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roughly 10 years ago, i didn't know anything about keeping goldfish. the person who sold me the fish didn't tell me about any restrictions whatsoever. just to "change the water often."

so...i bought a 2 gallon tank and stuffed 3 fancy goldfish in there. the thing is, they lived for a couple years in there, and i didn't think anything was wrong. I then bought a 10 gallon, and added 4 orandas, for a total of 7 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank!!

needless to say, they all died pretty quickly except for one of them. After they all died, I did some reading and learned what I had done.

the one fish that survived is still living (10 years old) and is doing very well in a 29 gal tank. it's 6" long and healthy. i still can't believe i had 7 in a 10 gal...almost makes me sick to my stomach

the worst tank ive ever seen was at my LfS

10gal
2 clown fish
2 banna wrasses
1 emporer angelfish
2 cleaner wrasses
over 20 corals

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Check out the tanks in Chinatown in NYC with about 20 catfish in each. Oh if u cant find it, its on the shelf next to the "hanging ducks".

The worst that I have seen is my brother-in-laws. He has one of those starter hex tanks ( 1 maybe 2 gallons ) with 1 gold fish in it. This is where it gets bad: He has not fed the fish nor cleaned the tank in about 1 year He may have fed it once or twice when he got real bored, but that would be it, and maybe topped the watter off, but I'm not sure!!

We are guessing that the fish is living off of the algea that has smuthered the tank. Even for being such a small tank, you can barely see the fish, but now and then you'll see a moving silloet of a fish

Tanks with plecos so big they can't turn around easily. I mean, like plecos the size of my forearm, easily! Large fish in small LFS display tanks. Feeder fish tanks... need I say more?

My friend who gave me her unused ten gallon used to keep several goldfish in there... plus leeches and minnows from when they went fishing over the summer. She used to take the fish out of the tank every couple weeks, take out enough water to be able to carry her tank across the hallway to the bathroom, and completely rinse EVERYthing out in the tub, scrubbing everything down. And she ran a UGF with goldfish! (The type you get at carnivals and such.)

Recently, I went over to a friend's new house as she was moving in and saw her mother's boyfriend's tank... Four giant danios, one large tetra of some kind (black tetra, maybe?), one cory trilineatus and three huge plecos (one 12" and two at 8-10", all of them at least six inches around). In a bare 55 gallon tank with a saltwater background. Apparently it's usually decorated pretty nicely, but I found it rather disturbing... I know if I moved, my tanks would be setup properly before putting the fish back in!

Oh, and a 55 gallon aquarium at a chinese restaurant, with at LEAST 100 inches worth of goldfish. And the tank wasn't full of water, either... maybe 3/4 full. There was probably 12-15 goldfish if not more, one was at least 12". And I think there was a decent sized plec in there too... very few decorations, no plants... looked very naked.

Last edited by Kitten at 08-Feb-2005 19:21

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

All you need to do is look at any "aquarium in a box" kit. They're awful!!!

The worst tank I've actually seen was a 29g with 3 large goldfish and a large CAE. That's just asking for trouble!

><>Dani<><

possibly the 30 gallon tank my department had (don't know if it's still like this) with 2 giant danios, 1 green brochis, 1 synodontis cat, 2 clown loaches, 2 serpae tetras... errr I don't remember what all else but it was overstocked, the danios didn't have horizontal room to swim, and schooling/shoaling fish were in pairs or on their own. The worst part is that the tank was set up and operated by fisheries people, who really should know better.

><>

Jack Dempsey in a bowl. She replaced it every few weeks. She refused to even think about a betta and had to have JDs because they were "pretty."

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

She replaced it every few weeks

or

The little 2 1/2 gallon tank in a pet store near me that is so overcrowded with plastic plants (in every shade of purple, red, etc.) that the fish can not even move. It has a betta, some zebra danios, some cories, an apple snail, and a couple of assorted tetras. As many times as I have complained, they still keep it up. Those poor fish are so stressed it is not even funny. Makes me SICK! I wont even shop there because of it. Poor things!

Oh yeah... and I have seen a 5 gallon with 5 convicts in it too! That was pretty bad... oh, oh... and a 20 gallon with 17 fancy goldfish, and also a 20 gallon with swordtails, a fancy goldfish, and comets all in it. I think those are the more shocking ones I have seen. Oh, one last one... a 20 gallon with a comet the size of a dinner plate and 2 plecos that were about a foot long each in it. Scarey stuff!

Probably one of those 1 gallon plastic hexagon tanks with a koi in it.

ANY feeder tank in just about every fish shop on the planet far exceeds nightmares of most fish keepers. 250 2inch goldfish jammed into a 50g with an over sized bubbler ( like this helps )

All I will say is this:

A 12 inch pacu does not work in a 29 gallon aquarium.

