PlanetCatfish.com

Hi Everyone,
I need some guidance here. My son was given a 50 gallon tank about a year and a half ago from our neighbor. It consisted of a Koi and a 6 inch sharkey looking fish. During this time we thought the sharkey fish was a catfish and nothing to worry about and life went on. We got 2 kissing fish and the Koi got too big for the tank so we gave her to a new home with a Koi pond. Now the sharkey fish is getting too big as it is reaching alittle over a foot long. So after sending out numerous pictures, have confirmed I have a Paroon Shark. I need to get it a new home that can support it's size.
I called Fish and Game and they only wanted to make sure it was not a Piranha or a Carp otherwise they advised me not to dump in a lake and to have a nice day. I tried selling on Ebay and advised a 900 gallon tank was recommended as it will get to be 9 feet in length ( not about to sell without the potential owner knowing about the fish) not a single bid. I tried contracting a radio station that only deals with Fish .. no response. I tried the local aquarium but it is a salt water and only deals with fish that are indigenous to the Pacific Ocean. Contacted all my local fish stores and they either had no clue what i was talking about or had no room for the fish. Helppppppppppppppp
NEXT STEP: Contacting my local newspaper and Letter to the Editor. After reading in Yahoo news about a snakefish that was found in Wisconsin and how they are wondering how it got in the Lake and how it is from Asia... DUHHHHHHHHHHHH something needs to be done. I live in California and there is a lake right down the street. I have been fighting this and working this problem now for over a month and my time is running out. I as a responsible pet owner and mother of a son who has been watching and learning from my endeavors is not about to dump the fish.. but that is me. Not everyone is responisble in this manner and would dump it and in California the fish would do okay in the lake as it will never freeze.

If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate your time and understanding regarding this matter.
Regards
Tammy

Have you tried your nearest zoo or public aquarium? Although I doubt that they would be able to take them, since they probably get quite a lot of similar offers and are selective about what they will accept.
Contact other people you know with a pond?
Otherwise, the only option now left to you is (the unpleasant one) of putting the fish down.

These fish are often raised in aquaculture programs in Asia. In the US, pangasiid catfish are sold as "basa" (since the US gov't passed a law requiring that only North American catfish can be called "catfish"!). The meat tastes like the catfish you're used to eating, but a bit drier. Does best with spices, as it doesn't have much flavor of its own.

Finding a new home for it would of course be best, but if you must put it down, then I think eating it would be a more worthy final tribute than simply tossing it in the garbage.

If you are looking for a humane way to kill it, fill a bucket or bathtub full of ice cold water (as cold as you can make it) and toss the fish in. In a few minutes it will pass out. Then you can complete the job with a cleaver or whatever you have on hand.

We have eaten a number of our pet fish, as macabre as this may sound to some people. We think it serves a positive purpose. Whether it is raised in our fish tank and killed by us, or raised in a farmer's pond and killed by them, the practical consequences for the fish (death) and the moral consequences for us (causing its death) are the same. Killing your own food actually gives one a new respect for the sanctity of life.

Dinyar

After all the chemicals I have put in my fish tank, I don't think I'll be eating any of my fish when they die.

ditto for me.

I found another use for ceased-to-be fish however.

I agree with Dinyar on this:

would be a more worthy final tribute than simply tossing it in the garbage.

And so I bury them in the garden, or at least put the leftovers in the leaflitter, so the remains fertilize the life in there.

"back in the earth" as they say.
I might be sentimental, but it does for me


HEY!
DINYAR!
seems we agree on at least SOMEthing, don't we?

Sid, We agree on most things, actually. I'm even willing to try g guppy pheromones..

Dinyar

Well, I must be something of a disappointment these days, I guess.

I quit g cigarettes a long time ago, and I even quit (yes, despite being Dutch and into slow heavey rock) g the "legal only over here" plants, these days.

Now guppy-pheromones....that would be something

Before I'll try it, I have to convince my girlfriend to come back, or the side-effects will be quite onerous to the rest of the female population in these parts

btw I have strong reasons to say that the biggest Phyllonemus are "up to something". One of them is in his grotto with a mouth full of something and refuses to come out......

keep fingers crossed!

Well Everyone,
I do THANK YOU for all your ideas. However.. like I said.. I do not eat fish (Cod cakes or Gordon's Fish Fillets on a rare occasion (lent). As to the bucket of ice water... ewwwww I can't eat lobster knowing the final moments. Sorry people.. this is the whimpy mom coming out. I'll work on cars, I'll split wood and till the soil but taking a life even if it is a fish I just can't do. I will wear a dress and high heels and talk to curators and whomever else need be spoken to before I will succumb to that. Sorry.
I was just hoping for more ideas.......Thanks tho everyone for your time and help regarding this matter.
Regards
Tammy

Wow, think I'll start a post on " Eating Your Pets". I have some port hoplo's which are by all accounts a very tasty fish. My tinfoil barbs always look as if they'd taste nice as well!! !

