To think it’s out of order to put goldfish inside a water feature

[Lardlizard]

Vote yanbu if you agree

Someone I know has a water feature just like this

Here

She’s actually put five! Small goldfish in the bottom part 😵

I though goldfish needed loads of water.

Small fish grow to bigger fish.

Depends on the water feature, surely? If you live in a castle and the moat is your water feature, I can't see a problem with a couple of goldfish. The one you linked to, probably not, although I am struggling to get to grips with the scale of it.

YANBU. That's stupidity at best. Down right cruelty at worse.

I would report that. Cruelty.

More worrying is that someone would pay that much for such a piece of tat.

That's much too small, my goldfish are 8 inches long and live in a 10' x 6' pond with an average depth of 3' and max depth of 4'6"

It's absolutely brain dead and cruel 😡

The water feature is very small - H 66 x W 89 x D 77cm.

Is it outside, or inside? Either way, she's being cruel. Report her.

Surely they will die !

That water feature, no, the owner is an utter idiot and those fish will die.

Water features in general? You can't generalise, there's too much variety. Cascade into a fishpond? Fine. Fountains coming out of a shallow basin? No.

Outside

I thought water features used the same water throughout? So sort of sucked in water at the bottom to spit it out at the top? Surely the fish will get sucked into the mechanism?

If it's in the sun, they will overheat.

They will also get very hot in such a small volume of water if the sun is on it for even half an hour. Very cruel.

@Elephantonascooter

I thought water features used the same water throughout? So sort of sucked in water at the bottom to spit it out at the top? Surely the fish will get sucked into the mechanism?

All fish ponds and aquariums should have a filter that moves water through, you only change around 10% of the water each week.

The cruelty in that feature is lack of space for swimming, surface area for oxygen to get into the water and temperature regulation.

Absolutely not ok.
I m surprised any fish place would sell them to her unless she seriously lied.
Ds used to work in an aquarium. He would ask heaps of questions about where the fish were going to be living/fish care.
They used to refuse to sell to people who didn't have the right size tank and try to educate them on appropriate care.

I'm not defending it but I think goldfish only grow as big as their tank will allow, so it's unlikely they will grow much

Please call the RSPCA. They might be only fish but no animal deserves such cruelty.

That's horrific, frankly.

I always remember a dairy farmer of mine putting fish into all his cows drinking troughs, inside and outside. They are the algae etc and kept it clean for drinking. They seemed to thrive tbh, but they were old green, deep stone troughs.

*ate all the algae

@recklessruby

Absolutely not ok. I m surprised any fish place would sell them to her unless she seriously lied. Ds used to work in an aquarium. He would ask heaps of questions about where the fish were going to be living/fish care. They used to refuse to sell to people who didn't have the right size tank and try to educate them on appropriate care.

In my experience as a fish keeper of many years most places don't ask the size of aquarium when the really should. I know pets at home ask but their fish point system results in over stocking anyway so a bit pointless. My local fish place are fabulous, they ask for a picture of your aquarium/pond (so they can see size and to make sure you are buying compatible fish)as well as a water sample before they sell. I went to one shop as it was advertising a particular fish species I wanted (Congo tetra anyone is interested) and they sold me 4 without asking any questions about my aquariums.

@GreyGardens88

I'm not defending it but I think goldfish only grow as big as their tank will allow, so it's unlikely they will grow much

This is a myth.

The fish can become stunted and very ill reducing its lifespan considerably. Goldfish should really live for a decade at least, many people don't realise this.

YANBU, that’s nowhere near enough space for fish!