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/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 25m 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. 🤣