What Fish Gets The Most Abuse.

[GAB99]

due to previous post, what kind of self respecting fish forum tells people goldfsih live in gold fish bowls?

and im voting golfish cuz it seems that people who both take and dont take care of fish almost always start out with poor goldfsh.

i remember my 3 goldfish.... they died in 2 months in my 1 gallon bowl. guess what the petstore recommended me? 4 ballon mollys and a free bullfrog tadpole.


we as a whole have probably killed over 6 billion goldfish since they poped up.

 

[Harlequins]

I voted for goldfish,these poor fish are sold for 99p very small and cute looking,but they never tell how big they get
And the poor goldfish ends up in a wee bowl,forever stunted before it dies...

I remember has a kid these where always the 'booby prize' at fairgrounds,its very sad,and why do big stores still sell goldfish bowls???

 

[ChilliPepper]

Goldfish as they aren't really tank fish, they are pond fish in my eyes. People buying them 'coz they're cheap and colourful and sticking them in a small bowl. Urgh. "But I've had them for years without changing the water, and they are fine" - idiots!

Bettas as it makes me feel physically sick to think of the little guys like my Burbert/Sherbert (and the gals) stuck in tiny bowls and also being made to fight each other. Such beautiful fish who deserve a good life.

Common plecs as so many morons buy them as they are cheap, and they end up stunted or so big they cannot move in the 50L tank they were bought to go in

 

[natalie265]

It was hard for me to pick between bettas and goldfish. I went w/bettas, but after reading some of these posts, i think i'd change to goldfish. Pacus might be another to add to the list. The petsmarts in my city all carry them at all times. I wonder how many petsmart customers actually have a tank big enough to care for one. Probably none.

 

[Honeythorn]

why do big stores still sell goldfish bowls???

To make money from people's ignorance or laziness.Or both.


How many of the millions who buy these small bowls and tiny tanks, do you think would still buy a £1.99 goldfish if you showed them a fully grown well cared for adult fancy goldfish in a 40 gallon tank as it should be? If you told them they need large weekly water changes, excellent external filtration and that they live for well over 20 years when kept right? Or a great big common pond goldfish who need even more space than a fancy?

Not many.

I hopefully managed to put off a young couple in one of the worst stores in the area ( they have a fish section which has always been awful, I only go in for dry goods and to pity the poor fish who I won't buy due to fear of disease )

They were looking at the goldfish and the bowls, and the sign over the tanks mistakenly said tropical. They clearly knew absolutely nothing whatsoever as they were wondering if goldfish were in fact tropical. I stepped in and explained they weren't, but told them they would be better with a small tropical community if they wanted to start keeping fish. They seemed doubtful and asked wether the goldfish would be ok in one of the bowls. To which I of course replied absolutely not, it'll be dead within a year, sooner if it's really lucky. Told them how big they get, what they need, as described above ect. And how bowls and small tanks stunt the growth horrifically considering the adult size.

They seemed pretty interested and said they didn't want to stunt the poor things growth which was a relief. So I'm hoping they remembered and didn't go back for one.

As an aside-

I think the thing with many beginners who start with goldfish is that they're put off by the word tropical. Thinking them really difficult to keep and demanding. But I always explain to people new to keeping fish, that the only real major difference between keeping BASIC tropicals ( Platies, tetras, Danios ect, which is all a beginner would generally be interested in as a rule ) and goldfish, is temperature.

Both need filters, goldfish in fact need bigger external filters to cope with the waste, and while tropicals need a heater, their basic tank care is exactly the same as goldfish. Water changes every week, check your filter is working, feed the fish and make sure none are ill or dead ect. The only main difference is the temperature the fish are kept at.

PH and other chemistry isn't usually a problem for basic tropical fish because most of the usual suspects are already acclimated to the local water ect.


One of the main Goldfish alternativs I always reccomend for beginers is Gold Barbs. Really easy to keep and look enough like goldfish in shape and colour to keep most people happy ( or children as they seem to be the target sales audience for goldfish )

 

[Duck and Dive]

Betta, people mistake them for aggressive sods, but actually other fish are aggressive to them due to the fins.

 

[Mikaila31]

I would have to say blood parrots.

 

[silverrabbit]

I voted goldfish. When I went to buy a new fancy for my tank, when I told them what sized tank he was going into they laughed at me and said "they don't need that much space, why don't you just keep them in your 35ltr (my quarantine tank)"

Mind you, I think all the fish mentioned above get treated badly based on ignorance of their needs

 

[snowflake311]

Thanks everyone good answers looks like the poor old goldfsh is the winner well loser. Were they the first fish to be domesticated or even first to be kept in homes?

 

[Honeythorn]

Carp in general were one of the first fish to be domesticated or at least kept in ponds for eating, by chinese monasteries . The goldfish as we know it was selectively bred by the chinese hundreds of years ago.

The thing about keeping them in bowls though - Originally the owner of the goldfish would keep them in an ornamental pond or suchlike, and when having guests or visitors, they would remove one of their finest fish, place it in a glass bowl and put in on disply in the home for decorative purposes. Then put it back again afterwards. Of course over time pople have gradually kept the fish in the bowls for longer and longer periods, and now it's is still an unfortunately common practice to keep them in one permanently.

By 900 A.D., the Chinese were breeding the carp to encourage the gold color. The gold carp were bred in ponds and then displayed in containers on special occasions to display for guests, according to goldfish farmer Ernest Tresselt in an interview with the author.
Read more at Suite101: Before Goldfish Came to America: A Short History of Goldfish in the Orient and Europe http/fish.suite101...a#ixzz0coyqQOnA

 

[snowflake311]

Good info. Yeah Way back in the day to have a goldfish was a status thing. So they loved to show them off.