Why are people always on here asking for the best way to neglect their fish?

Question

Why do people seem to take the attitude that fish are merely decorations and don't need a proper environment in which to live their lives?

Fish need quite a lot of care and attention and should be regarded as a hobby rather than just another pet.

Fish can feel suffering and pain just as other animals can and I just wish that people would take the responsibility of keeping a fish more seriously.

If you are thinking of getting a fish then please make sure that it has a decent sized tank to live in and a filtration system in order to keep the water clean and healthy. It is a fallacy that fish can just put up with frequent water changes and enjoy swimming around in chlorine and other nasty chemicals each week!

A filtration system is cheap and easy to run and maintain and will make a huge difference to the health and wellbeing of the fish! Undergravel filters hardly cost anything to buy and maintain if you just want something cheap and simple.

Fish have feelings too!

Answer 1

its not just the fish section i answer in general pets and the amount of people who ask i bred my dog and now its having puppies what do i do?fish like other animals need to be looked after and are more time consuming than general pets if people researched and read books and visited aquatic shops before hand we would not have half the daft questions on here.
i have been keeping fish for a year i have marine and tropical i kept them years ago,but even now if I'm not sure of something i research it first.
magicman116 and john v and copperhead seem to be sorting out most of the problems on here and i have seen quite a few of there answers that helped me

Answer 2

For the first answerer, not all plecos need a 100 gallon tank, some are good in a 30 gallon as well, it just depends which one you have
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/compleco.htm
http://www.peteducation.com/category_summary.cfm?cls=16&cat=1923

I pull my hair sometimes when i see certain questions which are just common sense for us who know better, or answers which are completely wrong and misleading for the person who asks

People are misinformed or didn't do research, that's the main reason they ask questions

But I also see it as a good sign, because people who ask, want to get educated, for the people which don't ask will stay dumb and will loose a lot of fish in the process

I'm on here since almost 3 months now, and try to help people out where i can, and if I can save only 1 fish per day from a cruel life, i have done something good.

I learned in these 3 months more, then i ever learned in 10 years of fishkeeping.

I just give these people credit for even asking, because they seem to care about this beautiful hobby

there are great people on here, which invest their time voluntairly

I just want to share the knowledge I have, and with that try to help these who don't

But there is also lots of misinterpretation in the stores, like when you see a 2 gallon tank with pics of 3 goldfish on it!!

What is a newbie gonna think???
yes that's great and cheap and looks good, so they just buy it. but we as people who know better are like WTF is that doing in a store. And we also know that the fish will get stuntet and will die a cruel death, but a newbie won't

It's the same thing with a betta, lots of people think when theirs lived for a year, that's already a great accomplishment, but don't realize in the process that they could have lived up to 7 years!!

Or a goldfish for 1or 2 years, which can live up to 15-25 years with proper care and space.

But people learn out of mistakes usually or just don't care or really don't know





EB

Answer 3

I will have to agree with you on that one. to keep this short and sweet and not have to reinstate what everyone else has alrteady said...You have to at least give them the credit for questioning and even making the slightest attempt to become more informed. When people ask what other fish can live with my 10 goldfish 8 plecos and and oscar in a 20 gallon tank the people that know how to properly care for fish should just kindly tell them why what they are doing is wrong. So for those of us who know proper husbandry for these animals should inform the less informed and credit them for at least asking.

Answer 4

It is because most people these days are spoiled brats that have been given everything they ever wanted and never told "no" by their parents.

This is the "I want it NOW!" generation and they only start thinking about care and responsibility after the fact....

If everyone would learn how to use Google and do some research on their own before asking the same questions that have been asked over and over and over, then the people with real problems would get better answers from the informed, experienced and knowledgeable individuals in the forum.... like Copperhead and MagicMan.

Answer 5

our culture is very pragmatic. people want the path of least resistance and will even pick pets that need as little care as possible. to people with fish it sounds bad but our culture dictates stuff like bettas can live in small bowls so somehow they really want to live in small bowls. its just bad logic and not thought through because we are not very logical.

people do take better care of their pets than they do their own species. most people won't take a minute to give a homeless person 50 cents but will at least feed their dog. i am not even going to go into how our culture boosts up people like dr laura who preaches its ok to abuse your kids because the parent is what is important and the kids are secondary. i guess ever since her own kid's psycho myspace page was made public she has pretty much shut up finally.

to summarize the psychos lead the ill-informed (pyshcos are always louder than rational people) -- at least some make an attempt to get better informed and when answering their questions i always try not to be to preachy.

Answer 6

Hi, People that do ask those types of question are just trying to learn the right way to do things. As experienced hobbyist it is our responsibility to try an teach them the right way to do things.

Answer 7

Wow, I've never thought about it that way. I just answer because it really sounds like they don't have a clue.
I'm glad someone's on my side.

Answer 8

its just because of a lack of education and care. Most fishkeepers feel that it is a right to get fish not a preivlge.

I come from a wealthy family so im lucky so be able to have an unlimited fish budget, but i can imagine what people are going though without money. But i aggree with you, if you cant afford fish, just dont get them

Or if you cant afford to get a tank that the fish need, like a 100gallon for a pleco, then just dont get them.

But there are alot of fishkeepers that feel like you do and often get frustrated as most fishkeepers just dont know enough. They get one or two and think they are an expert. That leads to them trying new things and new fishes that they just frankly dont know that much about.

Answer 9

as you know, to save you some breath, people are stupid!