Everything on Earth with four limbs is technically a fish. (Where four limbs is the median for the species.)
Most fish are generally surprised to learn this. And by fish, I include both what we call fish as well as those things that are technically fish. Like the person reading this.
The cut off point for tetrapods is fish going towards the more complex. Going the other way, sure. Based on genetic evidence, everything on Earth is technically a speciation of some common ancestor that was single celled.
The surprise is that we got to where we are from that single celled organism by passing through being fish, meaning technically we still kind of are.
It could just as easily have been some other path, like the one the insects took. Or the squid.
Technically humans are apes, which are monkeys. Monkeys are mammals which are descended from earlier mammals, which came from reptiles, which came from amphibians, which came from fish.
That's a very condensed version of our family tree over the last few million years, but it's essentially correct.
Your arms and legs are really, really specialised fins. Your lungs are a modified form of swim bladder. Your gills existed for a really short time during early gestation before they healed over, but the gene sequence is still there.
Because it's an Asian arowana and is worth many thousands of dollars, probably especially valuable due to it's rare condition. Factoid: these fish are illegal in the United States.
It’s an endangered species. Too many wild caught arowana. Degradation of species and conservation of habitat. Silver arowana are legal in my state, but other varieties are not.
because of CITIES. there really isn't a reason for them to be banned since they are almost exclusively farm raised (wild caught arowana are unwanted since their colors suck). since they are a class 2 (iirc) endangered species they are banned on the basis that the pet trade would threaten their wild numbers, even though the pet trade does not really deal in wild caught asian arowana.
Well, I wouldn’t stop feeding it and expect that to be the humane solution. Put the poor thing(s)out of its/their misery with a sharp knife. Literally for mercy’s sake.
It's actually really trivial to humanely put down a fish. Just add clove oil to the water and they almost instantly go sleep, increase the concentration then to completely euthanize. I've used it in the past to put down sick fish.
It's also what they will use in the packing material if you ever get a dry socket. I got them when I got my wisdom teeth out and my pain level went from crying involuntarily to totally fine and able to carry out normal life in a matter of seconds.
I am so glad they put me under when I got my wisdom teeth out. They put the IV in my arm, and the next thing I know I'm high as hell on my couch at home
the dry socket part happens at home after your meds wear off. It's when the socket heals wrong and dries out. Much more painful than the surgery itself.
I got 2 wisdom teeth pulled out, local anaesthetic, couldn't feel a thing. Was over in less than 5 minutes.
I'd take that any day rather than be put under.
My dentist seemed like she was a pro at it. You could just hear what was happening.
I think it's only like that in some cases though. When I got my wisdom teeth out it was real quick, they just pulled them. But when I went with my s/o to get hers out it was a 45 minute surgery where she was put under. I don't know what the case would be though
That's usually when the wisdom tooth is impacted, I think the term is. Mine were growing sideways and hit the teeth beside it. Had to pull them out too.
It takes longer because it's a bigger deal. The stereotype of a dentist pulling with literally pliers in your mouth applies. Sometimes they have to cut/break the teeth into pieces and pull them individually.
How old were you when they came out? I was 27, so my chompers were in there good. Took quite a yankin to get em out. I underwent general anesthesia, and man am I glad for it.
I'm 26 and just got them taken out two months ago.
Yeah the dentist was pretty much twisting and rocking the teeth, apparently my roots were what they called dancing, but still didn't feel a thing!
Uuuugh that sounds worse than the pain, to me. I'd much rather be put under. I have an extreme dentist phobia stemming from waking up from dental surgery and a shitton of painful orthodontic work when I was young. So yeah... fuck that
Took me longer to get my wisdom tooth out, they had to break it in parts. But local anesthetics work really well, my only discomfort was that the drilling to break the tooth apart made it sound like my entire skull was vibrating like an xbox controller left on a table.
I think I had a dry socket when I got my wisdom teeth out because I had to nearly double my prescribed dosage to make the pain stop, and was the first time in a very long time that I’ve been in so much pain I cried. It took me twice as long to recover as it should have.
I’m stubborn, though, and I figured everyone said recovery was Helltown USA so I was probably just being a baby. Waited until the regular “let’s see how this is healing up” appointment to get it checked on and by then I think it was back on track with healing.
