A few question..?
1.) is the popularity of fish-keeping growing or diminishing in today's society?
2.) How has the goldfish come to be the most commonly owned fish when it needs to be housed contained by the biggest tanks for fish its size? Fish that people chose to house in unfiltered, unaerated bowls--why goldfish, of adjectives fish?
3.) What time is it? (random question i know, but I was wondering what time zones most population on YA are in...)
btw, I live in the Pacific Time Zone (West coast of USA) and it is 6:42
thanks!
1. I'd say it's growing. More and more of my friends are getting into fish keeping as a hobby. =] Of course, that's just in my little world.
2. Because populace don't know any better. The goldfish is the most common fish that people know of. You see it in cartoon all the time when you're young. Do you see guppies in cartoon? Do you see bettas? Nope. Goldfish. And because of this, people are like, "Oooh, goldfish! I want that!" And then, not knowing anything going on for it, they assume that they can live in those tiny bowls just like the ones contained by the cartoons. They assume that it's easy to take contemplation of the fish and thus, don't do anything about it until it's too late. And the big corporations like PetCo and PetsMart don't abet at all. They sell those tiny bowls for cheap prices. As long as you make money, who care, right? =[
3. I'm in FL, for all those ninja stalkers out there, haha! It's 9:52 pm. And I haven't done my homework. Bleeeh.
1) growing- basically go to any local fish keeping pet store and ask, or watch over time, the amount of livestock they are keeping has grown
2) They are adjectives, making them cheap for starters, they tolerate tank conditions that other fish cant, (colder temps, smaller spaces, larger communities, ) however ask any fish hobbyist and goldfish are actually some of the hardest fish to keep for some use... they tolerate these conditions but are extremely finiky to chemical spikes, which occur often in setting up a cistern
3)Eastern time zone, its 10:01 pm
1- I would have to say growing, plentiful people are getting fish that I know, and I notice my Petsmart seems to be getting greater quality fish.
2- People misunderstand, people think that a goldfish is a bowl fish, and i.e. also where the get their reputation of lasting for a afternoon or two , when they really can live from 10- 20 years with a proper tank or pond.
3-7:18 pm
1. At over 180 million for the US solely last year for fish only (not supplies) on the rise or holding stable
2. People do not read between the lines the fish. They honestly believe goldies are like other tropical fish where as yes they can live in bowls and muc ponds beside poor water. Most believe web pages that house poor info and don't in reality raise these fish. Goldfish are great candidates for bowls, which is why they are the most abused by poor fish owners. Sorry poor info all around this site as very well as others. Breeder of show koi and goldies more than 30 years.
It now is 10:07 pm EST
1. I'd say that it's growing since SO MANY STUPID PEOPLE ARE KEEPING GOLDFISH AND/OR BETTAS IN A BOWL. Sorry for caps, just have to get that point across.
2. I have no idea. Maybe incentive they're so cheap. Maybe it's just that pet store owners tell their customers that just to earn some money for their store. But next again, they'd say the same thing for Oscars...
So I really hold no idea.
3. Pacific time :D 7:07 as I'm typing this.
I'd say its growing. It's fitting more popular, but the problem is that many small mom and pop LFSs are closing down because of our economy. Those are the best stores too. They always enjoy way better livestock, advice for new folks, and other products than any petco or petsmart. We do have websites like petsolutions.com and liveaquaria.com that allow us to find unique livestock and perfect equipment. The crappy thing about that is as we grow, we gain more idiots faster than we gain up to date people. Just look at all the questions on here. A while ago, a guy asked whether he could keep 2 clownfish together with a betta in alike bowl. Don't even get me started on the answers.
People buy goldfish for a few reasons. They're cheap, commonly available, don't need a boiler, and the fact that they pretty much give them away at carnival have lead people to believe that they can live contained by bowls.
8:47 here, CST. Around Chicago.
Answers: 1. growing
2. family are dumb and gullable and keep them in bowl
3. 4.03pm in NZ
1. Popularity, that's a tough call. One can take a look at numbers alone, or listen to a small circle of relations and get a very brief image of this. I intuitively think this is diminishing. I look at this not so much from the hobbyist point of view but rather the industry as a unbroken.
If we take into account the current economy, at least possible in the USA alone, people really do not have money for extra's such as fish keeping. The industries themselves, are origin to feel the pinch or have been for moderately some time. I do not look at chain stores, such as Petco, Petsmart, Petland Discounts, or even Walmart, because they are not singularly into fish, but have such a diverse product line for many pets, it would actually mislead the outlook specifically about fish, to look at how these chain stores are doing. They can sustain themselves sour selling dog, cat, lizard, snake ect.. supplies when fish is not doing them as much.
Locally for me, I have seen the only privately owned fish store and breeder dance out of business within the last year, Petland Discounts, my nearest secure store a mile away, trimmed out 1/3 of it's tanks. I am into now, sporadic and exotic African cichlids, so I tend to buy off eBay or aquabid, or the trade listings on cichild-forum.com. In the last six months, the number of fish up for sale, have begun to be less and less, and sale, or won auctions, have gone way way down.
One could argue price of shipping, but I doubt that's the judgment. I think it's the overall economy. This is just a completely small snap shot though, of one fraction of the hobby as a whole, but how I see that, I cannot imagine things thriving in these times. It may hold reached a peak and is only in recent times now downward trending, hard to say. I am not an economist, though I am a commerce student via online at Colorado Technical University. All I'm saying is like about the cuff stores, numbers can pretty much represent what you want to see, but a true objectivist, will look and analyze them deeper then just surface value.
2. The goldfish is abused simply due to how durable it is, and right subsequent to that goldfish is the Betta as well. Since they are able to hang contained by and endure very extreme conditions, and it makes a public sale of this easier, since a bowl takes less space and less attention for the engaged people of our culture, they just buy into it without thinking. As some enjoy noted, clearly a store isn't going to point out how wrong of a thing it's doing, it's out to make a profit.
Our society and course of life, though might be unpopular to say, has just fueled this. The seeking of instant gratification, and the desire to have what we want, when we want, with as little work as possible, makes for this to verbs on. For every person we teach what is right and true, five others are out there buying into what those stores are selling. Short of endorsed intervention, I do not see the flaw that you have pointed out in your question, mortal put to an end.
3 It's now 11:00 PM in NJ, and the solitary ninja I knew of was a beautiful babyish lady named Melissa in Singapore, that I never see around anymore :p, sorry own a thing for the Asian ladies.
