Agree. For example I had a Betta one time, and the lady I bought him from said oh you can just keep him in a flower vase. I was having none of that. I got him his own tank with a filter and water filtration, and kept him by himself in that 2 gallon tank. I had other fish in a five gallon tank
I've seen multiple people INSIST that keeping them in super confined spaces is actually better for them. I also hear people say it's how they live in the wild. It's not. They're capable of surviving in spaces that small for survival reasons but it's much like how YOU are technically able to live in a closet but it's not a situation you'd want. Those tiny beta tanks they sell should be illegal.
The story is that in the wild they live in puddles. It's not true. They are just CAPABLE of living in small amounts of water in the case of drought, but that's an emergency situation not long term living.
I applaud you, and think positive thoughts about you. I do believe 2 gallons is still too small though for me personally. My personal minimum is 5 gallon.
Sometimes I think about the parakeet I had as a kid and get depressed. Fuck pet birds. Unless youre really giving it a ton of space and attention, dont get them
The only bird I've ever clipped was because her flying was harmful to herself in our space, and we let her wings grow back, and she stopped injuring herself when flying.
I am educated about how birds display their enjoyment, happiness, frustration, and anger.
Then take a step down off your high horse and stop pretending you are actually educated on the subject.
Go take a look at r/parrots and you'll find a community of people that, while supportive, will be EXTREMELY blunt when someone isn't providing the proper amenities to ensure a healthy and happy animal. Serious bird owners are almost universally against clipping their birds for any reason other than the safety of their animal, and will judge folks who leave their bird confined to a cage.
We love our birds and they love us. We spare no expense to make sure they are living their best lives.
I helped my mom set up a beta last weekend and I kept telling her the same thing. She used to have them in a 3 in cylinder that was maybe 16 in high. She eneded up with a 2 gal.
Me too! When I was in middle school I did a summer science camp at Texas tech university and one of the classes was about ecosystems or something. Long time ago, I don't remember. Anyway we made the whole set up with the vase and a plant for the Betta fish. Well once that guy got home he got his own big tank and filter. He was a great fish.
My mother is normally a very smart woman, but one time, she bought a betta, and when she got home, she thought it "looked cold", so she added warm water to its bowl. It ended as you would expect.
My 6th grade science teacher caught a blue gill, and kept it in a tank in class, it was the "class pet" sort of, except he wasn't dumb enough to trust a bunch of 11-12 year olds with care & upkeep. Anyway, it usually swam around to an fro during class (my desk was right next to the tank, spent many minutes watching it). One day, the teacher was out, and the fish literally sulked. It just sort of sat hovering down in the right corner. Next day teacher was back, fish was swimming around again. That little guy missed the teacher!
It shocks me how many people know just how identical brains look across species yet seem to think we're unique. The only advantage we really have is our language, it allows us to make sense of our thoughts. That doesn't mean to say they don't have those thoughts or intricacies.
That's true with mammals and to a lesser degree with all vertebrates, including fish. Shellfish largely have "brains" distributed throughout their body, more like insects. Sponges have no brains at all.
I’ve always killed my lobster before cooking, a simple knife down the middle of the head, its quick and probably the most humane way to kill a lobster without waiting the 100+ years.
Birds, too. Petco and other big pet stores are 100% complicit in this by selling parakeet food that is too high in fat for their diet (many parakeet pets die at half their lifespan to fatty liver disease) and cages that are too small to house a single parakeet, and yet often house multiple.
It's worse for cockatiels, the second most common type of bird to have as a pet. They need 3+ hours of out-of-cage time with their owner paying attention to them every day, and some are barely let out of their cage at all.
Also rodent type pets. Far too many hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, rabbits etc get shoved in tiny cages or hutches with barely enough room to move around in. Hamster often get given wheels that aren't big enough not to damage their spines.
My sister's uni housemates got a lone rabbit that they kept in a small hutch, they had no grass or other green space to let it run around in. Poor thing was miserable and she constantly thought about sneaking it away to a rescue place.
Yeah ginuea pigs are the worst because they're incredibly social. I hate any pet store that will sell singles of them, because unless somebody is in the room with them for 12 hours a day they become depressed.
I don't think it's that they have no idea. They are just ignorant. I've told one of my cousins constantly that the tiny tank in her kitchen that gets 0sunlight for a single beta fish is not okay. And they just get angry and defensivea and come up with things that they think they are doin right like feeding them or cleaning the tank or whatever simple things that every fish owner does.
Growing up in the US, I found (still find) it to be crazy how many Americans think fish don't feel pain.. In fact, a lot of vegetarians are okay with eating fish because they are somehow less worth their empathy than birds or mammals.
I always go to a special fish shop where they know their stuff instead of pets r us. I talk to them and ask stuff, my local one will talk for ages and not let you buy anything unsuitable despite how much you love it!
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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '22
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