quite a sensitive subject...

[Debra Mark]

Our Pacu turned 25 this year and it will be a very sad day in our house when his time comes. :sad I'm sure both my husband and I will be crying. The Pacu has been part of our lives for so long, he's just one of the family. I feel sad when we lose one of our Africans that we've had for a couple of years, but it will be an extremely emotional time once our Pacu dies - hopefully he's got a long time yet - I've heard they can live to be 60 years old!

 

[BrownEyes24]

I had my Betta for about the same time. I kept him in a pretty glass bowl with blue crystal rocks and a blue plastic plant, a very pretty arrangement.
I would do weekly water changes. One week I just didnt put his plant back into his bowl, two days later he died. I felt responsible for the simple fact that I knew that plant was like his companion, he slept on it. I didnt cry, but I did feel really bad. Plus I knew after 2 years of having him that he died becasue of something I done.
I got another betta later on and it was not the same.

 

[Spud2564]

We had a tank a couple of years ago.
I seem to remember being deeply upset when 'Sharky' died... :sad

 

[mel_20_20]

((((((Bryanfykes)))))) What a man!! I hope your wife knows what she's got.

I have had to euthanise two guppies, on different ocassions, that I tried my hardest to keep healthy and keep alive. They both came from the same lfs, months apart, and they both had developed some cyst-like nodule on one of the dorsal fin rays.

No one knew what it was, but evidently it was a sign of some kind of disease or abnormality because both guppies progressed to dropsy.Once dropsy set in I used the clove oil method* which is truly a blessing to know about. I cried as I held the beautiful little fish in my hand, I had tried so hard to save them both.

I rescued a dying betta from my lfs. It was in a tank by itself and I could see he had an advanced case of dropsy, long stringy white poo, trying to stay upright. I asked "Edna" if I could take him home to euthanise him. She said, "Sure, if you want to."

She gave me a plastic bag and I gently scooped him into the bag. I took him home and without taking him out of the bag was able to gently put him to sleep. I didn't cry for him but felt very sad for him and others like him that live their short little lives in a cup in a pet store, and die there before someone takes them home.

After I had ended his miserey I felt very happy that I went in the lfs store that day and was able to help this little fish... happy is not really the right word... but I guess maybe I should say I felt very good about what I had done for him.

He was so beautiful and I felt sorry that he had never had a nice home, but he was not suffering anymore.

I have a brigs snail that I have fussed over and worried about and cooked jello for and written msjinkzd, frantically, because my snail wouldn't eat, and she's still going strong, though her shell looks pretty bad. I love that snail. I can't explain it but I will be devastated if she dies. I know I will sob.



* The clove oil method of euthansia is such a gentle, painless method everyone should know about it and keep a supply of clove oil. This truly can be the ultimate act of kindness and love for a fish that is suffering and going to die in a way that is slow and needlessly painful. Here is the link, I urge all to copy and paste it for future reference.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1370852#post1370852

 

[josh05magnum]

Nothing wrong at all with loving any pet. Me personally, I don't get too choked up over Fish, I was sad when I had to get rid of my Tiger Oscar and Pleco that I had for a few years when I moved out of my folks house back in the day. I will be sad when my Jack Dempsey or Pleco I have now die, but since I don't pet them, or have them sleeping next to me, I don't get too attached to fish.
However when I have a Zebra Danio escape from the tank, it doesn't bug me. I think it has a lot to do with length of having the pet, and if the pet exhibits a 'personality'. Maybe even the size for me, who knows.

For instance, one of our cats had bladder stones, I spent $1,200 I don't really have getting surgery done, and have spent an additional probably $500-800 since the surgery in follow up work (he had some complications a month or so after the surgery the poor lil' guy).

So, to many people, 2 grand for a cat is insane. In my opinion, if your not willing to do everything you can to save a pet, you have no business having one... Call me nuts, but that's the way I feel. My pets are family to me, I would do whatever I can to help them (pending they CAN be helped and aren't suffering)

Nothing wrong with crying, you shouldn't be judged or laughed at for it.

Sorry for your loss by the way.

 

[Sawyer]

Yeah, I cried about my neon tetras that died when I'd only had them a 1-2 months. As well for other fish I've owned, animals I didn't own, tadpoles, etc.

Why do people flush their fish? I bury them.. but I guess I can see why flushing is nice... mammals get buried because the ground is their natural habitat, fishies natural habitat is water..

 

[deeleywoman]

OP: your boyfriend is a heartless ***. i'd kill my husband if he ever did that to me; i don't care what he bought me to make up for it.

i had my first turtle when i was about 13 or 14, a box turtle that had wandered into my yard and wouldn't leave. i'd turned my entire closet into his tank, and he was happy and healthy and very friendly and loveable. he used to walk around the house, following me, whenever i'd let him out, and he'd take walks in the back yard, too. he never tried to run away, though... he always followed me around the yard like it was a game. one weekend while i was at my dad's house, my mom showed up and asked me to take a walk with her. we got about 50 feet before she told me that she'd taken augie outside for a walk and he'd disappeared, and she searched the neighborhood until the sun went down but couldn't find him. i BAWLED, like a baby, right in the middle of the sidewalk, in front of the whole neigborhood.

 

[bettabrat]

Bryan you made me cry

I'm a big stupid softe. I cry every time something dies. I love all my animals, they all have wonderful personalities big nor small.

The one that hit me hardest was my Krusty though he was the most awesome blue crayfish ever...he lived a whole 4 months in my care before I decided to "upgrade" his home from a 10g to a 20g...2 days in the tank and he got out...my DH found him on the floor and put him back in the tank but the fall he sustained caused too much internal damage and he died shortly after. It was Friday the 13th, this past March. I still tear up when I think about that crayfish.

I cried Saturday I lost my biggest DSP apple snail, freak accident and it got sucked into the filter where the sponge barely met the filter. Seriously still beating myself up because I feel like it was my fault.

I lost one of my polypterus's I got my DH for Christmas, they were his fish and I knew one was sickly yet I still cried when it died a week later.

I know I will cry for a long time when my dog passes away...she is old and I am honestly surprised she has lived as long as she has. I had her since I was a kid and my dad was still alive.

So crying isn't a bad thing. Not everyone cries. Some take death as another life experience, some take it to heart. I think it shows you had something to love and something you cared about. You spend that much time caring for an animal so what if it's just keeping it warm, clean water, giving it food. Just because you can't hug it doesn't mean you didn't love it.

 

[deeleywoman]

i cry NOW just knowing that my cats will die one day. my husband does, too. they can't even speak (not english, at least), yet we know we'll be devastated without them v.v;

 

[Bottomfeeder2]

RIP Beta
you picked its tank up? lol
you gotta heater and filter right?
*self slap*
beside the point.
i usually bury my fish.