I love fish. I've always loved fish and although I don't currently have any I've had many different kinds over the years, and many different sizes of tanks as well. Sometimes several at once. I just think they're beautiful and rather soothing--peaceful; but I don't know that I ever actually thought of my fish as pets even though most of them were bought at pet stores. Pets, to me, are...well, let's just say they're not much pets to me if you can't touch or hold them in some way.
Any animal you must take care of is, by definition, a pet. My first pets were fishes, although I was a kid so you may imagine I wasn't exactly thrilled, heh. They died after a few years. I admit I miss them and I have learned to appreciate more fish pets, but they definitely aren't my first option. I lean more towards pets like dogs or cats.
GoldenWing, Although fish weren't my first "pets"--I still use that term loosely here--I did have a small fish tank as a child. You say that, as a child, your first pets were fish and that you managed to keep them for a few years? I find that exceptional. My first aquarium full of fish didn't last nearly that long. I think I just became disheartened with them when after having enjoyed my lovely little tank for awhile my mom excitedly brought home a beautiful new addition--a betta, or siamese fighting fish. I was thrilled, initially; but you can guess what happened. It was several years before I tried keeping fish again, but I was some wiser in the way of it than I had been before and found the experience to be rewarding. Fish really are lovely. And when you find the right place to set your tank up (out of the sun, etc) they are fairly low maintenance to keep.
Of course, fish can be wonderful pets. I even consider the geckos that live in my house as pets. I had a pet fish called Orlando in the past. A beautiful goldfish who lived in a big tank full of plants and rocks with his girlfriend Sabine. I had them for a long time. When my personal situation changed and I had to move overseas, I gave the happy couple to a friend who has a big outdoor pond, where they still live happily and safely to this day under a net of plants.
Yeah pets are any sort of animal you can take of but I disagree that fish are lovely. I mean I suppose that they're nice to look at but they pretty much bore me because you can't do anything with them. It's basically living art. I had fish when I was little and they seemed to die within a year. Apparently the algae eaters weren't doing their job.
They are living animals which you take care of, so they definitely are house pets. While, in my opinion, they aren't nearly as exciting or cute as dogs, cats, hamsters, etc..., they can be somewhat peaceful to look at. In addition, taking care of fish seems to be more tedious than you would expect, having to take care of water quality, acidity, filters, and a whole bunch of other stuff!
I do agree with most of the other comments that they are pets, at least if you have them in your home and they are dependent on you for food and clean water and other care. My parents have gerbils and hamsters and it's sometimes hard for me to think of them as 'real' pets too, since they don't really interact with you, but I don't think interaction is the test. It's their dependence on you and their living in your home.
Yes, why wouldn't I consider them? I don't think that they are just mere ornaments. They should really be taken care with serious effort and love. You just wouldn't just feed them because they look good in the aquarium, but you do because you care for them, and it's feeling you guilty if you neglect them - that's how I see it. Another thing is that anything that you are concern is a pet.
Sort of, I guess. I had 2 gold fish for a couple years as a kid. They did not really do much for me, and I was very bored with them. I kind of like fish as something to look at, but they were a lot of work for literally no interaction. Interaction is what I want in a pet, something that will respond when I talk to it, make sounds, ect. I think fish are more a live thing to look at than a pet really. They can be very entertaining and enjoyable, but they just do their own thing and don't even pay attention to you.
Some of the larger fish, especially Cichlids, are actually quite smart. They know who you are, and they'll even interact with you. THat doesn't necessarily mean that they like you or even care about you, though. Still, those smarter fish breeds can do some entertaining things, or at least let you know that they aren't mindless/brainless. When we owned a cichlid years ago, it would intentionally knock the top off its tank in order to let us know it was hungry. Really, that fish was kind of a jerk.
Fish are pets, you feed them and clean their living quarters and if they die you have to bury them. My parents had goldfish and they are a joy, easy to look after and to watch. I also used to live with friends who had several tanks of fish and also fish in a pond so it was hard work looking after all those fish when there was a power cut and I had to move them all. Some were very expensive as well!
Although fishes can be called pets in the general sense, to me they're pseudo-pets. My reasoning is that unlike the usual pets, like cats and dogs for example, that regularly interact with you, fishes don't do much. It's nice looking at and feeding them but other than those activities, there's nothing else in store. We once owned a really amusing fish, a Shubunkin. It surfed and flipped and it even appeared like it greeted us. However, it died just a few days from the date of purchase. So I guess unless we get to own a fish that actually interacts with us, we can't really call it a pet in every sense of the word.
If you have a fish that you take care of it's a pet, if you want to eat it, it's food. I get how they aren't like a dog or cat, but there are a lot of animals that you can cuddle or touch and that are still kept as a pet. If you take the example of a snake, it's almost the same. Normally people wouldn't consider a snake a pet since it's a wild animal, but if you keep it as a pet, it's not really wild anymore and the snake holder would clearly claim it to be his pet.
I truly believe that fish can be a pet. As others have said with fish we have to take care of them. We have to feed them clean their water bowl. We also name them, heck in some cases we even talk to them. So, yes a person can bond with fish and a fish can be a pet. Hey there was someone in Australia who actually had their gold fish operated on in order to keep the fish, because they didn't want to see them die. So, we can become just as attached. All right so maybe we can't have the same amount of contact with the fish that we do with cats or dogs whom we can pet or cuddle with, but we can still come to love a fish.
I still consider them pets because it still provides the owner with some satisfaction of having animals around. The bad part is, as you've mentioned, you can't pet it, but since you take care of it then it still is technically a pet. Just being able to see them and be amazed at their presence is enough to give e owner satisfaction spans I don't think you necessarily only have to be able to pet it before you can consider it a pet.
Fish are pets that don't love you back and aren't really aware of you. I've known some people like that. Fish are a combination of pets, living art and zoo exhibit that you watch out of scientific interest.
Lol at this thread, although I think that it is very valid. We have two fishes in our living room. A nice big fish tank for the two of them, and the fish themselves are wonderful. We consider them to be pets, but it does suck that we cannot psychically interact with them? When most people think of pets, they think of animals that they can interact with, and you cannot really do that with fish, which is frustrating because they are so cute that you want to pet them.
I have a friend who's getting her daughter a fish as a first pet. This was she can learn responsibly by taking care of it, but still have a relative low maintenance animal to take care of. So yes, I would consider a fish to be a pet. Since you take them into your home, give them a place to call their own, feed them and take responsibility for them.
Fish to me are a hobby and not pets. You take care of them like you would a garden or a collection. You admire them like you would something artistic or historical. You can breed them or keep them until they die. They are a hobby.
Tell that to my little sister. She went to a fair and she ended up winning a fish in a bag of water lol. We felt that he was a little lonely in that fish take by himself, so we ended up buying two more fish to keep the goldfish company. Anyway, the goldfish was the first to die out of the three and we still have the other two. They are growing so big now, and when that fish died my little sister was depressed for days. She loved that little animal!!!!
