When Your Favorite Fish Dies

[krazykat]

What do you do with the body? My golden hawkfish just died and I had him for five years. He's still in the tank - he was by himself since he made snacks out of all his roommates three years ago. He is a fish seldom seen in the hobby and so I thought about having him stuffed like they do with trophy fish. No taxidermist around here works with fish though . Anyway, what would/did you do? I have seen threads here where someone is really attached to one of their fish which died. What did you do?

 

[BigAl07]

First off sorry for your loss! I know how attached we get to our "Finned Friends".

If it's big enough to warrant such it goes "Back to Mother Earth" via soil otherwise "Back to Mother Earth" via the "aquatic" route.

 

[fivel]

With the clean up crew that I have in my tank - Actually finding a body of any dead fish is very rare in my setup. However, if something would ever happen to one of my older or favored fish, with me being the scientific and curious type that I am - would probably dissect him to learn more about their anatomy and then bury him in my flower bed. Hopefully though this is not something that I will have to actually have to deal with for a long time.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss

 

[redsea reefer]

I bury them so they could go back to mother earth.

Sorry about your fish.

 

[lcstorc]

My husband takes care of such things for me.

 

[seafansar]

Sorry for your loss. I just lost my dear red headed fairy wrasse during a move. I buried him in the back yard. I was doing good, well acting mad that the fish died, until my bf said he was sorry about it dying, then I started bawling! He was the third fish I ever bought, and the prettiest red headed wrasse I'd ever seen. :tears:

 

[sneaks03]

Sorry for your loss. I know how that goes. While I really have not been in the hobby long, i was starting to feel good when I put some 3-srtipe damsels in my tank and all looked good. Well when I woke up one morning, about 4-days after adding them to my tank, all 6 were lying in the same corner dead. While i realize this was probably due to some sort of ammonia spike, it kinda discouraged me. I had my little brother say some farewell words and sent them for their final voyage down the swirling tank.

 

[squidy]

My first was a Bi-Angel and he died from velvet. I was up all night watching him slowly die. I was strong all day and then broke down that night when my hubby kept asking me what was wrong. I still tear up when I come across pictures of him. After all, his death was my fault for adding a fish that I didnt QT. Lesson learned!

 

[krazykat]

Thank you for all your kind words. I can't get myself to fish him out of the tank yet... each time I go past his tank I still expect to see him follow me with those beady eyes...

 

[Royalscott]

I always send them back to mother earth via the aquatic route.

 

[Nuno]

Sorry for your loss, makes me pretty sad just reading this thread!

 

[acemow]

Sorry for your loss, I know how attached we get to our fishy friends, too. I just lost an Orange Sea Starfish and though some of my family thought it was gross, I let him dry in the intense Florida sun and I painted him his original color, um...he's a decoration now. I figured I've dried starfish and sand dollars that we've found washed up on the beach, why not a starfish that I paid for? The maroon clown that died we buried in the yard.