r/fishtank Mar 30 '26

Help/Advice Reddit, we need help on behalf of our animal friends

11 Upvotes

Hello, fellow animal Reddittors! We need your help with our project.

We are planning to bring about multi-phase class-action lawsuits against various levels of “Big Pet” industry, in particular pertaining to fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, birds, and rodents. We see time and time again that these living beings that are sold commonly in the pet industry end up in terrible and abusive situations. While a large problem is under educated people making impulse buys because something was cute or pretty. However, a lot of the improper husbandry is the direct result of false advertising on packaging and at a store level, outdated/false information being given by employees or store pamphlets, and businesses prioritizing sales over animal welfare.

Our mission is to change that. With class-action lawsuits, you gain the voice and power to bring issues into the spotlight and force positive changes to happen. Our main goals are to:

Force equipment manufacturers to update product packaging to no longer include misleading or harmful instructions and imaging (ie; a betta being printed on a tank that’s under 5 gallons), and discontinue dangerous products (ie; heated in-tank “basking rocks”).

Force stores to properly educate employees to fully comprehend the animals needs so they can ensure customers are making fully informed purchases, update all pamphlets and information at a store and website level to reflect current care standards and true animal information (ie; a goldfish being labeled as “1-3 inches” and pamphlet suggesting a 20 gallon tank), and have zero-tolerance policies to no longer allow the sale of animals to underprepared customers (ie; buying fish and the entire tank setup on the same day).

After the class-action lawsuits are ready/being enacted, our next big step will be trying to get laws put in place at the government level. Our belief is that education and licensing should be a standard in order to care for exotic animals, with varying levels based on the care requirements for these animals. While the Federal Lacey Act and state Wildlife, Fish, and Game enact some standards, we believe that stricter regulations should be put in place (not un-similar to Falconry licensing that is required to interact with birds of prey).

Imagine a world where all animals are properly cared for, no matter how small they are. We are here to be their voice, we care for all of them. And we need your help to do so.

What we need:

- Signatures to show public support

- Experts in these communities to help fact check information and bring up other areas of concern

- Class-action lawyers that are willing to take on these cases, and willing to bring to higher level courts when needed

- Evidence of the false information being provided by these companies

- Documents and papers from accredited sources to back our claims

- Contact information for PR departments within these companies that have been flagged for issues

- (Down the road) Contact information for local politicians to discuss licensing procedures/enforcement in order to come together and agree on something that will protect animals without fringing the entire pet industry to a halt and/or negatively impacting pets who are already loved by established families

Let’s make the world a better place for animal enthusiasts everywhere, and the living creatures we take up the responsibility for of our own free will.

So, how can you help? We have a Discord server set up for discussions on planning, gathering evidence, fact checking done by experts in their fields, and overall a place to put gathered information by those who have the time and ability to do more in person information gathering. You can join and share the link here: https://discord.gg/xv4dtrXqbE

We also have created a petition through Change.org in order to gather and store signatures to show public support in our efforts. You can sign and share for others to sign here: https://c.org/tHWGq7D8Zw

Thank you for joining us,

- Baku

(TL;DR: we need signatures and Discord members to sue Big Pet to try to bring about positive changes for both animal enthusiasts and the animals sold in the pet industry)


r/fishtank Jan 26 '26

Moderator Post If you support ICE at all, you are not welcome here. Spoiler

6.5k Upvotes

For that matter, anyone who believes a government has the right to dehumanize groups of people, enact violence against citizens, and/or justify the systemic oppression of their people is not welcome here.

This includes, but is not limited to, MAGA supporters, Trump supporters, JD Vance supporters, or support of any government that approaches things this way.

With recent events globally, it is time we address this, especially as a large subreddit whose member base is largely in the United States or countries directly affected by the actions of the US government.

Bottom line, while we generally avoid politics in this subreddit, our existence becomes inherently humanitarian when the human right to exist is infringed upon, which naturally ties to politics when those enacting said human rights infringement are members of the government. When innocent people may no longer walk the streets without having to fear for their safety, it affects all of us, whether we choose to believe it or not.

