Opinions on fish as pets?
- Thread starter lizziety
- Start date
MokaAkashiya
KyraTheVampyre
They can be quite amusing pets but also very difficult to keep. I always hear they are easy to take care of. Wrong! It's very stressful! I have had so many die because of the smallest thing changing or whatever. On my last 4 fish before I change the tank over to a reptile tank.
lmao this thread reminded me of when my brother wanted to 'pet' his fish when he was little so he ripped it out of the tank and it died. i think he was only six, i sort of laugh about it because he was So ****ing Dumb? but i feel bad for the fish.. he's now a fish enthusiast (somehow??????)
but yea, i like fish. they're very relaxing to watch and it eases my anxiety. unfortunately i can't get any because my cat has a high prey drive and i have enough animals (one cat, 6 rats and a MBkingsnek). i like exotic fish, like shrimp, sea snails, crabs, jellyfish, the really fat goldfish things and catfish and koi. but i know it'd be selfish of me to get a fish without being dedicated to taking care of it.
but yea, i like fish. they're very relaxing to watch and it eases my anxiety. unfortunately i can't get any because my cat has a high prey drive and i have enough animals (one cat, 6 rats and a MBkingsnek). i like exotic fish, like shrimp, sea snails, crabs, jellyfish, the really fat goldfish things and catfish and koi. but i know it'd be selfish of me to get a fish without being dedicated to taking care of it.
animalcrisscross
Town Bully
fish are cool but i see them more as a decoration than a pet tbh. a lot of them are pretty or exotic. that's kinda why people are so drawn to them imo. having a nice aquarium and some fish friends make rooms look nicer, like hanging a fancy painting on the wall. they're usually the pet you get when your parents don't wanna have to clean up after a cat, dog, or caged animal so there is a bit of stigma to them. i personally prefer a pet i can cuddle and play with. or at least one that acknowledges my existence. i want a friend/companion. fish just don't give me that. i'm not totally against them. i wouldn't say they're boring. everyone likes what they like. they just wouldn't be too high on the list if i was looking for a pet.
KaydeeKrunk
The Late Great Turt
I love fish, and I think people don't like things they can't hold or pet. But fish are really rad. I shared a room with a 7 foot tropical fish tank and it was arguably the coolest nightlight ever. I loved just watching the fish swim and interact and it was fun to feed them, we had a naso tang that would come and eat seaweed from your hands and let you pet her a bit she was a sweetie. The fish would follow you and had personalities. We had a little striped fish who would hide all day and then at night come over to the side of the tank my bed was on and just watch me, I called him a stalker fish. I really like fish and wish I could have some now but Bowie's tank takes up a lot of space in my room so I don't have a proper area for a fish, and I dissuaded my sister from getting a beta because she's had a ton of them and keeps them in tiny bowls with no heat or filtration and they always die in a month or so, I told her what they really need and she wasn't interested in getting one anymore. But at least I saved a beta from having a sad short life.
KaydeeKrunk
The Late Great Turt
My close family friend got a .25 goldfish, as turtle food. The turtle ate all of the other goldfish but this one was crafty and hid, eventually it got too big for the turtle's tank and he himself was eating the feeder fish in the tank. So they moved him into a bigger tank on his own, he grew too big for that tank and he ended up being this freaking massive dude, named Oscar. He lived for seriously the longest time, years and years, ended up getting some tumors and eventually died. It was so rad to see him grow from this tiny thing though.
- - - Post Merge - - -
We also had a fish tank growing up in the garage of all places, but it was a nice size, maybe a few feet long. Just freshwater but I remember going to Petco and picking out fish, like the little skeleton fish that are see-through and neon tetras and stuff. And we had a Plecco that we bought at a few inches long to be our cleaner and through all the fish we had come and go he survived, he ended up getting like over a foot long and he was always my favorite, I remember making kissy faces at him as he sucked away the algae off the sides of the tank. =]
i love fish, we just got a new tank + fish a few weeks ago and i adore them. i think most people blow them off as you can't hold them or play with them, but i love to watch them swim and the sound of the water is really soothing to me. i just hate having to clean the tank, lmao.
