Sealed condom aquarium causes stir

"The worrying thing is that the person who made that obviously knows a bit about fishkeeping (bacteria, nitrogen cycle etc) and he still did it! not to mention the lack of dechlorinator!"

"Surely the residue's of spermicide and chemical's, rinsed or not, will harm the fish?
What idiocy!
It will turn into yet another sad waste of fish life"

"this idiot actcually thinks this is a "self-sustained" ecosystem?? don't make me laugh even my 12 year old sister knows its imposible. but the gusy is actually getting credit for it...some people or are really stupid or play dumb as a hobby."

"Think George hit the nail on the head!

Still it is appauling that someone would even think of doing this let alone go through with it."

"I would like to add that a number of chemicals are present with the lubricant present on most condoms, for example polyethylene glycol (PEG), spermicides such as Nonoxynol-9 and sometimes flavourings, colourings and other chemicals used as 'warmining' agents and those used to 'prolong enjoyment'.

Studies show that PEG can cause skin irritation in humans and animals and also show that the frequent use of nonoxynol-9 can induce lesions and ulcerations to genital mucosa of humans.

I doubt the brief rinsing that people may give to the condom they choose to use for their ''ecosystem'' will completely remove all of these components. Any remaining could potentially cause the fish discomfort and distress."

"What a stupid idea, does he really expect this to work. The sad thing is people will try this out."

"To summarise, a slow painful torture for the fish by this idiot. Sadly it will be copied by others too."

"I wonder if he would like it if he was put inside a balloon and starved of oxygen."

"Thats terrible and wrong.Idiots :("

"The condom would be better suited if the guy/gal had have put it on there head.


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"what an idiot,he obvoiusly has to much time on his hands and not enough brain cells,the scary thing is that alot of people will be misled in to thinking this is acceptable....."

"one other thing how the hell do you feed the fish you moron"

"Ah, if only his father had had some foresight..."

"I don't understand why the site has allowed the video to stay. The creator of the video is clearly an idiot but the site should weed out such people and not show them."

"Pitty his father didn't use one of these for its intended purpose.

Wonder how he would feel if I shoved him into a 6' x 6' x 6' cubical, shoved some plants in there and sealed the whole thing shut?

Not to mention I'd have to spray the inside first with a variety of noxious chemicals which over time will cause irritation and discomfort..."

"No way to feed the fish, no way to get oxygen in the water...DOH!! Obiously not a fish lover here. "

"Apart from being ridiculous - how do you feed them or clean them out!!!! Its worse than the little jars Siamese fighters are put in. I am appauled that you have even given it space on your site."

"when i saw this i thought it was gross like everyone else has said it is completly stupid wonder how long those neon tetras lived for? im 11 and got a subscription for pfk for my birthday because i love the mag so much and i decided that i wanted a tank but i looked into it first saved up and bought a juwel 100 litre aquarium even i know that you need to have a decent sized tank witha good filter and heater to keep your fish healthy and happy therefore making a condom not a sutible enviorment for fish and strongly advise no one to copy this idiot."

"idiot"

"I feel saddened that there are idiots like this in the world, using live creatures for their own amusement, with no concern for their wellbeing. "

"I do wish PFK would remove this video from their site!!

They will not print this wish,- my last comments were not included - obviously they were inappropriate too!

[Ed's note: We don't publish all comments submitted, but those shown will reflect the balance of comments we received. A large number of comments are rejected for legal reasons.]

The chap who submitted 'this sickening offering' in the name of a video purporting to support fish by insertion in a condom is, needless to say, a consummate attention seeker.

I am concerned, nothing more, for the next fish he experiments with in this way in an oxygenless environment. The liklihood will diminish with less publicity."

"Just one more sad example of the attitude "they're just fish".

Not to mention there is no such word as "wallah". The word is "voila". It's French.

"

"What an utter moron!"

" Quite a crual way of keeping the fish, and I dont really see how the fish could actually find enough to eat, as well how quickly the water will become contaminated and not be able to replenish itself quick enough by forms of breaking down the waste. A bad example, and many other comments about chemicals are quite true.
I remember a science exam paper I sat for biology that had a self sustaining eco-system as mentioned by others suggesting it would work and that it was ok to do that type of thing, but I also have to mention that it did state the fact that it was based on theory, even though they didn't suggest anything was wrong with it.

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"I feel bad for the fishes."

"what a complete dipstick.This guy has no respect for what he's putting them fish through.Sad Sad man!!!"

"did he not consider that plants produce CO2 at night, not oxygen, so the aquarium is not self sustaining, small volume and condom chemicals aside"

"As a fish shop owner, this sort of thing makes me feel sick, I just hope the fish did not suffer for long or the idiot sore sence and returned them to the tank."

"George has hit the nail on the head. Just don't hit the website and this idiot won't think he's onto a good thing. Personally I would have him in front of a firing squad, and happily pull the trigger."

"What a muppet,hes obviousl not all there in the head!!"

"At least the fish are in water and its not a used condom, thats a start - better than putting them in a toilet bowl.

Poor little fish, they do not deserve such treatment."

