Red tail cats outgrowing 225 g

[thebiggerthebetter]

Aronus, explain, please, if you will, why fish should be treated differently from dogs, cats, horses, reptiles, amphibians, birds, etc. as pets? Just want to see and understand your point of view and your logic.

On another note, please, do not get me /us wrong. You asked. We answered. If you insist on your experiment, then no one can stop you. You (in our opinion, sadly) will not be breaking any laws. They have not come yet, such laws, that currently protect most other pets, esp. mammals. So, go ahead. Yet, do us all a favor though and come back to this thread every few months or so and post pics and report what's happening.

I am being sincere, not cynical here. I, for one, want to learn with you, whether I am right or wrong in my current state. We all learn together, brother, whether we listen to each other or not - that may be viewed as secondary (within some grey boundaries).

 

[Oddball]

Look up Brown Blood Disease (Methemoglobinemia). This is the common link of most large fish forced to live in too small aquaria. It doesn't matter how well your fish is fed. In fact, large and/or frequent meals is actually a proponent towards causing the disease in too small of a tank. It usually follows that the results of such feedings promotes poor water quality much more quickly in small and/or poorly filtered aquariums. To prevent the disease frequent large water changes are a must. By 'frequent' I mean every other day or have a constant drip system running.
Large fish in small enclosures causes rapid increased levels of nitrites. These nitrites, in effect, poison the fish's blood causing the blood cells to lose their ability to carry O2 to the body and gather CO2 for release from the body. When too many blood cells are damaged the result is a reduction of physiological processes and immunity with an eventual outcome of premature death from organ failure. The anemia is more rapid in fish than in mammals due to the fact that fish don't produce new red blood cells in marrow. Their blood cells are nucleated and self-replicate. Nitrite-damaged cells that no longer have the ability to carry O2 lose their red pigment and turn brown. These brown diseased cells do not replicate and as the disease progresses the fish loses all ability to complete simple respiration. The slow progression of the disease is the direct cause of stunting a large-growing specimen to a smaller than normal size.
"Rescued" fish can be cured of some of the effects of the disease through proper nutrition and system maintenance. But, any organ damage already suffered is never fully recovered and manifests the damage as displaying a specimen more prone to disease than specimens that never had the disease.

FYI, high nitrates in a system is also the common factor in most mystery deaths of new fish added to a sick system. It's the frog in hot water effect. Put a frog in room temp water and slowly raise the temp. The frog will die from the heat since it's body will adjust to the steady increase in temp. Drop a frog into hot water and it will reflexively jump right out. In aquaria, nitrite poisoning will increase slowly. Especially if infrequent or insufficient water changes are made. As the nitrite level increases the fish attempt to adjust to the increases even into toxic levels. Once a tank is toxic, adding new fish that haven't been forced to make such adjustments leads to rapid death from nitrite shock.

 

[divemaster99]

To sum it up: NEVER stunt a fish out of choice, it's one thing to get into the hobby with no one to help you and unknowingly stunt your first fish or two as that's a learning experience (as sad and unfortunate as it is) that while can often be prevented by doing thorough research cannot be completed eliminated from our hobby. But it's a whole new level to buy a fish and purposely stunt it's growth for your entertainment!!!!!

And also, fish should not be treated differently than any other animal. All animals (in my belief) are brought onto this earth with the same value of life and their life value can only be further "judged" by the intelligence level of the individual animal. Therefor less intelligent fish such as tetras with a smaller brain may not be as "valuable" as the larger more intelligent fish such as oscars but regardless they're all living things, it's up to you to decide how they personally rank along with every individual out there but just keep in mind that even shooting (assuming it dies) an animal is more humane than making one suffer through unnecessary diseases and pain filled experiences.

 

[Oddball]

Wow. Didn't realize I was rambling on. I thought I was just sharing some experience.

 

[divemaster99]

Wow. Didn't realize I was rambling on. I thought I was just sharing some experience.

I meant I'd be rambling, not others. Your posts have more educational value than mine would