How Do You Feel When Your Fish Die?

[VictorMeldrew]

Hi all

Just wondering how everyone feels when they lose a fish. Do you feel gutted because of the loss of life, or just feel like, damm it, thats another few quid lost? Do you ever feel guilty for a while if you think the cause may have been preventable, My last tank was running nearly a year with no fish loss and given that i was keeping tetra's and other small fish at the time i was pretty proud and then one day when i was doing a water change, one must have jumped out of the tank without me realising, it was not until i did a head count the next day i noticed one was missing, i found it behind the stand stiff as a board, i was gutted and did feel abit guilty, its only a little fish with hardly any cash value, but still i felt sad for the little fellow.

 

[SharonCC]

I usually feel sad, and I always wonder if I should have done something differently. The money seldom enters my mind....although when I purchased a Gold Nugget Pleco for $40, taking my chances with a WalMart fish, I was relieved there was a refund!

 

[Mr Bliss]

I never think about the money, even though I've never been terribly well off. Aside from that, it really depends. If they die without any obvious cause, or if they clearly die of old age, I just feel sad. But there have been cases where, at least in hindsight, I could have done more to save the fish or improve their living conditions, and that does make me feel really guilty. I was the only one in charge of their entire world. That's where our ethics are really tested after all: when we have absolute power.

 

[markandhisfish]

if it dies of just old age or natural causes then im dissapointed to have lost it but not really what youd call sad i love my fish but not the same emotional bond as there is with say a dog. a few times as i was starting out i lost fish due to a combination of ignorance and bad advice. i was mad at myself and got really dispondent.

 

[5teady_2012]

I feel a little sad for the fish that one day its swimming about then next day gone, especially when there was no indication of ilness.

Fish can just go at anytime even when they seem well, imo though any loss of life no matter what it is, is always sad.

 

[kevinthecow]

Well, depends. If a frog/shrimp dies, it'll regret me from buying more.

Well, my shrimp died a few days ago and it turned all red. it looked so nasty, put me down from buying more shrimps. ): Frogs all the way. D:


Well, I have a full graveyard of fishes

Death from old age (Im glad it lived happy)
Death from the filter
Death from stress
Death from a columbian shark slamming right onto it. (darnit, my little neon tetra)

 

[weary01]

i felt really sad when my male and female platy's died, the dad died due to some unknown illness and the mother (who i thought was also ill) died givin birth, but only gave birth to one live young (kinda odd). but the baby is now big and picks on the guppies i have

 

[wendywc]

Depends on the circumstances. I feel guilty about my betta dying, so I'm still pretty sad about it. But when I found a rummynose on the floor, I was just amazed that he even could have jumped out... I didn't think that was possible. I'm also usually okay with when a fish I've had for a long time died when they lived a long life.

 

[dnn3]

i'm always affected,just in different ways.let's face it,different fish have different meanings to all of us.i recently lost a senegal bichir and as much as it hurt i would be more devestated if i lost one of my kribs or my rams.they all move me in different ways.if we didn't care we would't be talking to each other every night.they are the first thing i check on when i wake and the first thing i check on when i get home from work.so to answer you're question,yes it hurts.

 

[Cantbesaved]

It may sound cruel, but I dont really care when one of my fish dies... I do my best to make them happy while they are alive, and I feel that as long as they were happy during their time, then they had a good life. But then again, all I have had die, are weak guppies. I would probably feel worse about my neons dying. They lasted the harsh environment of my 2 gallon tank with the darkest green the ammonia could read, and a full cycle in my 20 gallon tank. They are my little troopers! =P

So I guess it depends on what they have been thru, and what the circumstances are

 

[Dave Ehl]

I feel awful when I lose a fish that is supposed to live a long time. I didn't feel bad about the guppies because i was feeding them to my oscar. I did just lose two silver dollars and i felt really bad. i just found them stuck to the filter intake. worst thing is that i had no idea why they died, and they had a long life ahead of them. i don't even want to think about the day that i'll have to remove my oscar. that's going to be a sad day.

 

[tibby25731]

I am always gutted to lose a fish, after all I chose them all and love them all in different ways. I have to admit to crying my eyes out when a favourite fish dies, and I am not sure how I will cope when any of my bettas, my krib or my pleco dies - they are all so full of personality, it will be like losing a beloved dog And when my dog was put down last year, i cried for 5 hours non stop!
I do also feel guilty no matter what the circumstances of fish death, I always wonder if I should have spotted problems earlier, done things differently etc. Only been keeping fish since February so none have died of old age yet.

 

[CFC]

When a fish has cost you a lot of money you sometimes can't help but feel the loss of the money more than the loss of the fish, especially if you haven't had the fish for long before it dies, we're not talking about fish that cost £10-£20 each here but ones that cost £100 and upwards each.

Losing any fish is never nice but the ones that always get to me more are the ones where i've made a poor judgement and the fish has been killed or eaten by another fish in the tank, or a new fish goes into a tank and kills one of the original fish, when that happens the only thing to blame is myself for being stupid.

 

[puppyjess123]

If one my neons died i wouldn't really care but if my cory died i'd being crying my eyes out. I do care about the money IF its was expensive like a tennar and theirs no refund i get annoyed knowing that i could of done something to save him but i dont care about the money when my dad buys it LOL

 

[mike os]

I guess it would depend on the circumstances, if due to a mistake by me or neglect then I may get a little upset (more to do with my actions or lack of them than the fish though) , but if from natural causes, unexplained sudden death ( sure that should be a syndrome LOL), disease or bad luck ( or any combination of the above) then "stuff happens" Fish do die for reasons we will never understand, even with an autopsy. Probably helps growing up on a farm though, I never get attached to animals of any sort

Cost does not come in to it, even when the fish have cost several hundreds.