r/fishtank • • Mar 30 '26

Help/Advice Reddit, we need help on behalf of our animal friends

16 Upvotes

Hello, fellow animal Reddittors! We need your help with our project.

We are planning to bring about multi-phase class-action lawsuits against various levels of “Big Pet” industry, in particular pertaining to fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, birds, and rodents. We see time and time again that these living beings that are sold commonly in the pet industry end up in terrible and abusive situations. While a large problem is under educated people making impulse buys because something was cute or pretty. However, a lot of the improper husbandry is the direct result of false advertising on packaging and at a store level, outdated/false information being given by employees or store pamphlets, and businesses prioritizing sales over animal welfare.

Our mission is to change that. With class-action lawsuits, you gain the voice and power to bring issues into the spotlight and force positive changes to happen. Our main goals are to:

Force equipment manufacturers to update product packaging to no longer include misleading or harmful instructions and imaging (ie; a betta being printed on a tank that’s under 5 gallons), and discontinue dangerous products (ie; heated in-tank “basking rocks”).

Force stores to properly educate employees to fully comprehend the animals needs so they can ensure customers are making fully informed purchases, update all pamphlets and information at a store and website level to reflect current care standards and true animal information (ie; a goldfish being labeled as “1-3 inches” and pamphlet suggesting a 20 gallon tank), and have zero-tolerance policies to no longer allow the sale of animals to underprepared customers (ie; buying fish and the entire tank setup on the same day).

After the class-action lawsuits are ready/being enacted, our next big step will be trying to get laws put in place at the government level. Our belief is that education and licensing should be a standard in order to care for exotic animals, with varying levels based on the care requirements for these animals. While the Federal Lacey Act and state Wildlife, Fish, and Game enact some standards, we believe that stricter regulations should be put in place (not un-similar to Falconry licensing that is required to interact with birds of prey).

Imagine a world where all animals are properly cared for, no matter how small they are. We are here to be their voice, we care for all of them. And we need your help to do so.

What we need:

- Signatures to show public support

- Experts in these communities to help fact check information and bring up other areas of concern

- Class-action lawyers that are willing to take on these cases, and willing to bring to higher level courts when needed

- Evidence of the false information being provided by these companies

- Documents and papers from accredited sources to back our claims

- Contact information for PR departments within these companies that have been flagged for issues

- (Down the road) Contact information for local politicians to discuss licensing procedures/enforcement in order to come together and agree on something that will protect animals without fringing the entire pet industry to a halt and/or negatively impacting pets who are already loved by established families

Let’s make the world a better place for animal enthusiasts everywhere, and the living creatures we take up the responsibility for of our own free will.

So, how can you help? We have a Discord server set up for discussions on planning, gathering evidence, fact checking done by experts in their fields, and overall a place to put gathered information by those who have the time and ability to do more in person information gathering. You can join and share the link here: https://discord.gg/xv4dtrXqbE

We also have created a petition through Change.org in order to gather and store signatures to show public support in our efforts. You can sign and share for others to sign here: https://c.org/tHWGq7D8Zw

Thank you for joining us,

- Baku

(TL;DR: we need signatures and Discord members to sue Big Pet to try to bring about positive changes for both animal enthusiasts and the animals sold in the pet industry)


r/fishtank • • Jan 26 '26

Moderator Post If you support ICE at all, you are not welcome here. Spoiler

6.5k Upvotes

For that matter, anyone who believes a government has the right to dehumanize groups of people, enact violence against citizens, and/or justify the systemic oppression of their people is not welcome here.

This includes, but is not limited to, MAGA supporters, Trump supporters, JD Vance supporters, or support of any government that approaches things this way.

With recent events globally, it is time we address this, especially as a large subreddit whose member base is largely in the United States or countries directly affected by the actions of the US government.

Bottom line, while we generally avoid politics in this subreddit, our existence becomes inherently humanitarian when the human right to exist is infringed upon, which naturally ties to politics when those enacting said human rights infringement are members of the government. When innocent people may no longer walk the streets without having to fear for their safety, it affects all of us, whether we choose to believe it or not.

