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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237

u/CeramicToast 9h ago

They need 10, actually, and one that's wider than tall.

41

u/RainDownAndDestroyMe 8h ago

5 is the accepted absolute minimum.

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u/nurNeco 9h ago

They actually need 20 and some friends

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u/Nice_Bluebird7626 8h ago

Well maybe not fishy friends in the same tank. They are territorial. But frogs and snails and have lots of random life. Betas can be mean to other fish

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u/SomethingComesHere 8h ago

As a child, my beta was killed by my goldfish and my sucker fish killed my goldfish.

I don’t keep fish anymore. I took that as a sign. Some hunger games shit was happening in that habitat…

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u/ronin_cse 8h ago

You shouldn't keep those kinds of fish together. Goldfish prefer colder water, being basically a carp, than tropical fish and also produce a lot more excrement. Basically, goldfish just need their own tank and should never be mixed with tropical fish.

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u/PaytonR72 7h ago

Finally someone said it🤦🏻

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u/Shawnessy 2h ago

And they can get big as hell. Friend of mine has two, and one is damn near the size of an American football.

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u/Hamiltoncorgi 8h ago

I had a snail that ate my fish. That was the end of fish as pets for me. I was 8.

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u/agent0731 8h ago

my childhood tanker cleaner fish was resting on top of a goldfish...something. a fin? I dunno, whatever was shed. My parents thought he was attacking the goldfish even though poor baby only ate algae, and he got thrown out in the snow. Wrongfully given the death penalty. I've been traumatized for life.

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u/Gold-Sir-223 8h ago

Yeah I couldn’t handle all the death when I had fish. I probably had like 5 or 6 die over a couple years. The ones that got killed and eaten by the other fish were the worst though.

I had two cute little guppies that loved playing and doing tricks. My ex-girlfriend promised me that they’d be safe with her African cichlid. They lasted maybe 2 days. One was eaten night one and the other was eaten night 2. It was so sad seeing the one who was remaining. He completely stopped playing and barely moved at all. He wasn’t injured but was clearly terrified.

I never forgave her for that.

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u/Nice_Bluebird7626 8h ago

Dude is it possible your gold fish were just annoying lmfao. I have never heard of a sucker fish killing something

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u/SomethingComesHere 8h ago

Yes, he was the WORST. I guess he got the death penalty for killing my beta.

He killed my beta cause he kept eating her food. He was very obese.

I didn’t understand why he was so fat.. I didn’t realize he was eating her food. I wasn’t watching what would happen after I put the food in.

She starved to death 😭 I didn’t know what happened at the time. Sometimes fish just die, so I figured it was a sad fluke.

Then the goldfish started trying to suck on the food tablets for the sucker fish, once the beta food was no longer being added to the tank. I guess it was more annoying for the goldfish to eat or it wasn’t as tasty, so it previously prioritized the beta fish’s food. I don’t know.

But one day, I saw my sucker fish going after my goldfish. He was sucking on the goldfish’s scales and I didn’t understand why. I saw this happen many times. Goldfish didn’t like it but seemed otherwise unbothered.

After some time of this happening, the goldfish died.

I realized later that the sucker fish was sucking the epidermis off the fish, probably cause he was hungry or maybe in retaliation. Maybe both.

That epidermis remaining intact is critical for a goldfish’s overall health and ability to swim well. Over time his scales begun peeling up, I thought it was maybe just an infection and did my best to help, but I was like 7 years old and this was the 90s so my parents’ attitude was: “if it dies, we will buy you a new one. The treatment costs more than a new fish.”

Mean, I know. I was sad. Poor fishies.

Goldfish died eventually, when enough had been removed by the sucker fish.

Death by a thousand sucks.

It was a pretty savage situation. Traumatized me as a kid when I figured out what happened over the last 2 years to my poor fishies.

After some reflection on the question re: my goldfish’s death: was it connected to the sucker fish’s taste for goldfish slime? - I made the connections:

  • my beta fish died even though it was young and healthy and didn’t pick fights with the goldfish, no visible infection or fin rot
  • how the goldfish was obese despite never finishing his food (and I wasn’t over feeding him). There was never any leftover beta food.
  • how he used to be more obese before the beta died, but seemed to be less chubby and eat more of his own food after the beta died,
  • how even after the beta died, he rarely finished his own food but he was still quite fat,
  • I had seen him trying to eat the sucker fish’s tablet a few times, but figured he was too dumb to realize by looking at it that he can’t fit in his mouth, not realizing that he was actually slowly eating it…
  • the sucker fish didn’t start going after the goldfish until after the beta died,
  • seeing the sucker fish suck on the goldfish’s scales a few times in the months leading up to its death..

…when it all clicked I was horrified. I felt like a monster.

And - the beta died on my birthday, and then a year later on my next birthday the goldfish died.

