How do you feel about fish deaths?

[40g Nano]

How do you guys feel about fish deaths? To me, I feel terrible about it. I know it is just a fish, but it is an animal, and it could have lived happier left alone in the wild.

 

[SMSREEF]

How do you guys feel about fish deaths? To me, I feel terrible about it. I know it is just a fish, but it is an animal, and it could have lived happier left alone in the wild.

I feel horrible. But life in the wild is not necessarily stress free. Who knows if it would have been happier or even still alive.
I am trying to buy captive bred when I can, kinda alleviates some of the guilt of thinking about the methods used to catch the fish. Still if one died I would feel horrible with captive bred too.

 

[DED65]

It sucks when they die. I believe as long as the fish is healthy and well taken care of, they will have a good life under our care. I have clown loaches in my freshwater tank that have been in there for a good 10 years and still going strong. I would think the average lifespan of fish would be longer without the predators.

 

[StormyVT]

Never feels good to lose a fish. My fish are my little buddies that I take time to care for and enjoy so not easy when one doesn't make it.

 

[reefingBeAmazin22]

It sucks, let me tell ya that, it feels like having a puppy for a few weeks, just for it to wander out in the road

 

[Sailfin11]

Sorry about your fish. Losing one always makes me feel horrible and like you said irresponsible for taking it out of the ocean. I don't know if it's sound logic, but I always try to buy juvenile fish so that I'm not taking a breeding individual out of the ocean. They also tend to adapt better to captivity. Otherwise, I buy captive-bred which has a lot more options these days. The sad thing is that only 10% of fish collected survive for over a year in captivity. It doesn't all fall on the hobbyist- there are certain inherent flaws in collection practices as well.

 

[sp1187]

How do you guys feel about fish deaths? To me, I feel terrible about it. I know it is just a fish, but it is an animal, and it could have lived happier left alone in the wild.

you need to watch more Discovery Channel and Nat Geo if you think life in the wild is safer/easier/happier.

 

[pseudorand]

I knew going on to this hobby that it's a cruel affair. True, there are drawbacks to the wild as well, but that's mother nature's fault. I do feel quite bad about loosing fish, but apparently not that bad, or I would quit the hobby. It's like eating meat -- there's an element of cruelty, and we don't have to do it. But we choose to anyway.

 

[William Mumford]

I like to just try to give it its best life. Also I heard a good story from a wildlife photographer. He explained how ruthless the animal kingdom was and that although the freedom is gone the ruthlessness we take them away from can somewhat be considered saving them. For animals something is always trying to eat them and they have very little to no compassion of others. If you loved it nothing would have loved it as much as you in this universe. So its better that you had it and tried to give it a great life. Sucks losing anything. Especially something you like.

 

[pseudorand]

although the freedom is gone the ruthlessness we take them away from can somewhat be considered saving them.

I'm pretty sure that's how all authoritarian governments justify their actions. We should be honest with ourselves about what we're doing. It's for us. We're not doing our pets any favors.

The wild may be ruthless, but they have billions of years of evolution to deal with it. High ammonia, aggressive neighbors with no room to swim away, uniform diets with no cycles of feast and famine -- these things they have no natural ability to deal with, and I can only imagine that it causes no shortage of whatever a fish's equivalent of happiness is.

 

[kenchilada]

The more expensive the fish, the worse I feel.

 

[Deschutes541]

Feels pretty awful. I don't even really care about the money spent. I'm just upset that my negligence caused the death. My only consolation is I learn from the error and not make it again.

 

[40g Nano]

ou need to watch more Discovery Channel and Nat Geo if you think life in the wild is safer/easier/happier.

That is in the wild, and it is natural.
If it does in my care, then I feel bad because it would be my fault.

my baby yellow tang died yesterday, but I don’t know exactly what of. That really sucked since he was looking really good and eating a few days before.

