What to do with large, unwanted fish?

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powellmacaque

AC Members
Feb 16, 2005
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St. Petersburg, FL
When I first started stocking my 55 gallon, I didn't research too well and ended up with an overstocked tank. I can't afford a new tank, so it looks like I'll need to get rid of my fish. I live in a pretty rural area, so aquarium clubs are pretty much out of the question, and none of my LFS will take my fish. Here's what's in the tank:

2 Blood Parrots (one is about 4 years old and has only grown an inch)
2 Firemouths
2 Female Convicts
1 Jack Dempsey (got this one by mistake... I originally wanted to breed convicts [but changed my mind] and this was in the convict tank at a pet store and was so black it didn't look like a Dempsey when it was young)
1 Common Pleco
1 Zamora Wood Cat

I know not to dump my fish in a lake... Especially where I live (FL) as this could cause a huge ecological mess. But I don't want to have to euthanize and nobody has been responding to my craigslist ads... Help!
 
My best advice to you is keep making water changes untill you find someone to take them. Never dump them into a lake. I made the same mistake years ago but I was lucky to find somebody that wanted my Pacus. Good Luck!!!
 
If you're able to ship, I'm sure someone here would be happy to take them off your hands and maybe provide you with shipping supplies.
 
powellmacaque said:
2 Blood Parrots (one is about 4 years old and has only grown an inch)
2 Firemouths
2 Female Convicts
1 Jack Dempsey (got this one by mistake... I originally wanted to breed convicts [but changed my mind] and this was in the convict tank at a pet store and was so black it didn't look like a Dempsey when it was young)
1 Common Pleco
1 Zamora Wood Cat
Click to expand...

+1 for not dumping them. My advice is rehome everything and start over. Or you could rehome all fish sans the firemouths and do a colony of them by themselves with a nice hardscape and some live plants.

:cheers:
 
sigh. You can't keep the fish. You can't sell them, you can't give them away, you can't throw them away.

c'mon. You know what has to be done. You are looking for permission. Consider it granted.

we've (pretty much) all been there. You made some mistakes, others (the mislabeled fish in the store) were made for you. Doesn't matter. It has to be done and, as the responsible party, you have to do it. There are stickies and multiple threads on euthanizing fish if you are looking for methods.

Given their size I suggest the post plausible are either whacking in the head and then freezing, or chopping their heads off with a cleaver or sturdy butcher knife or something. (use a glove on the hand holding the fish down, and keep your thumb tucked in.) A bit grim for you but speedy for the fish. Keep in mind that in the wild their likeliest end would be to be eaten a bite at a time by another fish. Or swallowed whole and asphyxiated then dissolved by stomach acids. Whatever you do is going to be more humane than that.

And if you need further consolation remember that fish neither fear death nor torment themselves with thoughts of an afterlife. They just are, until they are not. We monkeys could perhaps learn something here. :)

best wishes.
 
I wouldn't euthanize them. I would try and figure out ways to ship them. There are plenty of people who would want Firemouths or Convicts, you just have to find the corret person. In all honesty, your fish aren't really "tankbusters" (aside from the Pleco) and rehoming them will be easier than for say, a pacu or arowana or smthng. There are stickies in the forum on shipping fish. If you just want to give them away, see if people are willing to pay for shipping to get the fish. And post a classified ad stating free fish. But, don't euthanize.
 
XanAvaloni if you dont mind i using part of that post as a quote for my signiture. thanks man:)
 
powellmacaque said:
I know not to dump my fish in a lake... Especially where I live (FL) as this could cause a huge ecological mess. But I don't want to have to euthanize and nobody has been responding to my craigslist ads... Help!
Click to expand...

Interesting enough, depending on where you look, half that list already exists in the wild in Florida. :rofl:
But yeah, still a risk to the environment to release them.

Are you trying to sell the fish to the LFS or donate them? I can see them not buying the fish from you, since you have rather common breeds, but most LFS I've been too (besides chain stores) won't refuse free fish.
 
Khemul said:
Interesting enough, depending on where you look, half that list already exists in the wild in Florida. :rofl:
But yeah, still a risk to the environment to release them.

Are you trying to sell the fish to the LFS or donate them? I can see them not buying the fish from you, since you have rather common breeds, but most LFS I've been too (besides chain stores) won't refuse free fish.
Click to expand...

I tried to give them to the stores, but I don't think they understood me when I told them giving, I think they assumed I wanted to sell.
 
Petco + Petsmart will probobly accept them for free with open arms.

Don't just dump them, besides being bad for the fish and the enviorment, it is also illegal.
 
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