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I went to a freind's house today and saw his tank, it was about 30cm x 40cm x 35cm. It contained one 8cm orange/black goldfish and 1 9cm angel. "It used to have like 20 guppies and another angel, but they all died". The angel's fins hit the top and bottom of the tank and the whole time i was there the two fish were fighting or hiding. I tried to tell him that his angel needs a MUCH bigger tank, but he would not listen.
He said the guy at the LFS said its okay "cause he thought it would die before it got too big".
What can i do?
Can u call the RSPCA on irresponsible fish keepers?

Yes you can. If you can get them to move, and your local area has a decent fishkeeping consultant. Uk has new laws and the fish should be covered, and aus laws can be pretty stringent , they might at least give him a bit of a friendly warning, and thats enough to put the fear of god into some people.Shame is a huge preventative to fish abuse. It often takes a few calls though.(call centres -aaaarrrgh!)

Just tell him to proudly post about his tank on here if he's so sure its ok.

"cmon over to mahhh house"

Tropicals with coldwater, tiny tanks, uncontrolled fighting.. awww lemme at him

Would an LFS accept an angel of this size?
I guess i could rehome him in my 55g..., and then on to the LFS
Is any1 on here at the RSPCA?

Just tell him to proudly post about his tank on here if he's so sure its ok

I agree. . . have him post it here and we will take care of it.

The LFS shouldn't have said anything about the fish dying before they got too big. They should have said "it needs to go to a bigger tank because it WILL die otherwise."

grrrrrr

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"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

RSPCA will be reluctant to come, firstly because it is unlikely they could seize the animals given the situation, and secondly, they don't have facilities to house fish. Its not out and out cruelty, the animal is being red and watered and is living in a 'suitable environment'. I have gone through the process a few times (with horses, not fish), there are warning notices etc that have to go out first, and if basic care is being given then they have their hands tied. Best they could do would be shake him up a bit, but with the limited funding and the limited number of Inspectors and all the drought-affected animals that are probably on a much faster road to the grave than the fish, it'll probably be low priority.

I'm sorry. Do try, but don't be too upset if they won't/cant.

Can you show him documentation of the lifespan of angels and goldfish? could you offer to swap them for something else? A cray maybe? (not ideal, but it'd be far less affected by the cramped conditions than the fish)



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I'll try showing him a few threads/ articles on the net to change his mind