Fish Ethics?

[manwithnofish]

Is there anything published along the lines of what is ethically proper with regards to keeping fish (or any pets)?

Example, is "body piercing" acceptable or considered inhumane? People do it and people do it to livestock. People have gps implants in dogs and cats. So what's wrong with a ring in the lip of a fish?

I realize that this is a topic that people are going to align both with and against. Has any of the "forums" established their own "Ethics Standard"? I'm sure I've read as much in some of the threads.

So as fish lovers, I'm sure no one here falls into the camp of "anything goes", but what is acceptable? This thread is spawn from a thread I have going regarding "training" fish to do tricks. Is that cruel?

 

[kribensis12]

Training isnt cruel in my oppinion. The farthest i would go with fish is tagging them. The ring in the lip of a fish can make it almost impossible to eat! I wouldnt pierce fish, but whatever floats your boat

 

[LauraFrog]

I agree, training isn't cruel at all. The furthest I have taken it is hand-taming but I have seen goldfish trained to swim in formation. If the fish are trained with food rewards rather than painful punishment if they don't understand I don't see a problem with it.

Cutting the tails off fish is cruel in my opinion, as is tattooing or dyeing. Up to 90% of fish do not survive being artificially coloured. You know what they do? Dip them in caustic to take off the slime coat, dip them in dye and then dip them in an irritant to regrow the slime coat. I personally wouldn't want to pierce fish either. I enjoy having a little piece of nature in my room. When you take the 'natural' out of the tank inhabitants you lose it.

 

[joecoral]

I have seen goldfish trained to swim in formation.

If you're referring to this then it's faked, the goldfish havent actually been trained to do this
Please prove me wrong tho, I might be thinking of something completely different. . . .

 

[Tobigara]

I agree, training isn't cruel at all. The furthest I have taken it is hand-taming but I have seen goldfish trained to swim in formation. If the fish are trained with food rewards rather than painful punishment if they don't understand I don't see a problem with it.

Cutting the tails off fish is cruel in my opinion, as is tattooing or dyeing. Up to 90% of fish do not survive being artificially coloured. You know what they do? Dip them in caustic to take off the slime coat, dip them in dye and then dip them in an irritant to regrow the slime coat. I personally wouldn't want to pierce fish either. I enjoy having a little piece of nature in my room. When you take the 'natural' out of the tank inhabitants you lose it.

Training isn't cruel as long as it's done with positive reinforcements. As for the rest like tatooing, dying or piercing fish, i think that's cruel and completely unnatural. People get tatooed because that's what they want and it's voluntary. Animal don't have a real choice. it's not like they can fight it and win.

Tagging animals isn't exactly nice but sometimes it's the only way we can help animals survive the human virus.

 

[OohFeeshy]

So what's wrong with a ring in the lip of a fish?

The problem here is we're not dealing with something you can keep nice and clean and out of harms way. Unless for whatever reason you've got a completely bare tank, there are always going to be things to 'catch' such an item on and cause damage. The tank is nowhere near sterile- bacteria are just waiting to infect an open wound.