4 ms·

French pet care firm stops selling fish bowls – they drive fish mad

32 points by leephillips 5y ago

drakonka 5y ago
Finally. These things should be illegal.
- petre 5y ago
  They're not even good for plants, let alone creatures. The water goes stale in less than a week, the parameters are impossible to stabilize. Keeping fish or crustaceans in tanks of less than 5 gal should be illegal. A small tank also requires more maintainance work.
  - hansthehorse 5y ago
    After I retired I bought an existing aquarium shop that sold both fresh and saltwater fish. After seeing what customers were doing to their saltwater fish I stopped selling all corals and anemones plus every species of saltwater fish except captive bred clownfish and captive bred seahorses. I also stopped selling all but farm bred freshwater fish. I ran free classes every saturday night after the shop closed. Word got around and the shop became very popular. Even after the big box pet store opened down the road it barely dented my gross. I sold the shop after about 5 years and I don't really know if the new owners followed my system as I never went back.
    - petre 5y ago
      That's what Green Aqua in Budapest are doing, except they're not selling fish at all and they're running workshops with aquascaping prize winners. They have all their past workshops plus other edicational content on Youtube.
geocrasher 5y ago
Just rename them to Fish Cubicles. Problem solved! Edit: for those who are down voting: it's a criticism of cubicles, not a suggestion to continue abusing fish under a different name.
saxonww 5y ago
I didn't know anything about this. The article talks about goldfish specifically - is this true for other fish? My mother has had one of those really frilly fighting fish (betta?) in a bowl for I think several years. The bowl is larger than what is shown in this article, though. She moved it to separate it from other fish because it's very aggressive.
- drakonka 5y ago
  The problem with bowls isn't just the normally very small size of the bowl, but the shape itself. Being tapered toward the top, there is not enough surface area to properly oxygenate the water for the fish. That in itself is reason enough to go for a tank in my opinion, but bowls are also more difficult to add proper filtration and heating to (although unfortunately people who house fish in bowls often don't get to the stage of even considering filtration or temperature regulation). Betta fish may not need as much space as some other fish, but they still should not be kept in bowls (no fish should). They can be very hardy fish, but just because they _could_ survive in a mud puddle or a tiny bowl without proper filtration doesn't mean they _should_ be kept in those bad conditions. They should be housed in an appropriately sized tank with low flow filtration and a heater (they're tropical fish and like warmer temperatures). I'm linking some articles on the topic of housing bettas below. * https://vetmed.illinois.edu/pet-health-columns/betta-fish/ https://vetmed.illinois.edu/pet-health-columns/betta-fish/ * https://bettafish.org/faq/do-betta-fish-need-a-filter/ https://bettafish.org/faq/do-betta-fish-need-a-filter/
- notjulianjaynes 5y ago
  Goldfish especially should not be kept in bowls, and often small to medium tanks are not adequate. They can grow quite large and need companions. 3 gallons is the minimum size you should keep a beta fish in, but many peoe recommend at least a 5 gallon tank. It's possible to keep beta fish in a tank with certain other fish but I don't know much about it. One of the best things you can do if keeping a freshwater aquarium is to fill it with plants. They help to filter the water, provide oxygen, prevent algae blooms, provide hiding spots for fish, and can even be a food source if done right. Diana Walstad's The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium[1] is an excellent book on this topic. Easy to find a PDF version online. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91597.Ecology_of_the_Planted_Aquarium https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91597.Ecology_of_the_Pla...
rdtwo 5y ago
Small tanks are really difficult to manage. It’s possible to grow coral in a 1-2 gallon tank but it’s extremely difficult most people fail eventually. 5 gallons is like the minimum for a few small fish but 40-45 gallons is a really easy size to work with. Overfeeding, evaporation and overheating are going to be your top problems in small tanks.
11235813213455 5y ago
The torture is inversely proportionnal to the restricted volume of the aquarium, so let's simply forbid any fish pet (and most pets too)
- bener 5y ago