Piezahummy
Ravioli Monster ♥
Having a fish as a pet is the dumbest idea ever.
All they do is just swim around the small aquarium sucking water and then when they die thay get flushed down the toilet.
All they do is just swim around the small aquarium sucking water and then when they die thay get flushed down the toilet.
merve-chan
Senior Member
I had an aquarium filled with various fish when I was younger. I always thought it was pretty boring because you can't give/get much affection to/from fish. It was fun to watch them swim, but that also gets boring after the first 10 minutes. I think fish are nice pets, but I often wonder if we do them more bad than good by keeping them trapped in small glass bowls....
OT: I find it fascinating how bigger fish work though. No matter how hard they try, they just can't keep the Great White Shark in an aquarium because of the way they breathe. To breathe they have to constantly swim through the water. So when they're put into these large tanks, they would bump into the glass tanks and therefore be unable to breathe and would pass away within about a week or so. It's sad, but it's definitely a learning point about the way the ocean fish work and why we should protect animals.
But honestly my cat is lower maintenance than a goldfish and I can cuddle with her. Fish are soothing and all but they're pretty dull of a pet overall. But if you're into fish and everything, I can see the fascination with fish as pets.
But honestly my cat is lower maintenance than a goldfish and I can cuddle with her. Fish are soothing and all but they're pretty dull of a pet overall. But if you're into fish and everything, I can see the fascination with fish as pets.
Schwarzkopf
Asleep
I kinda like them, I just think there's not much you can do with them other than watch and feed them.
HungryForCereal
if it was you I'd never want to leave...
theyre ok but i think its pointless to keep them as pets as you cant interact with them much.
BrightLark
Member
I've been neglecting buying new fish for my tank, but I have a 30-gallon and I put a lot of pride in it. It took a ton of research to understand what the fish need and how to keep them alive, but it was worth it. One disappointing thing is when a fish dies on the first day because the conditions of their previous tank were so poor. I'll never buy a fish from my local Pet Supplies Plus because every single one has passed away within 24 hours. Now I get them from a little "Mom and Pop" shop in my area that knows what they're doing, or PetSmart.
koopakingg
Senior Member
I mean, I like them, but they're just kinda.....there. They're fun to watch for a few seconds though.
B e t h a n y
I hate pears
It depends, I've always thought of it a bit cruel, like those fish are supposed to be in the ocean not a tiny little bowl.
TheMisaMisa
so lost
They're boring but beautiful if their tanks are well maintained. I'd rather have a pet that I can interact with. Also, their tanks are annoying to keep clean...when I had aquatic pets, the tanks they inhabited would grow nasty algae and bugs would get attracted to the water. Bleh. I'd rather stick with dogs....
my very first pet was a fish from science that i had adopted that is named big billy. contrary to other beliefs, big billy was not purchased through a random pet store and brought home, no. big billy was more than a boring old fish; he had the most exciting life time ever.
story of big billy:
he was a science project, i think we were learning about sustaining life/environments. it was the last month of school, and everyone was very excited to handle actual science things. it was about 6th grade, so that was a while ago if i'm in high school right now. anyways, big billy was not originally named big billy. he was really just billy the fish at first. we made a terrarium with big billy in the bottom half of it, and two grasshoppers on the top. i think the grasshoppers were named freddy and eddy, respectively. but anyway, the normal billy was all happy, until one day, we had to move the tanks from our desks.
the teacher specifically said to not hold it just by the top, as the terrarium would fall, and the fish part would fall. but what did my stupid group mate do? yes, hold it just by the top. it was like watching a horror movie; billy's part of the terrarium falling in slow motion. billy laid on the floor, and we all just stared at him in shock, until someone was brave enough to bring him to the class fish bowl. thankfully, he lived, but we had to remake the terrarium.
