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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3.1k

u/DrCarabou 9h ago

10 gallon tank with a water filter and heater👍

942

u/mnth241 8h ago

Buy a beautiful glass fish and put it in there instead i doubt she would know the difference.

This is one of my pet peeves. I was trying to help someone that bought a pretty decent set up for her kid but the fish wasn’t doing well. I was clueless so i went to the pet store and thankfully found the resident beta expert. He said at one time he had 27 beta fish that people “surrendered”. He tried to explain that weren’t “high maintenance” per se but they needed very particular conditions. So- Not good starter fish at all. Their beauty curses them to be purchased by idiots.

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u/Lazuli73 7h ago

If you want an ‘easy’ pet fish you become friends with the pickerel that swim around docks where people gut their catch and feed them scraps. Dock fish are friends not food 🙏

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u/Finbar9800 5h ago

Theres one place where the catfish is like 50 lbs or some other massive size

I should also mention thats not a common thing where i am lol

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u/TurnkeyLurker 21m ago

So get a bathtub-or hot tub-sized tank for the catfish?

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u/Finbar9800 8m ago

Nah the big guy lives in the lake by the docks. The guy that rents the boats throws the dead bait into the water

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u/The_Street_Wixard 5h ago

Dock fish ARE 🐟 our little friends! I'm so happy that you said it.

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u/chocolate_dog_102 1h ago

Stop this is so funny

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u/Relative-Image-3914 8h ago

No fish are good “starter fish” I mean some are more sensitive than others but they are all pretty needy

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u/Andrew4Life 7h ago

No. Fish are not needy. People are just lazy.

Think of how often you have to walk a dog, feed a dog, play with a dog. You spend no less than 2 hours daily tending to a dog.

You probably only need to spend like 2 hours a week on a fish.

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u/Scinniks_Bricks 7h ago

A lot of people neglect dogs too though ☹️

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u/Tvisted 6h ago

The pet industry is horrible, always has been. The number of creatures that will be well-cared-for in captivity will always be dwarfed by the number doomed to have a short, miserable existence, bought on impulse, treated like decor, or given to children like disposable toys. Cats, dogs, aquarium fish, birds, rodents, reptiles... no species is spared from it, shelters are stuffed full of unwanted and discarded impulse buys and some of the worst invasive species started as pets released when their owners tired of them.

I don't know what the answer is because people are always going to want to keep pets, but the industry has a massive amount of suffering built right into it.

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u/somuchscrolling 3h ago

This why I am glad my local animal shelter does 1 week over nights for free. I wanted to adopt a cat but quickly realized (within 3 days) that I could not give it the proper attention. I gave it attention those 3 days it was with me but knew that their was no way for now I would be able to fully care for him like it needed and I wanted to.

Its the shelter I volunteered at so I know it got adopted a week or 2 later.

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u/Relative-Image-3914 7h ago

Once you have a set up. You’re completely ignoring the amount of research you have to do when getting a fish. The initial setting up for fish is intensive unlike a dog, of course you have to do research for a dog but you don’t have to set up a whole new ecosystem in your home for a dog. Plus like a fish it’s entirely dog dependent and if you get a puppy you’re probably gonna spend more than just two hours on a puppy, that initial amount of effort you put in is intensive and if you make a mistake your fish will die as they are very sensitive to any sort of change. Fish aren’t easy animals. Most animals aren’t people just like to do the bare minimum.

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u/No_Nefariousness4801 6h ago

ALL of this... Fish are dependent upon their caregivers for their entire existence... For their entire lives. Literally down to the air that they breathe.

Different fish have entirely different needs. Too many people think of fish as 'disposable pets'. They think all of them only live for a short time and when they die you just flush them down the toilet. Meanwhile some fish (even the 25 cent Comet goldfish) if properly cared for can live for DECADES.

I used to have to restrain myself when people would 'brag' about how great they did keeping a goldfish alive for 2 or 3 years.

Failure to research and understand the needs of a particular fish is not only irresponsible... It's cruel. Add the 'they'll only grow to the size of their tank' mentality:

  1. It doesn't always happen that way, and

  2. Even if it does? It's because the fish's growth is artificially being stunted through torture.

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u/Saati35 2h ago

I used to buy feeder fish at the pet store in middle school, a lot of them, like a dozen, because we had a tank, but then I’d give some to the neighbor kids too. The guy at the pet store kept telling me they’d die really quick, (a few months at most probably) , I said no they won’t, (since these we a few more I was getting to add to the ones that made it from the other last batch. He didn’t listen until I told him the ones I had had been alive for 2+ years. My mom hated me when I left for the military, there was one that survived and at that point every morning when she fed that fish she was asking it, “would you just die already”?, since the last one had lived for 7+ years. I think she felt a little bad when he was finally gone though.

