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Unwanted fish. What to do with them?


SC Fish
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I have around 15 babys , maybe 10. I cant keep them and to be honest i dont want to either. 

Ive tried calling my local stores, but they wont take them as they are livebearer platys. 

Ive had them listed on preloved.com for around 4 days and no one has seem interested.

And no one i know keeps fish.

I need them gone in around 1 week . Before i go to italy.

What do i do if no one wants them?

Is it right to euthanise them?

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This is a challenge.

Look… this is sort of a no way out scenario. Maybe if you keep thousands of fish it becomes easier to “bin” a dozen. But that seems rather wrong — especially in your case.

FYI, fish _can_ be euthanized by putting them in tank water then placing them in your freezer. They’re cold blooded, so they just slow down until they pass away.

Now, I recognize that your LFS appears to have no interest in the fish. But look… they definitely have ways to manage these fry. Whether they feed them to large Cichlids as food or just add to their livebearer tank, they have ways to manage them.

So, not the most polite procedure, but perhaps you could just bring in a fish bag to your LFS and drop them off.

Worst case, you get told off…

then you run out…

and move to Italy…

🇮🇹

Edited by Fish Folk
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Have you tried your local schools? School year is starting soon, maybe you could help a K-2 grade teacher set-up a tank (old filter, media from a tank, other supplies) for a class room or library. It would be a great way to start new interest in the hobby and teach kids. My other thought is local boy or girl scouts? Maybe they have a "headquarters" around you? There are all kinds of nature badges and this maybe a great community service project for them (set up a tank, raise fry, donate to a library or school). Check out on social media. 

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After reviewing your profile and seeing that you only keep nano fish, my first suggestion to feed them to a larger fish obviously won’t work. My second suggestion may or may not please you, but you could just leave the fry in with the parents. They will either eat leftover food the other fish don’t eat or be eaten, so it could go either way.

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On 7/24/2022 at 12:52 PM, Guppy Guy said:

After reviewing your profile and seeing that you only keep nano fish, my first suggestion to feed them to a larger fish obviously won’t work. My second suggestion may or may not please you, but you could just leave the fry in with the parents. They will either eat leftover food the other fish don’t eat or be eaten, so it could go either way.

Right now some of them are around 1cm to 1.5cm so they wont be eaten. Some still. 

On 7/24/2022 at 12:14 PM, Fish Folk said:

This is a challenge.

Look… this is sort of a no way out scenario. Maybe if you keep thousands of fish it becomes easier to “bin” a dozen. But that seems rather wrong — especially in your case.

FYI, fish _can_ be euthanized by putting them in tank water then placing them in your freezer. They’re cold blooded, so they just slow down until they pass away.

Now, I recognize that your LFS appears to have no interest in the fish. But look… they definitely have ways to manage these fry. Whether they feed them to large Cichlids as food or just add to their livebearer tank, they have ways to manage them.

So, not the most polite procedure, but perhaps you could just bring in a fish bag to your LFS and drop them off.

Worst case, you get told off…

then you run out…

and move to Italy…

🇮🇹

Is that the most humane way to euthanise them? 

 

Also love your little joke , aha

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I’m not sure of your location (I’m guessing South Carolina?) but Petco near me took some neon Tetras. If it’s specifically lifebearers the stores are refusing you could call up and act ignorant and say you’re getting rid of some sort of small tropical fish from your kid. Or if you just show up they’ll be much more likely to take them. 
 

Edit: also if they’re fry you could just let them grow a bit while you’re gone before surrendering them. Some stores might reject them where they’re so young.

Edited by YeePuffer
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Have you offered them on Craigslist. I know no one uses that anymore. I hit it up all the time. I do it for used tanks mostly but I haven’t gone fish there and given. Fish away their. I see them on the Facebook marketplace but Facebook has a policy about live animals if that matters to you.  If you do that and people want to meet to get them pick don’t let them come to your home. I know it’s common sense but people tell me to pick things up at their homes all the time. 

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On 7/25/2022 at 5:20 AM, Expectorating_Aubergine said:

If you live in Southern California, I'll take them off your hands. They will live out their days in a pond, with the other livebearers.....

i would love to give them to you but im in the uk 😞

On 7/25/2022 at 2:23 AM, YeePuffer said:

I’m not sure of your location (I’m guessing South Carolina?) but Petco near me took some neon Tetras. If it’s specifically lifebearers the stores are refusing you could call up and act ignorant and say you’re getting rid of some sort of small tropical fish from your kid. Or if you just show up they’ll be much more likely to take them. 
 

Edit: also if they’re fry you could just let them grow a bit while you’re gone before surrendering them. Some stores might reject them where they’re so young.

i live in uk, and tbh i dont have it in me to be like that , ahaa

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On 7/25/2022 at 8:19 AM, SC Fish said:

i live in uk, and tbh i dont have it in me to be like that , ahaa

I'm sorry to hear about this situation you're going through; your local fish store rejecting them must be incredibly frustrating. 

Only because you asked, I will say that I think in this situation euthanizing them would be wrong without trying to take them to your local fish store one more time. They are living beings that you allowed to be created, and in my opinion you owe it to them to try and get the store to take them off of your hands by possibly using some of the methods mentioned above even if they are out of your comfort zone.

I can tell you as someone that volunteers at an animal shelter, even when we are full, if someone finds a kitten during kitten season and says they will "un-alive" it if we don't take it, we have no choice but to take it. I would go to the store in person with the fry, and tell them you are leaving for Italy in a week and if they don't take them you will have no choice but to euthanize them. I personally hate "confrontation" as well, but I think you should try and give it one more go, however uncomfortable it may be. 

I also recommend against euthanasia for your well-being as well, as I would hate for you to be left with regrets as a fishkeeper. There are conflicting opinions on the humanity and painlessness of the freezing method, and I have always used clove oil and it is not easy to do. It takes precise measurement to have the fish fall asleep first (if you use too much it will cause them to have a seizure) and if the fish is still active they fight the sedation and it is emotionally taxing to complete. With clove oil you have to go slow and it can take up to 30 minutes to complete. It would also be very hard to do it correctly for such small fish. It's really easy to use too much clove oil. 

I hope everyone's opinion helps you come to a decision you are happy with, and I wish you the best in Italy! 

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Just a thought but if I remember rightly from the beginning of this threat (or it might have been a different one) you are away for 3 weeks.

If no-one takes you up on the offer (I don't have enough tanks space to separate live bearers so I can't step up sorry and couldn't be much further away from Kent.) You could set up a quick pond /tub and leave it outside with and hope nature looks after it's own, you might come back to failure but they might make it. 

Something to think about anyway not sure how it fares in the humane scale that depends on survival I suppose.

 

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