If you have small fish (just a few inches), dropping into ice water works pretty quickly. Just fill up a container with LOTS of ice and then enough water to immerse the fish. Once you let the water chill for a minute you can drop them in. They go into shock pretty quickly and die in 30s-1min in my experience. I don't know how well it would work on larger fish, but little guys have so little body mass that they tend to get cold very very quickly and die as a result.
Fish Euthanasia... again...
- Thread starter xEchOx
- Start date
I've only had to put down one fish before (TF barb).
This is how I did it.
Mix 1 part salt to 4 parts water in a tupperware container. Put it in the freezer untill it gets slushy. Take it out of the freezer. Drop the fish in. When I did it, I held the fish by the tail, and dropped it in head first. It was dead before it's tail was in the water.
This is how I did it.
Mix 1 part salt to 4 parts water in a tupperware container. Put it in the freezer untill it gets slushy. Take it out of the freezer. Drop the fish in. When I did it, I held the fish by the tail, and dropped it in head first. It was dead before it's tail was in the water.
I've read that reptiles' brains can continue functioning for hours after decapitation...don't know about fish...BUT - I had a pacus' severed head bite me like thirty minutes after I decapitated it...could have been nerves but that would be a REAL coincidence!
Personally - my preferred method is throwing them against the ground REALLY HARD...and for big fish...a BIG FREAKIN ROCK. Seems to work quickly
Personally - my preferred method is throwing them against the ground REALLY HARD...and for big fish...a BIG FREAKIN ROCK. Seems to work quickly
Human brains have 6-8 minutes of activity after death, regardless of if the head is decapitated. I believe fish have a 2-3 minutes of brain activity after death. And if you've seen the movie "Waking life" you'll probably remember a scene that kind of puts it into perspective, that 6-8/2-3 minutes after death. In 5 minutes you can have a vivid dream that seems to last for hours. And you wake up and look at the clock and it's 3 minutes later than before you went to sleep, and that "hours-long dream" was only 3 minutes. Kind of makes you wonder what a fish would be 'thinking' in 2-3 minutes after it's been killed. If it was me, I'd probably be thinking "$hit, I'm dead."
I'll stick by the clove oil method. I'm using the "do onto others (even fish) as you would want them to do unto you" thing. I don't wanna get tossed off a building, or whacked against a wall, or put under a guilotine. I'll take an OD on Morphine or Sleep-Aids anyday for painlessness.
I'll stick by the clove oil method. I'm using the "do onto others (even fish) as you would want them to do unto you" thing. I don't wanna get tossed off a building, or whacked against a wall, or put under a guilotine. I'll take an OD on Morphine or Sleep-Aids anyday for painlessness.
I hear ya dread. A friend of mine is a vet at a nearby clinic. He said if I ever needed to euthanize one of my oscars, he'd come over an give it a shot of some 'good stuff'. Not really sure what that means, but I assume it equates to a quick death.
I only have had to kill one fish, in my time..
A big clarias cat fish....
I used a metal rod made for that exact purpose..one wack and it was all over.
Just make sure that you hit the head and hit it hard!
A big clarias cat fish....
I used a metal rod made for that exact purpose..one wack and it was all over.
Just make sure that you hit the head and hit it hard!