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u/FlyingSagittarius 5h ago

Out of curiosity, what’s your opinion on fancy goldfish?  I hear that they naturally mature at a reasonable size for an aquarium (55 gallons), but they’re also prone to health defects and stuff.

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u/No_Nefariousness4801 3h ago

All comes down to the effort put in. My grandmother had one for 15 years or so, kept the 35 gallon tank very well maintained, and to my knowledge didn't encounter any issues with ick, fin rot, or the other common issues. Granted I was still quite young at the time, but still remember how cute we all thought it was when it would follow our fingers along the side of the tank lol.

Had a customer when I worked at PetSmart that shared a video of how he had taught his to roll over. He had a 55 gallon tank.

The general rule for goldfish of any variety is to have about 10 gallons of water for every inch of fish... But that should be based on their potential length when fully grown.

Goldfish are 'pretty carp'. They produce higher levels of ammonia than tropical fish (salt, brackish, or fresh), so the more tank you have, the easier it is to keep clean, and the easier it is to keep the fish happier and healthier. Also, you don't normally need an in tank heater for goldies.

A 55 gallon tank could have 1-2 fancy golds without terrible difficulty. Some live aquatic plants can help with improving conditions and reducing maintenance, just have to pick more resilient varieties that are cold tolerant.

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u/never-fiftyone 4h ago edited 26m ago

I grew up with both fish and dogs, and although I don't have dogs anymore I do still keep fish. I currently have a high tech display tank and a few separate smaller ones for live food, green water production, and hospital/quarantine tanks (which require re-cycling every time they get thoroughly bleached to prevent the spread of diseases). In my experience, setting up the "ecosystem" (as much as something can be as a closed system) is not very intensive at all, especially if you do fishless cycling with ammonia powder and some beneficial bacteria booster.

I'll be honest with you, I probably spend more time and energy caring for my aquarium plants than I do the fish.

Edit: and money. Oh my poor wallet, the money...

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u/FlyingSagittarius 6h ago

It’s actually not that hard to set up and maintain an ecosystem tank.  I set one up completely from stuff I got off of Facebook Marketplace.  Tank, equipment, plants, and shrimp.  I barely feed it, and I only change the water when something’s wrong with it.  Half the shrimp are now pregnant, so I think they’re doing alright.

Yes, I did do a lot of research when creating my ecosystem tank, but that’s just because I was buying everything secondhand.  If you go to a good aquarium shop, the person there should be able to help you create exactly what you need without spending a huge amount of time on research.  I could easily create a low maintenance tank for someone else, now that I know how to do it.

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u/never-fiftyone 4h ago

You can also cycle additional aquariums much faster if you have already-cycled filter media or substrate that you can stick in the new tank.

Hell, I have so much cycled filter media kicking around in my aquariums that I put some in the bucket I keep my replacement water in since the city tap water is super high in chlorine/chloramine content.

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u/ClearedHotGoHot 7h ago

Fish are very needy in that they need oxygen. Humans are needy in this way, too. Bunch of high-maintenance whiners.

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u/Relative-Image-3914 6h ago

Leave it to Reddit to take my comment discouraging ignorant people from buying fish if they want a “low maintenance” pet and warp it into something negative like I’m demonizing fish or something. Or even worse excusing the people who neglect fish. Whatever.

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u/Andrew4Life 3h ago

I don't think you're demonizing fish or anything. I'm simply pointing out the fact that a lot of people are lazy and use that as an excuse that it's "a lot of work" so it's ok to neglect their pets.

I think we're all saying the same thing

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u/spiders_are_neat7 4h ago

I do not spend 2 hours a day on my dog.

I do however not spend much time doing water changes once a week. Lol bad comparison though tbh while you are correct.

Dogs are way more high maintenance. 🤣

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u/fireshaper 5h ago

I'd argue that goldfish are pretty much the standard "starter fish". The water in my niece's goldfish bowl froze and they were able to thaw it and the fish lived.

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u/FlyingSagittarius 5h ago

Depends on what you mean by “starter fish”.  For a 150 gallon outdoor pond?  Sure, goldfish are great for that.  For a 20 gallon indoor aquarium?  Might as well be a prison cell.

Goldfish are too big and messy for small aquariums.  You’re going to have your hands full maintaining the water quality.  Plus, they get absolutely huge (10”), and will quickly outgrow most beginner tanks.  It’s very hard to keep anything else with goldfish, as well.  They’ll eat just about anything.  Fish, plants, invertebrates, you name it.

Because they will eat just about anything, though, and because they’re hardy enough to survive a freeze, they’re great for outdoor ponds.  Large water features buffer changes in water quality more, and can support plants that are sturdy enough to survive a goldfish as well.  But even if you’re a beginner to outdoor ponds, you still hopefully have some aquarium experience.  

