Worst fish situation you've ever seen

[scott1000]

The worst thing I've ever seen is my "friend" who has a 5 gallon minibow tank with 2 4" angels, 1 3" bala shark, and some feeder fish!?!?!??!?!?! She feeds them occasionally and doesn't know what I mean when I ask about water changes. I asked her what she is going to do with them at the end of the semester (she's in a dorm) and she said she's going to take them back to the store because she wants to do saltwater instead!!!!!! It's really sad. I'm not really good friends with her so it's difficult to say much. But I'm planning on rescuing the angels and putting them in my 55 gallon in a week and a half. I'd do it sooner but I don't have a place to put them until then.

So, what's your worst situation you've ever seen?

 

[CFC]

Worst ive seen is at a local chemists, they have a 10g tank which is literally packed with so many fish there is too many to count, this includes several clown loaches and a pair of oscars I did attempt to explain to them that it is over stocked and that once the fish grow there is going to be problems but they are ignorant foreigners and didnt understand or care. Now i dont use that chemists anymore.

 

[melcrawshaw]

In my local Medical Center there is a coldwater tank that has obviously been put there to cheer people up.

My problem with it: there must be a good 15 or so goldfish in there who are already >4 inches long, the tank is probably about 10-12 uk gallons. The fish simply don't have the room to swim around.

It saddens me everytime I see it, and my "subtle" hints about it being overcrowded seem to be being ignored.

 

[Grams]

haha the worst ive seen was at this fish store in new jersey it was a 20g with 3 6 inch clown knife a 4 inch clown loach millions of neons ans a baby tigrinus(tiger shovelnose catfish)it was crazy

 

[Tempestuousfury]

The worst situation I saw was in my own tank.

I had 2 blue gouramis, 4 dart fish, 4 otos, 1 fancy goldfish, 1 black moor goldfish, 1 iridescent shark, and 4 other fish. All but the 2 goldfish and the shark died. They lived in the tank for 3 months, the fancy goldfish growing an inch. I gave the fancy and shark away and the moor I gave away a few months after.

It was not a pretty sight. Fortunately I began researching and then found this forum, otherwise I'd have done much worse.

 

[White Whale]

A 14" pleco in a 10-gallon tank
Fighters (plakats) in an ivy jar filled less than halfway
A tank of fish dying right in front of my eyes

 

[Opcn]

Walmart with so many fish that no fish is ever not touching another. But aside from that the ER in the losal hospital witha 2 ft long fish (not including caudal fin) (Is there such thing as a black pacu?) that can't even turn around because the tank is only 20 inches deep and there is one giant danio in there alone.

 

[juliethegr8t]

Hmm..... a snakehead in a tank a few inches longer than it was, and seriously I doubt it could turn around. It had hole in the head, ich, and other parasites. Horribly sad.

That's a snakehead. They're not aquarium fish, they're wild and caught by sport fisherman! Ugh.. I was sickened to research it later and find out that he would grow even larger.

 

[GobyMaster]

I once saw a 3 1/2 foot long White-Spotted Bamboo Shark in a tank that was three feet long. Poor thing had to lean up against the glass. Of course, I was only about 9 at the time, so I had no idea anything was wrong, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever, because it was a shark, but now I know how terrible it really was. . . . People who own those types of stores have no idea how to keep their fish.
Cheers,
GobyMaster

 

[Ian H]

wow this is an old thread!

 

[Gilli]

the saddest thing I ever saw was last year in a French aquarium. There was a lone eel which was about a foot long squashed into a tank so small it couldnt even turn around let alone swim!

 

[invader]

wow this is an old thread!

I concur.

 

[WILDER]

Been quite alot of old threads dragged up lately.

 

[ryanp15]

In a local Chinese Takeaway they have a 5 ft tank but the Koi in it are between 5 and 15 inches. The water is always filthy, and I can never tell if they kill the fish for eating if they die.

eeek! and my dad once bought a bigger tank from somebody to relocate a fish we had that had outgrown its tank. This meant that I had to put 14 fish into about a 15 litre tank I knew it was too small but I wasn't aware at just how small at the time, I was about 10. At least I've learned a lot over the years

 

[OldMan47]

I was going to complain to CFC about the ignorant foreigner comment but I guess its too late. I take personal offense at it since I am not from the UK, although my father is a citizen there, so would be a foreigner to him and I am an immigrant to the US from Canada so again a foreigner of a different kind in the country where I live. If we go from fish keeping to name calling I don't need this forum at all. There are literally dozens of others where that would have caused the thread to be pulled by a moderator.
So much for my rant. I have seen few other remarks that I would take that way on this forum so still hold some hope to speak of fish and their care on this site.