Reasons to tell someone about fish overstocking

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Hi all,

My sister is having my old 5 gallon tank and I have been on to her CONSTANTLY about she cant have many fish, maybe a few guppies or a Betta, BUT SHE WONT LISTEN!

she keeps going onto me about how fish shops have about 20 tetras in about the same sized tank and there fine, and alothg i keep going on about its only temproary and the brilliant filtration and not nough time to build terrotris...she wont listen!! and im worried shes gonna end up buying summit stupid like 4 male bettas and 5 cardinals

can someone gimmie some advice on what to say to her to really explain to her about the reasons she cant have too many fish in the 5 gallon?

Thanks

 

[LoachLover]

Hi all,

My sister is having my old 5 gallon tank and I have been on to her CONSTANTLY about she cant have many fish, maybe a few guppies or a Betta, BUT SHE WONT LISTEN!

she keeps going onto me about how fish shops have about 20 tetras in about the same sized tank and there fine, and alothg i keep going on about its only temproary and the brilliant filtration and not nough time to build terrotris...she wont listen!! and im worried shes gonna end up buying summit stupid like 4 male bettas and 5 cardinals

can someone gimmie some advice on what to say to her to really explain to her about the reasons she cant have too many fish in the 5 gallon?

Thanks

The best reason is, they will die, and they won't be happy.

 

[Paul_MTS]

hehe the filtration at the shop is pretty rubbish really, it's all undergravels run by a weak air supply!! apart from the sand tanks which have externals for fluval 3+'s!! we do water changes about twice a week.

I think the death bit is the best way to discourage her, maybe add a few gory details like the bettas will rip bits of flesh out letting the guts hang out etc etc...

 

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lol, but she dont seem to understand why they dont do this in the shops display tanks

anmd specially with my mum now taking sides with my sister they wank full explantions WHY!...not just "they will die"

 

[littlefishie]

They will die because the filtration in a 5g will probably not be able to handle the bioload.
More fish = fish waste = ammonia production.
Ammonia is poisonous to fish! It will kill them! They will suffocate in their own poo!
It can also lead to higher nitrite levels, which will also kill the fish.

Too many fish in a small area leads to poor water quality. Crappy water quality leads to death. Don't let them buy the fish and kill them with poor water quality.

 

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They will suffocate in their own poo!

ROLFCOPTERS!!!!!! LOLLERSKATERS!!!!!, lol....sorry

sounds like a good explination to me

 

[vidiots]

Well tell her to look closer at the pet store tanks, every pet store I have ever been in has dead fish in nearly every tank, I've heard many people say to not buy fish from a pet store with dead fish. If I followed that advise I'd never have any fish, because I've been in dozens of fish stores and have yet to see one that didn't have dead fish.

 

[corykitty516]

im worried shes gonna end up buying summit stupid like 4 male bettas and 5 cardinals

Tell her that would be like taking 4 pit bulls and 5 chihuahuas and tossing them together into the closet.

 

[Lynz781]

Well tell her to look closer at the pet store tanks, every pet store I have ever been in has dead fish in nearly every tank, I've heard many people say to not buy fish from a pet store with dead fish. If I followed that advise I'd never have any fish, because I've been in dozens of fish stores and have yet to see one that didn't have dead fish.

I know i don't understand why they can't remove the dead fish. Some pet shops shouldn't be allowed to sell pets.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Or, tell her it's like you, your mum and your sister all living in a closet with no "facilities"...

 

[fufanu360]

I hate it when people are like this, too many people are... "well the fish store does so can I!" NO U CANT! they dont care if theyre fish die, its like nothin happend, and also paul... not all fish shops have crummy filtration, some of the ones round here have great filtration, then theres one with penqiun minis on like 40 gallon tanks

 

[OohFeeshy]

Its like those stipid 1 gallon or less "goldfish tanks". Just because it says goldfish go OK in it, doesn't mean they do. EG, my mum said, oh those goldfish were nice, they only grow to 18cm. Thats not too big. Yes, mother, but it's a case of my tank is only 19cm deep. It won't fit!!!

 

[a1wonder]

If you really wish to explain why pet shops can keep 25 tetras in a small tank a couple of the reason that they might understand is fish shops are STORES product goes in and out of their door quickly the fish are not exposed to the condition for long periods of time if these fish were in a pet store for maybe a month or two the death rate (which already is high) would be out of the roof. Also most fish tank in stores clean out their tank frequently throughout the day (removal of dead bodies) so when people see dead fish in the tank lets say 2 at 7pm the tank were most likely clean that morning and once in the afternoon of bodies most likely they had 8 death or such durning the day. This is fine for the pet stores though they may only pay a nickle a fish an expect death but as a responable pet owner a death a day and a preventable death at that is not only extermly dumb i.m.p.o. but it is irresponable. My personal suggestion to you (not knowing your age, or your employement status eg. of age to work or not?) would be to save up a bit of money and purchase one of those cheep 10 gals and demonstrate proper fish keeping and also balance out the over stocked tank. Your fish will thank you and perhapes your sister and mom might take the hint. Good luck

 

[Paul_MTS]

I hate it when people are like this, too many people are... "well the fish store does so can I!" NO U CANT! they dont care if theyre fish die, its like nothin happend, and also paul... not all fish shops have crummy filtration, some of the ones round here have great filtration, then theres one with penqiun minis on like 40 gallon tanks

I just said that as he comes into the shop i work at and is where he buys most his fish!!

And slot of fish stores do care but some fish just can't be helped, you get bad bacthes that come through and no matter how clean the tanks are or what you treat them with they are dead with in 3 days, quite recently we haven't been able to seel 3 batches of cardinl tetras.

Oh the other side of the matter people like Swallows have hundreds of litres of filter media to run all there tanks.