What Fish are we allowed to "Keep" ?

[redtailfool]

Im tired and cranky and generally in a bad mood so forgive me.
But i have seen a lot of " What fish are hobbyists not allowed to keep thread " and it kind of irks me a bit. Last time i checked, it was monsterfishkeepers.com so im kind of puzzled.

To make a long story short, i want to reverse the question and bit and pose this to people that have a long list of "cannot be kept" fish. What monster fish can you keep in a tank ?

 

[guppy]

How big a tank? In a 125g wide I would keep anything that tops out at 18". In a 3'wide x 8'long 350g Would keep anything that tops out at 2' and a few types that top out at 30" so we are talking adult red belly pacu or florida gar now. In a 12'x4'x3't tank, 1000g approx. (my dream tanks, I want 6 and a 12'x 16' indoor pond) I would consider black pacu, aba aba, shovelnose cats, almost anything smaller than an adult redtail cat, a gigas, or the larger gars, with the pond above anything but a gigas, I would want 24'x 36' for them.

 

[Lspooky4]

depends on the size of the tank. i think its like 1 inch of fish for every gallon, or something like that

 

[Capo]

that 1 inch of fish rule is BS, you have to take into account the width of fish too.
It may work for neons but not for something fat like an oscar etc, could you imagine 75 inches of oscars in a 75 gal? (thats like 6 full grown Oscars!!!)
there are other factors that have to be considered.
Also i wouldnt like my fish to be cramped at all, i like giving fish a large space to swim etc.

 

[Peanut_Power]

I hear Midol is great stuff...give it a try there RTF....hehe........I say screw what other people think, its all about the preference of the fish keeper. There are tons of peeps here who have over stocked crammed tankz, yet their fishes are still happy...so yeah.....but generally speakin...aramaipa are the only ones on the list that come to mind that are a battle to keep....oh...and barramundi...

 

[Miles]

In my book, anything that grows over 4'.. You don't see alot of monster tanks get over 4 feet wide. After that your talking ponds and pools.

 

[peanut]

i agree

 

[redtailfool]

In my book, anything that grows over 4'.. You don't see alot of monster tanks get over 4 feet wide. After that your talking ponds and pools.

This is reasonable. Sorry to be PMSing.. LOL

 

[guppy]

I really do think that if you have the time, moey, and dedication you can keep anything, some like great whites and whale sharks, (football stadium sized tanks), or gulper eels (6" thick acrylic spheres with pressure locks and industrial strength chillers) are not practical but if you can afford to try then go for it.

 

[blacktip]

I've got to agree with Guppy here. My personal opinion is that I can do anything that a public aquarium can. The only limitations are the size of my wallet and the size of my property. Okay, I admit there are others, like local zoning codes, access to vast amounts of salt water, etc. But essentially, if I am willing to put forth the financial and physical effort to provide for a fish, I feel that I should be able to keep it.

It is for this reason that I do not feel ashamed that I own an RTC, a TSN and a royal clown knife, all of which are capable of exceeding 36" in length. I know that my current facilities for them (a standard 100 and a 8' x 2' x 20" tall 200) will not hold them forever. But seeing as they are all still young (RTC - 6", TSN - 5", knife - 9") their current tanks are large enough to hold them for the next 1 - 2 years. In that time frame, I should have no trouble providing them with a new larger home that will once again allow them to spread their shoulders a little bit. In fact, the ultimate goal, per my wife, is to have a tank that is roughly 16' x 8' x 4' to act as one wall of our living room. We are probably 5 years away from being able to realize this dream, but because it is a priority to us, we will make it happen. But until then, we will take baby steps with the new 200 being the first step. In roughly 1 1/2 to 2 years, a new 600 or 800 will be in order.

So as long as individuals are willing and capable of being able to provide for the fish they desire to keep, they should be allowed to. Just my 2 cents worth.