Why do people buy fish...

Not as silly as the vendors and lfs that sell the zoo aquarium type fish. Some vendors and lfs are responsible and some will refuse to bring in such fish but those numbers are few and far between.

People need to stop buying these fish and then they will eventually have to stop bringing them in.

Bottomfeeder said:

^But, once the fish was yours, it was your responsibility. I hate seeing people turn around and try to flip their fish. I've only ever traded/given away a very small amount of livestock. It's something I do not take lightly, at all.

When I broke down my 30g tank to get my blue tongue skink, I had three yoyo loaches, two rafael catfish, and a clown pleco. Loaches aint cheap. But I gave them all away for free here on MFK, why? Because I dont feel comfortable turning my animals into business and I just wanted them to go to a good home with a good fishkeeper. Even though they werent mine anymore, I still felt that I was responsible for making sure they ended up in good hands.

When you're an animal keeper, you have a very serious responsibility to your animals, like it or not. I suggest taking it very seriously.

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I feel giving a animal for free gives the new owner the thought "oh well it was free anyways." A reasonable adoption fee weeds out those and flippers. If you can afford a monster tank, you can afford the fish that go with it. I once adopted some kittens out that were born in the alley. I just wanted to find good homes. Some sweet lady adopted 2. She talked the talk then immediately resold them for 120$ no shots with my photos. Just my thought, 2each their own.


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Why are we discussing the morals and ethics of fish keeping?

Take a look around, there are bigger fish to fry (pardon my pun) in this world with our limited time.
But ideally in a perfect world we all would do what's right and blablabla, but that just isn't going to happen in the coming decades IMO.


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Bottomfeeder said:

But I gave them all away for free here on MFK, why? Because I dont feel comfortable turning my animals into business and I just wanted them to go to a good home with a good fishkeeper

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You want them to go to a good home, yet give them away for free? And you dont like turning your animals into business? You dont buy any of your fish? You're supporting business right there... Lets all do the "right thing" and release our fish back into the wild then. This thread is too funny.

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Bottomfeeder said:

^But, once the fish was yours, it was your responsibility. I hate seeing people turn around and try to flip their fish. I've only ever traded/given away a very small amount of livestock. It's something I do not take lightly, at all.

When I broke down my 30g tank to get my blue tongue skink, I had three yoyo loaches, two rafael catfish, and a clown pleco. Loaches aint cheap. But I gave them all away for free here on MFK, why? Because I dont feel comfortable turning my animals into business and I just wanted them to go to a good home with a good fishkeeper. Even though they werent mine anymore, I still felt that I was responsible for making sure they ended up in good hands.

When you're an animal keeper, you have a very serious responsibility to your animals, like it or not. I suggest taking it very seriously.

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I agree, when you buy a living animal you assume the responsibility of it. If you don't have the means to take care of it find it a good home and that's honestly the least you could do for the poor thing. I would honestly give someone money to ensure that it'll be in good care.

JRT8783 said:

You want them to go to a good home, yet give them away for free? And you dont like turning your animals into business? You dont buy any of your fish? You're supporting business right there... Lets all do the "right thing" and release our fish back into the wild then. This thread is too funny.

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Well of course we bought them as pets because we wanted to take care of them for a price set by the seller. If your motives differ then its most likely for a more sinister reason. When you buy a pet, one should understand the responsibilities that come with it rather than rehouse them, kill them, or let them suffer till death. They rely on us as we trained them to be pets. Releasing a fish back into the wild is like throwing a dog into the woods. Sure a dog will be fine but it'll be hard for him/her as he was spoon fed for years rather than a actual wild dog that has been fending for its life since birth. The "right thing" isn't really the right thing. Releasing fish back into the wild can cause havoc and completely destroy a ecosystem in a matter of years.

ehh said:

Lfs can only refuse to sell something so many times. They are trying to run a business after all. My store did not rtc, pacu, or aros. But not to clear on what point you're trying to make. The lfs is to blame when it comes to people buying these fish with the intention on only growing them out?

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Lfs tries to run a business, just like hobbyist tries to enjoy his/her hobbyist after all... Can you blame a hobbyist for bringing the pacu back to the lfs when it outgrow his/her 20gal tank? He/she just hits the "undo" button..

