How do you dispose of your fish?

[Dragonslair]

This is an extremely controversal subject. I would say the short answer is you don't. Unfortunately lifes a ***** and nothing is as simple as that. So how do you dispose of unwanted fish humanely?
The way my vet suggested, because most of us do not have in our arsenal the necessary chemicals to drug them to sleep, is to fill a basin of iced cubed water, leave it to stand for 15 minutes and plunge the fish into the ice. This way they literally have a heart attack! It's fast and it's quick and clean.
The other way of course which is as messy as hell is to slam two rocks together quickly with the fish in the middle. Arrrhhhh!
How do you deal with your disposal?

 

[Duncan]

The only way for me is to let the fish die naturally. Once the poor thing has gone then wrap it up and in the wheelie bin.

I don't fancy a trial by me kids

Duncan

 

[Alien Anna]

This is what I said on this subject on one of the Newsgroups recently, after I consulted with an expert fish vet:

I consulted with a specialist vet recently and I discussed euthanasia with him. He said (I quote):

"Well, you can use a method that is pretty but cruel, or ugly but kind".

He said that a twack over the head, or dropping into boiling water (if it's a very small fish who's brain won't realise it's being boiled until it is unconscious - such as a pencilfish or neon tetra not a goldfish or bigger fish). Such methods cause instantaneous brain-death, and therefore little or no suffering.

Seeing as fish live in water anaesthetic over-dose doesn't really work (anaesthetic is oil-soluble and simply poisons the fish without killing it - which is nasty). That is even taking into account that a fish is pretty difficult to inject (and catching it and injecting it causes considerable suffering). You cannot use a ether box because ether is not water soluble and all that would happen is that the fish would suffocate due to lack of oxygen.

Poisoning the fish (by use of drugs or poisons) causes definite distress and things like swelling of the gills, that chokes the fish to death - slowly. This applies also to injectable anaesthetics over-doses, as you'd use for a dog or cat.

Exposing the fish to the air causes the fish terror and leads to collapsed gills and suffocation (like death by drowning - also not a nice way to go).

Freezing alive (which is commonly recommended) causes the  fish the suffering of frost-bite long before it goes unconscious. This can be counteracted by making the fish unconscious first, but since you cannot use anaethetics (as I've just explained) the vet told me that there is evidence that most of these methods cause suffering (such as putting the fish in CO2). The alka-selzer method *might* be humane, but personally I tried it and I'm not convinced - the fish struggled for 15 minutes in a most distressing way

Flushing the fish alive down the toilet is absolutely barbaric, IMHO, and even worse than "drowing" the fish by taking it out of water. The fish basically gets burned with poisons and  suffocated in sewage. It's also illegal in many areas to dispose of "livestock" via the public sewer system.

Slowly cooling the fish, by turning off the heater and then placing the fish in a bag of water in the fridge, is probably humane, albeit slow. It causes the fish to gradually go into hypothermic sleep, without frostbite. Once the fish is asleep, freezing to death is not cruel, as far as the vet believes. The bag must be set up correctly, with 2/3rds more air than water, just as you would do for transportation, and should
be kept wrapped in newspaper to keep the fish in the dark and therefore calm. It is however emotionally difficult for the owner (I couldn't do it).

So, although this is something caring pet owners never want to think about, it is worth considering how you'd do it if a
fish really needed euthanasia. I would personally rather keep a fish in it's own tank and spend a fortune on medications than give up at the first hurdle, but if you are responsible, you cannot allow an obviously unsalvageable animal suffer.

 

[adeyc]

If you have to dispose of an unwanted fish you shouldn't have bought it in the first place. ok some things may lead this to be not an option such as if a pair breed and you don't want the fry. The best thing to do is to give the unwanted fish off to someone else who does want them or the lfs who may give you something in return for them and can sell them to peeps who do want them.
As for disposing of a sick fish this was a topic I started not that long ago.
The best thing to do is give it a quick hard knock to the head. there's no suffering and it's all over by the time they realise they're going to the big aquarium in the sky. Now the poisoning thing can be quite good if you have acces to strong meds anything else is cruel and those that use vodka to kill the fish are throwing away good money(Just send The vodka to me and knock the fish on the head) Fish don't get drunk as such so your not easing any suffering.

