# 10 fish the hobby could do without



## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Ten fish that the trade might be better without

PFK does some good articles at times.


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## goldie1212 (Mar 5, 2010)

i just read through that too, one of the better articles ive read :2thumb:


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

If I owned a fish shop I'd be so strict I wouldn't make any money :lol2:


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

Morgan Freeman said:


> Ten fish that the trade might be better without
> 
> PFK does some good articles at times.


He should have added a few more. RTC's, TSN's etc.

There are a couple of complete morons impoting sharks and large tankbusters to order these days. Hopefully PFK et al will warn more unsuspecting keepers about the pitfalls of keeping these fish.

I asked one moron why he imported parron shark in the classifieds on this very site, knowing that they can grow well over six feet. The cowardly little sod ignored my question.

It makes me mad how people import fish which are simply doomed once in captivity.


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## SuperSpeedyWheels (Jun 23, 2011)

Its so true. But theres also such a lack of information for first time hobbyists out there that its no surprising how many abused and un respected fish there are.

I had a fish tank when I was 14, bought and paid for by myself, I had all kinds of strange mixes of fish in there, and not once did the aquarium I bought them from mention that they might not go well with another fish I was buying on that same day. 

I bought a 'Plec' from a young un off the same guy i bought a 2 foot fish tank from. Unsurprisingly it outgrew its setting, the owner should have been able to inform me that a plec wasnt suitable for a 2 foot tank.

I bought a horde of guppies with a pair of red tailed sharks and a pair of other sharks (silver sharks or something ??) and some small albino frogs, all on the same day... I think maybe the guy should have warned me that I was likely to get some sheer carnage in my aquarium... but as I didnt know any better I put them all together and fins and tails went missing, I woke up with things floating around the surface with chunks missing.

I think that the aquariums such as maidenhead etc need to hand out more information about their fish and question the settings for each fish purchased... but then again if they did that they wouldnt make any money.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Mynki said:


> He should have added a few more. RTC's, TSN's etc.
> 
> There are a couple of complete morons impoting sharks and large tankbusters to order these days. Hopefully PFK et al will warn more unsuspecting keepers about the pitfalls of keeping these fish.
> 
> ...


They've done tankbusters before, I think this is just further to that.

Some people who buy goldfish just don't know any better, they looked genuinely shocked when you tell them they're actual requirements.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Seven fish best left in the wild | Blog | Practical Fishkeeping


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

It's been ages since I picked up a copy of PFK- I might start reading it again.


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## Gt Turbo (Feb 9, 2011)

I think the article was well written and informative, save for the syno, who I've never had problems with.


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

Morgan Freeman said:


> They've done tankbusters before, I think this is just further to that.
> 
> Some people who buy goldfish just don't know any better, they looked genuinely shocked when you tell them they're actual requirements.


I know fella. I also know Nathan Hill. I'll be at Aquatics Live next weekend and I'm sure the topic will come up for discussion.

There is a lot of stuff happening at the moment in regards to tank busters as I've kinda insinuated before. Hopefully the industry will have a big push and reduce the amount of these fish seen for sale as well as better educating the public.

Few people realise a goldfish (single tail) should grow to a foot long and live for over 20 years. They belong in large, well filtered ponds. Not bowls and nano tanks. A friend of mine has an awesome picture of one of her goldfish in a 7' aquarium swimming next to a goldfish bowl. I'll ask her to post it. 

It's going to be used on the website of the UK's first ornamental fish welfare group sometime next year. If it makes just a handful of people think twice about goldies and their needs it will be well worth it.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

I like Nathan Hill.

Who are you!? :gasp:


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## Mynki (Mar 24, 2010)

Morgan Freeman said:


> I like Nathan Hill.
> 
> Who are you!? :gasp:


One of the two co founding members.


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

Elephant noses?
Reaaaallllyyy?!

Featherfin syno too?!
Apart from that, I agree.


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

baby pacus should not be sold by walmart for $1.99...


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## devlin (Sep 4, 2011)

im the manager at a fish shop mine would be plecs,big cats and sharks i really hate seeing sharks in tanks


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## Salzburg (Oct 17, 2011)

Huh, what a coincidence, we were discussing this exact topic in my Aquatic Management lecture yesterday :lol2:
In the lecture we were shown a horrific picture of a red tailed catfish in a four foot long tank! We were told he had been donated to a rescue centre and they no where big enough to keep him so they just stuck him in that ridiculously sized tank! Needless to say he died after a week or two... Makes me think why on earth would anyone sell one of those fish, let alone buy one!

Anyways, definitely agree with that list, and great to see goldfish on there! I'll admit when I was a kid I did have some goldfish, one of which lived to be 10 years old. Looking back I know I never gave them the ideal environment, but no one ever said anything when I bought them. Obviously nowadays I do my research before getting any species of fish and I believe I give my guys a pretty good replica of their natural environment 

Hopefully fish shops start taking more responsibility and inform their customers, but it is also the responsibility of the fish buyer to research before they buy.


