Why are millennial fish such snowflakes?

[WellErrr]

Just taken DD to buy some fish. V exciting all round.
Got to the shop to be told that we can’t have any fish until our aquarium and filter has been set up for a certain amount of time, we can’t have a goldfish at all unless we buy an aquarium bigger than my car, and that even if we DO fulfil all these requirements, we still can’t have a fish as they can only be in the bag for 45 mins and we live over an hour from the shop.

Now, I’m not saying that winning fish at hoopla is right, but as children we won many fish at Christmas fairs who lived happily for many years in filter-less tanks with regular clean outs.

Are today’s fish really such snowflakes!? DD quite sad leaving without her fishy 🐠

Good on the store I use to work in an aquarium shop and the amount of people who wanted to buy fish to put in completely unsuitable tanks was ridiculous I had one woman bring in a flat see through vase that probably held about 1.5lt and want a goldfish to put in it I wouldn’t sell to her

my goodness so many preachy people on this thread 🙈 its obviously light hearted! it made me smile anyway.

I won a tiny goldfish on a fair when I was younger and when my mum wasn't looking tipped it in our pond. it lived for an absolute crazy amount of time. 20 years?! it was a beast.

I do see what you mean. My pets at home shop were very stern. We talked about the water preparation time, the size of the tank (it doesn’t have to be bigger than your tv) and the lifespan.

I hope one day to have a pond as my childhood goldfish did amazingly when they moved into one.

My only concern is what is done to goldfish to ensure they do not reproduce. Other fish can be bought on a male / female basis but not goldfish....

If you cant be bothered to wait until your tank has cycled, invest in the proper equipment etc then maybe they arnt the pets for you. How about some seamonkeys?

We went through the pets @home checks in Jan (littlest spent his Christmas money on a fish tank). We invested in some Danios fish, because we were informed they were resilient and suited to the size of the tank. Maybe have a look at different fish OP? Littlest is very proud/caring of them.

I just don’t understand how a big bowl of water with a scuba diver and a plant in it was fine for the fish of the 80s and 90s, but means a sudden end for the fish of today?

The whole, it was fine 30 years ago so it just be fine now, argument is about as piss poor ignorant as it gets.
We improve. We learn. We evolve. Why would you want to inflict harm and cruelty that we didn’t understand/accepted 30 years ago when we do get it now?
Just because something was acceptable then, doesn’t mean it is now and you’re just highlighting your ignorance by saying otherwise

In my experience, the fish won at fun fairs actually died really fast. So yay for improving standards.

Just because it used to be done doesn't make it right. My gran told me we should pick up our rabbits by their ears. When I refused to do that she told me that her dad raised rabbits (presumably for the table, although she didn't say so) and "so she knows".

I can recommend You & Your Aquarium by Dick Mills OP, it's a great book showing the different kinds of aquarium set ups and details of how to keep various kinds of fish types. It was enormously helpful to me when I was planning a tropical aquarium.