50g with 100 fish in it!!!?

Question

*deep deep sigh* My landlord has a beautiful 50g tank. I would love to have it. Unfortunantly, they also have 99 platies in it!!! Some about 3" long. I'm not counting all the fry they have. Plus they have a 6" pleco in the tank.

I looked in her tank and pointed out which fish had ich, fin rot, popeye, growths, etc. and it all made me very sad. I also told her why her fish had such diseases. She shrugged it off and later laughed at me for wasting my 45g on 3 goldies (I really want a bigger tank for them!).

Now, I fully believe that in order to be able to buy fish, you have to go to a store that has a vet or at least fish expert and you have to take a test that states that you are fully (or at least pretty darn close) knowledgable about the fish in which you want to purchase.

Who is with me?

I applied to Petco this spring and I didn't get hired either. Maybe it was because I was telling a customer that if she bought that "fish"bowl, that she could put her keys or some flowers in it and that was about it. Shell out a few more bucks and get herself a real tank.

Which brings me to another question...look for it in fish section.

Answer 1

Well.. don't forget platies are livebearers and very well may have been reproducing on their own. How they can do that in such cramped quarters is beyond me.

Try telling your landlord that if she gets the fish better, she can try selling some of them back to the pet store for some extra cash. That ought to motivate her to fix 'em up and get working on the water quality. Better yet, tell her you'll do the weekly maintenance if she knocks off a bit from your rent - then she can sell them back to the pet store.

The sad thing is I've applied to the local pet stores to work part-time. Either they're not hiring (thanks to the stupid kids who have summers off), or they just don't want someone who doesn't have experience in retail. That, and they don't usually like me correcting the people that work there (especially when they try to sell unnecessary chemicals and accessories).

It wouldn't kill these stores to have a computer with internet access so that these people can google real answers.

Oh, and the greatest thing? I was at Petco a couple of months ago, and they have these "fact sheets" on different fish, right? So, just messing with the person that was working there, I asked him what kind of water guppies needed (even though the fact sheet said they needed brackish environments), and he was like, "Oh, just put them in plain tap water - you don't even need to dechlorinate it!" Granted, ok, you can do guppies in freshwater (all of mine are, and they've mated like that), but wouldn't you at least expect his answer to match the "fact sheet"?

Lord.

And Walmart?? Don't even get me started....

Answer 2

Seriously.

The most disturbing thing for me. I helped my girlfriend- who also happens to be a vegetarian (should be pretty conscientious about animal care right?)- set up a 30 gallon tank. I suggested a number of appropriate fish and tank mates. I told her too wait a few days and then slowly add fish over the next couple weeks.

The next day she informed me she didn't want to wait. They got- in a 30 gallon- 1 tetra, 1 Oscar, 3 piranhas, a bag of feeders, and some other small tropical fish she couldn't remember the names of. Well- the tetra died of New Tank Syndrome before the Piranhas could eat it. Everyone else is hanging in there until her water chemistry spikes or the piranhas eat them.

I gave her all the information she needed to have a healthy tank without any victims of ignorance. She didn't care at all. She wanted, what she wanted, when she wanted it. She didn't care if it was against the laws of nature.

Answer 3

I am. People like that should not own fish. It's cruel to keep that
many fish that big in a tank like that. That person really needs to help those fish. If someone can't take care of a fish, they shouldn't get it. Poor fish! People should take a test and there needs to be a licensed vet or someone that actually knows about fish. Once I asked, "Are these fish pretty hardy?" and the answer the cashier gave me was, "I know nothing about fish." I truly agree with you.

Answer 4

It really makes me wonder why people bother. Why have a living thing if you're not going to care for it properly?

I know pet store employees have to put up with a lot of crap from clueless customers, but I have seen plenty of employees at pet stores that don't know anything about the fish they're selling.

This is all why I could never work in a pet store. I'd get fired for refusing to sell to stupid people.

Answer 5

why not all animals, not just fish when i read a lot of the questions here in answers i almost get sick just thinking about what these poor animals are going through, too bad you don't have to qualify to own a pet (or have children) i used to manage a pet shop many years ago and every week we'd get a shipment of saltwater fish, every week this cute little retired man would come in and buy everything we got, we thought he really must have a terrific set up, eventually we asked him some questions and found that he lived in a retirement home, he gave all his lady friends fish bowls with fresh water in them and every week he would supply new fish (cause all the others died immediately) it made us sick to think about all these expensive fish dying just so he could impress his lady-friends

Answer 6

The fish you have will only die if you get that tank and if her tank has ick and growths your fish might not survive in the tank.

Answer 7

i work as a fish specalist in a pet store and oh my god do i wish we could test people before selling to them, you have no idea of half the things ive seen

Answer 8

i couldn't agree more.i have thousands of dollars tied up in the cost of my pets alone.i wouldn't have them if i couldn't care for them properly, that would just be wrong.they too are living beings and should be treated as such.