# Fish Abusers



## Justin (May 1, 2005)

I have a story to tell and I am very sad that it even happens. I was at a friends house and I was watching his brother play a video game for a little while. As I looked around the room, something caught my eye. I asked my friends brother about it. It was like a miniature ecosystem. It was made of two, 2 liter soda bottles. It was kind of divided into two sections. On the top was a plant that was growing. On the bottom was a water section. The water was feeding the plant. I thought that it was really cool until I looked closer. There was a fish in the water! Really, it was only about 3 1/2 cups* of water! 

I thought I would just share this with you all. Does anyone else have a story like this that they would like to share?*


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## PigMonkeyFish (Apr 19, 2005)

The problem is that a lot of people dont see a problem with that and so its generally accepted by people that dont know anything about aquatic enviroments. Fish are more and more often used as decoration these days. 
I was watching MTV cribs the other week and Missy elliot had a chair made of glass filled with varoius coldwater carp. Poor little fish imagine having to look up at her backside for hours on end.


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## Imbrium (Feb 7, 2005)

I think the fish is probably a betta. Stores often sell them this way, and they tell people that they don't need to change the water, because the plant will take care of it. Sometimes they even tell people they don't need to feed the fish because the fish will eat the roots. Bettas are carnivores and only eat the roots because they are starving. It's a horrible way for a fish to live. Most people just don't know any better.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

I recently leased a new apartment, they have a strict policy saying "no pets" I asked about my fish tank, if it's ok to move that in(note i didn't say how many tanks i own lol) she said "of course, fish are more decorative then pets"

just a FYI


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## Simoriax (Apr 10, 2005)

check this out.
http://www.aquababies.com/
These have actually been made illegal in the United Kingdom but are perfectly legal in the states. Just plain cruel.


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## mlefev (Apr 19, 2005)

I know, I saw those blasted things at Petco. 

I saw a kid trying to buy one, and the clerk really pushing for it. As soon as the clerk left, I noticed it in his mom's shopping cart, and asked what kind of fish they wanted to put in it. She said it was going to be for a goldfish, and I started telling her what it would mean to confine a fish like that. She ended up buying a small tank and a few tetras instead for her son. Most people are just ignorant of how to care for a fish, they don't intend any harm, but the pet stores just push the products without a second thought, thus the problem.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

yup, ive seen these all over the place simoriax


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Aquababies were real big here a few years back now you dont find them anywhere. When they were sold in the mall I was talking to the guy selling them and he gave the excuse the fish were specially bread to stay small. LOL and the added fact fish only grow to the size of the tank keeps them that way. 

ARRRRRRHHHHHHhhh. All total lies. They picked small fish and then dont feed them. They die before they get the chance to grow.


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## lain sorcer (Apr 10, 2005)

Aquababies is a really bad website, but I think http://www.bonsaikitten.com/ is the worst for mistreatment. I signed a petition that was in my e-mail to get it shut down, but it wasn't getting a lot of names. I almost want to get one just to save the poor kitty before it starts becoming deformed, but I know that would just support the website...


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## John (Apr 19, 2005)

Actually, that site is supposed to be a "joke." It's sick, I agree, but it's not literally a real business. However, it does help support the mistreatment of animals. :evil: It's actually supported by an infamous website (it starts with an R).

Horrible.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Petco sells Aquababies????

Unfreakinbelievable.

Well, folks, if ever there was a good reason to boycott petco, this is it.


EDIT:
I checked out the Petco website, and they are not offering Aquababies for sale online. ( although they do offer numerous things almost as bad ) If a store is selling them, then it either means that the store in question is doing something that it shouldn't, which Petco would proably like very much to know about, or Petco does carry them but has the good sense to keep them off the website. In either case, letting the store manager know that there's gonna be big trouble if he sells one more unit should fix the problem. If he gets in your face, just tell him that Petco would do well to remember that the awesome power of the internet makes boycotts pretty easy to organize nowadays.

Hey, I just got an idea. Let's compile a list of places that sell aquababies. If you know someplace selling them, list the info here for later action of some sort.


