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Unwanted fish, and the surviving vs thriving dilema
- Thread starter Beastije
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This is a moral dilemma most of us face at one or more times, but it is important to keep the situation in post #1 in mind, since it requires a different approach than say someone who knowingly acquires fish that require a different environment than what will be provided for them. Most all of us have had at one time or another shoaling fish like the rasboras that over time begin to die of (presumably) old age. What does one do with the last one, or two, or three, of the initial group of 12 or so? What is or is not humane in such circumstances?
Like all animals, a fish is born with specific requirements respecting its environment--which term here refers to numbers of the species, water parameters, habitat "decor," light, water flow, and so forth. All of this is part of the genetic blueprint for the species, it is not "learned" from somewhere or someone. Dr. Loiselle calls this what the individual fish "expects," and as he says that to deny the fish these expectations is inhumane, and we cannot expect normal behaviour in their absence.
To the question asked in the initial post. My group of say 21 Red Phantom Tetras lived for ten or eleven years before they began to die off (I assume from advanced age). Over another three or four years, I am down to three, then two, then one Red Phantom, since I want to move on with a different species. I have always left the last fish in the same tank until it too passes--unless the stress of this is clearly affecting the fish. I have had some species where the last remaining individuals became real terrors, attacking other fish, and this situation cannot be condoned. I understand why this occurs, but it still needs resolution. Sometimes it has required euthanizing; there is no point in allowing this sort of state to continue, risking the other fish; it would be inhumane to them to do so.
I would never move a fish into inappropriate water parameters, that is without question cruel and inhumane. The fish needs "x" water, and it will have increasing difficulty maintaining its physiology otherwise. But in the absence of any indication otherwise, I prefer to let the fish live out its days in the "home" it has so long shared.
The fish may last months, even years, like this. Every fish has one goal in life, to reproduce to maintain the species; that is part of evolution. The fish will do its best to keep swimming and eating regardless of the circumstances, until these become overwhelming and it rebels or succumbs. Long life in adverse conditions should never be taken as evidence it doesn't matter; far from it.
Like all animals, a fish is born with specific requirements respecting its environment--which term here refers to numbers of the species, water parameters, habitat "decor," light, water flow, and so forth. All of this is part of the genetic blueprint for the species, it is not "learned" from somewhere or someone. Dr. Loiselle calls this what the individual fish "expects," and as he says that to deny the fish these expectations is inhumane, and we cannot expect normal behaviour in their absence.
To the question asked in the initial post. My group of say 21 Red Phantom Tetras lived for ten or eleven years before they began to die off (I assume from advanced age). Over another three or four years, I am down to three, then two, then one Red Phantom, since I want to move on with a different species. I have always left the last fish in the same tank until it too passes--unless the stress of this is clearly affecting the fish. I have had some species where the last remaining individuals became real terrors, attacking other fish, and this situation cannot be condoned. I understand why this occurs, but it still needs resolution. Sometimes it has required euthanizing; there is no point in allowing this sort of state to continue, risking the other fish; it would be inhumane to them to do so.
I would never move a fish into inappropriate water parameters, that is without question cruel and inhumane. The fish needs "x" water, and it will have increasing difficulty maintaining its physiology otherwise. But in the absence of any indication otherwise, I prefer to let the fish live out its days in the "home" it has so long shared.
The fish may last months, even years, like this. Every fish has one goal in life, to reproduce to maintain the species; that is part of evolution. The fish will do its best to keep swimming and eating regardless of the circumstances, until these become overwhelming and it rebels or succumbs. Long life in adverse conditions should never be taken as evidence it doesn't matter; far from it.
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