pica_nuttalli
don't be a twit
i'm going to start out by saying that i don't believe that there is any real answer to the questions that i'm about to ask. but it bothers me anyways.
what should be done about fish such as Pangasius catfish or pacus that simply grow too large to be reasonably housed by anyone other than a public aquaria? you know, those monster species that we (the members of TFF) always advise to be immediately returned to the store?
obviously, the most direct answer should be that LFS should not sell these fish. but that's something that we cannot immediately effect for the fish that has already bought by the novice fishkeeper, now is it? that ID shark is already out of the wild, at home, sitting in someone's "huge" 96L tank. that fish is already doomed to a captive life.
does telling someone to return such a fish (one that will exceed a meter in length) actually change anything about the life of the fish itself? i know that in theory, it will give the fish an opportunity to be purchased by someone with an appropriately sized 5000L tank, but really: how many people out there own tanks that size? and such a tank could only reasonably house 2, maybe 3 such fish—not the hundreds that are sold in shops each month.
i guess my point is that returning fish which have adult sizes beyond 3 feet in length does not necessarily do anything beyond absolving that particular purchaser of the “guilt†for keeping it in completely inadequate conditions. most of these (with perhaps the exception of arowanas and other high-priced oddballs) will simply be repurchased by other customers incapable of providing adequate care. or even worse, these fish will never leave the LFS and will spend months or even years housed in the bare minimum that the store can get away with, presuming that the fish is not simply cast out once it is no longer “cuteâ€.
what then are we to do? i can’t in good conscience recommend letting the novice to continue to keep a fish that he can’t house properly, because the delineation of reasonable and unreasonable tank sizes is largely arbitrary. the 1000L, $1000 systems run by many of our oddball enthusiasts seem reasonable to those who buy them, but completely ludicrous to many beginners. i suppose that since 300L is generally the upper limit of what can be safely supported by most floors, that *might* be a place to draw the line. but that still does not excuse the purchase of oversized fish, simply because one cannot afford the money or floorspace for a larger tank. and plenty of commonly sold fish grow to be far too large for a 300L tank.
so if we can’t in conscience ignore the fact that no tank will reasonably housed someone’s new iridescent shark, and we can’t expect that the fish would find any better home if it was returned to the store, what then?
what should be done about fish such as Pangasius catfish or pacus that simply grow too large to be reasonably housed by anyone other than a public aquaria? you know, those monster species that we (the members of TFF) always advise to be immediately returned to the store?
obviously, the most direct answer should be that LFS should not sell these fish. but that's something that we cannot immediately effect for the fish that has already bought by the novice fishkeeper, now is it? that ID shark is already out of the wild, at home, sitting in someone's "huge" 96L tank. that fish is already doomed to a captive life.
does telling someone to return such a fish (one that will exceed a meter in length) actually change anything about the life of the fish itself? i know that in theory, it will give the fish an opportunity to be purchased by someone with an appropriately sized 5000L tank, but really: how many people out there own tanks that size? and such a tank could only reasonably house 2, maybe 3 such fish—not the hundreds that are sold in shops each month.
i guess my point is that returning fish which have adult sizes beyond 3 feet in length does not necessarily do anything beyond absolving that particular purchaser of the “guilt†for keeping it in completely inadequate conditions. most of these (with perhaps the exception of arowanas and other high-priced oddballs) will simply be repurchased by other customers incapable of providing adequate care. or even worse, these fish will never leave the LFS and will spend months or even years housed in the bare minimum that the store can get away with, presuming that the fish is not simply cast out once it is no longer “cuteâ€.
what then are we to do? i can’t in good conscience recommend letting the novice to continue to keep a fish that he can’t house properly, because the delineation of reasonable and unreasonable tank sizes is largely arbitrary. the 1000L, $1000 systems run by many of our oddball enthusiasts seem reasonable to those who buy them, but completely ludicrous to many beginners. i suppose that since 300L is generally the upper limit of what can be safely supported by most floors, that *might* be a place to draw the line. but that still does not excuse the purchase of oversized fish, simply because one cannot afford the money or floorspace for a larger tank. and plenty of commonly sold fish grow to be far too large for a 300L tank.
so if we can’t in conscience ignore the fact that no tank will reasonably housed someone’s new iridescent shark, and we can’t expect that the fish would find any better home if it was returned to the store, what then?
! It makes me sad, though. I saw a picture of an islander eating an adult clown triggerfish. He was only wearing underwear. I sat there and thought, "That guy could've sold that beautiful fish to the USA for $250 and bought himself a nice pair of pants!" But noooo, he had to eat it... D:
