Why do people buy fish...

Rivers2k said:

Depends on what you mean by rehome. I like raising my fish from as small as I can get them. I am not going to put a 2" fish by its self in a 125 gallon tank so I put it in a smaller tank and move up as it grows. But if I have a question about the fish I do mention I will rehome to a bigger tank so I don't get bashed by a million responses saying the tank is to small.

Those that say they will rehome meaning sell to someone else that is just irresponsible.

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Possibly yes, possibly no.

I do NOT do what I am stating below, but think it is awesome of other MFK members that have stating that they growout fish without the goal to home them for life to supply other MFKers with larger specimens to add to their established adults show tanks.


It is not uncommon for the price on some monster fish to increase exponentially in price as they get bigger sizes capable of being introduced to established adult tanks.

Think about it. A LFS most likely does not have the available space to grow larger monster fish from babies to supply their customers. They would either get the fish at this size from the distributor for a small fortune, and attempt to as quickly turn the fish for a full fortune as possible. This would be extremely expensive to the fish keeper(s) desiring this larger sized species. It would be considerably more expensive even yet if that LFS did spend several years growing the monster fish from a baby to a large juvenile on the premises.

With that said, a hobbyist that desires only to raise baby monsters to decent sized juvenile monsters strictly for their pleasure, and are willing to supply them to other MFKers when they start reaching sizes that they can no longer home comfortably at a financial loss is IMO a beautiful thing.

I am seriously turning toward natives without the heated tank requirements due to the electricity savings. I have a farm pond that I would dearly love to stock with bass, but can't have the "rabid" population of green sunfish devour fingerlings that I would purchase from a fish farm for stocking!

It has been ~ 12 years since the dredging, and I still have not re-established my LMB population. (Pond 100' - 150' diameter).

I wish that there was some "irresponsible" "unquote" MFKer in the Maryland area that raised baby LMB in their home aquaria and can no longer properly house them due to their larger size that would be willing to allow me to re-stack my pond at reasonable prices similar to where they might have purchased fingerlings!

Until then, I dip one or two a year out of the reservoir and tank raise them myself until they can fend for themselves!

There is an eclipse-like diagram of idiocy. You've got a few circles overlapping, made of people with varying degrees of silliness, and where they intersect, those people are the ones buying fish too big to keep. Some are simply new and uneducated about adult size of fish, but those are excluded from this diagram because this is about people who KNOW better. When people have: No foresight, insufficient wisdom, too much time or money, access to these fish, someone who encourages them, nobody telling them not to, etc. - when all these things line up, you end up with a slice of people with 3 foot+ monsters in a 55g dying prematurely.

You can't force people to be smart.

In my opinion, the problem is a sense of entitlement that so many people have. Just because someone wants something, they think they should have it. Common sense goes out the window- their sense of entitlement overrides any rational thought process.

To me the practice shows an infantile mindset and worldview. Just because you are old enough so that your mommy can’t tell you that you can’t keep it, or you can’t buy it, doesn’t mean you should.

aldiaz33 said:

Just because you are old enough so that your mommy can’t tell you that you can’t keep it, or you can’t buy it, doesn’t mean you should.

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That's funny because yesterday I took a fish home with me to put in my tank from my mommy's extremely overstocked tank lol. Although her tank is overstocked because of bristlenose plecos and Cory cats that breed like rabbits. And I took her male bristlenose to stop the pleco fornication.


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This is getting out of hand. The op was asking why someone would buy a fish they know they don't have the means to house for life, and when the inevitable happens and that fish outgrows its current tank, they sell it/trade it/kill it(really stupid IMO, someone will always take a free fish). To me it may be because they really like the fish and will enjoy the months or years they have with that fish before they have to re-home it, or they don't think long term and just want the pretty little 6" catfish with a pretty red tail right now. Yeah a lot of big fish are bought by people unaware of the potential size of the fish they just bought from the lfs that didn't inform them that said fish will hit 2' in 12months, but that's why I research before any purchase, which to me makes sense, but not everyone thinks like me, so these ill-informed individuals should not be flamed for an honest mistake, save that for the clowns that convince themselves they'll build a 5000g pond next year before there grow outs get too big, knowing full well they won't/can't do it. That to me is the biggest problem, people lying to themselves, cause in the end it's an innocent living creature that suffers...


