Large cichlids
- Thread starter kosta
- Start date
Why do people buy huge dogs when they have no yard or a one room apartment? Because they can that's why... and I believe the purchase is made either without realizing they will get large or thinking they will upgrade the tank and never do. All that being said - I also don't believe in flaming people for it. If the people feed the fish, do water changes,etc. I believe the fish would live a relatively better life than if it sits in a pet store somewhere. Most of these fish were bred for the aquarium trade anyway. I also think the easier accessibility of some of these fish is to blame. They sell Oscars right next to tetras in the chain stores. Ignorance is not an excuse, but sometimes needed to learn a lesson. My brief 2 pennies.
i agree. Well put and some people just want the fish and i say if you have a 75 or bigger which fits minimum requirements for most fish out there except dovii, umbees u get where im going. I dont know how many times i went to a petshop and they had a massive fish in a 20 gallon or a 40 gallon when the person who owned it was probly told it was too big for them so they got rid of it not knowing it was living fine and now its stuffed in a small tank living like crap. I sold a fish a few years ago that was in my 75 gallon. It was a 13 inch jag that didnt get along with my 10 inch jag. I sold it to the kid pretty cheap and about 6 months later i saw it forsale again and the kid stated it had outgrown his 55 now if i had known he only had a 55 i would have never sold it. I actually bought the fish back to only have it die a few months later from a head injury caused by the other kid keeping him in a 55. Big cichlids in small tanks can be done but there is overkill
I don't know if it's so much a fascination, as much as a necessity for some people who don't educate themselves before buying a fish. Most chain stores use the bare minimum mentality when recommending tank sizes and a lot of the employees aren't educated enough to steer folks in the right direction. I see people leaving chain stores with 5 gallon tanks and 3 or 4 goldfish all the time with not a clue in the world what the nitrogen cycle even means. Kids shaking the bag all the way to the car............right then and there, I see somebody entering and most likely exiting the hobby because they've failed before they've even started, most likely. Keeping fish will be too hard in a matter of a week because they've already got 3 strikes against them, and uncylced tank and stressed out fish in too small a tank in the first place..........they are destined to fail.For those that do know something about fish keeping, I'd guess a lot has to do with the practice of buying the fish, small , and using your current setup as a grow out for it's future home. Always with the best intentions of upgrading the tank when necessary, but sometimes the fish grow a lot faster than they can save the money for the upgrade. Now that you've owned your Oscar or Midas for awhile you get attached to the fish and really don't want to part with it, so you keep it in a tank that is a little too small. Most people I know fall into this category. There's always the best intention of getting a bigger tank, but life happens and fish keeping is not cheap..........Personally, I don't buy a fish that I can't properly house for life. I have horrible mts as it is, and it's just easier for me to not have to always be thinking about the next tank. Not that I'm not always thinking about the next tank lol.....but it's not because of adult size of what I stock. Most of my setups look empty for the first several months, but once the fish start to grow and take advantage of the space they have, they usually color up and grow into their space nicely..then there's the kid that wants to throw a 6" Dovii in a 55 to see what happens with no future plan whatsoever. That fascination I don't get.
I think it's a mix of several things, many have already been mentioned.
Most of the times it's just ignorant people that don't know any better, or choose not to care because it's just a fish. You would be surprised how many people excuse themselves by saying "it's just a fish". Most of us have seen kids at Petsmart asking mommy for an Oscar to put in their 5 gal aquarium. Mommy is tired after working all day and just went there to buy food for the dog, so she just buys the damn fish to get it over with, it's just a fish after all. Sadly it's not their fault, the average person doesn't see fish as smart, sentient creatures that require special care just like any other pet; they see fish as decor. That's just the way it is. You don't have the space or money for any other pet? Get a fish.
The other day I was watching TV and this commercial came on, I don't remember exactly what it was about but I remember thinking WTF... the thing clearly shows a living room and focuses on a fish bowl containing some kind of African Cichlid (Aulonocara genus I think) that was at least 5 inches. So there you have the media telling you this is all you need to keep African cichlids:
I have since then seen the commercial several times, and I only watch TV for about half an hour before I go to bed, maybe every other day.
Not only that but I've seen several shows over the years were fish are made fun of, or used to ridicule people. The general public sees fish as the cheap, disposable alternative because they've always been told it's OK. And I know this because that's the way I saw it before I started keeping them.
