How to put a fish to sleep (euthanize)

Clearly, I was making an analogy regarding pets...in this thread we are discussing euthanizing our pets, fish, in the most humane way possible, and discussing if there is a proper route medicinally speaking to accomplish this...bashing/cleaving a fish that I might have raised and kept, in some instances for longer than I have had a dog, my pinktail lived to almost 17 and blueface almost 20, personally for me, would be tough if not impossible...when my pets, dogs, reach the end I take the medicially proven way...I do not step outside and use a pistol...I do, what is best for me and my best friend, nobody else...I am totally guilty of anthropomorphic behavior with my pets and I wouldn't have it any other way...

I was using the same analogy. I never said I'd take a mallet to a dog, just as you never stated you would put the dog in the freezer. I believe my point is made in that regard.

It is worth noting that some people do in fact put dogs down with a bullet. Old Yeller went out that way and everyone understood why it had to be done.

To each their own.
 
I have read all the posts in this thread, and have found some of them to be helpful, others - not so much.

I will soon be facing this issue with my Eel. I have had the pleasure to call him one of mine for about 25 years now, and it is clear that the end is coming. He has lost all his teeth and has great difficuly swallowing even tiny pieces of food, where a year ago, whole palm sized fillets were gone as quickly as he could get to them. He has claerly lost a considerable amount of weight, I'm sure do to his inabilty to eat well. As long as he is still willing to make the effort, so am I, but when the time comes, I feel that, regardless of his ability (or lack thereof) to feel pain, it is my responsibility to make sure that his journey to forever is as easy and stress free as possible, just as I have done with my several departed cats, dogs, and, yes, humans, who had come to that stage of life.

To do any less says more about me, and my humanity, than it does about them.
 
I've always cleaved with a machete or butcher knife, Geez did you make sushi too. :fish2: :lmao: why not just try treating it are let it die on lts on
 
A little off topic, but I have heard that clove in smaller amounts can temporarily paralize a fish. Is this true?
 
Just think of all the poor misis shrimp and baby brine shrimp that get frozen live by the quadrillion every month just to feed our fish. I try and convince my fish to become vegan but they won't have it...
 
I don't know if they feel pain and I no one will ever know for sure...

I've noticed that my serpentine star pulls back it's tentacle, as if in pain, when it touches one of my plate corals. The same thing happens when my nassarius snail touches the plate coral with it's snout.

This would lead me to believe that the ability to feel pain is a basic reaction for self preservation in most species.
 
I've noticed that my serpentine star pulls back it's tentacle, as if in pain, when it touches one of my plate corals. The same thing happens when my nassarius snail touches the plate coral with it's snout.

This would lead me to believe that the ability to feel pain is a basic reaction for self preservation in most species.

Basic perception of pain (in the sense of recognizing damage or potential damage to the body) is very different from "feeling" pain. Many animals entirely lack any concept of "self", even more lack any concept of time, and we've only been able to demonstrate anything resembling abstract thinking in a tiny handful, most of them mammals.

You starfish for example, lacks a real brain, and is certainly incapable of "feeling" pain.

I'm not sure one way or the other with fish. I've seen enough of them display very normal behavior a short time after what we'd think of as severe trauma that I don't really think they're capable of experiencing psychological pain or worrying.

I still err on the safe side, and whenever I have to euthanize anything I always try to opt for the method that has the least potential to cause pain. For fish, I've used vodka, freezing, and physical destruction of the CNS. Freezing cold vodka seems to kill pretty much instantly, as does destroying the brain either through sufficient acceleratory force (slamming it into a wall) or with sharp scissors. The most "ideal" method would be a fast acting toxin injected directly into the water around the fish to effectively "gas" it without even having to subject it to the stress of removal from its tank, but that's kinda tough to pull off without killing everything else in the tank.

I can understand why some people find killing an animal through physical violence distasteful, but if it's the least painful method that's at your disposal, I see nothing wrong with it. I worked at pet shops for years, and I always recommended that people pre-kill feeder rodents prior to giving them to reptiles by gripping the tail and slamming their head into the wall as hard as they could. It sounds very cruel, but it virtually guarantees instant and painless death, even more reliably than trying to break the neck, and certainly better than anything a reptile would be likely to do.

This is a touchy subject, and in the end a lot of it comes down to personal, subjective feelings.
 
Clove oil and some high grain alcohol. Puts them right to "sleep".

I had to do this to 13 caribe piranhas years ago.
 
I kinda like the vodka thing. But, do you eat it afterwards? Like a worm in tequila???

Just kidding - the ones that make you cringe the most are probably the ones that cry for 3 days and scream "I'm never getting another fish, it just huuuuurts tooooo much"
 
Oh these are just terrible! I've never had to euthanize I've a fish though. Usually I don't catch it til it's already dead or swimming upside down. Then it just gets flushed. I guess if I ever had to euthanize a fish I wouldn't go with the freezing water. Cause I have had goldfish reappear after a freezing winter outside.
I think I would go with vodka. Sounds like a good idea.
 
freezing em is the best way clove oil is close to torture a malet or knife i dont fansy im not into smashing animals lol
 
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