Goldfish

“I had two when I was young. They both died. Do you have goldfish?

Discuss”

“I don't but my six year old has three.”

“If they die violin, will you bury them, or flush them down the toilet? Will you think about backpacking during the process?”

“V if you contiue to talk to the troll i will beat the crap out of you!!”

“You are so mean mapleleaf. What did I ever do to you?”

“Toilet funeral - nothing fancy.

I forgot to add - she has one black one woth googly eyes, a white one with an orange cap and a little calico one.”

“I wonder if the goldfish got really big, if you could eat them?”

“Goldfish are fun. They're baked you know. I had them for lunch.”

“Oh I almost forgot - about two weeks ago my 2 year old got hold of the fish food and gave them about a month's worth of food in ten minutes. What a mess! We were sure they were goners. I got the tank cleaned out and they lived though.”

“So no flushes on that day! Whew!”

“Mapleleaf, I think threatening violence is against the "terms of participation" on TT.”

“Since I'm so full of crap, she'd have to have a lot of time on her hands to finish the job.”

“Hey! My name looks funny.”

“Fragile tropical fish, born to dwell in the majestic seas and forage among brilliantly colored coral reefs, suffer miserably when forced to spend their lives enclosed in glass aquariums. Robbed of their natural habitat, denied the space to roam, they must swim and reswim the same empty cubic inches.


Breeders and Dealers: Pain Profiteers

The popularity of keeping tropical fish has created a virtually unregulated industry based on catching and breeding as many fish as possible, with little regard for the fish themselves.
In the Philippines, the source of most saltwater fish sold in the U.S., many fish divers collect their prey by squirting cyanide or other poisons into the coral reefs where fish live.(1) Meant to stun them so that they will drift out of the reef for easy collection, the cyanide kills as many as half of the fish on the spot. Many others die from cyanide residue after being purchased. The poison also kills the live coral where the fish live, which can take thousands of years to grow back.(2)

Most of the freshwater fish sold in the U.S. are easier to breed than their saltwater cousins and are bred on "fish farms." These breeding centers, seeking new market niches, create fish breeds that would never occur in nature. Treating fish as ornaments instead of as live animals, some fish breeders "paint" fish by injecting fluorescent dye into their bodies to make them more attractive to buyers.(3)


Fish Facts

Fish are wonderful creatures with individual personalities and attributes that most people know little about. They communicate with each other, form bonds, and grieve when their companions die.(4) Fish communicate with one another through a range of low-frequency sounds—from buzzes and clicks to yelps and sobs. The sounds, audible to humans only with special instruments, communicate emotional states such as courtship, alarm, or submission.(5) Sadly, the pumps and filters necessary in many home aquariums can interfere with this communication. "At the least, we're disrupting their communication; at the worst, we're driving them bonkers," says ichthyologist Phillip Lobel.(6)

Most fish enjoy companionship and develop special relationships with each other. One South African publication documented the relationship between Blackie, a goldfish with a deformity that made it nearly impossible for him to swim, and Big Red, the larger fish who shared his tank. Big Red daily put Blackie on his back to swim him around, and when they were fed, Big Red swam Blackie to the surface, where they ate together.(7)

Fish enjoy tactile stimulation in their relationships and often gently rub against each other. Divers tell of gaining the friendship of fish by lightly scratching their foreheads—they've found that the fish then recognize and regularly approach them.(”