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
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.
something i love about Lemmy is that on the drop of a hat someone is willing to calculate the “surface area to fish ratio”
The math actually works, and is quite simple. Just assume the fish is a sphere
I’m confused though. Don’t people use this to talk about how small things like bugs can fall from a large height and be uninjured, but large things like a human or elephant will be injured if falling from a height? I feel like what you’re saying is backwards to what the internet has told me.
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.
I would watch carp throwing as a competitive sport, they aren’t going to make it easy
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!