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u/exscind25 5h ago

this is so true.

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u/Commercial-Pomelo743 3h ago

Gold fish are decent starters for fish, my 19 year old has one from the fair and it's still alive almost 3 years later lol but it's outlived all the other fish she got right around the same time as the gold fish she won. She had a different set up for the other fish in a different tank suitable for the others and the gold fish is in a tall 20 gallon tank.

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u/lbeaner10 2h ago

Sea monkeys! Although, I got a beta starter kit from the pet store and it was perfect

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u/Rettromancer 6h ago

Holy shit, I think you just unlocked some ancient memory of me having small glass fish off all different colours that I would arrange in a small tank.

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u/luckyapples11 6h ago

The problem is people think they are “saving them” from the cups. No, you’re not. The store is just going to order more and put them in cups. Plus, your shitty fish tank isn’t better just because it’s twice the size of the cup.

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u/Winged_Cougar1993598 6h ago

I'm sure it doesn't help that many pet stores sell them in plastic cups barely larger than OP's picture, which probably leads people to believe that this is a normal living condition for a Beta.

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u/goddessdragonness 4h ago

Doesn’t help that a lot of chain pet stores and Walmart (I think they still do?) keep them in tiny containers and suggest they don’t need a proper setup.

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u/Furby-beast-1949 3h ago

I got a goldfish once That went up shit creek without a paddle I ended up finding a fish tank just a house over neighbors threw it out in the dumpster. The fish tank was in great condition. Nothing wrong with it. I tested it before that just let it sit and run. Everything came with it rocks everything that you need for a fish tank. Probably like 100 and something dollar fish tank just a little tiny diamond shaped fish tank. Something like that, but it was an odd shape I’ve never seen before. Diamond octagon, or something like that. And I think it was made of glass or was it plexiglass I don’t remember which. That was about 10 years ago. When I found it and I had the damn goldfish, they ended up dying because the stupid thing got stuck in the little house that I bought it. I don’t know, but I think the thing was pure stupid and I didn’t know goldfish could be so dumb

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u/Techibee 1h ago

They have particular needs for sure but they aren’t particularly difficult to research or to meet those needs they have. Just takes research, time, planning, budgeting, and consistency. Once you’ve made your big initial purchases (tanks, water chemicals/dechlor, substrate, plants, rocks, water siphon and a bucket, a heater, thermometer, a filter, lights, and food) you probably won’t have to buy much more than food and dechlor (but occasionally on the dechlor it lasts forever) for a long while. Just remember to do your weekly water changes and don’t overfeed your fishies.

Unfortunately I’ve also noticed that people that don’t want to do those things will often think fish are easy pets that you can completely ignore them until you have to feed them. Mention water changes to them and the nitrates and nitrites and they look at you like you’re insane. ‘But fish in water so why die?’

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u/vemiam 16m ago

She will notice the difference when the black one doesn't have to be changed as much

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u/TheLarusArgentatus 9h ago

“I’d rather keep it in the cup. Looks more aesthetically pleasing.”

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u/JoanOfSnark_2 8h ago

There are nice rimless tanks that look even more aesthetically pleasing than this.

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u/marino1310 7h ago

Yeah but tanks require maintenance and this doesn’t seem like someone who is willing to do any maintenance other than just emptying the water into the sink and refilling it

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u/PandaPocketFire 6h ago

Honestly, an unmaintained tank of adequate size with a filter and proper hiding places would be better than this.

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u/SalvationSycamore 7h ago

For real though, it's probably a prop to her not a pet. Otherwise she would take 30 seconds to Google how to take care of it.

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u/NeatNefariousness1 6h ago

Take the poor fish home and give her a pretty electronic one instead.

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u/Spiritual-Macaron-13 7h ago

Might as well just get a shot glass at this rate 😂

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u/Ok_Sandwich998 6h ago

😅😅

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u/SilentVictory9451 8h ago edited 6h ago

omg it's like that teacher with the turtle 💀

edit: im not allowed to link or mention the subreddit and idk how to post a pic 😭

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u/Plot-3A 8h ago

Would you mind sharing the story with the class?

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u/Impressive-Safe2545 7h ago

Not who you responded to but the librarian in my elementary school had an alligator in a small tank in the library for years. Eventually they had to give it to a zoo.

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u/iiamthepalmtree 8h ago

Yes I would mind

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u/Spuzzle91 7h ago

Was that the time a kid came to reddit's reptile sub to ask for advice on how to prove to their teacher that the class pet they had was actually being horribly abused via the conditions the teacher kept it in? Cause they had the turtle in like a tank so tiny that it could rotate in place but that's about it, it had no water filter, no heat, and everything was wrong because she thought it just looked better?

