Fish Tank Friday: Evil Fish Tanks

By Evan Ackerman

When it comes down to it, fish tanks aren’t really the greatest place for fish any more than cages are the greatest place for birds. Many of the fish tanks we’ve featured on Fish Tank Friday try really damn hard to give the fish a unique place to call home, but unfortunately, not all fish tanks are created equal, and some are created downright unequal. This Friday, we’re showing you some evil fish tanks to help raise awareness and benefit fish everywhere.

These keychains are being sold by vendors in Qingdao, China. It’s not a little bag to take your goldfish for a walk in; the fish is sealed inside and sold as a souvenir. The logo on the bag? Yeah, that’s one of the Chinese Olympic mascots. It’s unofficial, of course, but you have to wonder who exactly sees one of these things and decides that yes, that is exactly the Olympic souvenir that they’ve been looking for.

This is the iPond. It’s a portable speaker system attached to a tiny fish tank, designed to work with iPods and the like. It’s actually for sale (for $60) in retail stores in Australia. Inside the tank is a Betta fish, which (according to officials from the Melbourne aquarium) needs at least 10 liters of water to live in, as opposed to the 650 milliliters of water in the iPond. And I’m sure the fish doesn’t appreciate having its living quarters attached to a speaker playing crappy music. According to the people selling the iPond, however, sales have been “brisk” and “fish in iPonds seemed to flourish.”

So just remember, as you continue to enjoy Fish Tank Fridays, that not all fish have it so good, and give your fish an extra shake of flakes today on my behalf. 🙂

VIA [ Geekologie ] and [ Gizmodo ]