[Petcrazy]

Oh man I know by just posting on this I'm just asking for hate mail LOL
Anyways, it's a yes and no answer.

Because it's all situational,
A) Do you have the funds and the actual intention on giving it a bigger home later on (then why not do it now?)
B) Do you actually have the CONTACTS, FRIENDS, and MEANS to find it a proper home later on...do you know interested parties (or at least a reputable fish store)?
C) How small are we talking here (both the tank and fish?)
EG
(A tang in a ten is unacceptable, meanwhile a baby in a 50-60 is fine for awhile).
Are the water conditions optimal and is the tank being properly maintained?
Does the fish seem stressed?
Is he behaving "naturally" (as possible in our setups)?

There are a lot of situational factors...but for those people who continuously buy these fish, throw them in small tanks and have them dying on them. only for them to just go out and replace it with something else that gets the same size or larger...Heck no. They should be smacked with a wiffle bat while the attacker says "No fish for you!" over and over again....at least until they get the point and are scared out of buying fish for the rest of their lives....-ahem- aaaanyways.

For the majority of us on canreef we are *hopefully* 'responsible' fish keepers. We take pride and care in what we keep; we don't wish to see harm, stress or illness ever come upon our fish. We also HAVE the means, the contacts, and plenty of interested parties who will take our fish off of our hands. We know plenty of people with BIG tanks for our prize fish to go into, or whom we could buy large tanks off of.

I could go on about this, but to me it all depends on the circumstances.

I don't see a problem with a friend of mines regal, he's small, in a good size tank and I know he's being pampers...but it's not RIDICULOUSLY small. But on the other hand, I know people with MULTIPLE tangs in tanks you could almost consider nanos and the tangs die all the time...(as well as other species of fish...)...they just buy and replace them then brag about their new fish. Those people...I want to smack with my wiffle bat...(oh hold on, I only have a wooden one...I guess it'll juuust have to work.)

You can call me eccentric or whatever you like, it doesn't matter. But having worked with fish for many years and lived with them nearly all of my life...I don't see any excuse for anyone to have a fish that wants tons of swimming room, gets excessively large in a ridiculously small tank. (I'm thinking extreme cases here) Particularly when they are fully aware of the needs of the fish.

With the numerous amounts of beautiful species out there, it isn't as if you can find something equally as appealing and beautiful that would be more appropriate for your setup.

And I speak from experience here. I HAVE a small tank and I've very easily worked within the limitations of my tank. How hard is it to look through fish profiles and find ones that can do well in our size tanks? At least be comfortable for a few years…seriously now folks.

If you are going to rip something out of the wild and keep it, at least take good care of it….that’s all I’ve got to say.

(Oh yeah, and it can depend on species..those who like to "just keep swimming"...grrr...the ones who are a stationary type and really couldn't give a rats behind other than water conditions...I don't mind as much)