Why large fish do not belong in small tanks.
Keeping fish in an aquarium that is too small is incredibly unhealthy. It morally wrong to put something that grows large into a small confine area for several reasons. 1) You are preventing the fish from growing to it's full potential. It will either become stunted, or it will die. 2) You are causing the fish to live extremely uncomfortably. Imagine yourself, living in a 3 foot by 3 foot closet, with only a bucket to go to the bathroom in. No matter how much air circulation there is, no matter how much you are fed, and no matter how many times that bucket is dumped out, you are guaranteed to live a miserable life. This is exactly what is happening to large fish in small aquariums.
If the fish does not suffocate in it's own filth, it is going to become stunted. Stunting is very painful, and causes deformities. Deformities include internal organs growing inside the body, even when the body is not growing. Soon the organs will grow too large and either 1) 1 or more organs will burst open inside the fish causing a massively painful death for the fish, or 2) An organ will grow too large for the body to be able to supply energy to and the fish will die of some sort of organ failure, usually a slow death. Other symptoms of stunting are sculliosis, which can get to the point where the fish can barely move, and does cause severe spinal pain for the fish.
So please, if you plan on putting large fish in small tanks, reconsider your options. If you already have fish in a tank too small for them, please, take them back and get smaller fish.