32 points by leephillips 5y ago

drakonka 5y ago

Finally. These things should be illegal.

petre 5y ago
They're not even good for plants, let alone creatures. The water goes stale in less than a week, the parameters are impossible to stabilize. Keeping fish or crustaceans in tanks of less than 5 gal should be illegal. A small tank also requires more maintainance work.
- hansthehorse 5y ago
  After I retired I bought an existing aquarium shop that sold both fresh and saltwater fish. After seeing what customers were doing to their saltwater fish I stopped selling all corals and anemones plus every species of saltwater fish except captive bred clownfish and captive bred seahorses. I also stopped selling all but farm bred freshwater fish. I ran free classes every saturday night after the shop closed. Word got around and the shop became very popular. Even after the big box pet store opened down the road it barely dented my gross. I sold the shop after about 5 years and I don't really know if the new owners followed my system as I never went back.
  - petre 5y ago
    That's what Green Aqua in Budapest are doing, except they're not selling fish at all and they're running workshops with aquascaping prize winners. They have all their past workshops plus other edicational content on Youtube.

geocrasher 5y ago

Just rename them to Fish Cubicles. Problem solved! Edit: for those who are down voting: it's a criticism of cubicles, not a suggestion to continue abusing fish under a different name.

saxonww 5y ago

I didn't know anything about this. The article talks about goldfish specifically - is this true for other fish? My mother has had one of those really frilly fighting fish (betta?) in a bowl for I think several years. The bowl is larger than what is shown in this article, though. She moved it to separate it from other fish because it's very aggressive.

drakonka 5y ago
The problem with bowls isn't just the normally very small size of the bowl, but the shape itself. Being tapered toward the top, there is not enough surface area to properly oxygenate the water for the fish. That in itself is reason enough to go for a tank in my opinion, but bowls are also more difficult to add proper filtration and heating to (although unfortunately people who house fish in bowls often don't get to the stage of even considering filtration or temperature regulation). Betta fish may not need as much space as some other fish, but they still should not be kept in bowls (no fish should). They can be very hardy fish, but just because they _could_ survive in a mud puddle or a tiny bowl without proper filtration doesn't mean they _should_ be kept in those bad conditions. They should be housed in an appropriately sized tank with low flow filtration and a heater (they're tropical fish and like warmer temperatures). I'm linking some articles on the topic of housing bettas below. * https://vetmed.illinois.edu/pet-health-columns/betta-fish/ https://vetmed.illinois.edu/pet-health-columns/betta-fish/ * https://bettafish.org/faq/do-betta-fish-need-a-filter/ https://bettafish.org/faq/do-betta-fish-need-a-filter/
notjulianjaynes 5y ago
Goldfish especially should not be kept in bowls, and often small to medium tanks are not adequate. They can grow quite large and need companions. 3 gallons is the minimum size you should keep a beta fish in, but many peoe recommend at least a 5 gallon tank. It's possible to keep beta fish in a tank with certain other fish but I don't know much about it. One of the best things you can do if keeping a freshwater aquarium is to fill it with plants. They help to filter the water, provide oxygen, prevent algae blooms, provide hiding spots for fish, and can even be a food source if done right. Diana Walstad's The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium[1] is an excellent book on this topic. Easy to find a PDF version online. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91597.Ecology_of_the_Planted_Aquarium https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91597.Ecology_of_the_Pla...

rdtwo 5y ago

Small tanks are really difficult to manage. It’s possible to grow coral in a 1-2 gallon tank but it’s extremely difficult most people fail eventually. 5 gallons is like the minimum for a few small fish but 40-45 gallons is a really easy size to work with. Overfeeding, evaporation and overheating are going to be your top problems in small tanks.

11235813213455 5y ago

The torture is inversely proportionnal to the restricted volume of the aquarium, so let's simply forbid any fish pet (and most pets too)

bener 5y ago