Petsmart is raising their standards

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Kelly_Aquatics

Kelly_Aquatics

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Jun 4, 2020
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I went into my local petsmart to buy dog stuff and was happy to see that they have retired the betta rack and cups . It’s still there but is being used to display betta products. Fish were also being quarantined the same way that they have been doing for reptiles.

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Matth05 said:
I remember reading that they’ve increased minimum tank size recommendations as well. Not to say those recommendations won’t just be ignored by most people, which they probably will.
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How much progress are they actually making when they're recommending "minimum tank sizes". A term which is frowned upon my most hobbyists nowadays.

Nevermind, baby steps and all that!
 
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esoxlucius said:
How much progress are they actually making when they're recommending "minimum tank sizes". A term which is frowned upon my most hobbyists nowadays.
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Is it frowned upon? I see posts asking about it constantly on this forum. I know that MTS denotes Multiple Tank Syndrome, but sometimes I think that it would be more accurately used to indicate Minimum Tank Size...you know, for the hopeful gang that have already purchased a school of baby Oscars, monster catfish, pacus and other budding giants for their "grow-out" tanks and now need to know the absolute smallest tank they should maybe begin to consider thinking about possibly getting...eventually...:headshake
 
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Well that could be confusing, lol. I wonder how many people have got them mixed up and ended up, for example, with 20 oscars all in 10g tanks! That would be "minimum tank size" and "multiple tank syndrome" pushed to the very extremes, lol.
 
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esoxlucius said:
How much progress are they actually making when they're recommending "minimum tank sizes". A term which is frowned upon my most hobbyists nowadays.

Nevermind, baby steps and all that!
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You make a good point. If there’s one thing that’s become clear to me since joining this forum, it’s that shooting for the bare minimum is no way to go about things with any pet, fish included. I would much rather see that being advocated for in a Petsmart.

It still makes me a bit happier knowing that someone can walk into a store, and see that an Oscar shouldn’t be in anything less than 125 gallons for example. Maybe I’m giving them too much credit.
 
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So, out of curiosity...what does PetSmart now recommend as the minimum tank size for an Oscar? And what was it listed at before the change?

But, again, it hardly matters. There's a significant number of new-age-expert aquarists who feel that if a given species requires an absolute minimum tank size of, say, 100 gallons...then that must mean that they can put a couple dozen of that species into that tank. After all...each one of them has the entire tank to swim around in...no?
 
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jjohnwm said:
So, out of curiosity...what does PetSmart now recommend as the minimum tank size for an Oscar? And what was it listed at before the change?

But, again, it hardly matters. There's a significant number of new-age-expert aquarists who feel that if a given species requires an absolute minimum tank size of, say, 100 gallons...then that must mean that they can put a couple dozen of that species into that tank. After all...each one of them has the entire tank to swim around in...no?
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Well it turns out what I remember reading was just another MFK thread from a little over a year ago.

Thoughts On Petsmart Minimum Tank Size Change

Hi, my LFSs are a Petsmart and a Petco. The Petco had no tank size labels in front of its fish, but the Petsmart did. I Remember when I first walked in their and it said Oscar minimum tank size 40 Gallons, and I thought oooof. Bala Shark was 40 as well, Anglefish 20, Common Pleco 55, and Koi...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com www.monsterfishkeepers.com
 
That there, post 8, is what gets me. Someone asks for recommendations on "minimum tank size" for a fish, and they're advised "X".

But more often than not, what they've failed to mention is that the fish won't be alone!! It might have a couple of similar sized fish with it and a nice school of dithers to give a bit of added sparkle.

Partner that with a big ass scape and a jungle of plants, and before you know it the original minimum tank size for that one fish has been made a complete mockery of!

That's one of the reasons I hate the term "minimum tank size" so much. It just seems so outdated and unhelpful.
 
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