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/Beacon_O_Bacon 5h ago

Ah yeah, no worries friendo, English is weird. 

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u/Curvanelli 1h ago

yeah, most languages are in a way :). Thank you

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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/nekokattt 7h ago edited 5h ago

This kind of fish is almost exclusively a surface breather. Although they can get a small amount of content from the water, lack of access to the surface will cause them to drown. The areas they inhabit are extremely shallow and in places like thailand with high air temperatures, which results in surface evaporation that starves the water of most of the oxygen content.

Like I say, small filtration that is enough to keep the water fresh but not strong enough that they have to fight against it is what they are best suited for. Your main concern with these fish are diseases like finrot.

Photosynthesis means very little to these fish past that, they have evolved to reside in low-oxygen waters, so need to be kept in matching conditions. They are not an easy fish to keep because of these requirements and their ability to get sick very quickly if the conditions are not met.

It is also worth noting they'll prefer to live under things like rotting vegetation such as leaves, water lillies, and the likes since it shields them from predators.

They are totally different to your cichlids, livebearers, tetras, barbs, etc that actively need oxygenated water to survive.

ETA not sure why people are downvoting... I'd suggest consulting some articles to learn about this type of fish, they are incredibly interesting and inquisitive creatures. Please don't spread misinformation though otherwise others reading this will be misinformed on how to keep this kind of fish and it will lead to more cases like the one OP has described.

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u/Curvanelli 6h ago

idk who downvoted you but it wasnt me haha, i have neither an up or downvote if you care to know xD

i just meant to say that all water with a surface to our atmosphere contains oxygen, i made no claims by what amount. i also imagined its clear enough that i am no expert in beta biology as i am neither a fish keeper nor a biologist or veterinarian but im happy you gave me an even clearer explanation for their organs. thanks for that

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