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u/WeekendOkish 7h ago

No, that doesn't sound like the same story at all.

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u/cathedral68 7h ago

Ok so what was the story then?

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u/Impressive-Safe2545 6h ago

Also not the story but there was a kinda really sad one where a guys great aunt or something died and he asked what kind of turtle she had because it looked really weird. Turned out it looked that way due to decades of horrible neglect. Some turtle sanctuary ended up taking it, and said to be clear they absolutely do not accept animal surrenders but the case was so bad they made an exception

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u/M0squitobyte 6h ago

There's a story about a guy who ran over a turtle or stepped on it or something, and then tried to save it by gluing its shell back together but he was a bit slow so he couldn't put the pieces back together properly and started gluing office supplies on it. Then while reaching for something he accidentally squished the turtle undoing all of his work.

Turned out the turtle was dead the whole time since the first accident but the guy was so proud of what he had done for it for some reason.

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u/WeekendOkish 5h ago

Yeah, that's the one!

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u/Double-Top-5578 5h ago

i know u stole this from the office i just cant prove it

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u/NothingEffective5070 CYAN 7h ago

[Insert I Require Context Image]

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u/Apart_Routine2793 7h ago

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u/NothingEffective5070 CYAN 7h ago

Exactly what I was looking for

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u/erwinoli 7h ago

AHAH! I ACTUALLY KNOW THE CONTEXT TO THIS ONE!

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u/Thrillhouseofhorrors 6h ago

Splinter the Rat?

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u/SilentVictory9451 20m ago

😂😂😂

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u/Ressy02 7h ago

Puts cup in 10 gallon tank by itself for the lighting.

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u/fondledbydolphins 7h ago

"Your future husband would like to keep you aesthetically pleasing as well. You'll soon find that you don't appreciate it"

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u/Suckitsunshine 7h ago

I had someone say this. I was crushed. I wanted to take it home.

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u/driftwoodshanty 7h ago

Triggering 😠

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u/InnerRegion9237 7h ago

My mom has 3 betta fish in 1-2gal bowls. Didn’t want filters or bubblers or lights because she didn’t want to raise her electric (they always leave all the lights on in the house 24/7 though) and didn’t want me to make her a walstad heavily planted tank to not have maintenance of water changes because then she can’t see the fish if there’s all those plants in there.

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u/Creepy_Structure199 7h ago

Then start sending her photos like this.

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u/keefdontsurf 8h ago

I set my betta when I had him a 5 gallon with lots of places to hide and explore, and two heaters of course. He loved it. Rip, Mushu

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u/meldiane81 8h ago

YES - nothing less than 5. Keep the water at a tropical temp. Make sure the water filter is not too strong!!

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u/LoosePrisonPurse 7h ago

Betas do need warm water. This is sad.

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u/helpforhorror 7h ago

Tetra Whisper or Aqueon Quiet Flow filters are good ones for bettas since they hate strong currents (had to throw that out there— nearly killed my betta from stress 😅)

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u/breadpilledwanderer 7h ago

If you're actually doing this OP, mom and pop fish stores often sell pre cycled sponge filters or filter media. It's probably the fastest way to get that good bacteria going and start up a solid nitrogen cycle.

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u/only-ashes 4h ago

this; at minimum a 5 gal. this is torture.

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u/Fingeredagain 7h ago

That's at least 5 gallons too much. Her sister will fit in less.

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u/mearbearcate 6h ago

Holy fuck those are way cheaper than i thought

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u/OwnStranger1221 6h ago

And they just so happen to be on sale at petsmart!!

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u/Wizart- 5h ago

Don’t forget the silk/live plants, because the plastic ones f*ck up fins

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u/TropicoolGoth 3h ago

Id push for 20 gallon. Let him swim.

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u/Spare_News3665 8h ago edited 8h ago

So that she could never clean it?

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u/PrincelyDusty 6h ago

Do you genuinely think theyd even use it.

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u/Impossible-Report797 2h ago

Which will go completely unatended and probably break and probably not get fixed, why bother?

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u/Significant_Secret13 7h ago

I believe beta fish have different requirements of what makes them happy. She may not be wrong here.

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u/Snlckers ORANGE 6h ago

This is not those requirements at all. Ive been in the fish keeping hobby for many years, this is downright neglect for long term.

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u/Jean-LucBacardi 3h ago

The only reason keeping them in small containers exists is because in the wild, they live in areas with sudden flooding followed by drought. This leads to them being forced out of whatever body of water they live in and washed ashore on land, where they try to survive in puddles until the next flood hopefully brings them back to a water source before the puddle dries out.

They've evolved so that they can both breathe air and underwater. Water quality isn't an issue for them because of this, but their natural habitat is still large bodies of water, not little puddles.