I've done a lot of reading about bettas, and fish in general. I've come across several sites that list methods for the euthanasia of fish and other such critters. Several sites have listed that the most humane way to euthanize a fish is by throwing it in the freezer for 12 hours! This just blows my mind. You're basically slowly freezing the animal to death and that's the Best way to do it??? Am I missing something here? This sounds like one of the absolute worst methods I've ever heard of.

There are several sites that say that, but I think on these forums it is not accepted to be a good method. I've seen several posts on this in other parts of the forum, so I'm just going by what the majority have said.

not really... it puts them in alot of pain...

some one told me the best way s to blow their brains out with a hammer, or hit their head on the counter really hard, and.... hmm.... boil them? cant remember.

thats brutal lee gonna make me cry

I suppose next to just flushing them or leaving them out of the water, it would be more humane. Honestly, though, I would think just crushing them would be more humane than that. At least it's quick, although you can miss, kinda like the axe vs. the guillotine.

Meh...I'll stick with clove oil. It is completely painless and they simply fall asleep. The same stuff is recommended to numb tooth aches in humans, so I know it's got to be painless for the fish. It stings a little, but that is very temporary, and then numbness sets in and they don't feel a thing. I had to put my dojo loach down with clove oil and it did well. You still have to use some method to kill them as they may just be asleep, but at least you know they don't feel anything.

Hammer or knife is normally considered the best ways. Boiling them is just terrible IMO, as bad as freezing, can you imagine the pain and suffering! And to think some ppl actually do this!!

how do you do it with clove oil?!?!

I don't have a fish I need to euthanize, but I'd like to be prepared just in case anything came up. I don't want to watch a fish suffer any more than they need to. I also agree that a method that was quick would be MUCH better than freezing a fish to death. I just can't believe that anyone would think that freezing is a good way to do it! I know I would much rather go in an instant than slowly freeze to death. Where do you get clove oil from?

Yeah, it would be a very horrible way to go.

Would you wanna freeze to death? Not me.
Although, in their case - they would not only be freezing to death, but suffocating at the same time - so I guess it would be exponentially horrible for them.

Thank GOD i've never had to put one of them down - they've always decided to go on their own. I can't imagine how excruciatingly hard it must be.

i read that a sharp knife through the spinal cord was the best way.
kills them instantly apparently

Clove oil is an essential oil. You can usually find it at health food stores. Wal-mart or your local grocery store *might* have it, but I'm not sure. To use clove oil, put the fish in a cup or bowl with about a cup of dechlorinated water. More than that won't dilute right and they won't actually fall asleep. In a small container, like a test tube, put some dechlorinated water and several drops of clove oil. I use around 15-20 drops. Shake the small container until it is cloudy and almost white to make sure the oil is well distributed in the water. Pour this mixture into the water with the fish to be euthanized. They may fight a little at first because it stings a bit, but in less than a minute, they should be gone. It's best to go ahead and crush them with something to make sure they're dead, as it would be more cruel for them to be only asleep and possibly wake up a bit as they die of drying out.

It's the fastest and most humane form of euthanasia that I've ever seen for a fish. My dojo loach was fully healthy when I had to put him down and he went in less than a minute. (He had gotten his head and front fins stuck in an ornament and I could not get him out without crushing his skull and ripping off his fins, so I put him down.)

your making me want to put my dojo in a bare tank

Meh, just make sure that none of your ornaments have a hole in them that is less than an inch wide on all sides. He wouldn't have had a problem if we had done that.

Actually, freezing a fish may be one of the most painless methods of euthenasia. Aaaaaahhh!!! Don't jump on me!!! Lemme explain myself... when humans freeze to death, what happens? Well, first you get cold, but then you actually forget that you are cold and you fall asleep painlessly. I imagine that it would be the same for fish. And I don't think they would experience very much pain, because they don't have as many pain receptors as we do. They would probably just "fall asleep". (If that's possible for a fish. ) Just my 2 cents.

Ya know, I had thought of that before I posted too - BUT...
lemme ask you this...
They need to be wet to live, right?
If you take all their water away, they'll suffocate long before they freeze.
If you leave that in, the water will probably freeze right along with them, which would all around make it much more uncomfortable to die that way, wouldn't it?

Instead of putting them into the freezer, you could just add ice cubes to a small cup (that they are in), that way the water freezes a lot quicker. I would use the clove oil method though if I ever had to.

I dunno, depends on what temperature their body starts to shut down.

I guess freezing a fish is bad mostly because, you have to figure, if the water starts to freeze while they are they can't move, but they will probably die before the water freezes since water takes a lot of time to freeze. Fish aren't warm blooded, so they can't insulate heat, they will die quite quickly in the cold. The freezing would kill them faster than suffocation would. IMO it is still a horrible way to die.

I personally, if I HAD to put a fish down, I would use clove oil. End of story. But what I do when I have sick fish, is put them in a nice little tank, make sure they can breathe properly (ie, lower water if need be) give them a soft substrate to lay on, instead of gravel, and let them die on their own.

I had to euthanize a fish a bit over two weeks ago--I think it was within hours of death. The poor thing was like it was rotting before he died. I decided that he had enough pain and I took him out of the bottom of the tank and laid him on a paper towel and he died just like that. I am still hurting over having to do that to the little guy. I could not have put him in the freezer though. I think that would have added more misery to an already tough situation. Adding cold on top of suffocation. Not for me.