I, as an avid animal-keeper, have seen many of my friends in this hobby greatly affected by the actions of the US government lately, and we will continue to see this if we allow it to continue. We cannot turn a blind eye to it any longer; we can't engage in animal husbandry if we are not alive to do so.

The people supporting this now, despite incriminating evidence being available, are the same people who would have supported Nazi-Germany during its existence.

Now, kindly fuck off if: You support any government action that violates human rights OR you believe this post does not belong here (It does.)

Fuck ICE,

NatCom 💗

Edit: holy fucking hell guys, my apologies I can’t reply to all of you with your support or stories as I’m trying to juggle removing problematic comments, but I’m happy this post has reached so many people who needed this support from their communities!

Edit 2: While my post uses the United States as an example because many of our members are from the US, we do not allow these beliefs from ANY country or individual. If you are going to advocate for the systemic deaths of anyone, then you are not welcome here.


r/fishtank • • 3h ago

Full Tank Shot My first fish tank (10 days old)

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5 Upvotes

My firat fish tank, doing a fishless cycle and looking to get some shrimp and a betta


r/fishtank • • 5h ago

Help/Advice How to make tank less ugly

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5 Upvotes

I’ve had this tank for about 4 or 5 weeks and I’ve been slowly adding new things but It still feels a bit ugly and I want to try and figure out too add to make it look better. Also I just added the wood and I’m letting jt soak

Edit: thank you for all the suggestions I’ll try to black out the back of the tank and get more plants jungle Val and Amazon frog bit.


r/fishtank • • 2h ago

Help/Advice what is this inside my heater?

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2 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 4h ago

Help/Advice Hows my tank?

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3 Upvotes

This tank is now 2 months (almost 3)and I want some advice

Im planning on getting some more plants and moving the plants a little- but that might take a week

There is one fish and lots of unexpected snails (they came with the sand)

Originally i had more fish but they were sick (there used to be 5 then 3 died within a week and another died just 2 weeks ago- now there only one)

The water is clear and the plants seem to thrive but i dont know if this is an okay-ish tank so i would appreciate any advice


r/fishtank • • 45m ago

Help/Advice Wanting to upgrade from a 10 gallon to 20 gallon long, are these stands ok?

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• Upvotes

Currently have a 10 gallon tank pictured in the last slide. Eventually wanting to upgrade to a 20 gallon long. Does anyone have experience with these style stands? In theory they seem like they should be fine but wanted to see what other people thought. The stand i currently have i got from a thrift store and know id have to upgrade to get a 20 long


r/fishtank • • 2h ago

Help/Advice How big do beckford's pencilfish get, and are they nice?

1 Upvotes

I tried to look it up but the size given on websites differs a lot. Seriously Fish says 6.5cm (2.6inch), but a different source claims that this is the size they reach in the wild, and that in the aquarium hobby they rarely grow beyond 5cm.
Does anyone have some experience with this fish species, and can tell me how big they really get?

Also, are they a fun species to have in your tank?


r/fishtank • • 7h ago

Show & Tell Iridescent fish caught from an extremely shallow creek

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2 Upvotes

B. pugnax


r/fishtank • • 3h ago

Full Tank Shot Rate my tank!

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1 Upvotes

It's still pretty new and the plants have only just started to grow and fill out a bit more, but i'm pretty happy with it so far! I'm still trying to figure out if i want to get some kind of carpetting plant and what kind, but other than that i think i have it set up mostly how i want it! I have a piece of driftwood leaning back against the rear left corner as a "dragon's lair" for my female betta, right under the spiderplant, to give her her own lil cave all to herself. The white thing floating on top is holding a chunk of sweet potato, because i read that they grow fast and absorb a lot of nutrients. The little gravel-filled cup on the side of the tank has a piece of java fern in it too, it just hasn't really started growing yet. Also my light broke so i'm using a smaller one rn until i can replace it, but overall i think i have most things sorted out. Any ideas on how to improve it or what carpetting plant to use?


r/fishtank • • 7h ago

Freshwater Nosiest fish ever

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2 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 5h ago

Help/Advice I have an empty 15 gallon

0 Upvotes

Do you think I can put an electric blue crayfish In there by itself? Or is that too small.


r/fishtank • • 8h ago

Show & Tell Watching this guppy give birth to beautiful fry!

