User blog comment:ILuvAnime/Fairy Tail continue after episode 175/@comment-5170433-20130401163620/@comment-7418318-20130404202122

That is probably the main reason why fillers were made in the first place (along with making even more money I suppose...), but in this particular instance there is a problem with placement:

Right now the anime is in the middle of a story arc and episode 176 would play just a few hours after 175. There is no room to put in a filler arc without pissing many people off.

I mean common: Tension rising, a cliffhanger that has you wanting for more and then *bam* .... 20 episodes of filler material? Would you realy want that?

I'm quite happy that they chose to take a break, rather than creating another bunch of crappy fillers, like the daphne arc (which was crap from start to finish) or the Key of Starry Sky arc (which was mostly medicore, but at least had a few good places and a good finale).