• _bcron_@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          One of the bigger reasons has to do with the square cube law - as the size of something increases, surface area increases by a factor of 2 but mass increases by a factor of 3, so little fishes have a surface area-to-mass ratio that is quite a bit higher than a larger fish, and they’re more susceptible to abrupt changes in temperature.

          Kinda like how an ice cube will melt a lot faster than a big slab of ice, the core temperature of some small fish like a goldfish is gonna change more rapidly than the core temperature of a big fish like a trout so they tend to be a lot more finnicky in regard to significant and instantaneous changes to temperature and stuff. A larger fish might shrug off a significant change because it affects them more slowly, but that might be a totally wild an overwhelming experience for a little fish to go through

          • TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works
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            3 hours ago

            something i love about Lemmy is that on the drop of a hat someone is willing to calculate the “surface area to fish ratio”

            • leisesprecher@feddit.org
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              58 minutes ago

              Problem is, you almost never know if that’s actually true or complete bullshit.

              It seems plausible, but killing virgins for rain also seemed plausible back then in the 70s.

          • BanjoShepard@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            And in a similar but completely different way, the fish are being added to massive bodies of water. Home aquariums are minute in comparison, so they can’t balance out chemical swings as easily and are much more prone to higher levels of nitrites and other toxic chemicals. The larger the body of water, the more stable the water quality.

        • shalafi@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          You can yeet goldfish. Carp are stupid tough. It’s the tropical fish we often keep that are kinda wimpy. Also, they’re not coming from a super healthy environment (the store) to our tanks.

        • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          One reason is because the hatcheries are in the same general area as the lakes, so conditions are pretty similar. The temperature will be about the same at the same depths as the hatchery, and the water comes from the same source.

        • danc4498@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Maybe 95% survive, but how many are injured in a way that might impact their quality of life?

          Since these are being dropped specifically for the purpose of being caught and killed asap, quality of life might not matter.

          For your sad little goldfish, please be gentle!

          • subtext@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            Also, gotta think about whether 5% mortality rate is acceptable.

            For an airdrop number of pond fish? Sure!

            For your hobbyist number of expensive fish? Absolutely not

  • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 hours ago

    So, if I understand you correctly, what you’re saying is - given the quite large body of water about half a mile away from me, all downhill, I should get a giant catapult and fling some piranha.

    I’ll go down in history, either for the best April Fools joke ever, or if my aim is off, the best Halloween prank ever 🐟🐠🐟😁

  • madthumbs@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    A testament to how hardy fish are. If you have fish dying in an aquarium; you shouldn’t have pets.

    • Slowy@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      Like yes, but, the actual hard part of aquarium fish keeping isn’t really related to the fish themselves. It’s the water… nature has already prepared this biologically active, clean, ample supply of water for the air dropped trout. Replicating that in a tiny glass box without at least a surface understanding of the chemistry involved can be very difficult. But you should also learn how to supply an animal with the proper environment before you get one.