The other option for getting rid of unwanted healthy or deformed fish is to get some large Predators(Arrowanas, Snakeheads,Piranah etc) That way you keep the food chain active and treat things more like nature intended by feeding the unwanted fish to the preadator. Now I know a lot of folk don't like the idea of that and it's cruel but thats the way life is in the wild. As Pete would say" thats natures baby"  and serves a better purpose than just disposing of the fish in a more conventional way, one dies to help another one live.
Old thread

 

[Macquatic]

Personally speaking I use the "ugly" method, netting the fish and whack it off the steel frames in my fish-hut, or if it is larger use a club aka fisherman style. I know it sounds crude but it's quick and very effective. Again like Anna this is a very last resort. Mac.
P.S. I don't like the idea of the boiling water method!!!

 

[gadazobe]

What's wrong with selling extra fish, I had a load of julie transcriptus fry that my lfs wouldn't take. I heard of an auction and sold the lot So far I haven't had to euthanize a fish - had some "disappear", some died natural deaths, fry got eaten, but to get rid of a fish just cause I didn't want it - not in my book :grumpy: I've made mistakes by buying without researching, but I've lived with the consequences until I find a suitable solution without "disposing" of my mistake.

 

[Alien Anna]

The other option for getting rid of unwanted healthy or deformed fish is to get some large Predators(Arrowanas, Snakeheads,Piranah etc) That way you keep the food chain active and treat things more like nature intended by feeding the unwanted fish to the preadator.

That's another good idea for a terminally injured fish, although if the fish is sick of an infectious disease it obviously isn't so great.

The fish I had to put down was a pencilfish who was so deformed, it could not swim, it had been lying on its side for 3 days on the bottom of the tank and it had dropsy. I still felt terrible having to put it down.

 

[adeyc]

It's always a shame to put down sick fish but the old saying of being cruel to be kind creeps in again. I suppose at times this aint a hobby for the sqeemish or faint hearted.

 

[Great Lakes]

I practice the "that's nature baby" way. A predator tank solves the problem for me.
If their destiny is to pass on, there is not a much faster way than in the jaws of a piranah.
Besides that, I would feel a little funny bangin a neon in the head with a tire iron 8)

 

[Dragonslair]

There's not a lot more you I can say, is there? There are obviously some strong opinions here. Anna is certainly someone to have in your corner if you were a fish out of water?(sorry about the pun)Ever thought about defending the poor and helpless? You have a way with words.

 

[Rose]

If I need to put a fish down I drink first then send him over to a buddies house and well it's dinner time for some lucky fish. Rose

 

[james80000]

this has been useful. at least i know now not to flush them down the loo. thanks anna

 

[Alien Anna]

There's not a lot more you I can say, is there? There are obviously some strong opinions here. Anna is certainly someone to have in your corner if you were a fish out of water?(sorry about the pun)Ever thought about defending the poor and helpless? You have a way with words.

I say what I think and if that's a bit rough on people at times, I apologise. OTOH, I respect people who can take it, especially people who learn from their mistakes.

I believe that if you take an animal from the wild (albeit 50th generation) and bring it into your house, you have a duty to give it as pleasant a life as you can. And that includes finding out about the animal's natural behaviour and trying to give it a naturalistic environment. If you can't look after an animal for any reason, find someone who can - there are always animal lovers out there who will take something off your hands, especially if it's free.

If an animal is very sick or injured, that responsibility might extend to euthanasia.

 

[whacky]

Going on from the banging on the head.

It isnt as completly simple as that as you have to ensure that the fish is actually dead and not just stunned. Unless the head is completly crushed after the blow a sharp instrument should be used to pierce the brain to ensure the fish is dead and not just stunned.

This also has been advised to me.

After the act has been made disposal of the corpse is also to be considered, i have been told that the best way to dispose of the corpse is inciniration.

Does anyone know otherwise?

 

[Micheal Deason]

Flushing your sick or annoying fish down the toilet is the easiest method of disposal. I was forced to flush a perfectly healthy Gourami, as it insisted on terrorizing my prize Angel.