JD in a BOWL?! That's horrible!

Worst that I've seen had to be my brother's tank... 10 gallon tank, never cleaned, with a full size silver dollar, 1/2 grown dojo loach, 2 platies, 2 hatchet fish, 5 neon tetras and a 5 inch long goldfish. Do they have room to swim? Barely. Are they alive? Unfortunately, because now he thinks he's doing something right.

[font color="#000080"]Ok, I'll tell ya, but that was a long, long time ago (like 15 years ago), when I did not know any better....

Ready??

First, I started with a 2.5 gallon bowl and 4 fancy goldfish!!!!

Then, somehow I figured it was "a bit crowded" so I got a 10 gallon AND yet ANOTHER fancy goldfish, so a total of 5 in a 10 gallon!!! Somebody kick me, please!!!!

These days, a few years older and a lot wiser, my main tank is a 90 gallon with 6 blackmoores. I even breed and sell them as needed.... I still have a soft spot for goldfish and I absolutely love blackmoores.

Patty [/font]

Last edited by PattyPedd at 22-Jan-2005 22:18

10 gallon with...

4 albino corys
3 opaline gouramis
3 pristella tetras
2 platies
1 feeder golfish
1 feeder minnow
1 orange-finned loach
1 blind cave fish


And it was my tank...

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

55 gallon at a pet store near me with:

14"+ veil-tailed oscar
8-9" red devil
6" african mbuna (don't know what type)
6-7" black shark
6" pictus cat
and I think there was another fish or 2

also a friend of my ex-girlfriend had a 29 gallon with:

2 6-7" oscars
1 5-6" jack dempsey

I once had 2 oscars in a ten gallon. I was 9 and stupid

6 feeder goldfish in a 10 gallon tank

I had a 10 gallon with 2 pepper corys, 2 yoyo loaches, 3 clown loaches, and 5 WCMM.

There were in there for about a week because of situations...

EDIT*

Oh yea, my friend has a 2.5 gallon guppy breeding tank with about 24 adults, and a bunch of babies

Last edited by victimizati0n at 23-Jan-2005 08:10

A woman at the lfs was buying a 5 gallon hex and 3 baby bala sharks...wouldn't listen to me

___________________________________________

If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished.

I once saw at a terrible lfs(I never went to again) 1 neon in a giant saltwater tank, and another tank about 40 litres with about 20 neons, a 4" clown loach with white spot eating a dead neon tetra and a male betta with white spot and ripped fins. That is the most horrible tank I have ever seen. At another horrible aquarium I saw a 100 litre tank (about) with about 200 guppies and platys and about 100 bumble bee gobies. The guppies had shredded fins and there was about 10 dead fish at the top, some had no tails the fungus and fin rot was so bad.]:|]:|]:|

A neon in a saltwater tank?

I guess that's possible... At work I once found a dead clownfish in the feeder goldfish tank. I have no idea how it got there... Probably another "funny" prank from one of the customers or one of the reptile people was trying to get fish again...

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Just reading this thread makes me sick

I've seen many many terrible set ups...I don't even wanna get started. Some of them mine...others not...

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

A 3 foot tank in a restaurant -

2 Angels, A few neons (soon to be none I would be thinking!), 2 Silver Dollars, some tiger barbs, some black Widows.

hmmm, where do i start?

how bout a LCS with 7 2in oscars 3 1-in pacus, 3 rainbow sharks between 1-2 in all in a 7 gallon, there were soem others but i dont remember which kind, another LCS with about 500 feeders in a 20 gallon, oh, and if u couldent figure it out, they couldent move

14" polypterus in 10usg

i would get him but he cost $350

My first tank, bought as a teenager. 5g with slate bottom and metal holding the glass together. I tossed any fish in there that looked good to me. Poor fish. Forgive me, I was young and didn't know what I was doing...more than 30 years ago.

In my very own house, a couple years ago, I had 80 goldfish in a 10gal tank!.......but I was actually saving them.

My wife's bridal shower had bowls on the tables with about 5 goldfish each. At the end of the party, the host said she was gonna FLUSH the fish!! My wife loves animals, and wasn't about to let this happen. But the host wouldn't give up the bowls, not even for one night (I don't know why). So my wife collects all the fish in the various vases and glassware she got for the shower (lol). She show up at home with all these fish, but most are in the tall thin vases with almost no surface area.

Unfortunetly, the store they came from was already closed. I had an empty 10 gal, so I had no choice but to put them ALL in it. (At the time, my only other tank was a 5gal with a betta, and as much as I wanted to spread the load, I wasn't gonna risk the betta's health). I pretty much did HOURLY water changes all night. Then returned them to the store in the AM. They ALL lived! But it was an AMAZING site.