What to do with fish that get to large?

[koop171]

now that I am close to getting my new 585 I have been thinking about what to stock it with. I think I am leaning twords Peanuts Idea of a SA community. But say I were to decide to keep something LARGE. Like a pima,RTC,gator gar, florida gar........ What happens to these types of fish when kept in the home aquarium? Not all of us can have room for these Huge fish for there lifespan. But they are still kept in the hobby rather frequently. So what do you do when you have a HUGE fish that outgrows your tanks.

Do you try to give it to a public aquarium...Although the QT process would more then likly kill the fish. Try to give it to a zoo? Try to sell it with hopes that someone can take care of it? I just don't see the point in keeping a fish that will grow massive if you don't have a backup plan for when they outgrow your tanks. and it's not fair to a prefectly healthy fish to put it down b/c it got to big.

So what do you do when your big fish gets big?









And for those of you who say just don' get it in the first place that's not what I am looking for. People get gars that will get huge rather frequently so this may be a rather frequently occuring thing.

 

[headbanger_jib]

eat it
thats what i have told myself if at some point of time i get bored keeping fish the large ones are going to hit the frying pan
as i have spent too much time and money to just kill it and throw away
and wouldn't want to sell it to an ass who will more than likely give the fish a few bad months to live and then eventually kill it as not everyone keeps fish the way we keep them
and turn the pond to a lotus and koi pond(easy to care for and my mum likes the koi and not my monster cats)

 

[JeninOK]

I couldn't eat one of my pet fish...

 

[japes]

Plan your tank properly to begin with so you don't have the problem? It's no different to the larger Oscars you see at your LFS. They're fish that weren't properly planned before purchase, but on a smaller scale compared to what you're referring to.

 

[Tahoe Mommy]

You can not really do anything with them, if you do not find an aquarium or think that they wont survive the QT period. I recently had 2 Scats who outgrew their tank and I gave them to the LFS who had a huge tank for them to go in. Now they have been adopted by someone who had room for them and knew how to care for them. I agree that you have to plan careflly when you get fish.

 

[headbanger_jib]

even when you plan and when you have the resources(like a large pond etc etc)
what if one day you are tired of them
or what if you no longer can take care of them, unprecedented situations do arise, what do you do then also might come n the same category, like what if you are moving a few thousand miles away from your current location???

 

[SteveR]

now that I am close to getting my new 585 I have been thinking about what to stock it with. I think I am leaning twords Peanuts Idea of a SA community. But say I were to decide to keep something LARGE. Like a pima,RTC,gator gar, florida gar........ What happens to these types of fish when kept in the home aquarium? Not all of us can have room for these Huge fish for there lifespan. But they are still kept in the hobby rather frequently. So what do you do when you have a HUGE fish that outgrows your tanks.

Do you try to give it to a public aquarium...Although the QT process would more then likly kill the fish. Try to give it to a zoo? Try to sell it with hopes that someone can take care of it? I just don't see the point in keeping a fish that will grow massive if you don't have a backup plan for when they outgrow your tanks. and it's not fair to a prefectly healthy fish to put it down b/c it got to big.

So what do you do when your big fish gets big?









And for those of you who say just don' get it in the first place that's not what I am looking for. People get gars that will get huge rather frequently so this may be a rather frequently occuring thing.

Dont buy fish like pacus and stick them in 50 gallon tanks? Research your fish and stock based on their FULY GROWN size and not the cute size you pruchase them at? What you are referring to is idiots who buy fish that should never be in the tanks in the first place. Education would be a start.

 

[michaeljames]

To each his own, If you put up a large fish for sale someone somewhere will buy it. its out of your hands, you dont have to screen buyers. while I love my fish, I think many of the MFK dont go fishing so they look at a fish only as a pet or companion and not as a fish for sport or consumption. if my fish is not on endangered list (which I wouldnt buy) than it is a fish to me, its life is the same as any sport, whether for eating, aquaria or sport. sorry if this upsets you

 

[davo]

And for those of you who say just don' get it in the first place that's not what I am looking for. People get gars that will get huge rather frequently so this may be a rather frequently occuring thing.

Think some people are missing the point.

 

[cichlaguapote]

You probably won't get an answer from most. This has been asked before with individual species you listed and no one could really give a good answer. Truely these species seem to disapear after a while. Where they go I don't know. I can only imagine there is a huge population of people buying/keeping these offline from the amount of lfs' that get these species in.

Public Aquarium/Zoo's don't take many fish. So most have to be either euthenized or for the people down south/warmer climates in the west they might move them outdoors to a pond.