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## AshMashMash (Oct 28, 2007)

Yeh I was just reading that, tis a good article to be fair, and as you say not just a tankbuster's article.


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## INJAF (Nov 12, 2011)

Mynki said:


> Few people realise a goldfish (single tail) should grow to a foot long and live for over 20 years. They belong in large, well filtered ponds. Not bowls and nano tanks. A friend of mine has an awesome picture of one of her goldfish in a 7' aquarium swimming next to a goldfish bowl. I'll ask her to post it.


Et voila, and hello RFUK  The bowl in question is readily available in various high street stores, mine was the princely sum of £2.99. It holds 4 litres and measures 8" across the top at the widest point. Your model for the day is Howie, a 10" plus, 1lb, 11 year old fairground prize that I rehomed from his original owner and much smaller tank a couple of years ago. He'd managed to grow to quite a size despite the small tank but has grown since I've had him. This is a genuine pic, no photoshopping to make him look bigger! Nor is he some sort of genetic freak, monster fish; he's perfectly normal, in fact I'd go so far as to say he's not reached his full size potential. His current home is 6'7". Sad to think that common goldies get stuck in tiny 'starter' tanks and rarely, if ever, make their full size and lifespan  Apologies for the slightly threadbare plants, fat boy had eaten most of them, new ones have since been installed!


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## ianxxx (Apr 25, 2011)

Good post, unfortunately you are trying to combat the ignorance of the general public. Most of the people in this forum will have made mistakes that they are deeply ashamed off in the selection/husbandry of pets at some point in their hobby. Unfortunately pet shops either dont inform or are unaware of many of the conditions that the animals they sell require. I keep/breed axolotls and aquatic frogs and generally cringe when i enter a new pet shop and see them for sale.


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

disagree with the syno, awesome fish, the rest are fair game though.

( i used to have a tsn myself and i hate seeing babies in shops for numpties to buy )


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## INJAF (Nov 12, 2011)

ianxxx said:


> Good post, unfortunately you are trying to combat the ignorance of the general public. Most of the people in this forum will have made mistakes that they are deeply ashamed off in the selection/husbandry of pets at some point in their hobby. Unfortunately pet shops either dont inform or are unaware of many of the conditions that the animals they sell require. I keep/breed axolotls and aquatic frogs and generally cringe when i enter a new pet shop and see them for sale.


Hi, thanks for the positive comment on the post (and the 'likes'!)  Indeed we are trying to combat the ignorance of the general public and this is no easy task. I've been a mod on a fishkeeping forum for a few years now and have spent a lot of time doing what I can to rectify mistakes made and point Joe Public in the right direction. I've done things in the dark ages of my own fishkeeping that I'm none too pleased about but through my own research, and the help of some good people who cared enough to give their time to help me, I've improved beyond measure. I'd guess that a lot of the people on this forum who are ashamed of the selection/husbandry of pets at some point in their hobby have found their way to this forum because of those mistakes  This to me says they want to find out more, get themselves and their pets on the road to success. I've spent years on the forum I mod on, and a couple of others, doing what I can to break the myths surrounding fishkeeping, and surrounding goldies in particular. There are people who want to listen, who want to do the right thing, and it's those people who make the difference. They in turn do their bit to break the myths.

Hence our current project, education and raising awareness is the way forward IMHO. It's one of those 'from little acorns' things. Take the RSPB for example. It was started in 1889 by a group of women concerned about the use of rare species feathers in the fashion industry. Today it's a big organisation with a lot of credibility and doing a lot of good work. Change won't come overnight but it won't come at all if no one tries, and you don't know what you can do until you try  On a personal note, the more I find out about the hobby, the more 'educated' I become about the hobby, the more I see the flaws and the more I want to do something about those flaws.

I'd be happy to see common goldies moved out of the aquarium side of the hobby. I have one but I'll still do what I can to promote the fact that they are not suitable for the home aquarium and are the most over looked tankbuster out there.

Nil desperandum, the glass is always half full


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## Paul112 (Apr 6, 2007)

I had a read of this one earlier too, interesting article! Couldn't help but think of a lot of the big fishes on MonsterFishKeepers.

I don't think I'd be alone in saying that I've nearly ended up buying Pacu, RTCs and other truly monstrous fish after seeing them on MFK, which seems a bit counter-productive to what they're trying to achieve!

Best,
Paul


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## Stan193 (May 27, 2009)

I had an elephant nose fish once and it was just as they described, I bought it live bloodworms and the best it did was suck them up and spit them back out. I know a shop that has a tank full of them, I feel sorry for the poor things. I dont know why they wont eat, I think they're extremely sensitive to water quality.


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