"What a muppet,hes obviousl not all there in the head and the white coats should beafter him"

"The fact that he used the smallest fish commonly available - a neon tetra - makes it seem that this person actually kind of considered that there wouldn't be enough oxygen for the #1 martyr of the fish world, a goldfish. If all he was after was attention, and he knew he would seem cruel to fishkeepers, why not use a feeder goldfish since it's only a quarter? (Err, crown? Sorry, I'm a yank.) I know it seems unlikely, but I have a feeling that this person actually thought this would work. This isn't the first time anyone has thought of making an aquarium that holds just a few dribbles of water, Google palmtop aquariums and you'll see other examples. Obviously these were actually *tasteful* but still, why do people feel an urge to create these mini aquatic ecosystems? Just food for thought..."

"Am I the only one who is remembering that there are laws against animal cruelty and that charges SHOULD be pressed against this guy? There is NO such thing as a man made "self sustained" ecosystem, they dont work! This is a blaintint disregard for the health and happiness of the living creatures sealed tightly in that rubber."

"Obviously, this person has no love for animals at all. I think this person should be reported to the RSPCA, or the equivalent. What a stupid thing to do, but the frightning thing is that other people out there will copy what he has done, thinking it's a laugh."

"What a moron!!"

"Whoever created this clearly has no respect for animals. Too many fish die through morons like this creater, and its about time the got prosecuted through cruelty to animals."

"I just cant believe what ive just seen, i thoutht goldfish being hung up in small bags as fairground prizes was bad enough but this defies belief! People like this make me sick, just because they are fish that seems to make it ok to be able to sacrifice their lives in order to earn respect from equal minded ignorant morons who will probably label it as "cool". what i would really like to do is to feed the guy who did this to my oscars but then i guess they would spit him out because even oscars have taste!!!"

"this is disgusting, but i don't think he is being serious, but still cruelty to animals"

"How can things like this be policed? someone somewhere should be told about this in a legal sense so that these morons can be shown the extent of their cruelty in the a court of law. That should bring the message home.

This is not the only cruel fish "sport" out there there is I understand a video of pirahna eating a live mouse!!!! This is not the fault of the fish but that of the miserable torturers.

How can we as caring fishkeepers who spend hours looking after our fish help to prevent this horror. Poor little fish, when you see the trouble a nitrite spike causes think how much suffering the chemicals in a condom will cause. I hope they are dead quickly."

"I just read the comments on the actual site from other people who have watched the video. I think I have just lost faith in humanity. As Jimmy Carr said - time for a little chlorine to be added to the gene pool..."

"I am sorry to day this but aren't we getting things a little out of proportion? It is one neon tetra that is being used for an experiment.

I keep fish myself and gain a lot of enjoyment from my hobby but do not mourn the death of individual fish."

"I do not agree, if he is doing this to one tetra on video, imagine what he might do off video.

I'm upset when any of my fish die. I put them into individual match boxes and place them into the garden with a lolli-pop stick above them. It is a very special area of the garden for me."

"stupid thing to do "

"simon wiggins...
It may only be 1 small tetra that you are looking at, and even with 1 tetra its a cruel act, but you are not considering how many people will follow this persons lead, and it wont end with 1 tetra."

"I think this is the worst thing I've seen since the goldfish in the heels of platform shoes in the early 70's.
Apart from the obvious drawbacks, how does he intend to feed these poor creatures? Like the goldfish mentioned above, are they to be left to starve to death if they last that long. I believe a prosicution by the RSPCA is in order, if it was a pair of dogs in a plastic bag or two kittens in a canvas sack there would be no hesitation."

"Oh my god! I have never seen something so stupid! There was a craze a few years ago to have mini aquariums about 4" wide and they were banned thankfully, because the fish cannot survive in something that small, or at least the maintenance is to big for the people intending on buying them, not to mention water quality fluctuations. It is lacking in all the basic requirements of keeping a fish - Oxygen, Heat, PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Light and Food. None of these have been taken into consideration this is before even thinking about the chemicals that cannot be removed from it!

I think it is sad that some websites allow vidoes of such animal cruelty to be shown to the world, if the people watching the videos were well educated they would be leaving the same kind of remarks as shown here. Perhaps people don't realise it wont work."

"Try complaining to Meta Cafe. They won't do a thing. Just like You Tube. These sites are a liability when it comes to animal welfare."

"Rachel: you're right, these video sharing websites are much too lax. I know lots of people are talking about prosecuting the makers of the video but this isn't really going to pan out, of course. The real harm anyway is not the couple of neons that suffered but the very real possibility that this will imitated...and who do we have to blame in that regard? Meta Cafe! Why is there not a terms of use agreement against uploading videos that depict animal cruelty? I looked on You Tube's site and other than copyright infringement and commercial use, the violations are things like "pornography, obscene or defamatory material, or excessive length". I can think of a few other things to add in there...like animal cruelty! Similar to what someone else said, if this were a cat being sealed up in a big see-through bag with a bowl of kibbles, there would be a quite a stir. "

"If you consider it a self-sustained ecosystem, you dont have a clue!"

"Self sustained eco-system! What nonsense!"

"This makes a bowl look positively 5 star accommodation! Very sad-poor fish."

"what a incredible idea!! im going to copy it!,then im going to invade poland,refuse america tax breaks,split up the middle east after a long war,and finaly im going to buy shares in northern rock!...........................or maybey not eh?"

"Oh, come on the guy is obviously not going to keep the fish in there. People are clearly overreacting.

And by the way there is actually a self sustaining system called Ecosphere that is not far from what this guy has done. It's made of glass and has shrimp instead of fish but everything else is similar. Google about it ;)"