Are fish just as content being in a tank as they are being in the wild?

[aidanfish2002]

Obviously a fish doesn't like being in a tank that is too small for them or a tank that has ammonia, nitrites or low oxygen but if everything is just right and the environment and scape of the tank is similar to their wild habitat then do fish mind being in a tank? I wonder this because I have a 29 gallon tank with a variety of fish and they all appear calm and content all the time in my tank because I keep everything just perfect for them. I have good filtration and water parameters always test perfect, a heater set at 82 fahrenheit, two airstones on each side of the tank hidden within the heavily planted areas of the tank, plenty of plants and hideout areas, open areas near the front of the tank, driftwood, rocks, terrain made from rocks and gravel and etc etc. So I would say my tank is as ideal for my fish as it possibly can. Now if I were a fish, I don't care how ideal everything in a fish tank was, I would want to be in the wild. So my question is do fish even care or have the capacity to care that they are restricted to a certain area? Is there any possible way to even find out if they don't mind being constricted to a 4 foot long and foot tall container? I've read articles about how fish live duller lives than they would if they were in the wild, which obviously has got to be somewhat true but if that's all they've ever known is a fish tank and they are still content than does it even matter? I've seen my fish sometimes swim back and forth and back and forth along the glass of my tank almost as if they're trying to move on from the area they are constricted to or trying to do what they would be doing if they were in the wild which is swimming up river or up stream or wherever they instinctively want to go. So just wondering about this. By the way I keep gouramis, plecos a red tail shark, guppies and platies and they're not all in the same 29 gallon that's just my main and largest tank.

 

[Level99Fishing]

They probably survive longer in our tanks than they would in the wild so there's that going for them.

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

In the Wild it would be constant fear (or alertness as I don't know that they feel fear) about being attacked / eaten. Fighting for food. Fighting to breed. Fighting for shelter. In a tank they have safety. That said an uninspiring tank with blue gravel and one plastic plant with a “no fishing” plastic sign next to it probably I worst. But if you provide the biotope you mentioned - well there’s a reason people keep their pet fish for years and years.

They have an infection and we treat it. We heal it. In the Wild they’d be dead.

Happier? I think that’s the wrong question for fish....

Better off? For most of the non-alpha, non-predator fish probably.

 

[A201]

The vast majority of aquarium fish are commercially bred in crowded small breeding ponds or tanks. They've never experienced wide open spaces.
In the care of a talented fishkeeper, aquarium fish have it pretty good. No hunger, little chance of becoming lunch, and a constant temperate environment.

 

[MacZ]

There are some general signs (may vary from species to species, though!) of good husbandry:

- natural behaviour, with no signs of stress, anxiety or aggression
- breeding behaviour
- general good health

But now the problem with this definition:
It only applies to fish that are difficult to keep in the first place and who don't breed easily.
One can breed Guppies or Mbuna under catastrophic conditions, while Discus only breed if one did everything perfectly right. Strange middle-ground would be cardinal tetras, that can be kept under conditions very far from their preferred habitat, while breeding them is a science.

So in the end we can only build an approximation of what they need. We can not say with final certainty, that any fish in a tank is "happy". We can only tell if they have everything they need and hope it's allright and that we didn't miss out on any factors.

"Better off" is often set pretty low. If we buy 10 guppies from petco and they all survive and thrive and breed in a 40 breeder with no other fish, they have better conditions and a better chance to survive in a home aquarium. But how many fish don't even leave the fish store alive and how many more are being moved from the store into even worse conditions? Looking at some of the "newbie has questions"-threads here on the forum, I get the feeling a lot specimens of "classic" beginner species and breeds are "better off" dead.

 

[altwitch]

+Mac, solid insights. I feel the same in that you do your best to provide a good environment and take the best care of your charges that you can, In the end if I pass shrimp over to my main tank knowing that they will likely be eaten but have a chance to survive I perceive it as the circle of life. The best we can do is look after them with a focus on care and they likely have a better life than otherwise. When I pet my gourami pearls or angelfish during feeding time they seem to be pretty content with their lives so consider that a win.

 

[GlennO]

We could ask the same question about all animals kept in zoos for our viewing pleasure. Humans value freedom over all else but I’m not sure the same can be said of animals. Nevertheless I suspect that the wild caught ones are less likely to be content than the captive bred ones.

 

[SaraCooper]

Some people prefer risk, some prefer calm. I think it very much depends on where your fish come from- I think a wild caught fish there’s a 50-50 chance of being content in an enclosed environment, and most trade bred fish have a 90% chance of being content in an enclosed environment.

 

[aidanfish2002]

In the Wild it would be constant fear (or alertness as I don't know that they feel fear) about being attacked / eaten. Fighting for food. Fighting to breed. Fighting for shelter. In a tank they have safety. That said an uninspiring tank with blue gravel and one plastic plant with a “no fishing” plastic sign next to it probably I worst. But if you provide the biotope you mentioned - well there’s a reason people keep their pet fish for years and years.

