OMG! i feel a complaint coming on

[thisisyesterday]

Walked past our local art gallery/shop thing today and saw these in the window!

made me sad, they had 4 in the window each with a whole load of guppies in. I feel like writing to the shop to complain, didn't want to go in and have a confrontation without getting all my facts right though!

so... what can i tell them? where to start? aside from the space issue they advertise it as needing only 15 minutes time a month to keep!!!! how is that possible???

[thisisyesterday]

are there minimum requirements set out for how much space a fish has btw?
can anyone give me a link to somewhere that sets this out?

[thisisyesterday]

omg again, just noticed that they're based in my home town, which is why the galllery have them i guess!

[QueenGigantaurofMnet]

I think there is legislation about space and air.

the 15 minutesa month is probably taken care of by a feeding device that you just laod and drop in.

I do think people assume fish are somehow less worthy pets.

i know a few people who think its ok to just flush them when they become a nuisance or bored.

[EauRudolph]

Unfortunately there is no set rule about surface area, probably because no one can agree on it! Surface area is very important though and I would never recommend this sort of overpriced crap tank to anyone. 15 minutes a month, my arse. Any owner that only takes that time to look after their pet is neglecting them.

You could alert the RSPCA about it, the 2006 Animal Welfare act applies to all vertebrates and by law the owner must meet-

(a) its need for a suitable environment,
(b) its need for a suitable diet,
(c) its need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns,
(d) any need it has to be housed with, or apart from, other animals, and
(e) its need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.

You could argue that point a) is not being met but it would be a tough argument because as Queen said, people just don't care enough about fish to make a big deal of it :(

And you would have a tough time finding an expert because a lot of them work for magazines or aquatic firms and they seem to be more concerned about money than fish welfare (a quick look at all the poxy 'toy' tanks that are on sale shows that).

Basically, the whole industry is fucked. Can you tell I'm annoyed about it?

[ilovemyfestivehens]

Crikey, I have a moderately large tank in my lounge with two goldfish in and it takes about an hour a week to maintain their setup!

People think that fish are no better than plants and that it's fine to neglect them