Think before you buy?

Question

Think before you buy impulse fish. Many fish get huge (tall and wide too) and to top it off need groups. Fish do NOT grow to the size of a tank.
Bala sharks--14 inches, needs a group;
Silver dollars--10 inches long, almost as tall, needs groups;
Redtail catfish--5 feet long;
Pacu-- 2feet long and tall, forget a short tank;
Goldfish-- 12-16 inches average, and a round body means more bioload;
Koi-- 5 feet long;
Common pleco-- 2-3 feet;
Oscar-- 14 inches;
Angelfish-- 10 inches long and tall;
Convict cichlid-- 8 inches;
Tinfoil barb-- 14 inches long and quite tall, needs groups;
Clown loaches-- 12 inches, needs groups;
Mollies-- 8 inches;
Chinese banded shark-- 3-4 feet, needs groups;
Knifefish-- 2 feet

Answer 1

Boy you sure know your fish.... And your measurements!

Answer 2

I appreciate you posting this type of thing, and you're totally right that people should research before they buy, but your numbers are wayyyy off. This would be more accurate:

Bala sharks--14 inches, needs a group;
Silver dollars--5 inches long, almost as tall, needs groups;
Redtail catfish--3.5 feet in the wild, no more than 18-20" in captivity
Pacu-- 3 feet long and tall, forget a short tank;
Goldfish-- 12-16 inches average, and a round body means more bioload; *note; fancy goldfish, 7-8"
Koi-- 2-3 feet long;
Common pleco-- 18-24" feet;
Oscar-- 14 inches;
Angelfish-- 5 inches long and tall;
Convict cichlid-- 6 inches;
Tinfoil barb-- 14 inches long and quite tall, needs groups;
Clown loaches-- 12 inches, needs groups;
Mollies-- 3-4 inches;
Chinese banded shark-- 3-4 feet, needs groups, more like 1foot in captivity.
Knifefish-- 2 feet

Some of these fish do not reach the same in captivity simply because of the water chemistry, not because of stunting. Even in very, very large tanks, chinese banded sharks rarely reach over 1.5 feet.

Answer 3

Excellent points both of you! One of the biggest problems with fish keeping is the impulse buy as we all too often see here.

Maybe you could include read in that intro "Think and read before you buy" That would solve 75% of the problems we see in this area IMO. 20% more could be corrected if people would read enough. No matter how good, no one book or website has all the correct answers.