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## mlefev (Apr 19, 2005)

It wasn't aquababies brand after you mentioned that, but it was the same thing in general. I think these were 12 oz or so with a nice little handle in pretty neon colors to entice people to buy them (add beat the poor fish to pieces while carrying it). I'll have to check next time I go in. (Unfortunately they're the only store that carries the filter cartridges I need so I do still go there). The betta cups also seem smaller than the 8 oz variety, or I've just become aware of how small they are. They also forget to cut holes in the tops of some of the cups, and I had to go yell at a manager about that. So far, on my last 2 trips there they've all had holes in them...so that's something.

Boycott the place. I'm stuck over a barrel at the minute because I can't afford a different filter. As soon as I can, I'll never go there again.


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## Shaggy (Apr 29, 2005)

John @ Wed May 11 said:


> Actually, that site is supposed to be a "joke."  It's sick, I agree, but it's not literally a real business.  However, it does help support the mistreatment of animals. :evil:  It's actually supported by an infamous website (it starts with an R).
> 
> Horrible.


Now are you serious, that this is a joke site??? That is crazy if it was real!


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## mlefev (Apr 19, 2005)

Bonsai kitten is just sick. I ran across it awhile back. People have serious problems. and the sad part...if it ever went into businss...some freak would buy it all.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

oh no! poor kitty, where do i sign..??


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

that is the sickest Sh*t I have ever seen (bonsaikitty) Is it for real?


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

wow, thats horrible. I'm pretty sure if you read through the emails section of the bonsai kitten site you find someone asking why it hasnt been applied to human babies and that she wanted to.

edit: youre right. It was a joke: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/bonsai.asp


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## John (Apr 19, 2005)

MalawianPro @ Wed May 11 said:


> (i didn't say how many tanks i own lol)


LOL 


Yeah, I remember a few years ago when everyone thought Bonsai Kitten was real. They actually got it offline for a while. While it is fake, it still helps give people very bad, stupid, horrible ideas about animals.


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## osteoporoosi (Jan 27, 2005)

The bonsai kitten thing is a hoax, some students photoshopped those picks. Luckily.


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## Celeste (May 13, 2005)

are you people kidding me?

first of all, i've owned bettas all my life, and i've never kept them in anything larger than a 1 gallon bowl with a plant. i agree that 3 1/2 cups is far too little watter for a betta, but the betta bowls in general are not a horrible way to keep a betta. i do a full water change once a week, i feed them betta pellets and frozen/freeze dried blood worms and brine shrimp once a day, skipping one day a week to let their system clear out. i always keep a plant in with them, sometimes it's an aquatic seaweed plant, other times it's a lilly in the top like the betta bowls. i've had bettas live happily like that for years.

second, the bonsai kitten thing is a total hoax. notice they claim they have them for sale, but there's no way to order them or any of the parts to make them? also, there's not a single picture of the "Finished product" only someone holding a small kitten in a large glass jar that the kitten easily fits into, with no lid on the container, might i add. it's a complete hoax, it's intended to upset people and aperantly it works for the gullible masses........


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

shhhh... I have a betta in a jug of Captain morgan


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## mrmoby (Jan 18, 2005)

Well that there must be the happiest Betta in town!!!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

hahah... I call him The Skipper


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Found this for you.

Happy Skipper recipe

Scale ingredients to servings 
1 1/2 cl Captain Morgan® Original spiced rum
ginger ale

Pour captain morgan's spiced rum over ice and fill the glass with ginger ale. Garnish with lime.

Serve in:Old-Fashioned Glass

==========

Looks like your recipe is to put one betta named skipper in the captin morgan bottle making him happy


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## John (Apr 19, 2005)

My friend Justin is banned (or at least that's what it says in his profile) for some reason and so he hasn't had the chance to post the following:

He, of course, knows what a betta looks like and it wasn't a betta. He says it looked like some sort of small tetra (maybe a Silvertip). He wasn't saying that keeping it in a small container was the cruel part (as you might think it would be for a betta - although it is probably cruel anyways), rather that the cruel part was that there was no way to get into the enclosure to feed it - forcing it to eat the plant which was, obviously, not very good for it.


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## John (Apr 19, 2005)

Celeste @ Fri May 13 said:


> second, the bonsai kitten thing is a total hoax.  notice they claim they have them for sale, but there's no way to order them or any of the parts to make them?  also, there's not a single picture of the "Finished product" only someone holding a small kitten in a large glass jar that the kitten easily fits into, with no lid on the container, might i add.  it's a complete hoax, it's intended to upset people and aperantly it works for the gullible masses........


