Honey Gourami Sentenced to Death by Freezer!

[ashleigh]

then why keep them? and why post something like this just to get the reaction that you did?

[NoDeltaH2O]

life is 5% what happens to you and 95% how you react to it, so any reaction I receive is 95% external to me, but anyways...

I posted this to let folks know that it's ok to euthanize a fish that is causing them problems. Sure we all "love" our fish, but we need to remember that they are fish, not humans. We kill plants to eat, but we think nothing of it. Is killing a plant less wrong than killing a fish. Neither are human? Plants can sense light and move towards it. Fish see food and swim towards it.

If I had a sick fish I'd probably euthanize it to prevent the spread of disease. In the wild, a sick fish would get eaten up, so I am mimicing the effect of survival of the fittest by doing that. I guess it would be better to let my fittest fish to kill all the others since that is what he would do in nature, huh?

[svetlana]

I usually respect agressive fish because they are so innocently selfish and I would rather forgive them. I was lucky to get rid of one of my sharks only because my friend did not have any. If she did and was unaware of the shark's vicious ways how I could give it to her? To ruin her tank?
I think the owner can dispose of their fish as they like if it painless and quick (I oppose torture!!!)
So, good riddance honey!

[NoDeltaH2O]

Originally Posted by ashleigh

then why keep them? and why post something like this just to get the reaction that you did?

Sory ashleigh, I forgot to answer your question in all of that:
I keep fish because I think they are an attractive addition to a room, and because my wife is allergic to cat and dog dander. I wanted a rottweiler, but I ended up with an aquarium. I also enjoy creating a peaceful environmentally friendly glass box for my fish to call home. If I was really that worried about the "lives" of the fish, then I would refuse to buy fish from retailers as buying them only propogates the harvesting of fish from their natural environments. Every time we buy a fish we tell them to catch more, and split up more Nemos from their parents.

I exercise my dominion, kinda' like people do when they get on a horse and make them carry them around........... (Broken spirit?)

[ashleigh]

Odd set of arguements you've got going there. To address your question in your second to last post- no, not exactly. As you have pointed out several times yourself, an aquarium is not nature, it is a glass box. That is why planning and assuring species compatability is important. I don't agree with euthanizing a fish as a first resort to dealing with compatability problems any more than I would agree that it is okay to put your dog to sleep because you can't get it to stop barking. That's just laziness and bad stewardship. You can call me a bleeding heart and make anthropomorphic nemo analogies all you would like but I don't think my opinion is any less valid than yours here.

[NoDeltaH2O]

If my dog killed my other dog, I'd put him down.

[ashleigh]

That makes no sense. It's just being vindictive towards animals that don't have the same motivations that we do. It's vigilante justice against a quadruped.

[NoDeltaH2O]

LOL

Go ahead, make my day


Seriously though Ashleigh, what would you do if Rex Killed Fido, Spot, Max, and Benji? Return him to the pet store so some innocent kid would buy him? Would you keep Rex, but put him in a special part of the back yard away from the other 60 dogs you have?

[FroggyFox]

Alrighty...agree to disagree here guys. By saying "bring on the hate mail" you KNEW there would be people who disagreed with your methods right? Ashleigh was expressing that she disagrees...valid as any other person. So lets move on.

I have to admit your post made me laugh so hard I almost choked on this chicken strip I was eating for lunch. Of course I would never advocate killing a fish as a first reaction...but my parents always tell me stories about this one gourami they had that was just MEAN they tried different things with it and finally one day my mom got so mad at him that she netted him and flushed his butt down the toilet. Not quite as "acceptable" as putting him in the freezer...but hey. They are fish and its necessary to point out that they are our pets just like a dog or a cat. If my dog ate another dog...or in some states if they even drew blood from another thing (whether it be a cat or a person) the dog would have to be put down. In some cases this could be drawing paralells from that. If a dog is considered "dangerous or vicious" it is a bad thing to have as a pet, and usually illegal. Are fish that different? Obviously most fish aren't going to kill their owner...but if you needed some kind of justification...there ya go.

[NoDeltaH2O]

Thanks FroggyFox.

The End.

Peace, Love, & SOul,
D