According to seriously fish, they need a minium 60*30 tank. Seems a lot of fish for what amounts to little more than a bucket of water.honey gourami,
According to seriously fish, they need a minium 60*30 tank. Seems a lot of fish for what amounts to little more than a bucket of water.honey gourami,
These numbers seem arbitrary at best. If you look at their wild habitat and range you'd need millions of liters for almost every species except for the mud puddle dwellers. Doesn't seem to be the case because aquarium fish tend to live longer, less stressful lives.According to seriously fish, they need a minium 60*30 tank. Seems a lot of fish for what amounts to little more than a bucket of water.
Difference being that an aquarium (or gold fish bowl) is a closed system, where as the wild isn’t. You’ve also got very small surface area to volume because of the bowl shape. But, chacun à son goût. Personally, I think it’s cruel.These numbers seem arbitrary at best. If you look at their wild habitat and range you'd need millions of liters for almost every species except for the mud puddle dwellers. Doesn't seem to be the case because aquarium fish tend to live longer, less stressful lives.
You're quick to call animal abuse here, but still won't explain where your numbers came from for what is an acceptable amount of water and why. We wouldn't be able to match their natural habitat or range even with a 1000l giant scape.Not sure I’m comfortable with this. I guess we can reason all we want about what is ethically, scientifically, morally and philosophically appropriate.
And I’m not sure it meets with UKAPS rules and regulations regarding animal welfare. I guess that’s a judgement call for a forum that has responsibility for promoting animal welfare.
However, the short of it is, keeping sentiment animals in what could be considered as less than optimal conditions is questionable.
If we find ourselves having to justify a position that is evidently perceived as boarderline then maybe we shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.
I wouldn't say so; we know that fish can feel pain (which for some reason came as a surprise to many), the cleaner wrasse passed the mirror test (which arguably makes it more self aware than most mammals), and mormyrids have probably the most advanced brain of any vertebrate (using over twice as much energy as a humans brain), fish are not nearly as dumb as people made them out to be 50 years ago. If there's a chance, however small, that fish have a well developed sense of their surroundings (or lack thereof), I think we should treat them as if they have just to be on the safe side.attributing happiness or this romantic notion of sentience to a 2cm fish with a handful of neurons is still rather fantastical
It all just boils down to experience. I can only imagine that running a forum such as this one for many years, you will have seen tanks come in all shapes and sizes, some with success and some with failure.You're quick to call animal abuse here, but still won't explain where your numbers came from for what is an acceptable amount of water and why. We wouldn't be able to match their natural habitat or range even with a 1000l giant scape.
This is the "happiest" gourami I've seen. - though attributing happiness or this romantic notion of sentience to a 2cm fish with a handful of neurons is still rather fantastical. He's exploring the bowl, picking at the plants and hardscape, he built a giant bubble nest at the back, eating well, doesn't try to jump or hit the glass. The gouramis in my community tank haven't made nests and those are in pairs.
If anything, a safe, calm environment will be less stress for the fish than something much bigger and busier.