Fish Hot Takes

[Joshuakahan]

Never had that experience myself. But even if we say yeah, maybe...

Can't bash themselves to death against basic substrate and some silk plants. Gives them something other than a horrible boring existence in a sterile environment with nothing to do.

So. Mine is calling BS on the "FH can't have decor" logic. What a horrible way to keep a fish.

I think it’s because FH are ornamental fish, so the decor takes away from the fish. I don’t think it’s because of bashing since I’ve seen Asian

This sounds great in theory, but is terrible in reality. Take a Sleeper Gudgeon/Marbled goby (This is also works for fish such as catfish and murray cod that are dormant for majority of the time, ambush predators) for example. They barely move around sit in their cave or cover until food come by. For marbled gobys, just length alone you are suggesting they need a tank of 5.5 meters! And considering how plump they get, they would probably at least a width of 2.7 meters! Sleepy cod, a closely related species of similar size, are mass produced in stock ponds smaller than that. This is a forum for monster fish. Generally that is fish over 30+ centimetres. If everyone here did this formula, 3k gallons would be tiny!


I never said don't keep them with plants or substrate. Heck I've kept mine with Val and swords! What I was specifically referring to, which I should have clarified, is hardscape and decorations. I keep majority of my fish in naturalistic style enclosures, but I would never keep flowerhorns again with hardscape after losing 2 to it.

i agree with tank dimensions being dependent on the activity level of the fish. My mala is a log and it would be pointless to give it a 8ft tank

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

That makes you better than 99% of FH keepers out there currently then. Most seem to think a 100% bare tank (except filtration and heaters of course) is the only way a FH should be kept. Those poor, bored fish!

 

[Friller2009]

That makes you better than 99% of FH keepers out there currently then. Most seem to think a 100% bare tank (except filtration and heaters of course) is the only way a FH should be kept. Those poor, bored fish!

Thanks.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

This sounds great in theory, but is terrible in reality. Take a Sleeper Gudgeon/Marbled goby (This is also works for fish such as catfish and murray cod that are dormant for majority of the time, ambush predators) for example. They barely move around sit in their cave or cover until food come by. For marbled gobys, just length alone you are suggesting they need a tank of 5.5 meters! And considering how plump they get, they would probably at least a width of 2.7 meters! Sleepy cod, a closely related species of similar size, are mass produced in stock ponds smaller than that. This is a forum for monster fish. Generally that is fish over 30+ centimetres. If everyone here did this formula, 3k gallons would be tiny!

Very inactive fish may be exempt from it (which is why I said 'generally'). That opinion was formed on, among other things, fish like clown loaches, with a decent activity level.

But, of course, it is just my own opinion that I don't necessarily expect anyone else to agree with (I did say I believe, but maybe should have specified more). As Stanzzz has often pointed out, opinion does play a role in proper tank size, and they also don't expect everyone to agree with their opinions.

Hopefully, though, sharing my opinion has helped, or will help, other fishkeepers to get a varied view on tank sizes and even change their opinions. That is, after all, exactly how I changed my opinions to think what I do - I read Stanzzz's opinions, considered their validity, and found I generally agreed with them with no former bias towards or against them.

And yes, it does lead to enormous tanks for the really big fish. It's a given that not everyone will agree with that or find it practical.

 

[Friller2009]

Very inactive fish may be exempt from it (which is why I said 'generally'). That opinion was formed on, among other things, fish like clown loaches, with a decent activity level.

Going by your tank size guide, for at least 1 clown loach (I'm not sure on how you do it with schooling/group fish), you would need a tank with a minimum size (I'll use centimetres) 270cm long, (and given how fat clown loaches get, probably 10cm wide?) 90cm wide and as Redshark recommended you at least 45cm deep.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Thank you for using the metric system, as well as the good analysis.
Redshark has actually said they didn't go above the mid level of 45 cm much (so not going above 30 cm much). He has also said somewhere on Loaches Online that 45cm is more than sufficient, with virtually all movements occuring on the bottom or at most on top of decor, and that height was only important to young specimens (which would find 33-45cm plenty), with floor bias replacing need for height as the fish got older.
Based on that and watching YouTube videos of his loaches*, I think 33cm or so suffices as an appropriate minimum.

You're pretty much correct on the rest though. Only nitpick is the width/fat, Emma Turner reported a 29cm specimen (Marge) to be 7.6cm wide, so the width is only a bit more than 1/4 the length.
Going by that and some rough visual comparisons I have made on Word documents, 75cm (or 2.5x of the 2.5-3x) is about appropriate for a minimum width in my eyes. Anything smaller appears visually tight, but having 2.5 body lengths leaves decent room for both enrichment and a healthy radius of space to turn around.

Not all may agree with this part, but I feel as though a 9x2.5-3x times the length of a fish tank is sufficient for both lone specimens and (small, 6-7ish) groups of fish that size, based also on Word document comparisons.
It may also be helpful to mention I'm not alone in the view that a tank big enough for one fish is also big enough for a small group. Seriously Fish agrees with that, at least for ornate pictus catfish: https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/pimelodus-ornatus

And of course, 270x75x33cm are going to be the approximate dimensions of my future custom clown loach tank.

*Although it may seem measly, Redshark's loaches are not the only loaches that lead me to believe 33cm is sufficient.
YouTube videos I have seen of Aquarium Co-Op's big clown loaches, in a 3028 liter of at least 76cm deep, were also decidedly substrate huggers even with such a depth. That to me is a very powerful indicator of the floor space bias of big clown loaches.

 

[Supergeorge123]

Don’t get worked up about what other people think of your aquariums and don’t get worked up about other peoples aquariums.

Also, don’t make it harder than it needs to be, because it’s really only as hard as you make it.

 

[Joshuakahan]

Don’t get worked up about what other people think of your aquariums and don’t get worked up about other peoples aquariums.

Also, don’t make it harder than it needs to be, because it’s really only as hard as you make it.

This is probably the best take here. People get too caught up with trying to impress others with their parameters and geographically correct tanks or make it hard by testing every possible aspect of their water chemistry every day.
I have my maintenance schedule and only test occasionally to see if my schedule needs adjustment or if something doesn’t seem right

 

[MetalRavioli]

Second hot take: no fish are ornamental. No living thing is ornamental. They are delicate living things and should be treated as such

shouldn’t be a hot take, but apparently it is

 

[RandomAlgae]

People should record their fishes behavior more both on video and in text especially in naturalistic set up.

While it may not be the same as observing the wild population behavior it should increase interest in species we keep and help not only the aquarium hobby(more people may join) but also conservation of the species as well as people can familiarize themselves to charismatic species from around the world.