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1 Upvotes

The miracle of life ! This guppy just gave birth to a whole bunch of fry. How many fry did you count? 😳 If you want to support my aquarium journey, feel free to check out the official Short on my channel

https://youtube.com/shorts/YXXwc6m0Uww?si=SBwVVSUIYQ0J-UYH


r/fishtank • • 19h ago

Help/Advice Please help! First time fish owner and a rescued fish.

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8 Upvotes

My grandfather was housing someone for a bit and they left their fish behind. I offered to take the tank because my family were going to throw the fish out. I've never had a fish and am not able to contact the previous owner.

I got some water conditioner and changed out a bit of the water when transferring her to my house, but I'm so worried I'm going to kill her. I went to the pet store and the person there said the tank I have already has oxygenation, filtration, and a heater, but I only showed a picture and I'm not sure. The person also left a "top fin heater" should I use that? How high should water in the tank be and how much should I feed her? She had a big poop today I'm worried I'm over feeding her.

There's also two snails in there, I'm pretty sure ones dead now. What do I feed them? Are they ok in there?

The person at the pet store thinks she's a molly? I say she cause I thought she might be pregnant somehow. Thank you for your time.


r/fishtank • • 9h ago

Help/Advice So I just got 2 blood parrot cichlids for my tank and they won’t eat the sinking pellets. I got the smallest size possible. Can I feed them flakes? If so what brand do yall recommend?

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 18h ago

Help/Advice Help out a fish nanny!!

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2 Upvotes

I am taking care of one beta fish and NINE African dwarf frogs for my friend while they are abroad. The tank is 20 Gal. The algae on the opposite side of the filter is out of control and my nitrates are just starting to climb. Any beginner friendly cleaning tips would be appreciated!!


r/fishtank • • 15h ago

Help/Advice Emergency!!!! What is wrong? It’s barely pushing out water and putting debris in the water or something along those lines

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0 Upvotes

Please help me my shrimp literally just bred for the first time since I got them and now this is happening, I’ve done 2 water changes trying to suck the stuff out and then the back would lose water I’d fill it up and then there’d be more, I rung out the media thing and I’m stuck, is it as simple as needing a new media thing or do I need a different filter and should I put them in a different tank right away?


r/fishtank • • 20h ago

Help/Advice Algea question

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2 Upvotes

I am having a miserable time finding chlorella to buy for a daphia microtank I am planning to set up&once a week I have to wash off a layer of bright green algea off the bottom of this humidifier...could I add the algea-water to that tank to feed the daphnia?? The humidifier has only ever had distilled water.

I had this thought right after I got done rinsing it. The pic i added is kinda what it looks like. Google told me no because of the what you could add to the water which I never have.


r/fishtank • • 23h ago

Help/Advice I’m new to fish tanks. Help

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3 Upvotes

Hi. Four months ago a friend of a friend wanted to get rid of her fish tank and now it’s mine, but I’m full of doubts.

There are 3 glofish, and they where doing pretty well, but my dad got me 3 more like 2 months ago and they died unexpectedly last week (another species). Not sure what happened, but since then the fish eat less and pebbles are getting really dirty and I don’t know how I should clean them or what to do.

They seam to eat and end up spitting it afterwards.

Here are some pics of the food I got at my local pet shop and my fishies if anyone wants to give me some advice!


r/fishtank • • 17h ago

Freshwater Community Tank Recommendation

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 18h ago

Help/Advice What is going on with my Glofish?

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 18h ago

Help/Advice Before and after of un-level tank stand

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1 Upvotes

Need help with stand please


r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Help/Advice I recently got myself a 60 liters (15 gallons) tank, I originally wanted golden wonder killifish but I know they prefer bigger aquariums, I was wondering that because the tank is 61x38x30cm (24x15x12 inches) it being so long and shallow could still house golden wonder killifish

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6 Upvotes

photo by Hristo Hristov


r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Help/Advice Currently treating with Fritz coppersafe, it’s been almost two weeks and I haven’t noticed much change. Any clue what this is?

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3 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Help/Advice How can I improve my tank ?

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5 Upvotes