pet store fish tanks?

M

Megan

New member
Hi- I was just curious-
it seems that whenever you go to a fish store and look at fish they always say that "this fish" requires a 55 gallon tank (or whatever tank size) however- the fish they are talking about is swimming right there in a 15 gallon tank with 9 other fish! why is this? for example- the oscars- they say that they require at least a 40 gallon tank- but yet theirs 3 of them in a ten gallon tank! any answers?
 
Yup.

1. The tank size on the tag is what an adult of that fish will require. The fish in the store are still babies. The small tanks are only temporary homes for them. The tag is to inform people so that they are not misled to believe that fish can remain in such a small tank its entire life.

2. The filtration system that a fish store uses is massively powerful. The filter system is literally the size of a small room. The filter pads we use at our work are probably about 4 x 1 feet, and there are two of them. And that's just the mechanical filtration. There are also uv sterilization chambers and a whole bunch of other scary big words I don't care to get into.

3. Not only is the water very well filtered, but the water in the individual tanks themselves is constantly being cycled in and out. If you look, you will probably see two valves on the back of each tank. One valve sends water in, the other takes water out. So new, filtered water is constantly flowing through each tank, as opposed to a home aquarium, which circulates the same water each day. It's sort of like a continuous partial water change in each store tank.

4. Regardless of how well filtered the tanks are, and how small the fish are, there are still daily fish losses.

Hope this sheds a little light on your question. =) People ask this all the time. =)
 
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