r/fishtank • • Mar 30 '26

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

14 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 However, a lot of the improper husbandry is the direct result of false advertising on packaging and at a store level, outdated/false information being given by employees or store pamphlets, and businesses prioritizing sales over animal welfare.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 • • 2h ago

Help/Advice Substrate for a 20 gallon long

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4 Upvotes

So I recently upgraded to a 20 gallon long and now I’m trying to figure out how to scape it. So far I added about 1/3 ish of fluval stratum and two liters of controsoil. For species currently owned I have 3 amano shrimp, 5 khuli loaches, 4 otocinclus, and 4 neon tetras. I have some mopani wood that’s being waterlogged and from my old tank I have spider wood a 3 plants (buying more), and some small rocks (river stone size). I could just buy another bag of fluval but I don’t know if I should maybe try using sand. My tank is essentially black so maybe black sand? Does anyone have any recommendations? If sand isn’t needed then how many more bags of fluval would you say I need? All of my fish have always been on fluval but I’m trying to go out of my way to improve their quality of life more. Since I’ve gotten a new tank & am buying new supplies.

I’ve never used sand so I don’t know how to go about cleaning it or how much is needed (unless I can add it straight in).


r/fishtank • • 1h ago

Help/Advice Found baby shrimp idk what to do

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• Upvotes

Ignore the music lol. I found 2 baby shrimp while I was doing a water change. I noticed them swimming and put them in a glass cup. I have 2 fancy goldfish that would most likely eat them. I’d like to keep them and have them grow. However, I have no idea how to take care of them. Any tips. Thanks


r/fishtank • • 8h ago

Show & Tell Baby Badis

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5 Upvotes

I was looking in my Tiger Badis tank and found this little guy! He is probably half a cm big


r/fishtank • • 20m ago

Help/Advice Mysterious flat worm

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• Upvotes

I found this thing on my tank glass today, I was wondering if it was planaria. Anybody knows what it might be?


r/fishtank • • 5h ago

News/Article Carter has passed away while I was gone tests are coming soon.

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2 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 14h ago

Help/Advice Tetra ate food too big

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8 Upvotes

Hey everyone

Fat fred, whom we know is fat fred due to his dominance at feeding time and how fast he stuffs himself... well today the idiot ate a large crab cuisine pellet, which is HUGE. Picture of his hikari micro pellets vs one he friggen ate, which

Moving forward, ill add pellets for shrimp and snails at lights off i think...fat fred quite literally got up in the mystery snails face and into the shrimp pile on and stole it from all of them. Rude.

Anyway, fat fred, as you can kind of see in my terrible photos, is bulging and lumpy. He seems ok, though he is flapping his fins alot and his gills are moving rythmically in quick consistent beats...he is still acting normally. Its been about an hour now. Airstone is running, water parameters stable and hes been in this tank about 6 months.

Other than not feeding for a few days, can i help him at all? I cant believe the little dickhead ate it 😰


r/fishtank • • 3h ago

Freshwater Stocking ideas

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1 Upvotes

Any ideas?


r/fishtank • • 4h ago

Help/Advice New Fish Tank

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Show & Tell new tank setup!

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135 Upvotes

recently lost my betta after 4 wonderful years so of course the natural next step was to go back to my roots and buy a bigger tank 😅 excited to get back into keeping some smaller schooling friends!

this is a 90l so, once fully cycled, i think im going to go with a honey gourami, some chilli rasboras & perhaps some pygmy cories too?

what sort of numbers for each would you recommend?
i currently have about 7-12 (lol who knows anymore) cherry shrimp in here too!

thanks guys <3


r/fishtank • • 5h ago

Help/Advice how many fish in a 10 gal

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 6h ago

DIY/Build Used Hex Tank Re-Build/Seal

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1 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 6h ago

Help/Advice Please help with flies

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1 Upvotes

Please someone identify these flies, I assumed they were young mosquitoes. But apparently not, they will NOT GO I’ve done mesh, full cover, surface agitation, the infestation won’t go.

Apologies for the bad picture they are tiny!


r/fishtank • • 12h ago

Help/Advice what is this ???

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3 Upvotes

i have kuhli loaches and a pleco in a 55 gallon, nothing from outside except a lily plant i put in like 1-2 months that i cleaned with peroxide


r/fishtank • • 22h ago

DIY/Build Would you trust this stand for a couple years

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11 Upvotes

I wanted to make my own stand so I could put many tanks on it (as seen in pic). I have basically no knowledge of carpentry, I just kinda threw some wood together. It’s had the top tank on it for probably 2 months at this point, so in the short term I know I’m fine. Would you worry about it bowing in the middle? I’m assuming it would’ve started by now if it was gonna be an issue.


r/fishtank • • 11h ago

Discussion Evaporation from tanks?

0 Upvotes

I want to set up another fish tank [would be my 3rd one, I already have a 10 and 3 gallon]. However, I'm worried about the evaporation. My parents think setting up a 3rd one would make there be too much water in the house [???] and I'm trying to show them there's barely any evaporation. How bad would you say your evaporation is, and does it actually screw up the air you breathe in your home? Thank you!


r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Other meet froglet!

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10 Upvotes

i’m a first time owner of dwarf african frogs and oh my i am obsessed with these little guys! i can’t get pictures of the other one she just always seems to hide when i want to photograph her but froglet on the other hand is always watching 😭


r/fishtank • • 21h ago

Discussion What are these tiny bugs?

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2 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Other Name ideas for betta!!

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32 Upvotes

Hi guys this is my new betta fish! He’s a fancy copper plakat betta.

Name suggestions??


r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Help/Advice What is this little fella?

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2 Upvotes

Got a 55gal setup on FB marketplace with Harlequin Rasboras, Mollies, Panda Corys, and then this one. No others like him in the tank. Thought he might be a juvenile Harlequin, but he doesn’t have the distinctive black triangle he should have by now. Tried to ID online but not having much success.


r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Help/Advice I knocked my fish tank and the corner cracked, will it burst open? We’ve put glue on it for now

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3 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Freshwater 1 year and 3months

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3 Upvotes

r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Show & Tell Green fish I caught from a shallow blackwater roadside ditch

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5 Upvotes

B. pulchra


r/fishtank • • 1d ago

Help/Advice Help! My fish are dying!

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14 Upvotes

I got a 190 liter tank sett up for 6 months or so, i changed out one of my filter medias for a charcoal one, and it made the water clear, but my fish have not been doing good since, 3 have died and some have just disappeared!

2 of them started to swim weird, and i thought they could have swim blader, so i tried to treat that, but they passed away