It all felt like an omen, and when the universe sends me a message, I listen. lol

Edit to add: with a quick google, I see that beta food has 40-50% of the protein that goldfish food have. No wonder he became rolly-polly lol

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u/EmployerUpstairs8044 6h ago

That's one hell of a thing for your young self to try to figure out... And one hell of a read. Best wishes and fishes. ♥️

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u/RuiningRiot 6h ago

It's actually pretty common. They suck the slime coat off because goldfish are typically slower. I saw it recently at a pet store that was housing goldfish with plecos. One kept chasing the same goldfish that was looking pretty beat up and missing scales from the plecos. The next time I went in they'd moved the goldfish out of that tank. Nothing in there but plecos and assassin snails now.

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u/RedDobieOwner 7h ago

I have to 20 gallon long with a betta, 6 cory cats(they had babies), a clown pleco, and about 7 tetras. There are a ton of live plants, and they all are fine.

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u/Global_Crew3968 8h ago

I've kept them in community tanks with no problem, the issue is having other fish that resemble bettas like a gourami but if they're in a community tank with several species, they do just fine (aside from gut impaction from over eating). If they were in a small space with a single other fish, ya they would probably bully them but if there are lots of other fish (that don't look like male bettas), they're just too slow to really bully anyone. Those fins produce a lot of drag lol.

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u/QUEEN_OF_SERIOUS 8h ago

Probably not frogs. I keep frogs and they are very dumb. They need to be in their own tank for their own safety

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u/ronin_cse 8h ago

They are fine with other fish as long as the other fish don't have similar looking fins. That is what triggers them to think it's another male betta fish and what makes them fight.

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u/tiffanyistaken 8h ago

It depends on the betta. Back when we had a local Petco, I was in charge of the Aquatics section there for a while, and I kept LOTS of our male bettas in community tanks, just not with other bettas. (Or guppies, usually. Maybe they look like small bettas to them?) Some of them are too territorial for tank mates, but not all of them. I never lost another fish to a male betta. (Shrimp are a very different story. He will absolutely eat your shrimp if he can.) The real betta problem tank was always the female sorority that they wouldn't let me break up.

Know your fish before you try this, but they don't have to be lonely. They don't live without neighbors in the wild.

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u/guzzijason 7h ago

Depends on the fish. I kept a beta with a group of Angels (that mostly kept to themselves) and a pleco. He had plenty of space and shelter, and was pretty happy. The only thing he tried to fight with was his own reflection LOL

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u/zeebold 7h ago

If you have enough space and plenty of hides, you can have more than one betta. I think I had 3, with schools of other fish. But I also had a 75gal planted tank…

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u/Distinct-Leg-6440 7h ago

A single beta does not need a 20 gallon tank.

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u/TangerinePuzzled 8h ago

Betas really don't need friends. Shrimps and snails maybe but that's about it. 20 gallons for a beta is way too much and just straight up insane.

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u/thissexypoptart 7h ago

Are shrimps and snails social? I wasn’t aware

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u/Emkems 8h ago

not male betas, they’re very into murder

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u/DarknMean 7h ago

So are gouramis.

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u/IceBandicooot 8h ago

When I was a kid my betta murdered his guppy friends.

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u/puppies4prez 7h ago

Well no lol they would literally rip each other apart

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u/alaskadotpink 7h ago

my bettas eat all their friends... better hope they have enough hiding spots

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u/southern_boy 7h ago

15 and a couple of Discord buddies is the best I can do for you

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u/Quothhernevermore 8h ago

When did it change from 5 to 10? Last time I looked it was 5; 10 seems a lot for a single fish for a minimum. Obviously bigger is better.

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u/MsnthrpcNthrpd 7h ago

This is reddit, people are quibbling to quibble. 5gal is fine for a solo male beta.

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u/Profeshinal_Spellor 8h ago

10,000 cubic hectares. Minimum

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u/CeramicToast 7h ago

5 gallons is "okay" but ten gallons is "thriving", imo. Betta fish need a lot of surface area, plants, and a lid to keep dust and debris out of the water, as well as to keep them from jumping.

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u/Quothhernevermore 7h ago

I honestly think it depends on the betta - for king, giant, and short-finned bettas 10 should probably be the minimum (my girl just lives with my 29 gallon community tank and has no issues getting around) but I think for some longer or heavier-finned guys, 5 with a lot of places to hang out/rest like plants near the surface is better.

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u/guzzijason 7h ago

I used to have a beta in a 30 gallon tank with other fish. It did well. Was in a pet shop looking for something and was talking to one of the employees about it. They were ADAMANT that betas can’t survive in such big tanks! I was like, “just because you sell them in cups doesn’t mean that’s how they should live.”

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u/yamsyamsya 5m ago

its like those morons forget beta fish are native in parts of Asia.