Just joking

Scottydog

My tinfoil barbs always look as if they'd taste nice as well

No, they don't. I have eaten Barbodes (or Barbonymus as it is now called) and Hampala before, and they taste absolutely horrible. Or rather, they did not taste at all (felt like I was eating soggy cardboard). Plus they have tons of tiny bones which makes every mouthful a chore.
Worst fish I ever ate, and they were fresh out of a river at that.

Oh well, what about the bigger syno's, like nastatus etc... Maybe if you hot fry silver dollars they can be eaten like fishy chips?? A bit like the southern Europeans and their gavros!!

Actually, Silver Dollars (Metynnis spp.) are best as cervices.


But we digress. As far as the lake goes, don't even think about it. If you say you cannot bring yourself to kill a fish, you shouldn't even consider the lake as ANYTHING of an option. The fish you have grows huge and is a opportunistic predator, it may also be carrying numerous possible infectious agents that may destroy the native population of the lake or the fish will simply eat it's way through the lake.
Be a good example for your son, stand up, take responsability for the fish and for the well being of your local waterways and dispose of the fish HUMANELY.

Put the fish in a bucket of water and set it in your freezer. The fishes metabolism will slow, then eventually stop. This is likely the most humane way you can dispose of this fish short of overdosing it with anethesia (Benzocaine).

Later,
Paul E. Turley

Mr Turley

I thought you'd be a man to use your fish as dressing for your giant serpentine meals! Extra Large Snake with Syno and fries sir?

Dog

Yeah, that's me.

She said she wouldn't be able to kill a fish (no matter how humanely), so I can only presume she wouldn't be able to eat it!

I might volenteer, but I just ate lunch.

Sincerely,
Paul E. Turley

BTW: Her being a new aquarist, there is no telling what type of cocktail of chemicals are in that fish. Ever hear the story of the commercial catfish farmer that treated his fish with Malechite green six months before harvest?
The processed fillets turned lime green in the grocery display case!

Did they taste minty?

Hi Pturley
This tank has been disease free. The only thing I add is neutralizer. My son has one of those vacuums that you attach to the water facet and it sucks out the ick and then afterwards he adds water and then the neutralizer to rid the water of chlorine etc. That is the only thing we have ever done to the tank. As I stated earlier we thought it was just a catfish... we had no idea what it really was.. my son has Oscars and they are his babies.

Either way... you are right... I do not eat fish.

Regards
Tammy

Hi Everyone
Well just an update.. you all can put your homemade cookbooks away. I will not eat it. Thanks tho for the suggestions.
I cannot kill it as I stated earlier I just can't.
I did receive a email from a reader who wanted to take the fish. Unfortunately the email came back to me when I tried to respond.
I have a friend who is building a pond in his yard and offered the fish to him. As we all know the first couple of fish buys are bird food or die due to chemical imbalance one of these try till you get it right moments.
I also did a search for marine schools and sent emails to all the schools. Will see what this develops.
All the letters i sent to tv and newspaper were fruitless.

Regards
Tammy

I presume you know the story of Keiko, the "Free Willy" orca who was flown back to Iceland?

Dinyar

I would make the point that if you can't offload the fish (and the Steinhart is already choka with big cats) then it is doomed to an early death. From a certain point of view you are already killing it.

I do sympathise with your position (and I hope it doesn't put you off our wonderful hobby which is full of small fishes that don't come with this issue) and would suggest you ask someone else to do it and/or take it to a local fishmonger if you have such a thing.

Personally I would put it down sooner rather than later. If it is swimming erratically when you appraoch the tank then it is already badly cramped and on the slippery slope to a stressful, premature death.

On a lighter note, I'm sure there are many here who would be delighted to offer advice when it comes to restocking.

Jools

I have some port hoplo's which are by all accounts a very tasty fish.

Oh, indeed they are, hoplo's are imported ( usually dried or frozen unfortunately) for just that purpose. Best way to enjoy them seems to roast them, like chestnuts or marshmellows, then you can peel of their armour quite easily. I've only tried H. littorale and just simply fried those but they were excellent.

Just a curious, new to this forum, member who was wondering what happened to the shark.

Many interesting posts on this topic. However, with respect and apologies to Patrick Henry, if I am ever incarcerated, I hope some of you are not my wardens.

You are close to a couple of large public aquariums that may be able to take the fish.

Sea World, and in canada, the Vancouver Aquarium. Both might be worth a call too.