Filming A Fish Out Of Water

[Bnew]

Hi, I'm looking for information about how best to film a scene with a fish out of water, without any harm coming to the fish.

I read another thread on these boards (http/www.fishforums.net/content-page/226441/pagination/page/0/) about the length of time fish can survive out of water, and it seems that it should be possible to achieve, and that the time fish can survive varies greatly with each type.

The film is about a 6 year old boy's imagination, so we're hoping for the fish to be bright and/or multi coloured, or unusual looking in some way, can anyone recommend something like that, that can survive out of water for at least 60 seconds (but preferably longer)?

Is there anything that can be done to help the fish survive, i.e. place it in a small puddle of water?

The scene as written, has a fish out of water in the middle of a large field, writhing around and then dying. Obviously we're not looking to have any fish die, so I was also wondering if different types of fish have different behaviour when out of water? The ideal situation would be to have a fish that wriggled around initially then just lay motionless, but then was fine again when plonked back into water, and obviously the longer they can survive the better.

Most likely we will buy the fish either on the morning of the shoot, or the day before. Would it be acceptable to keep it/transport it to the location in a bucket? The film is being shot on location in England, during May, so it could be reasonably warm, although knowing English weather its never a good idea to count on it. Also what could we do with it afterwards, donate it back to the shop?

Also, I assume that it's quite traumatic to the fish to be out of water. We might need a few takes to get the shot, should we use a different fish each time?

I appreciate any help, I am not very well educated on fish as you've probably gathered

 

[WILDER]

What will happen to the fish once the experiment is done, sorry donate it back to the shop.
Alot of stress for the fish.
To be honest I don't like the sound of the experiment at all.

 

[mark.w.jones]

I do have issues with you filming what some would consider cruel for the purposes of a film. In my experience you will almost certainly kill most tropical fish keeping the out of water for that long. Cold water fish tend to be hardier and course fish caught in lakes and rivers can end up out of the water for up to a minute whilst they are being un hooked. However, they certainly suffer from this process. I would advise against you doing it at all and hope you can find a way around having to have a live fish out of water.

 

[BigC]

Although I dont like the sound of this i.e. stress factor on the fish for dubious reasons.
There are fish that breath air not anabantoids such as Bettas and Gourami's but others. I will not give specific names for fear what might happen if mishandled specimens are injured in any way. but there are that type of fish out there.
I would prefer you refrained from such practices and endevored to find a different method of illustrating what you want to portray.
Regards
BigC

 

[Bnew]

Thanks for the information so far guys. I'm interested to know more about the potential suffering, have their been any studies or anything in that area, or is there somewhere I can look for more information?

 

[ollyhtafc]

Thanks for the information so far guys. I'm interested to know more about the potential suffering, have their been any studies or anything in that area, or is there somewhere I can look for more information?

Without meaning to be rude, are studies really neccesary to tell you that suffocating a fish, even for a minute is 'suffering'?

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

[Without meaning to be rude, are studies really neccesary to tell you that suffocating a fish, even for a minute is 'suffering'?

I have to agree with this. Think about it, you don't need to actually drown yourself to realize that suffocating and having your lungs fill with water would be unpleasant. Even for just one minute.

We don't mean to jump on you but our ultimate concern is for the well being of fish

 

[morgan]

It's also possibly harmful to handle a fish unnecessarily in case you damage their scales and therefore make them vulnerable to disease. I never touch my fish for that reason. Stressed fish are also more vulnerable to disease.

 

[aaronnorth]

being out for 60seconds may not kill them but it may cause permanent brain damge or something

 

[*blacksnapemoor*]

please don't use a live fish maby buy a robot one or something and maby attached to a piece of in visible string as you said its about a boys imagination so anything can happen if hes imagining it plus you can control whats its doing so please just leave the fish be as has already been said no matter how long there out the water it still suffering.

 

[Mikaila31]

First off I would like to ask what the film is for? And why does the fish have to be out of the water for more than a minuet?