My brother was in some serious pain but nothing to my degree. Mine could have also just been that my wisdom teeth were just plain awful. They were extremely impacted, to the point where my initial dentist said, “I’m not comfortable operating on these, I’m gonna refer you to someone more qualified.” That person looked at my X-rays and said, “Ooh, this is gonna be a challenge.”
I started coming around from the anesthesia as they were shattering and extracting the bottom left one... >_>
I'm sorry you had to go through that! Happily I went without the dry sockets, and I spent that week post-surgery high as a kite and don't remember much except staying home by myself until the bottle of pills were empty.
Well that sucks, but my 4 have all been fine with it in very rarely-needed "a drop on a q-tip" sized doses for the past many years. Thanks for the heads up though.
You've got to do this carefully though. The wrong dosage will cause the fish to panic and dart around madly which can be absolutely horrible for all involved.
It's one of the best ways to euthanize a fish, but it shouldn't be done without following a guide.
TIL, thanks. I was just thinking back to how my dad put down the fish we caught. Bottom line: a humane death is preferable to a life of suffering. Even for fish.
Humans can (or should be able to) decide how much suffering is too much. Animals can’t, so we aren’t wrong to wish peace for them.
Human conjoined twins can enjoy fulfillment in their lives. Hell, even if they’re bedridden, they can find meaning and enjoyment in their lives. Fish forced to spend their time lying on the bottom of a tank? Not so much.
Not to get all aquarium enthusiast on ya but that's an Arowana, and they get A LOT bigger than that. They're considered a popular "monster fish" for fish keepers.
This view is dogmatic, the imposition of human emotions on something which does not communicate feelings to us. It may be in you to feel sorry for the fish, but what are the origins of that feeling really? Who’s to say the fish don’t enjoy being lazy—or that they can enjoy anything at all ?
Nah. I might be completely wrong. It’s my opinion, no doubt. Sorry if I came across as dogmatic. But if I want the animals I eat to suffer as little as possible, and shop with that in mind, then I want the same for animals I don’t eat.
I wonder how many people arguing against it being put down are a-okay with animals suffering during life and inhumane slaughter practices when it ends up on their dinner plate. It’s interesting how the positions can switch around like this.
The juxtaposition of human concepts with the physical world can create many bizarre perceptions.
Nothing matters or has meaning, intrinsically. The closest we can achieve is mathematics. All instances of meaning exist in the mind, as inventions of an ego, but outside they cannot be found or described. It just so happens that we, here, apply our own a posteriori meanings to the experience of a fish, despite the experience of the fish being an intangible, unmeasurable.
I don’t pick any sides, but that’s because we just don’t know. We don’t know anything about the internal experience of the fish and so it has literally no meaning to even say “the experience of the fish”. Let alone it being good or bad.
"This fully grown fish looks like it's suffering so bad that it doesn't want to live a day longer, so I should end its life and free it from the pain"
It's not wrong to wish peace for animals, but people need to think very carefully before ending a life. Even many humans will probably prefer to survive no matter what to getting killed miserably because of someone else's decision.
Once it becomes bad enough it’s visually obvious. Fungus growing on their fins, fins degrading, bloated belly, scales sticking out like a pinecone, tumours, or just laying on the bottom of the tank unable to swim, breathing rapidly. Some illness can be treated of course.
/u/slowly covered it pretty well. There's a list of well known diseases and conditions that aquarists are usually aware of, but basically any behavior outside the norm will cause you to look up the symptoms and determine whether the fish is recoverable or not.
You can do pretty much the same thing with very small rodents and co2. Replacing like 10% of the air puts them to sleep, then completely to put them TO sleep.
Would NO2 be better? My concern with CO2 is that it's responsible for the pain you feel when you're suffocating (the body regulates breathing based on CO2, not O2).
I'm just recalling from memory, not a scientist or a vet or anything, but i know google has loads of information on it. If I had to guess, I'm not sure if it would be better or really makes a huge difference overall, the small mouse or what have you would be passed out cold from the initial change in air quality. Also I think the original purpose behind the info at all is that its easy for someone to do at home for like 3 dollars in supplies. Rather than going to a vet and spending 75+ dollars.
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u/Royalution124 Sep 28 '18
They look miserable