Nicer than usual pet shop story

[blue]

IMO, fish cannot be compared to social creatures like dogs and cats. Fish need a well-maintained tank, food and little more. Dogs need a safe environment, humans and other dogs to interact with, exercise, food, fresh water, grooming . . . etc. While I am sure there are "fish farms" that are inhumane in raising their fish, it is much easier to raise a lot of fish without neglecting them.
I used to breed african cichlids and sold the fry that I would not be keeping to a local pet store. Guess I was a fish BYB.

I'm not sure about small mammals (mice, rats, ferrets, rabbits etc) being sold in pet stores. I don't know how the are raised, I haven't researched that at all.

Certain fish and many rodents are social animals.

Many fish that are local bred and sold to stores being a BYB in that case is a good thing because it leads to less selling of wild caught fish. The wild caught fish trade in many countries destroys the local population of certain breeds of fish. I sold Albino Bristlenose plecs and Clown Plecs to local shops, I would have sold Sting Ray pups if I had kept my rays. Some rays are very social. Schooling fish need a litterally school to be happy and to breed. Captive bred are much better than any wild caught animal, fish, arachnid, reptile, and even rodent.

 

[Chul3l3ies1126]

One of our Petsmart's allows people to adopt the animals right in the store... not the greatest of ideas, but I am not very fond of that particular rescue group for a lot of other reasons as well.

That's what the one here where I live did. The Grand Opening of it, they came in with 18 puppies from the humane society, and were left with only 4 at the end of the day. I like the idea of adopting, but not in that way. The process that they used to have: have a 4-6 day wait after applying for adoption/ have a humane society consultant go to your house and check the living conditions/ fenced in yard required/ shelter... etc. Thats the way its supposed to be done in my beliefs, but just having them there to be taken right away to who knows what kind of living conditions... I'm against that.

 

[blue]

It must be nice to ignore pets because they are aquatic.

 

[RD]

Oh absolutely fish are social, but with other fish. They depend on humans for food and adequate living conditions, not companionship, exercise or socialization. What do you mean by ignoring them? I couldn't neglect or abuse a fish any more than I could neglect or abuse a dog.

What I'm getting at is the fact that dogs are more demanding than fish. That's all. Dogs need more attention than fish, more care than fish and more dedication than fish. As a result, it is EASIER to mass-produce fish while still treating them well. A litter of puppies is a full-time job if the breeder is responsible and watchful with them. They need to be watched almost constantly. Fry require occasional check-ins and special food.

Do you see what I mean? It's not a matter of which deserves better treatment, it's a matter of which is a more demanding pet. It takes more work to keep a dog happy, healthy and well-balanced than it does to keep a school of fish. As a result, breed-for-profit mills are especially hard on animals like dogs, because they need so much care and are deprived of almost ALL of it in mills.

I never had wild caught fish, but I did start off with some F1 duboisi. Never knew that wild caught was a bad thing, yikes. Thats a whole different topic though, sorry OP. ^_^

 

[blue]

The smaller the tank the more work is involved, that also depends on the tank load, an exception my 125g could foul over night and need a 75% water change in the morning. Depending on the type of fish the parimeters of the water might need checking and adjusting daily, some very experienced fish keepers have computor controls and sensors to keep their tanks at optimum conditions. There are fish keepers that spend as much or more to keep their fish in perfect conditions as well as perfect health, as the common dog owner does for training housing and feeding their dog, in some case more.