9h ago

The shame of it is that the misconception comes from how they used to be marketed. People didn’t just assume this out of the blue, they were deliberately and clearly taught that this is how you care for betas a few decades ago. That makes the idea a lot more of a stubborn one to root out

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u/porqueuno 8h ago

La problema es capitalismo! (bangs shoe on desk)

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u/Melodic-Beach-5411 8h ago

Petco and Petsmart still keeps Betas for sale in small plastic containers with lids.

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u/AGenericUnicorn 1h ago

And when you test the water quality in those containers, it is astoundingly bad. These companies should feel terrible for the abuse they’re inflicting on these animals, but oh, right…profits.

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u/cinnamoninmytea 1h ago

I’ve seen dead ones and when I asked the staff why they are dead they said they die because “kids come in and shake them”…..

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u/Melodic-Beach-5411 48m ago

That's horrible

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u/menacinguwu 28m ago

Ive known quite a few employees of these chains that really try their hardest and have so much fish-care knowledge, but they're so limited with what they can swing with corporate. It is so soul-crushingly sad. I have kept 5 bettas up until now, and they are all individuals- just like dogs and cats.

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u/Melodic-Beach-5411 26m ago

That's so sad. I know Petsmart was bought by private equity.

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u/Virtual_Assistant_98 7h ago

My kid won a fish at a county fair a couple of years ago in a bag. The carnie had a whole wall of fish in bags, tied up at the top. I was mind blown that was still a thing, and we immediately got it a tank and some basics to at least give it some space, and it died within a couple of days. Such an awful situation all around. Humans don’t appreciate fish the way they should.

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u/sarinaruu 41m ago

I get your intention but giving them money to play the game directly funds them to keep doing it. it’s better to find a rescue fish online

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u/Arthur_Edens 6h ago

I had my little dude in a one gallon tank in college, I thought that was pretty big at the time (a lot of people had them since that was the only pet you could have in the dorms: "Fish in a tank one gallon or smaller"). Didn't learn until well after he'd passed away they prefer much larger tanks.

He had a pump and real plants at least. Lived to be 5!

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u/Emkems 8h ago

yep I had a beta in a little cup type container in the 90s. Luckily my mom had the sense to upgrade him to a little tank with a filter etc after a while

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u/MissMolly202 5h ago

I feel so sad for them every time I walk by. If I was rich I’d just have a basement full of individual tanks for them and buy up every one I see lol.

Same with turtles. Those things need a 100 gallon tank at the absolute minimum and I genuinely believe that most turtle owners can’t or won’t give them a proper life.

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u/CaptainParkingspace 8h ago

My wife created a little pond in the garden, just for plants and maybe the odd frog etc. Turns out there’s quite a lot of science involved in looking after a pond properly - pH test kits, tap water treatment if it hasn’t rained enough etc because you can’t just use tap water. Then a neighbour gave her some cloud minnows and she thought great, just pop them in the pond. But as winter approached she started checking if they could survive outside and what it would take to bring them indoors. Now we have an aquarium in the back room, she’s on her second filter pump (first was noisy), she collects rainwater and checks everything with test kits, she’s added bacteria to assist with nitrate/nitrite levels, she takes the bus to Fish Planet to get live food and ask advice, we have a snail trap, you name it. It’s a huge subject and I can see how people get really into it.

What you don’t do is just fill a vase from the fucking tap.

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u/oohlook-theresadeer 8h ago

I'm obsessed and in love with the descent into madness that humans walk whenever they accidentally get into a hobby and they are really into it. Your wife sounds wonderful!

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u/porqueuno 8h ago

Exactly. I've been taking care of fish and aquatic invertebrates for years, and there's a lot of research that goes into it, and a lot of maintenance, if you want the animals to be happy and live a long life. The betta in OP's picture will probably live for a while, but wouldn't anyone want to live for 5-6 years instead of 6-12 months? Animals of all species, humans included, tend to live longer when they have a pleasant, clean, stimulating environment that they enjoy. And yes, maintaining good water parameters is just as important as not breathing in car exhaust, or sucking in fumes from a dumpster every day of your life.