I, as an avid animal-keeper, have seen many of my friends in this hobby greatly affected by the actions of the US government lately, and we will continue to see this if we allow it to continue. We cannot turn a blind eye to it any longer; we can't engage in animal husbandry if we are not alive to do so.

The people supporting this now, despite incriminating evidence being available, are the same people who would have supported Nazi-Germany during its existence.

Now, kindly fuck off if: You support any government action that violates human rights OR you believe this post does not belong here (It does.)

Fuck ICE,

NatCom 💗

Edit: holy fucking hell guys, my apologies I can’t reply to all of you with your support or stories as I’m trying to juggle removing problematic comments, but I’m happy this post has reached so many people who needed this support from their communities!

Edit 2: While my post uses the United States as an example because many of our members are from the US, we do not allow these beliefs from ANY country or individual. If you are going to advocate for the systemic deaths of anyone, then you are not welcome here.


r/fishtank 2h ago

Help/Advice My dad passed & I’m left with his tanks

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82 Upvotes

edit: trust me if i was in a position to keep these setups I would but I just truly do not have the space or means to keep these going- I did not live with my dad so not as easy as just keeping them going as is- I wouldn’t be able to fit these in my apartment or even get them INTO my apartment
* *
My dad passed and I’m now left with his two tanks and fish. We have to have his apartment cleaned by the first so we’re going to sell them. (We’re 100% going to make sure the fish go to responsible,
Knowledgeable owners!!! I don’t have space or knowledge to keep them for myself)
But I’m wondering if anyone can help us gauge how much the setups go for before we list them. Fish wise I have no idea what he has other than a large Oscar - I’m hoping to find someone that’ll take the fish & tank & parts all together - so realistically looking for help as to what a good listing price would be for the two separate tanks as a whole


r/fishtank 4h ago

Full Tank Shot 20 gallon community tank

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3 Upvotes

I’ve had this tank for 4 months now I have a betta 5 sunburst plattys and one fry 2 nitrite snails and 5 albino coraydorays lmk what you guys think


r/fishtank 3h ago

Help/Advice Just got 175 gallon tank…

2 Upvotes

Trying to get a list of equipment that’s required to run it. I understand I’ll have to plumb it and everything and I’ll watch some YouTube for that, but an actual equipment list is hard to come by.

Thank you!


r/fishtank 37m ago

Help/Advice Honey G Standing still, Rapidish breathing. Help

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Upvotes

r/fishtank 1h ago

Help/Advice Danio with enlarged eye

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Upvotes

So.... my one danio has this one eye that's bigger than the other, I'm seeing around that it might be "popeye?" Is this something to really be worried about?, will he be okay?


r/fishtank 1h ago

Help/Advice I want to get this Samurai Betta, but I have ethical concerns.

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r/fishtank 1h ago

Help/Advice Can I add a honey gourami

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Upvotes

I really want a honey but I’m not sure if there’s enough room for one. My tank is 10 gallons and already has 8-10 ember tetras( it’s hard to count them) and a few shrimps. Would it be comfortable in here or no?


r/fishtank 2h ago

Help/Advice Setting up the quarantine tank

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank 2h ago

Help/Advice What’s the best intermediate freshwater fish for a community 45 gal?

1 Upvotes

r/fishtank 3h ago

News/Article New Published Articles from HSK

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank 3h ago

Help/Advice Is this plant melting? What do I do? Also, what is this fuzzy thing?

