The classic "Small tank to closet" comparison

[TTTT]

I first off just want to say that I think fish should be given room to spin and turn around in their tank and should have space to breath.

BUT

I've been hearing people comparing keeping a fish in a small tank to keeping a human in a closet.

First of all, if a small tank is a closet, what does that make a tank that's 50 gallons bigger? a backyard, maybe? A basement? In the wild, a 3" fish has a river that is miles long! Or a lake that is hundreds of feet across!

Second of all, comparing a fish to a human is like comparing an apple to fried chicken. Some fish are fine without other fish. Put a human in a box by itself and I guarantee it will go insane within 6 months.

Last but not least, saying "You could survive in a closet, but would you be happy?" We don't know how fish think. Do they act on instinct, or do they have emotion? We cannot get inside a fishes' head and see how they think.

I love fish and am not condemning fishkeeping, but I'm just saying, don't compare fishkeeping to keeping a human in a closet. All tanks are small glass boxes compared to Lake Malawi, the Amazon River, or wherever your fish come from. I'm also not saying to keep your fish in small tanks, either.

But just think about what I said.

[/end rant]

 

[Bottomfeeder]

Grade-A rant bro! LOL

 

[Blue2Fyre]

Thank You!

 

[Bderick67]

Myself I have found closets work best for clothes and linens. Though I have been known to keep a tank or two in the closet also.

 

[poly-nomial]

I will go ahead and say that keeping an oscar in a 55g is like living in a closet. You can just barely turn around, you will get miserably bored, the room will smell. Imagine living in a glass box with some driftwood and plants (if your keeper is tasteful) and you can just barely turn around. You can't go outside, you can't stretch. If this is an after shock of the oscar and senegal in 55g thread than this is getting repetitive.

 

[cichlid2006]

i think the large fish with just enough room to turn is a fair comparison to one of us in a closet where we can walk for a few feet but its a little over the width of our shoulders so turning is tight.

its a decent comparison if you strip everything away so its just looking at 2 animals in comparible enclosures to body size. if you think about it as though both are pets, a human one and a fish one. suddenly the closet doesnt seem so spacious (even cruel) but the tiny tank is.

i think the main point is that surviving is worlds apart from living.

 

[poly-nomial]

As the OP told me, (and i agree) a 55g is a closet, a 500g is a closet

 

[fishy12]

AAAAHHHH! I es confused....

 

[Mazcote Yarquest]

Isn't there a no smoking "that stuff" and posting policy on MFK?

Pass it here man, sheesh!

Just wondering.

 

[TTTT]

Isn't there a no smoking "that stuff" and posting policy on MFK?

Pass it here man, sheesh!

Just wondering.

In the wild.. a neon tetra might swim all over the place.. however in home aquaria they are kept in 20g, 10g tanks. I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying... in the wild it could swim for miles, in a tank it can swim for 20 inches.

Think about it.