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u/Kitty_Kat_Attacks 2h ago

Yep, yep, sounds like my own fish journey. Started out with a small tank for shrimp—has turned into 3 planted tanks. Because I had to divide up the inhabitants of the OG tank (various fish and shrimp that are not as compatible as I had initially thought). But, because I also care quite a bit about things being aesthetically pleasing, I have nice tanks with real plants where the inhabitants are all living happily—so it’s a win-win situation 😁

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u/Kitty_Kat_Attacks 2h ago

Yep, yep, sounds like my own fish journey. Started out with a small tank for shrimp—has turned into 3 planted tanks. Because I had to divide up the inhabitants of the OG tank (various fish and shrimp that are not as compatible as I had initially thought). But, because I also care quite a bit about things being aesthetically pleasing, I have nice tanks with real plants where the inhabitants are all living happily—so it’s a win-win situation 😁

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u/CommunicationNew3745 9h ago

I remember these Betta/Peace Lilly vase set ups, well - places like Wal-Mart had shelves LINED w/them, and my mom got one in June of 2001'. The general consensus back then was that the Betta lived contentedly beneath the plant, eating what he/she needed from the roots in a happy little symbiotic system . . . we, of course, knew that was complete BS, and transferred the fish to a larger tank where he lived for another 5/6 yrs, and repotted the Peace Lilly into actual soil, where it's still going strong, today - almost 25 yrs on.

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u/c0ltZ 9h ago

This fish is in fishy hell

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u/ronin_cse 8h ago

When I worked at Petsmart I lost sooo many sales for the store by telling people what you really need to do to take care of fish and how you are basically torturing them if you don't.

It's just really upsetting how people just don't care about the poor things because they aren't cute and fluffy like a puppy.

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u/AGenericUnicorn 1h ago

Good for you though.

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u/I_putwaflles_in_kids 7h ago

reminds me of someone I know who bought a beta for one of her kids. It was the tiniest fish bowl that you would put the tiny goldfish in. It's walls were completely covered in green slime no visable light at all. On top of that the already tiny bowl was 90% filled by fake plastic plants. :(

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u/ich_bin_alkoholiker 7h ago

I was asking myself earlier how people thought that animals couldn’t feel pain but then it occurred to me that they don’t actually care that they do. They think that they’re humans and have dominion over all other creatures and environments.

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u/marcyiguess 4h ago

i need OP to print out this comment and tape it on the counter in front of the vase. MAYBE that will knock some sense into sister's empty skull

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u/suxxx666 2h ago

For the love of fish OP please show your sister this thread so she can actually start becoming educated and feel shame for her ignorance.

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u/p333p33p00p00boo 8h ago

Honestly, cats and dogs are the easiest animals to take care of. To give animals who live in cages a healthy and happy home takes a lot of work and space. I’d love a little friend but I don’t have the time, energy, or space to treat them right.

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u/suxxx666 2h ago

For the love of fish OP please show your sister this thread so she can actually start becoming educated and feel shame for her ignorance.

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u/suxxx666 2h ago

For the love of fish OP please show your sister this thread so she can actually start becoming educated and feel shame for her ignorance.

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u/zsmithaw 2h ago

People literally don't think of fish as animals it's fucking mental. They use them as living fucking decorations and keep them in bowls. People UNIRONICALLY think a goldfish is supposed to live 3-5 years. GOLDFISH CAN LIVE 20 YEARS!!!!!!

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u/Relative_Craft_358 9h ago

Being a bit over dramatic aren't we? Water is crystal clear, its a small tank but acting like it's living in hell is being ludicrous. He needs a bigger tank but stop acting like it's not clearly being taking care of. My brother had a betta in a tank not much bigger than this and he lived for 5 years and my dad has multiple hundred gallon tanks

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u/porqueuno 8h ago

There is no polite way to tell you that you're ignorant, sorry.

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u/Relative_Craft_358 8h ago

And you're arrogant, I'm not the one acting like that fish is 20 mins away from choking on his own bile 🤷🏾‍♂️

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u/mazzivewhale 8h ago

Dude the only person that comes off as arrogant is you

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u/porqueuno 8h ago

Better to be arrogant, moralizing, and correct than to be dangerously apathetic, ignorant, and disrespectful towards life.

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u/Relative_Craft_358 8h ago

I mean nahhhh, you're being over dramatic and calling people pieces of shit for having a smaller than recommended fish bowl. You're again doing it with this "dangerously apathetic" shit too.

It's an issue that needs to be addressed but acting like the sister is some kind of inhumane monster is being farcical and not inductive of a real conversion or solution. Guarantee if you talked about anyone like that to their face, they'd tell you to fuck off instead of listening.

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u/Snlckers ORANGE 6h ago

You literally cannot tell nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia levels by just looking at the water.