the next day, however, a new fish was in billy's bowl. he looked way bigger and fatter than the original billy, hence the new name: big billy. after a few more weeks, the school year was ending, and our project was coming to a close. we were supposed to inject new chemicals into the terrariums, thus killing the creatures that lived there. i was shocked. my emotional attachment to big billy was too great, as well as the other members of our group, so i asked the teacher if i could bring big billy home. she was apprehensive, as the terrarium was huge to be carried all the way home, but she said yes. however, another group member also wanted big billy. so we decided on the honorable way of winning him, rock paper scissors.
this was a tense game, it was out of three because our little 6th grade hearts couldn't handle losing the first one. i was convinced that big billy belonged to me, so i tried my best to win. and i did. the other guy ended up with the grasshoppers, which i didn't care about, they freaked me out. so i carried my prize home. my parents wanted to kill big billy, of course, since they were shocked i brought home a pet from school, but they ended up letting him live on the kitchen counter. every few days we'd have to redo his water since it would evaporate, so we would leave a cup out for 24 hours and pour it in.
big billy really wasn't supposed to live for more than a month, but he ended up living a long life of four, all the way to the next school year. but his health started declining a week into the school year. he would no longer swim around, or move. he would stay hidden in the reeds all the time. his once bright yellow color faded into a dull orange, and i think i knew then he was about to die. after a few more days, big billy couldn't even swim; he was stuck at the bottom of the bowl, barely breathing. that's when i knew it was time for him to go.
when my mother told me to get him out of the bowl to die, i almost cried. my first pet ever, about to be taken away from me. it really hurt, even if he was just a goldfish from a science lab. he was my pet all the same. right when i was about to take him out though, he suddenly swam around the bowl, zipping around side to side, almost to try to convince me either he wasn't dead, or he had a great will to live. then, he was back to normal. of course, i knew he was still going to die at any given hour, but i was very happy that he at least tried to live and fought for it.
after a few hours, just like i predicted, big billy flipped and floated to the top of the water. and he was dead. my mother and i stored him in a small ziplock bag with a little bit of paper towel in it, to dry him off for the funeral ceremony. yes, we had a ceremony. my dad wasn't in america at this time, so we face-timed him so he could attend. it was just me holding big billy in my hands, and my sister and i saying some things to him. my sister did end up crying, she was younger than i, and excited to have a pet. however i, remained pretty decent. at the last second when my parents said their "prayers" to him, although i 100% knew they were just happy he was gone, i gave my fish to my mother, since i couldn't bare see him being flushed down. i walked out to the living room, sat down, and heard the toilet flush with my sister saying "goodbye, big billy!" my dad joked about how he was happy that the fish was gone, and i went upstairs to make a nice poster. it read "rip big billy, 20**-20**, may he rest in peace."
i hung it up where his bowl used to be, but it was taken down six months later because my dad despised it for some reason. maybe because it reminded him of death, but i always thought it was a sentimental piece of the house.
big billy may not have been in my life for very long, and he sure wasn't that dog or cat or whatever animal people usually have, but he was MY pet and he was the best pet i could've asked for. i told him many of my secrets, and i swear he listened to them. he calmed me down when he swam about, and it taught me a lot more about responsibility for another life form than having a sister had, i know, i'm terrible. big billy was a good friend to me, and just the great amount that i went through trying to keep him and obtaining him still amazes me. it also still amazes me how he lived so long, and how lucky i was to win that rock paper scissors game.
fish are good pets. they may not be the pets you want, but they may just be the pets you'll need. rest in peace, big billy
story of big billy:
he was a science project, i think we were learning about sustaining life/environments. it was the last month of school, and everyone was very excited to handle actual science things. it was about 6th grade, so that was a while ago if i'm in high school right now. anyways, big billy was not originally named big billy. he was really just billy the fish at first. we made a terrarium with big billy in the bottom half of it, and two grasshoppers on the top. i think the grasshoppers were named freddy and eddy, respectively. but anyway, the normal billy was all happy, until one day, we had to move the tanks from our desks.