 

[sp1187]

That is in the wild, and it is natural.
If it does in my care, then I feel bad because it would be my fault.

my baby yellow tang died yesterday, but I don’t know exactly what of. That really sucked since he was looking really good and eating a few days before.

I hate when any of my tank inhabitants die. but I never think they would be "happier" living in the wild.
that's a 24/7 battle of survival. in my tank there are no predators. bullies get rehomed. and meals are consistent.

 

[Paul B]

The only way one of my fish would die is from old age or jumping out. My tank is not covered so about once a year I lose one to jumping. I have added plastic barriers around the tank so I almost have it so they can't jump, but not 100% yet.
I am not sure why fish would die in a tank unless they were attacked by something bigger.

 

[Uncle99]

If your doing this right, fish are friends, you should feel sad IMM.

And then we feel better and replace.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Driving- risk
snowmobiling - risk
skydiving - risk
cycling - risk

REEFING- RISK. We in essence are taking a risk and duplicating the ocean environment for our specimens and sustaining and duplicating their natural environment, foods, lighting, etc in H O P E S that we can do it successfully and effectively.
We Know it is Not our intention to spend good money on such specimens to bring them home to die. I have been diving a few times and have seen few but some dead fish or shelled animal in the wild. We all have lifespans and so do they.
Am I sad when there is a loss of a fish or coral? Of course I am. Was it a fault of mine, aggression or power outage- That too makes a difference.
There are corals that I know even with my experience, I will kill so i simply dont buy them.

 

[ZoWhat]

.....and it could have lived happier left alone in the wild.

I have the opposite opinion after viewing tropical fish in the wild snorkeling many many times..

1) In the wild fish are constantly, desperately in search of whatever food they can find. It seems the pattern for algae-eaters is to pick at a LR, then dart and hide, then repeat. In my tank they are fed highly nutritious meals on a consistent basis.... and they happily swim unafraid around the tank to explore. Not dart and hide.

2) In the wild they're super fast swimmers ready to dart like a missile bc they have potential predators around them. They huddle in Schools for protection, hoping their neighbor gets eaten and not them, lol. In my tank, the biggest conflict is over sleeping areas as they may swipe/flash at another fish for territory rights

3) In the wild the current is strong sometimes as they get toss back and forth. Ive seen schools of fish helplessly get tossed back and forth...and they just "go with it". Futile to swim against the current. I cant imagine what they go thru during Tropical Storms or Hurricanes. In my tank, gentle flows and a relaxed environment abound

I think the wild is a pretty violent place and I also believe not every fish lives out their life expectancy.

I'd be interested to know what % die an early death in the wild

Idk.... I feel in the wild its like being put on the street of Harlem NY and left to fend for yourself. In my tank its like an exclusive Resort with many amenities and services



.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'm just the opposite after viewing fish snorkeling many times over..

1) In the wild fish are constantly, desperately in search of whatever food they can find. In my tank they are fed highly nutritious meals on a consistent basis.

2) Their super fast swimmers ready to dart like a missile bc they have potential predators around them. They huddle in Groups for protection, hoping their neighborgets eaten and not them, lol. In my tank, the biggest conflict is over sleeping areas as they may swipe/flash at another fish for territory rights

3) The current is strong sometimes as they get toss back and forth. I cant imagine what they go thru during Tropical Storms or Hurricanes. In my tank, gentle flows and a relaxed environment abound

I think the wild is a pretty violent place and I also believe not every fish lives out their life expectancy. I'd be interested to know what % die an early death in the wild


.

Not to mention the hundreds/thousands of fish consumed daily by sharks, eels, groupers, and other predatory fish.

 

[JediCruz]

So fish deaths... I feel bad for them when they die in my care especially if I could have possibly prevented it. As others mentioned, I care for them so they are part of the family. A loss, though not as bad as an actual family member, still hurts. Do I feel bad that they are not in the wild and were in my care? Not at all. They are better in my care than to fend for themselves in the wild. This is assuming I’m treating them correctly, of course. Correct parameters and what not.