Bottomfeeder said:

I think it's a situational thing. Most of the time, it's idiots who, as stated, have no actual plans to re-home them, and the fish ends up dying long before then, anyway.

I've attempted a watered down version of this in the past. I used to have a 30g tank with a yoyo loach pack, and a few times I brought home oddball clown loaches from Petland with the intention of growing them out and then selling/trading/giving them away. It wasnt the desire to flip them for a profit, just the desire to try to give that one individual fish a better home than it'd get otherwise, at Petland or in some idiot's undersized tank. However, I became that idiot when, both times, the clown loach randomly deteriorated and died, despite all the other fish in the tank being totally healthy. The clowns were accepted by and schooled with the yoyos, so it wasnt the fact that they were kept singularly... just bad luck on my part, I suppose.

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Bottomfeeder said:

^But, once the fish was yours, it was your responsibility. I hate seeing people turn around and try to flip their fish. I've only ever traded/given away a very small amount of livestock. It's something I do not take lightly, at all.

When I broke down my 30g tank to get my blue tongue skink, I had three yoyo loaches, two rafael catfish, and a clown pleco. Loaches aint cheap. But I gave them all away for free here on MFK, why? Because I dont feel comfortable turning my animals into business and I just wanted them to go to a good home with a good fishkeeper. Even though they werent mine anymore, I still felt that I was responsible for making sure they ended up in good hands.

When you're an animal keeper, you have a very serious responsibility to your animals, like it or not. I suggest taking it very seriously.

Click to expand...

So, your yoyo loach pack consists of three yoyo loach, two rafael catfish, and a clown pleco, and you wonder why the clown loach deteriorated and died. You hate seeing people turn around and try to flip their fish, yet you bought fish "with the intention of growing them out and then selling/trading/giving them away." Do you even read the OP first post? He was asking why people bought fish with the intention of rehoming them. How can you suggest others taking it very seriously, when you don't even do it?

Massive flame toward this line of reasoning:

Here are just a few of my arguments that I feel make this philosophy one of the least well thought out that I have ever read here.

Why buy fish just to re-home them? Because in some cases it is correct to do so, and irresponsible to house your baby fish in a full sized tank.


Reason #1.

For some species it is extremely risky for the proper husbandry of that fish to NOT buy the fish just to re-home it. REPETITIVELY!

Put baby long nose gar in a 240+ gallon glass aquarium and watch you new pets break their delicate backs due to your philosophy. House the baby Gars in as small aquarium with a width minimum width roughly 125% the length of the baby gar. Make sure that the side ends of the aquarium are heavily planted with real or fake plants to mitigate potential damage the length of the tiny tank could cause. Now, as ofter as feasible move the gar as they grow to a similar proportional larger tank. Repeat as growth dictates.

You will have many more healthy adult gar than if your just chucked them into a 5,000 gallon tank.



Reason #2.

It would be ridiculously wasteful (TOTALLY IRRESPONSIBLE) for fish keepers to practice tank overkill forcing far greater water consumption that is necessary, responsible, affordable, and often even legal!!!

Why would you want to initially house a 5" Aripima that you are prepared to keep for life a 10,000 gallon final destination tank (by itself)? Do the math my friend. The time and cost of maintenance raising the baby Pima in smaller tanks and again re-home to proportionately larger tank(s) dictated by the fishes growth would be a tiny fraction of that which would be required for the irresponsible practice of tank overkill.

Reason #3.

In my opinion these types of tanks look absolutely horrendous to me. I would think just as negatively (if not more) of someone proudly displaying pictures of their 6" future monster Pima in a 40,000 gallon tank as I would seeing someone growing out numerous juvenile species in a proportionately adequate tank size with proper water quality!

Reason #4.

As another (several) posters have already stated:
No fish keepers homing any serious freshwater monsters are supplying more footprint than the species is accustomed to inhabiting in it's natural environment! The tinfoil hat argument is nothing more than stating this obvious FACT often thrown out there at us by non-fishkeepers. No fish keeper should therefore actively advance this tinfoil cap philosophy without exiting the hobby prior to preaching the woes of less space than . . . . . .

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.