Wales: Be Careful When Buying a Fish – It Could Grow into a Monster

By HYWEL TREWYN

A NORTH Wales aquarium is warning parents not to buy fish for their children – without doing their homework first.

Fish can outgrow their tanks and when owners find they don’t have room to keep them, they often seek to donate their pets to aquariums such as Anglesey Sea Zoo at Bryn siencyn near Llanfairpwll.

The zoo is part of the Big Fish Campaign aimed at banning the sale of certain species in pet stores altogether because of the problems such donations cause.

Curator Clare White said: “Although members of the public may see this as the perfect solution for them, it then creates problems for the aquaria as it is often very difficult to mix donated stock with our own.

“Keeping fish in home aquaria is becoming more and more popular, however, there are many people buying fish from pet shops who are not getting the correct advice on exactly how big certain species of fish can grow.

“Some species such as the Black Pacu can grow to over 4ft in length and will eventually need a tank of at least 5,000 zlitres for adequate swimming space and not many lounges have that much space!”

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