the teacher specifically said to not hold it just by the top, as the terrarium would fall, and the fish part would fall. but what did my stupid group mate do? yes, hold it just by the top. it was like watching a horror movie; billy's part of the terrarium falling in slow motion. billy laid on the floor, and we all just stared at him in shock, until someone was brave enough to bring him to the class fish bowl. thankfully, he lived, but we had to remake the terrarium.
the next day, however, a new fish was in billy's bowl. he looked way bigger and fatter than the original billy, hence the new name: big billy. after a few more weeks, the school year was ending, and our project was coming to a close. we were supposed to inject new chemicals into the terrariums, thus killing the creatures that lived there. i was shocked. my emotional attachment to big billy was too great, as well as the other members of our group, so i asked the teacher if i could bring big billy home. she was apprehensive, as the terrarium was huge to be carried all the way home, but she said yes. however, another group member also wanted big billy. so we decided on the honorable way of winning him, rock paper scissors.
this was a tense game, it was out of three because our little 6th grade hearts couldn't handle losing the first one. i was convinced that big billy belonged to me, so i tried my best to win. and i did. the other guy ended up with the grasshoppers, which i didn't care about, they freaked me out. so i carried my prize home. my parents wanted to kill big billy, of course, since they were shocked i brought home a pet from school, but they ended up letting him live on the kitchen counter. every few days we'd have to redo his water since it would evaporate, so we would leave a cup out for 24 hours and pour it in.
big billy really wasn't supposed to live for more than a month, but he ended up living a long life of four, all the way to the next school year. but his health started declining a week into the school year. he would no longer swim around, or move. he would stay hidden in the reeds all the time. his once bright yellow color faded into a dull orange, and i think i knew then he was about to die. after a few more days, big billy couldn't even swim; he was stuck at the bottom of the bowl, barely breathing. that's when i knew it was time for him to go.
when my mother told me to get him out of the bowl to die, i almost cried. my first pet ever, about to be taken away from me. it really hurt, even if he was just a goldfish from a science lab. he was my pet all the same. right when i was about to take him out though, he suddenly swam around the bowl, zipping around side to side, almost to try to convince me either he wasn't dead, or he had a great will to live. then, he was back to normal. of course, i knew he was still going to die at any given hour, but i was very happy that he at least tried to live and fought for it.
after a few hours, just like i predicted, big billy flipped and floated to the top of the water. and he was dead. my mother and i stored him in a small ziplock bag with a little bit of paper towel in it, to dry him off for the funeral ceremony. yes, we had a ceremony. my dad wasn't in america at this time, so we face-timed him so he could attend. it was just me holding big billy in my hands, and my sister and i saying some things to him. my sister did end up crying, she was younger than i, and excited to have a pet. however i, remained pretty decent. at the last second when my parents said their "prayers" to him, although i 100% knew they were just happy he was gone, i gave my fish to my mother, since i couldn't bare see him being flushed down. i walked out to the living room, sat down, and heard the toilet flush with my sister saying "goodbye, big billy!" my dad joked about how he was happy that the fish was gone, and i went upstairs to make a nice poster. it read "rip big billy, 20**-20**, may he rest in peace."
i hung it up where his bowl used to be, but it was taken down six months later because my dad despised it for some reason. maybe because it reminded him of death, but i always thought it was a sentimental piece of the house.
big billy may not have been in my life for very long, and he sure wasn't that dog or cat or whatever animal people usually have, but he was MY pet and he was the best pet i could've asked for. i told him many of my secrets, and i swear he listened to them. he calmed me down when he swam about, and it taught me a lot more about responsibility for another life form than having a sister had, i know, i'm terrible. big billy was a good friend to me, and just the great amount that i went through trying to keep him and obtaining him still amazes me. it also still amazes me how he lived so long, and how lucky i was to win that rock paper scissors game.
fish are good pets. they may not be the pets you want, but they may just be the pets you'll need. rest in peace, big billy
Soot Sprite
~dirty~
They're pretty, but I don't really want any. If I have a pet I want something I can curl up with and play with but you can't really interact much with fish. I love exotic and saltwater fish but I don't really want to put forth all the money and effort towards a pet I can only really look at.
