Do you bury your fish when they pass away?

[Iluvbloodyparrots]

A grim discussion, I know. But something I have thought about since my little Buddy has passed. He was my friend during the pandemic and passed away in January. Since it was winter and I'm from Ontario, I sealed him up and put him in the freezer until the snow melted. Once it did I dug a hole and buried him. And I think I will do the same for any of my other fish.

My way of thinking is my fish are still family, just like a dog or cat would be. I wouldn't throw my dog in the trash after they pass, so why would I do that to my fish? Just because they're dead does not mean I can treat them like garbage. I can still treat them with respect and give them a burial.

Am I silly for thinking this way?

Ofc not at all, I bury all my pets and even dead lizards ill find. Even in death, I'd wanted to be treated with the respect of being buried so I treat animals how id wanna be treated. Especially when adopting a fish, the fish becomes yours to care for so even alive or dead I would always care for it

 

[GaryE]

The main rule for me is that when a fish has died, you keep it away from other fish. It may have died of something communicable, and with the high rates of fish tuberculosis in the hobby, it is spread by fish eating other fish at times. So the disposal is dry - could be into garbage, could be into dirt. I don't flush fish because while the fish is dead, its diseases may not be. Why take the risk of having them reach waterways?

After that, we get into our own beliefs, whatever they may be. When I'm dead, I don't care what's done to me. You may care deeply. You can or can't apply that to your pets. I've buried my dog and a few canaries, because I was attached to them and liked having a spot as a reminder. Eventually, you move, and so much for that.

We care about these pets of ours. I think their ultimate memorial would be protected natural habitats so they could go their natural ways as species, if not as individuals. If we choose to, we can learn a lot from them, and that's a key one.

I dry them and keep them .

Why do I imagine a necklace you wouldn't wear on a hot day....

 

[vince82]

I flush them. I have septic, so it's not at risk of infecting waterways.

I can see the reason for buryal if it is a large fish that has been with you for many a year, but I keep mostly tiny fishes in large numbers, never big fishes in small numbers, so I have never been attached. I care for them and give them the best possible life, but at the end of the day they are just numbers to me.
Recently I ordered 20 Otos from a wholesaler, 9 died during quarantine and one is still in rough shape, currently in isolation in the main tank..
(he's too thin and feeble, I fear he might have parasites but since the water in the main tank is in better conditions than the one in the quarantine bucket, if he's going to make it it has better chances here, but I don't want the other fishes to eat him if he dies, so he's isolated)

 

[Back in the fold]

@GaryE True story. I read about a champion mountain bike racer that wore a dried piranha on a necklace. Dried fish don’t stink like you would think. Make yourself one.

 

[CrystalStars]

Very interesting responses in this thread. I particularly like the viking funeral for dead fishes and dried fish necklaces.

If you're going to dispose of your dead fish other than burying, then yeah, don't flush them. My town's waterways are connected to a river, so that would be detrimental to the ecosystem. I don't know much about how septic tanks work, so if it's no issue then I guess it's OK. But I don't know.

I'm surrounded by lots of spiritual people, which has influenced my believes. I'm rather spiritual myself. So I like returning my pets to the earth when they die to nourish the plants. Even if I lose a whole school, I'll find someplace to bury them. It's not about wanting to bring them back or anything. It's just that they were once a living thing, and even though they're dead it doesn't devalue the life they once had. But that's just my own beliefs. If people believe the garbage is where dead fish go, that's cool, too

 

[GaryE]

Very interesting responses in this thread. I particularly like the viking funeral for dead fishes and dried fish necklaces.

t's not about wanting to bring them back or anything. It's just that they were once a living thing, and even though they're dead it doesn't devalue the life they once had.

If fish come back in some sort of resurrection, after 56 years of fishkeeping and 25 of them with a full sized fishroom, I had better have a lot of tanks ready! Not one of my fish has been a sole though.

It wasn't a simple question because a lot gets tangled in it.There's evidence that even the other, now extinct human species had burial rituals, and these things run very deep. The guy who bought my last house might be perplexed if he digs a new garden on the side beside the garage door. I lived in that place for 15 years, and a lot of long lived very weird African fish ended up in that little strip of land.

 

[vince82]

The guy who bought my last house might be perplexed if he digs a new garden on the side beside the garage door. I lived in that place for 15 years, and a lot of long lived very weird African fish ended up in that little strip of land.

Nothing much different from a composter. Nobody would think twice about it.
Also fish bones decompose completely, unless you used coffins made of thick wood there is not gonna be anything to find.

 

[Herpin Man]

If the snails don't get them first, I feed them to my turtles.

 

[Lateral Line]

It has been said several times in the thread, but flushing has a small risk of introducing disease or parasites into a local water system, to populations of local fish with little or no immunity. Hole in the garden, best idea.

 

[Rocky998]

It has been said several times in the thread, but flushing has a small risk of introducing disease or parasites into a local water system, to populations of local fish with little or no immunity. Hole in the garden, best idea.

Also it actually is illegal in some places

 

[vince82]

And if you have septic flushing is basically the same as burying it in your yard. (you are basically also burying all your poop in the yard)

 

[CalamityAngel]

A grim discussion, I know. But something I have thought about since my little Buddy has passed. He was my friend during the pandemic and passed away in January. Since it was winter and I'm from Ontario, I sealed him up and put him in the freezer until the snow melted. Once it did I dug a hole and buried him. And I think I will do the same for any of my other fish.

My way of thinking is my fish are still family, just like a dog or cat would be. I wouldn't throw my dog in the trash after they pass, so why would I do that to my fish? Just because they're dead does not mean I can treat them like garbage. I can still treat them with respect and give them a burial.

Am I silly for thinking this way?

I feel like if I haven't yet formed a bond with the fish, I don't really think holding a tiny funeral for it is necessary. BUT if I had the fish for a long while, or was quickly attached to it; absolutely I would bury and send the little one on its way. I think it's a beautiful thing, what you do.

Petition to bury our little scaled friends more often, anyone?

 

[emeraldking]

Do you bury your fish when they pass away?​

That depends on the kind of fish...
When koi died, I always buried them unless they were still very tiny.

 

[Uberhoust]

I am more on the side that a dead animal is not the same as a live animal. The essence is gone once an animal is dead. I put dead fish under one of our balsam trees and the local wildlife usually deals with the bodies before the next morning.

 

[emeraldking]

Same, I wall mount all my dead fish...
View attachment 319042

Are those those fish that sing...?