Why do you sound so hostile? :| 

We've had people already say (or respond to saying) that they knew that the bonsai kitten website was a hoax, don't feel special:

1.  


John @ Wed May 11 said:


> Actually, that site is supposed to be a "joke."  It's sick.


2.  


shev @ Thu May 12 said:


> youre right. It was a joke.


3.  


John @ Thu May 12 said:


> it is fake.


4.  


osteoporoosi @ Fri May 13 said:


> The bonsai kitten thing is a hoax.


5.  


Lexus @ Thu May 12 said:


> Is it for real?


6.  


Shaggy @ Wed May 11 said:


> this is a joke site???


Calling the people that didn't know "the gullible masses" is sort of rude.  I mean, most of the people who didn't know obviously didn't go to the site to investigate, especially since we had many more people come on here to tell them it was fake - so don't act like such an elitist!  Plus, all the points you just made are exactly from that link (http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/bonsai.asp) that shev just posted a few posts up.  Were you just trying to sound smart?  Also, the people who just asked if it was real or not after we posted that it was not real obviously clicked on the link and then responded before reading that we already knew it was a hoax.  Just a simple miscommunication - and you make it into a big deal!  Man, what a "gullible mass" of dog crap.


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

Yeark.... Nothing to say! I don't know thy people can treat their "pets" these ways. What's so fun? :-S


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## mlefev (Apr 19, 2005)

I didn't read her comments to be elitest, uppity, or anything else. The "gullible masses" as she puts it are the people that would see a site like that and be on the phone with the SPCA, Humaine society and such without ever investigating the site. She probably had seen the site before, and was amazed that people were still getting fired up about it. Some people do buy into that kind of hysteria over a website, and it seems that she was just making a rather pointed comment about it, not anyone here.


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## John (Apr 19, 2005)

Well, I guess the question is: Was she calling the people here the "gullible masses" or the people who get fired up about it in general the "gullible masses"? She did also say "Are you people kidding me?" in exasperation, but was she exasperated with the people here or people in general? Not a big deal either way, but it is still sort of rude and annoying, IMO.

Anyways, does anyone know why Justin got banned?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I don't know, but I have a feeling that if you keep up your attacks on people like you just lit into celeste, you might be joining him.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

hmm..is it wrong to top of tanks with urine?
























LOL J/k
(old folklore tale)


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## Thunderkiss (Mar 19, 2005)

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW


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## Celeste (May 13, 2005)

for your information, i have been a member of many, many, many noline forums about various topics (From hermitcrabs, horses, and cats, to videogames) and on more than half of those forums, SOMEONE has brought up the Bonsai Kitten website genuinely appalled that "People could treat poor kittens like that" one person had actually called PETA to complain about it. i knew it was a hoax the moment i saw the site the first time, without anyone telling me it was a hoax.

yes, i said "Are you people kidding me?" because i couldn't believe that yet ANOTHER forum was getting up in arms over an obvious hoax website, that has been a proven hoax for YEARS. and i meant "Gullible Masses" exactly as mlefev said it



> I didn't read her comments to be elitest, uppity, or anything else. The "gullible masses" as she puts it are the people that would see a site like that and be on the phone with the SPCA, Humaine society and such without ever investigating the site. She probably had seen the site before, and was amazed that people were still getting fired up about it. Some people do buy into that kind of hysteria over a website, and it seems that she was just making a rather pointed comment about it, not anyone here.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

all i have to say is wow. and lexus did have that problem too, but she was still able to post. hmm


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## Sly Guy (Feb 15, 2005)

well here is one to show you how they doi in the movies

http://www.ahleman.com/Props/MrMarbles7.html 

no kittens harmed in the making :lol:


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## John (Apr 19, 2005)

TheOldSalt @ Sat May 14 said:


> I don't know, but I have a feeling that if you keep up your attacks on people like you just lit into celeste, you might be joining him.


I wasn't attacking Celeste, I thought she was attacking us! (even though she has been a member of the community for a lot longer than I have).  I'm sorry, I was rude.  I was having a bad day. :|


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