Baby euthanization, what to do.

[Nepherael]

Neph, if the question continues to torment you remember that in nature this problem does not occur. A defective offspring becomes lunch (or at least a snack) for another member of the food chain, along with 99% of the perfectly healthy offspring. That's why they have so many in the first place.

we breed for colors, or shapes, or fanciful finnage or whatever. Nature breeds for speed and luck.

Very well said and I'm right there with ya. It helps to understand and remember the circle of life in the wild sometimes. I'm still gonna give all my weird guys a chance but it helps to think about and know that they wouldn't have lived regardless of anything in the wild

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[Nepherael]

Also...I've had a von rio tetra that is malformed and strange looking from a fry that is still the boss in my 100g

:cheers:

Which is awesome and definitely why I'm glad my thoughts on waiting it out until necessary were confirmed here. Ya never know what a cool little dude they're going to be if you don't give em a chance to fight it out at first. Can end up with some very character filled fish and sometimes an even deeper bond.

In fact, my girlfriend and I have been really keeping track of the little weird swimmer (thats what made me make this topic, I thought he had died but when I went to get him he was alive and kicking. It's hard to tell when they're still too small to get a good look at if their gills and side fins are moving) and I don't want to sell him to a LFS where he may never get bought so if he toughs it out I'm gonna give him a permanent home in my girlfriends livebearer community 55 when it is set up =)

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[Rbishop]

All of us need to stop assigning human emotions/feelings to our fish.....last time I checked, none of them could communicate the idea to us....fry to go bye-bye..they be lunch for another fish as in nature, unless diseased then a quick knife and flush.....

 

[Jumko]

What do you plan on doing with it once it gets old enough to breed? Are you prepared to keep it separated from the other mollies? The last thing you want is your deformed molly breeding and creating more deformed fish in the future, even if you don't plan on selling them/giving them away.


Also, word of caution for those of you who use the cup of ice euthanasia method - place the cup in your freezer and keep it there till the water does in fact freeze. I say this b/c I had a beat up golden gourami that I decided to place in a cup with ice cubes + water. Half an hour later he LOOKED dead. No signs of life, no gill movement whatsoever. Then I threw his body in a bucket of old tank water from a recent water change that I was too lazy to dump out. Next day as I'm ready to dump the bucket down the toilet, what do I see? THE GOURAMI'S STILL ALIVE AND SWIMMING.

The point is, I was horrified to think of how many fish I've "euthanized" in the past and flushed down the toilet, might have actually still been alive.

 

[Nepherael]

I hadn't thought about that. Hmm I guess I'll have to tackle that down the road here but I'm sure I can figure something out. You're right that the last I would want is him/her to breed and I don't think I would separate him so maybe that lends more credence into why breeders cull their stock.

 

[psyche]

As a tropical fish, a good method is netting and placing directly into ice slurry--cold shock knocks them out. Then you can freeze or otherwise kill.

Personally I use an overdose of Finquel, an anesthetic. But it is getting harder to get hold of.

 

[Rbishop]

Nothing like an Oscar tank for limiting bad genetics and keeping the price up......

 

[Nepherael]

Nothing like an Oscar tank for limiting bad genetics and keeping the price up......

If you mean for feeding then I agree. I would rather feed a fry to something then just kill it (obviously not if it is diseased) but I'm not sure what you mean by keeping the price up?

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[Rbishop]

limiting volume...looking for color only...low supply..high demand..higher price