Honey Gourami Sentenced to Death by Freezer!

[ashleigh]

I would not let my dog get to the point where it was a problem. Very, very few dogs are born viscious, problem dogs are created by bad owners. So that analogy is pretty faulty. If a dog is killing other dogs or a threat to people, 99.9 out of 100 times it's the owner's fault exclusively. If it gets to that point then sure it should be put down. But that really has little to do with this conversation. Just answering your question.

[lordroad]

FYI, David, Captain Ahab saught revenge against an aquatic creature too... and look how he turned out in the end. Granted, a gourami isn't quite the white whale, but with enough supply of mollies and dwarf gouramis and a big enough tank, who knows...

On a non-joking note, I had to put down a gourami once too. It was a powder blue dwarf gourami that was meant for my planted tank, but in the course of two days the beautiful little guy ate up my whorly rotala and fluviatis for his bubble nest. I moved him to my 55 gallon, and then I noticed an ich outbreak in ten gallon... Also, in the period of only two or three hours, the gourami had all but shredded my angelfish's dorsal fin. I did not have a Q-tank, it was past closing hours at the LFS, and the gourami was most likely carrying ich, as well as IP due to stringy feces, which I had just cured in my 55 gallon. I made an executive decision and froze him. When I took him out, he was still alive and staring right up at me. Put him back in for an hour, then felt bad for the rest of the night... but it was a decision I made for the good of a) my plant community b) and my angel and the health of my 55 gallon inhabitants.

Powder blues are supposed to be plant safe, but I had no way of knowing they ate feathery plants until after the fact and I posted some questions here in the gourami section.

[ashleigh]

yeah -and you can always just get a peg leg without the whole life consuming nemesis thing if that's what you're after.

[CAPSLOCK]

I'm going to address the dog analogy too. If you bring a dog into a situation where he doesn't fit, it is really your own fault for not checking out the dog first. You should never have allowed Rex to play with Fido and the rest if you didn't watch them a little first to see if they would get along. It is the responsibility of the owner not to put their dog into the situation where it will get into that kind of trouble. If someone else bought you Rex because he was just so darn cute, and you knew or suspected he wouldn't get along with your other dogs, then you tell them "no thanks, please take him back and ask before you get me another dog." This is exactly the same as with fish... it is the owner's responsibility to prevent any compatibility issues (not deal with them once they've already happened.

The honey wouldn't have been a problem if you thought before you threw him in with other, smaller gouramis (Gouramis are related to BETTAS, people). He probably would have been fine in the big tank, once the other gouramis were gone. Regardless, killing him doesn't bring back the molly or the other gouramis. And if the QT tank is for QTing, then what was the molly for?! And if you just got the molly, how do you know it didn't just die because it started sick? You obviously couldn't have QTed it first.

I see no reason not to take the fish back to the store rather than killing it. Someone else could put him in a perfectly acceptable home. Same with Rex... he'd probably do fine in a single-dog home.


And at the risk of sounding hypocritical, I see no problem with what lordroad did. He likely saved the angel's life by removing the gourami, and he had nowhere else to put it, and it was likely spreading disease. Your fish was healthy and not causing any problems when you decided to kill it, and you could have just as easily taken him back with no risk to your other fish if you had to wait.

[Luvi]

Originally Posted by CAPSLOCK

(Gouramis are related to BETTAS, people). He probably would have been fine in the big tank, once the other gouramis were gone. Regardless, killing him doesn't bring back the molly or the other gouramis. And if the QT tank is for QTing, then what was the molly for?! And if you just got the molly, how do you know it didn't just die because it started sick? You obviously couldn't have QTed it first.

I agree with Capslock.

[NoDeltaH2O]

Originally Posted by CAPSLOCK

If someone else bought you Rex because he was just so darn cute, and you knew or suspected he wouldn't get along with your other dogs, then you tell them "no thanks, please take him back and ask before you get me another dog." This is exactly the same as with fish... it is the owner's responsibility to prevent any compatibility issues (not deal with them once they've already happened.

when your wife who isn't into fish buys you a fish as a present, sometimes it is BEST to say "Thank you dear, what a nice thought", and toss him in the tank hoping for the best. I value my marriage more than I value my fish. I've returned incompatible fish she has bought for me before and to see the look of failure on her face is NOT something I like to see.

Originally Posted by CAPSLOCK

He probably would have been fine in the big tank, once the other gouramis were gone.

I wasn't willing to wait for him to kill all my other gouramis...Not sure I see your point here.

Originally Posted by CAPSLOCK

Regardless, killing him doesn't bring back the molly or the other gouramis. And if the QT tank is for QTing, then what was the molly for?! And if you just got the molly, how do you know it didn't just die because it started sick? You obviously couldn't have QTed it first.

The mollies eat the algae that I have going in two of my tanks, he was a healthy specimen on clean up detail, but instead he got his clock cleaned! His fins were torn to shreds, so it's kinda' obvious how the mollie died. The molly died a tortuous death at the hands, er, uh, lips of the KILLER GOURAMI that all of you are defending.

Originally Posted by CAPSLOCK

I see no reason not to take the fish back to the store rather than killing it. Someone else could put him in a perfectly acceptable home. Same with Rex... he'd probably do fine in a single-dog home.

Gas costs $2.25 a gallon nowadays! Sure I get 37mpg in my Tercel, but still...

Originally Posted by CAPSLOCK

And at the risk of sounding hypocritical, I see no problem with what lordroad did. He likely saved the angel's life by removing the gourami, and he had nowhere else to put it, and it was likely spreading disease. Your fish was healthy and not causing any problems when you decided to kill it, and you could have just as easily taken him back with no risk to your other fish if you had to wait.

he was "not causing any problems"?...He just killed the 4th fish of mine.

[Orion]

I just can't see how you can say its ok that lordroad did that, but its wrong when NoDelta does it Capslock. Sounds like 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

I had a RTBS. I had him for a couple of years. He decided that as he got older, he liked his tankmates less and less to the point he just about cleaned out my tank. The straw was when he killed the vale-tale angel I had who was almost the size of my hands. Not to mention the 8 hatchet's, 4 corys, 4 kribs, 6 rams and others that have sence been forgoten. (The kribs and rams were not in the tank at the same time for those of you counting. )

I kept the rouge fish in a 5 gallon planted for a few months all the while asking every week if the LFS will take it. She wouldn't because of its nasty disposition, so I was left with no other option. The shark barely would leave the clay pot that was in there with it even to eat. So I did the same as NoDelta and froze the guy. I didn't want too, but the way I saw it, it was better that the life it was living.

So I see nothing wrong with what he did. Just because he put a comical spin on it does not meen that it was done out of spite or hatred for the fish.

[ashleigh]

Okay so help me out on this one
return wife's present = bad.
KILL wife's present = all is well.
I think you're just flat out resisting any logic to fool with people at this point. I mean gas prices? that counted into you reasoning?

[Jadenblack]

Originally Posted by NoDeltaH2O

Bring on the hate mail.

No hate mail here. I just think that it could have been done another way. Something to think about next time.

Learn from your mistakes.

[culinaryartcook]

I bet (not naming anyone) but one of you is pro-life and one is prochoice (between ash and delta). This is what it is. A choice unfortunately (just like w/ an unborn child). If a person feels they need to dispose of a fish then they have that right. No I personally don't agree w/ it but this was delta's choice and to him this was the best one, that's his right as the fish owner. But can we please quit the teenage bickering? You have both posted on this website enough to know that no one ever wins when you arguee on a forum.