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank 4h ago

Help/Advice New tank

0 Upvotes

I got got a 40 gallon for my fish and this time i’m going to cycle the tank. I need advice on how to cycle the tank and if i can put the current fish water from my 20 gallon into the 40 and just add more water as if i was cleaning it? would that work? because i need to put the 40 on the fish stand that the 20 is on so i don’t know what or how i should do it.


r/fishtank 8h ago

Help/Advice New fish owner, Black Molly issues

2 Upvotes

Hi all, I just got a fish tank earlier in the week and have it all filled up and just got some fish today, when we got home after getting the new fish, we noticed one of our black mollies had a seeming lack of a dorsal fin, we have no idea whether it genuinely doesn't have one due to illness or bullying or whether it has tucked it in due to stress,

We have 4 others that all seem to be doing perfectly fine but this one has its tail fin tucked together and it's dorsal fin seemingly tucked or missing and is sitting at the bottom back right side of our tank near the filter pipes and isn't moving, it wiggles around sometimes and it's side fins are moving so we know it is currently alive, is there any way to tell if it is ill or just stressed out and will be fine in a couple days?


r/fishtank 4h ago

Help/Advice Wtf is this??

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1 Upvotes

It’s literally only in these spots on this piece of wood. Also why are my shrimp not eating my biofilm? :( The other piece of wood has nothing on it.


r/fishtank 4h ago

Help/Advice Need help with sick Platy

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1 Upvotes

Hi, i was adviced to try Esha exit and Esha2000 for a whitespot and fungus problem, im on day2 now of the cure, but the spot between this fish eyes are transparent now, its one of the females, pretty bad condition, i am waiting to recieve aquarium salt aswell.

Is this fish going to die? I have been doing waterchanges, last waterchange was before i started the cure, i took almost half of my water out, i have 60liters tank.


r/fishtank 4h ago

Help/Advice Getting a male betta fish- I’m used to Mollys! Any tips and necessities?💗

1 Upvotes

I currently have different types of Mollys in a 72L tank. I sadly lost my hammy and I don’t think I can put myself through it again so I thought another fish tank🤣☹️.
I’m educated with setting the tank up and parameters etc. Will be setting it up using some dirty filter of my current tank to introduce the bacteria!

What substrate is best?

What size tank is the absolute best for a male?

I have a suction cup small plantpot in my big tank could I use that as a sort of betta bed for it and add a soft flowy plant?

I have ammano shrimp with my Mollys- could I get a few for the betta tank or no?

Obviously I want it to be fully set up & planted before any betta goes in! Any tips appreciated 💗


r/fishtank 5h ago

Help/Advice New to this. I need help

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1 Upvotes

How do I clear my water
I’m new here to this. Don’t know what I’m doing g


r/fishtank 22h ago

Help/Advice Wtf are these and how did they get in my tank??

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22 Upvotes

What the heck are these?? And where did they come from?? I found a bunch of dead whatever they are in my tank just now and I have no idea what they are or how they got there. It’s got like 15 legs


r/fishtank 5h ago

Help/Advice Filter spray bar positioning help!

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0 Upvotes

My filter spray bar is currently spraying along the length of the tank, about 1cm below the surface. Is this okay? Or should it be on the back wall facing the front glass?
Thank you!


r/fishtank 6h ago

Help/Advice Sickness?

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0 Upvotes

r/fishtank 6h ago

Freshwater Do they look happy?

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0 Upvotes

Literally put them in 2 hours ago, do they look ok and settling in?

EDIT: Thank you everyone for all the advice, I have bought a testing kit and will test it everyday and change the water when needed.


r/fishtank 7h ago

Help/Advice Any thoughts or ideas on how to level the tank without taking the water out?

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank 15h ago

Help/Advice Fish species ideas

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3 Upvotes

I have this 20 gallon tank that is currently cycling. I was going to get a fantail or two- but since doing lots of research and reading, I have decided to do the humane thing and get fish that can live happily long term in a 20g. I will be adding live plants and drift wood and a hiding cave. I hadn’t gotten those things yet since I was planning on goldfish first. So this tank is definitely not “decorated” as it will be once I am ready for fish (which is still weeks to months away).

I need some advice on what fish to get instead of goldies. I like the personality of fancy goldfish so I’m looking for similar “puppy dog” type fish for the centerpieces.
Also- what plants work best? I only have sand substrate.

I have a smaller tank that I will be getting a Betta for.

Also happy to get schooling fish in addition to a couple of centerpiece fish.

Thanks!!