Wonderful article about responsible pet ownership

[BrainGirl]

I'm so sorry to hear that about your aunt Shannonmcn, but sometimes it's hard for people to change what they've always thought was true. Goldfish can live for decades if housed properly. Unfortunately their bodies become stunted in bowls while their organs continue growing. If they don't die of ammonia poisoning at a young age, they die eventually of organ failure

I don't want to tell you to give up trying to teach your aunt but I don't want your relationship with family to suffer. I have found a way to talk to my aunt, I just stay away from the subject of cats

[Shannonmcn]

They're a family that likes animals and the fishies are always cleaned out and fed and the kids do care about them so they're not being neglectful on purpose but yeah, when you see goldfish living in bowls your whole life then one person is telling you something else it isn't going to sink in immediately.

I make sure to mention it every time I'm in their house, it's rude as heck probably but we're not a family that's too afraid of confrontation and they already know I'm a stickler for proper care. The kids liked what I did with the ham and the detolf even though the adults all thought I was nuts so I'm gonna keep working on it!

[Thin Lizzy]

A lot of people who have cold water fish don't realise that even put in a bigger tank, fish need to have a certain amount of space. It depends on the size of fish and tank how many can be kept in that space.
But, with tropical fish it's different because it's kept at a certain heat/temperature.

[BrainGirl]

Thin Lizzy, are you saying that aquarium stocking levels are temperature dependant? I'm not sure I'm understanding you correctly.

[Thin Lizzy]

All I remember is having fish when younger and it was a massive tank and being told that cold water fish need more oxygen/something. The maximum number of fish we could keep in the tank was 6. But, when we got tropical fish, we could have more fish in the same sized tank because they were tropical.

[kelza]

Shannonmcn, maybe you can concentrate on teaching the kids since they like what you have done so far. Kids are like little sponges, and the best time to instill "life lessons" is when they are excited or curious about something. Adults are much harder to convince if they have no real interest (I'm guilty of this at times too), don't give up though!

This article is great, and should be posted in pet stores everywhere. I know that won't happen, but I can hope.