You don't want to leave a fish out of water for very long and 1 minuet is really pushing it IMO. I'm not exactly sure what is going on in the act. but you could to do some scene changes and take a couple different clips of the fish out of water for only about 10sec at a time and give it time to recoup inbetween. Then edit everything together and make it look like longer. Surely this would be better for the fish, but I'm not sure if others will agree? Also returning it to the store would be bad. You just put it through a very very stressful situation. You don't need to keep it forever, but you need keep it for awhile to make sure it doesn't get sick from the stress it went through. Either way I really don't think it should be done.

I'm not sure how you would be able to get a robotic fish, but you could search local petstores for a recently dead fish and use that. Now that I have said that it sounds really weird.

 

[Nix]

I think you all may be overreacting just a tad bit....


A minute or so out of water is not going to damage a fish, many fish jump out of tanks, stay there for hours, placed back in water and have recovered just fine. To say that a fish out of water for a minute will ultimately kill the fish is a bit absurd.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

In my opinion, you guys are over-reacting a bit... keep in mind... IT'S A FISH!
Fish don't think the same way you are I do, they mostly act upon instincts. A human is much smarter than a fish, it seems like you all think every fish acts just the way Nemo would. A person drowning would scream, and think about how they are going to die. Fish do not think this way, they wouldn't really think at all. Their bodies are "programmed" to move around a bit if they cannot breathe when out of water.

Although I dont like the sound of this i.e. stress factor on the fish for dubious reasons.
There are fish that breath air not anabantoids such as Bettas and Gourami's but others. I will not give specific names for fear what might happen if mishandled specimens are injured in any way. but there are that type of fish out there.
I would prefer you refrained from such practices and endevored to find a different method of illustrating what you want to portray.
Regards
BigC

There are quite a few fish that could last a while out of water. Some of these fish include snakeheads, gouramis, bettas, and many other fish that could be said to "breathe" air. I would highly suggest using a snakehead for the film, as they are known to "walk" from pond to pond. Unfortunately, snakeheads are banned in the USA so I can't get any of these amazing fish. A problem with snakeheads is that they may not... stop moving. They can live hours out of water. I have a gold wolf fish, which really is quite ugly so it wouldn't suit the film, and I found it on the ground after it was moving around for about an hour. I still have the fish today, and really no negative effects from the jump can be seen.

As for specific species, I would suggest some smaller colorful snakeheads such as the redline snakehead(Channa micropeltes). If you find some young ones, they would fit the role quite well. They can get up to 3ft as an adult though and are very aggressive. Any type of snakehead would be able to live that long out of water, just go to a shop and look for one you think is nice and colorful. (http/fisc.er.usgs.gov/Snakehead_circ_1251/html/channa_micropeltes.html)

Another species you could use are some of the colorful gouramis or bettas. Really any species of these would work, just find a nice colorful one. Bettas I think may be the best to use.
Keep in mind, you can buy more than one fish for different takes, this way it will only be placed outside of the water for a few moments. You also may want to consider the fact that dust may stick to the fish outside of the water, making it look dirty. Here's a picture of a betta, http/www.healthybetta.com/images/male.jpg .

African cichlids are also very colorful, and they would fufil the role as well. Probably wouldnt show any negative side effects of being out of water for too long, especially one of the hardier species like the Yellow Lab Cichlid, http/eccentric.cx/wordpress/images/20050...emale-large.jpg

So there are some species, and I wish you luck on your movie! A bucket would last most of these fish a good while because they can take quite a beating.

 

[Nix]

Also keep in mind, fish are more likely to die from completely drying up rather than suffocating. Making sure the fish remains moist on the ground would be important.

 

[chibi]

From what I've seen, some fish can live for quite some time out of water. That's just me observing some of my fish escaping and me not discovering them for a while.

I'd go with a large goldfish. Easily recognizable to an audience, flops around a lot, and if you kill it it won't be a huge deal money wise (*dodges bullets*).

A lot of people on here seem to be very, very attached to fish. I love fish too, but it's not like the guy is pouring acid on its skin or something. Many fish can be out of water for at least a few minutes. It's a survival thing.