They have an infection and we treat it. We heal it. In the Wild they’d be dead.

Happier? I think that’s the wrong question for fish....

Better off? For most of the non-alpha, non-predator fish probably.

Good response but fish don't get disease as often in the wild so you can't make that point. For example, the ich disease is just probably nonexistent in the wild for fish. Ich happens in fish tanks because the conditions aren't ideal and that lowers the immune system of the fish. In the wild, the conditions are always just about perfect for them. Also, most people who keep fish aren't ensuring the conditions for the fish are perfect and a lot of fish die because of this. Theres a small percentage of aquarium hobbyists who ensure everything is perfect and their fish are healthy and well fed all the time. Fish are the most abused fish because we can't see their distress when there's ammonia or nitrites in a fish tank and fish die all the time because of people who simply aren't aware of the nitrogen cycle and think to keep a fish you just put water in a bowl or tank and toss the fish in. So take the ratio of people who take good care of their aquarium fish and those who don't and a lot of fish are abused.

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

Good response but fish don't get disease as often in the wild so you can't make that point...

I take your point. I was referring more to infections. From day a bite - or scratch from rocks/driftwood or currents, whatever. Not ich and other ailments that we expose them to. In the Wild; like with all animals - infections means almost certain death.

Also many people here have commented on ignorant fish keepers. You’re dead on right. What I should Clarify is: when it comes to people like the majority of those on this forum - I would suggest a ‘better off’ component exists. Those who do (or try) to maintain parameters, stimuli, variety in diet etc.

So looking at it that way. The Wild versus a well intended hobbyist: fish in aquaria will do pretty well. Funnily enough after saying all that I believe there is a beauty and rightness to creatures living in the Wild... but fish in the Wild do not die of old age. In aquariums they often do:..

 

[aidanfish2002]

There are some general signs (may vary from species to species, though!) of good husbandry:

- natural behaviour, with no signs of stress, anxiety or aggression
- breeding behaviour
- general good health

But now the problem with this definition:
It only applies to fish that are difficult to keep in the first place and who don't breed easily.
One can breed Guppies or Mbuna under catastrophic conditions, while Discus only breed if one did everything perfectly right. Strange middle-ground would be cardinal tetras, that can be kept under conditions very far from their preferred habitat, while breeding them is a science.

So in the end we can only build an approximation of what they need. We can not say with final certainty, that any fish in a tank is "happy". We can only tell if they have everything they need and hope it's allright and that we didn't miss out on any factors.

"Better off" is often set pretty low. If we buy 10 guppies from petco and they all survive and thrive and breed in a 40 breeder with no other fish, they have better conditions and a better chance to survive in a home aquarium. But how many fish don't even leave the fish store alive and how many more are being moved from the store into even worse conditions? Looking at some of the "newbie has questions"-threads here on the forum, I get the feeling a lot specimens of "classic" beginner species and breeds are "better off" dead.

I put this thread in freshwater beginners because its the most popular forum, i'm not necessarily that much of a newbie. I know what i'm doing. Also, never buy fish from any of the popular petstores such as petco, pet supermarket or petsmart. Those fish are all disease ridden and kept terribly. Those fish really are better off dead.

We could ask the same question about all animals kept in zoos for our viewing pleasure. Humans value freedom over all else but I’m not sure the same can be said of animals. Nevertheless I suspect that the wild caught ones are less likely to be content than the captive bred ones.

Yeah sea world and their orcas, I don't blame those orcas for killing some of their trainers from time to time. However, those mega aquariums such as the million gallon tanks at places like georgia aquarium, monterey bay in California, those are just amazing tanks. The fish are most likely just as content in those massive tanks. They're just such big tanks that most of the fish have to be content because they get well fed and they have such a big open area to swim. I believe some of those tanks are even 3 million+ gallons. Anyways i'm talking about huge aquariums with huge fish. Fish kept in zoos are a joke so don't even bother going to a zoo to see fish. Zoos should be for land animals only. Let the aquariums keep the fish.

 

[MissPanda]

We could ask the same question about all animals kept in zoos for our viewing pleasure. Humans value freedom over all else but I’m not sure the same can be said of animals. Nevertheless I suspect that the wild caught ones are less likely to be content than the captive bred ones.

I feel like wild caught ones would know, maybe experience more stress once contained and would be much happier where they belong.

One of my friends commented that westerners are weird because we put every possible animal we can find in a cage of some sort and call it a pet He said they have cats and dogs, but don't put snakes, lizards, fish, hamsters etc in cages and keep them. I never stopped to think about it till that day, but we legit sell everything you can think of as a pet.

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

One of my friends commented that westerners are weird because we put every possible animal we can find in a cage of some sort and call it a pet He said they have cats and dogs, but don't put snakes, lizards, fish, hamsters etc in cages and keep them.

Where is he from? I would have thought fish in tanks is universal!