OKAY just for the person who was all poor betta in such a small tank (betta colors discussiion)
heres a true story
My Pink female Spade tail << I think
Gets stressed out and will swimm past exhaustion in anything bigger then 1 gallon she panics gets stress strips and swims repeatedly into the glass . She is happy in 1 gallon or smaller vibrant colors flares ect happy lol
My male VT (the blue one) Will only build me nests in .5 gall tanks he sulks wont eat ect and lays on the gravel in anything over 1.5 gall and loves his little .5 gall tank loves it SO DONT GO SAYING ITS CRUEL......go with what the fishy wants if its happiest in something small let it be happy I think its cruel to give it a large tank when it doesnt like that.
Just my opinion though
AMEN!!! I agree 100% with Himmel here. if the fish is happy in small give it small, if it is happy in big, give it big.
like i said in the colors thread, i had a male that literally did everything that Himmel describes his fish doing if he was in anything larger than a 1/4 gallon tupperware container. he was even happier in the little cup that i got him in from the pet store. i went out and got him a nice 2.5 gallon tank ( the ones that cost like $20-30 US) with the undergravel filter (that i didn't use for some strange reason as i prefered to do water changes) and the hood and light, etc... well anyways i put him i nthere and he sulked like no other. like i said got pale, stressed, layed on the bottom refused to eat, the whole works. well one day i noticed that when i put him in the petstore cup to just change his water he perked up. so i went on, watching his activities... the same, he sulked in the bigger tank and perked in the small container, so i kept him in the cup. i thought it was creul, tried him in a 1 gallon, still no perkyness in him. so i went out and got a tupperware container and he was the happiest thing in the world, we met half way on it.
to some that sounds incredibly cruel, i didn't like the fact of keeping him in it, but i would've rather seen him happy and healthy than miserable and not eating. it depends on the fish and it's desires. to him he only knew the small space and he liked it, i got a male that happily filled in the space in the 2.5 gallon though. it really depends on the fish IMO.
but like Himmel, fish's happiness is more important than what the "recommended" amount. sometimes adjustments need ot be made, and if you really cared for the fish, you would want to ensure its happiness.
but that is just my opinion. i'm sure some will disagree, but lets keep this as an adult conversation and not ranting and flamming ok guys!
I understand your frustration with people attacking those of you will smaller tanks... but you do realize this post is the similar argument-seeking behavior and is equally inflammatory, right? Frankly, fish keeping is a whole mess of opinion without a lot of fact. "Right" and "wrong" are hard to define when all fish being kept captive are being kept in less than ideal conditions, be it tank size, tank mates, diet, etc. since none are in their natural habitat and all are in an exposed, confined environment. We all have individual views on what is best for our fish, and I truly believe that most have the best interest of the animal at heart... but "best interest" is unfortunately a matter of opinion in almost all cases outside of our basic knowledge of water quality and suggested minimum gallonage.
RW is very right, there is an infinite amount of "grey" area with keeping fish. what works for some, doesn't necessarily work for others. hence why you should do what works best for you and your fish
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edit: something tells me this topic is going to be locked within the next 12-24 hours though
