[Solcielo lawrencia]

Last year, I bred Harlequin rasboras and 50% of the fry had tail deformities. I recently found out why; the adult female had a double-crook tail deformity that I never noticed before. Almost all of the deformed died soon after, probably from difficulty swimming and finding food. One fry had such a deformed tail that it could only manage to swim in spirals, which was kind of funny to watch. It died.

Also last year, two tail-deformed guppies (brother and sister) bred and half the fry also had deformities. One fry came out with a balloon-shaped body like a balloon Molly and was grotesquely ugly. I recently decided to cull (using an ice bath) the deformed fish, including the parents. I thought this was best to prevent any future breeding and passing of this trait.

I didn’t feel bad during the culling, which was sort of fascinating to watch. However, after the deed was done, I did start to feel bad. None of the fish were in poor health and except for the crooks in their tails, were perfectly fine. For the males, you could barely notice due to their large finnage.

This raises some ethical questions:
1. Is it ethical to allow deformed fish to breed?
2a. Is it ethical to cull the fish with deformities?
2b. Is it ethical to cull deformed fish when they are in good health?

I didn’t ice all of the deformed guppies. I still have one because I wasn’t sure it was a deformity at the time. But I’m considering culling this fish as well.

 

[Solcielo lawrencia]

There's an emotional attachment to the fish that I've raised since birth. It seems wrong to kill it just because of an aesthetic problem that doesn't even cause any difficulty swimming or eating.

The two fancy goldfish I have (redcap orandas) both have tail deformities. The 6-year-old is almost human and has emotional reactions to being lonely. He got depressed and stopped swimming so I bought him a $2.50 friend of the same variety. This immediately perked up his mood and he behaved exactly like a person would to finally seeing someone after years of isolation. But with only one friend, he still longs for more. I don't want him to breed because he would just pass on the same defect so he'll probably live out the rest of his life never fertilizing eggs.

How do you feel after culling a large number of fish? I feel bad looking at their lifeless, cold-blooded bodies so I throw them in the compost bin where they would mold and decompose.