Why are these being sold????

[Coryloach]

I agree with the above, and will give a couple of examples (although not all aquarium related).
I grew up on the shores of Lke Michigan.
When I was a kid, there were smelt, sculpin, bass, walleye and many other species in the near shore areas.
Now, just about the only thing you find are Asian Gobies, and zebra/Quagga mussels, probably from the bilge of international ships.
The perch fishing industry that was once booming, has totally collapsed, and the lake is heading toward a mono-culture system, at least near shore.
Another example
In the 1960s a Dr wanted a pond on the shore of Lake Gatun Panama, near where I live now, with Peacock bass.
During the rainy season those 6 P-bass (of course) escaped, now.....
most of the endemic cichlids are gone from the lake, eaten by the P-bass.
All it takes are a couple to ruin the entire system.

Hi Duane, interesting and valid point from your part of the world but there are people being challenged by completely different circumstances.

I grew up in a very small East European country.
Due to severe crisis taking hold for a long time, the lakes and rivers became over-fished by humans to the point of no return, i.e. no fish left at all. At one point,if you liked fishing, you had to pay for private lakes where they continuously replaced the fish...
Of course the government introduced bans and tightened up security on over-fishing....

The general picture is way bigger than what this thread seems to be concerned about. In one part of the world we are dealing with invasive species. In another we are dealing with destroyed habitats due to pollution, and in other places... simple human hunger driven activities.

At the moment it is survival of the fittest, the shiniest, the most popular fish may possibly make it, due to so much human intervention. We'll be lucky to preserve some...let's consider global warming as well....

 

[jaws7777]

Sorry for quoting your post, nothing personal, just led me thinking back to what I originally thought about this thread....

For example your first link is stating 20+ years life span for the arowana....

Considering the enormous amount of fish keepers that keep or have kept arowanas,and the minuscule amount that have actually managed to keep them alive for 20 years, lets just say that banning certain fish ownership has become necessity.....We humans can barely manage to not kill each other, not to mind fish or other animals.

No need to apologize at all. You make a valid point. I was mainly thinking along the lines that some sellers do list sizes and requirements for these fish. If the buyer is going to be reckless it doesnt matter if hes purchasing from an lfs or online.

I stopped by petco today and took these pics the guy told me that the plecos are hot items and usually sell fast. The seem to list some relevant info like potential size and aggression level. I bet most of the buyers disregard this info.

 

[Fat Homer]

The problem is people dont always like to read the fine print (as one can see from J jaws7777 post above),instead all they see is a pretty fish and decide they must have it...

However, i do like the size reference on the wall idea, it would be great if you could have a large range of fish from small to large to really give people some perspective of how big a fish actually gets, so people have a better idea of what they are getting into...

 

[PYRU]

Its just life. People get into things they can't handle. Fish eat other fish too big to swallow. Dogs chase cars. The list goes on. People just have a hard time coping with the "horrors" of everyday life and how messed up it is these days.

The info is out there people can look it up and make an informed decision. Its really no different than them being eaten, starved, etc in the wild. I'd prefer self policing instead of being forced by the gov due to someone more touchy feely than myself.

There's probably people in this thread that cant properly house what they have. Anything that can't turn around in a $1 per gallon 55 is probably going to die a miserably death in the hands of 95% of people.

 

[PYRU]

The problem is people dont always like to read the fine print (as one can see from J jaws7777 post above),instead all they see is a pretty fish and decide they must have it...

However, i do like the size reference on the wall idea, it would be great if you could have a large range of fish from small to large to really give people some perspective of how big a fish actually gets, so people have a better idea of what they are getting into...

I second this. There's a chart floating around here of fish in reference to the size of your average human that was pretty eye opening when i found it.

 

[Fat Homer]

I remember that chart and was just as surprised as you...

If that sort of thing was turned into a cardboard cut-out at a store or placed on a wall, then maybe people would take notice and ask the stores; whats that here for?

In which case the employees could turn and point out which of the tiny fish on display atm could eventually turn into the monsters seen on the walls etc which might make them stop and think for a moment at least...

 

[Itchy penguin]

I believe its up to the buyer and the seller. Yes some people can properly house these animals however most of the population can not and should not. I live in a state where people can legally own a tiger but pretty much nobody is prepared to. I think both the buyer and the seller should do their homework before making these transactions! No animal should suffer because of human ignorance!

 

[jaws7777]

To be fair the petco clan the kid knows his stuff and he did say he tells people how big the plecos get, he said they ignore the advice. He also said that since hes been in this particular store they have never sold any tanks larger than a 40 breeder and even those were rare

 

[Kittiee Katt]

I think having to order the fish would stop impulse buying, also the casual hobbyist wouldn't know about a lot of the fishif they weren't on display in the LFS. Personally due to our laws I've been shocked at the amount of ish I didn't know anything about just since I joined this forum. I was aware of arapaima but didn't know people kept them in tanks and had no idea RTC were so common in the U.S. If people aren't aware of them and you make it difficult to obtain it would help minimise them being purchased. I guess this idea wouldn't work too well in the Internet age though.
I'd also like to see some LifeSize pictures painted on to the LFS wall of full grown fish, maybe stating "fish don't grow to the size of the tank" under it. Seeing the full size of even an Oscar would shock some people, Imagine the reaction to a 10 foot arapaima painted along the wall.

There was a LFS down here that done something similar. They had a standard ruler stuck above the goldfish tank with a sign saying "grows this size" or whatever it said, they eventually put a cardboard cut out of a 30cm goldfish above the ruler to help show just how sizable they can get.
Unfortunately that store no longer exists but I thought it was a great idea that they'd put an example of size right in front of people the way they did.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I just found a website selling arapaima. They do say that they grow 6feet+.However they recommend at tank size of 180 gallons plus.