On the other hand there's fish keepers who know they are doing it wrong but are just deluded and refuse to admit so. AquaPishFimp comes to mind. "If you feed your Oscar exclusively on broccoli it will only grow to 2 inches and be perfectly happy in a 5 gal tank, just like thousands of years ago when people only ate fruits and grew to 4 feet". lmao. He has a degree on Ichthyology sponsored by Walmart and Wikipedia.
Most of the times it's just ignorant people that don't know any better, or choose not to care because it's just a fish. You would be surprised how many people excuse themselves by saying "it's just a fish". Most of us have seen kids at Petsmart asking mommy for an Oscar to put in their 5 gal aquarium. Mommy is tired after working all day and just went there to buy food for the dog, so she just buys the damn fish to get it over with, it's just a fish after all. Sadly it's not their fault, the average person doesn't see fish as smart, sentient creatures that require special care just like any other pet; they see fish as decor. That's just the way it is. You don't have the space or money for any other pet? Get a fish.
The other day I was watching TV and this commercial came on, I don't remember exactly what it was about but I remember thinking WTF... the thing clearly shows a living room and focuses on a fish bowl containing some kind of African Cichlid (Aulonocara genus I think) that was at least 5 inches. So there you have the media telling you this is all you need to keep African cichlids:
I have since then seen the commercial several times, and I only watch TV for about half an hour before I go to bed, maybe every other day.
Not only that but I've seen several shows over the years were fish are made fun of, or used to ridicule people. The general public sees fish as the cheap, disposable alternative because they've always been told it's OK. And I know this because that's the way I saw it before I started keeping them.
On the other hand there's fish keepers who know they are doing it wrong but are just deluded and refuse to admit so. AquaPishFimp comes to mind. "If you feed your Oscar exclusively on broccoli it will only grow to 2 inches and be perfectly happy in a 5 gal tank, just like thousands of years ago when people only ate fruits and grew to 4 feet". lmao. He has a degree on Ichthyology sponsored by Walmart and Wikipedia.
^I know exactly what commercial you are talking about and I remember thinking the same thing as you. As mentioned most people think of fish as decor. Something "pretty" in the room and not as a living organism that requires complex needs. Fish keeping is not simple. There are so many aspects too it most people are too ignorant to know or learn. I remember when I first started keeping fish I tried to keep a pair of angelfish and a pair of firemouth cichlids in a 29 gallon. And I thought it would work out well. Back then I would have kept a male jag in a 90 and thought it too be plenty of space. But after being in the hobby a while you learn fish are not just decor. They deserve more than bare minimum. Which is why I hate when people say "that fish can live in that size tank" or "they will survive just fine". It's not about keeping fish alive it's about keeping them in an environment which they can thrive. And for us cichlid keepers, see their natural behavior which is so interesting to watch.
Great points I also believe the manner in which we enjoy our hobby is a reflection of ourselves. My fear is that fish are released into the wild. I was fishing for bass with some friends in a Florida canal when one of our group caught about a 2 lb Jag. In essence this puts our hobby at risk. Those fish that are too big are not always given away or sold.
I hope we can promote education and responsible fish keeping- I for one would love to legally raise an Asian Arowana in the US.
I hope we can promote education and responsible fish keeping- I for one would love to legally raise an Asian Arowana in the US.
This brings a former friend to mind. She had a 29 gallon tank and bought an Oscar. The day she got it, I repeatedly told her she needed to get a much bigger tank. That she'd need either a 50-65 breeder or 75-90 gallon tank. Well, we all know a well fed Oscar will grow extremely fast. 3 months after she got this fish it had outgrown the tank. She kept this fish for another 2 months and I suggested she get dwarf cichlids like Convicts, Cutteri, Apistos or Kribs or something along those lines so that it was a fish she could keep for it's entire life instead of constantly growing a fish that she knows is going to outgrow her tank and trading it in and getting another one. She totally ignored my suggestion and traded her overgrown Oscar in for another Oscar. She took me criticizing her over this as me saying she neglecting her fish and stopped speaking to me, even had her mom message me saying I was this and that for the things I said. Clearly if that fish got that big that fast it was well maintained. I just don't think it's fair to fish that grow large to keep them in tanks that are way too small. I think ignorance to what a fishes needs really are is more to blame than anything, but that's no real excuse. I put the blame on the fish stores for just trying to make a buck and not looking out for the for the best interest of the fish they sell.