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Where is Mr. Bigglesworth when you need him?

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Hah!....a Bigglesworth reference,now this thread is complete.

fuzzlebug said:

This is getting out of hand. The op was asking why someone would buy a fish they know they don't have the means to house for life, and when the inevitable happens and that fish outgrows its current tank, they sell it/trade it/kill it(really stupid IMO, someone will always take a free fish). To me it may be because they really like the fish and will enjoy the months or years they have with that fish before they have to re-home it, or they don't think long term and just want the pretty little 6" catfish with a pretty red tail right now. Yeah a lot of big fish are bought by people unaware of the potential size of the fish they just bought from the lfs that didn't inform them that said fish will hit 2' in 12months, but that's why I research before any purchase, which to me makes sense, but not everyone thinks like me, so these ill-informed individuals should not be flamed for an honest mistake, save that for the clowns that convince themselves they'll build a 5000g pond next year before there grow outs get too big, knowing full well they won't/can't do it. That to me is the biggest problem, people lying to themselves, cause in the end it's an innocent living creature that suffers...


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I haven't gone through all of the tread, but I agree with you. I would never buy a fish with the intention that I cannot keep it in popper conditions. I tend to keep my fish for as long as possible. I do my research on the fish sp. before I buy no matter how much I want one. I would love to have a male dovii right now, but my biggest tank is a 150g and I am not planning on upgrading now. Maybe one day when I get a 250g+ I will think about it. But never would I buy the fish without the tank. Even if the fish is 1''.
I also don't like the idea grow out tanks unless they are a decent size and I have the tank I want to add the fish to.
To me it seems selfish for people to just get whatever they like and put a poor animal in a cage that is not suitable. It is cruel and irresponsible.

cichlidfish said:

I haven't gone through all of the tread, but I agree with you. I would never buy a fish with the intention that I cannot keep it in popper conditions. I tend to keep my fish for as long as possible. I do my research on the fish sp. before I buy no matter how much I want one. I would love to have a male dovii right now, but my biggest tank is a 150g and I am not planning on upgrading now. Maybe one day when I get a 250g+ I will think about it. But never would I buy the fish without the tank. Even if the fish is 1''.
I also don't like the idea grow out tanks unless they are a decent size and I have the tank I want to add the fish to.
To me it seems selfish for people to just get whatever they like and put a poor animal in a cage that is not suitable. It is cruel and irresponsible.

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I think that you are as 180 degrees out of whack, and do not fully comprehend the general concept of the "grow out tank".

You are 100% justified in your opinion concerning your view toward "grow out tanks".

I do however feel dumbfounded by the stipulation that you added that allows you to approve of "growout tanks".

Look, it is like this.

DO NOT USE GROWOUT TANKS, AND BE PROUD AND STEADFAST!!!

Please don't go on some ridiculous tangent making your main point less palatable. Tanks that greatly exceed the lower end capacity of the species, or overall bio-load of the tank inhabitants is not a growout tank by definition.

Situational example:
Arapima
5,000 gallons (Minimum tanks sized for housing a single adult Pima for life)
1,000 gallons (decent sized tank + for one 4" baby Pima) < Assuming of course that you already own the 5,000 and are keeping it empty, stocked with feeders in the growout phase.

By the time your 4" baby Pima outgrew your 1,000 gallon growout tank requiring your 5,000 final home tank for this single monster, you will have wasted SO FREAKING MUCH MONEY with your stipulation, that most rational people would revisit their original ideal, and change their mind 180 degrees!!!!!!!


If you still prefer to pay 1,000x the money required to stay in the Monster Fish Keeper club, that is fine and 100% your prerogative. Just don't throw these kind of ridiculous "growout tank" stipulation ideals as if they were in any way shape or form to be used as a model for other members of MFK to follow to be considered responsible fish keepers!

Not sure of what popper conditions concerning monster fish is, but if it is similar to popcorn shrimp, than I approve!