To pour boiling water on the fish

[Sokmonsta]

We have a plastic tub with goldfish in the garden. Not mine, we were looking after them for a friend while he moved house. Now he's moved, not collected them and the sodding tub is nearly frozen solid. Have sent him a terse message saying sort the fucking fish (we've had them months). But the only way I can see to help them out is to put hot water in the good 6 inches of ice on top. And it's icky because there are also dead fish frozen in there.

Am seriously wishing I'd just put them in my parents pond when they were on holiday in September!

[FivesGoldNorks]

Dog so sorry to hear that

[FloatyBeatie]

Really sorry to hear about your mum, Dog.

[Greensleeves]

Try FishRescue.com

When we moved into this house there were two fuck-off massive concrete raised fishponds in the garde with loads of fish in them. This wasn't a garden pond, it was a bloody fish farm. I didn't have a clue what to do with them. DH muttered darkly about flushing them down the toilet in batches until they were all gone but I didn't have the heart for it. I found these amiably barking FishRescue people and gave them a ring. A man called Gerald turned up in a van with tanks and took them all away

[justmyview]

DogEgg - that's very sad. Poor you

[ZombiesAreClammyDodgers]

I suspect part of the reason the OP has got a flaming is posting this with an inflammatory title on AIBU. Which has made it sound like she's posting for kicks, and which may really not be the case.

[whois]

I was going to type a post but this one sums it up:

I'm staggered at the abuse the op is getting over this!
Surely the one to blame would be the owner who dumped these fish on her and seemingly forgot about them? She's clearly done her best to care for them, but perhaps she has more pressing things to see to like, oh I don't know, her children?
The most baffling/amusing thing, is the number of posters saying they would report her to the RSPCA and that she is 'disgusting'. Have I entered a lunatic, parallel universe? I don't condone animal cruelty but let's get a grip here

Also, all you righteous as fuck "report you to the RSPCA" idiots - do you think freezing to death is any worse than being snared in a huge trawler net, dragged out of the water and then suffocated? Like all the fish you eat?

Seriously. OP tried to care for fish which weren't even hers and did her best.

[abbierhodes]

Firstly, dogegg, deepest sympathy about your mum.
Is it insensitive to admit that I snorted my tea at owlady's comment, 'go and drink baileys, unless you are an alcoholic'???

As for the OP- give her a feckin break, people! All the people on this thread who actually have outdoor fish are all like, 'yeah, they'll be grand, fish like the cold' and the rest of you are absolutely hysterical. She didn't set out to kill them. She's had them dumped on her. They're fish. They live in ponds, you don't bring them in.

Other comments that have made me PMSL- 'when mumsnetter's go mad' and 'it's like the whole internet, only more so'.

Thank you all, you've cheered me right up.

[dayshiftdoris]

They are FISH! What to you think fish in ponds do? Regardless of being in the ground ponds are freezing - one near me has 2 inches of ice on the top!

I come from a family of fishermen and my uncle keeps outdoor fish in a pond... I have always been taught that you just leave fish a lone in the winter as only they will just go into 'suspended animation' in winter and can survive a completely frozen pond. In fact my uncle says its people meddling that kills fish not the cold.

Having seen fish survive after leaping out of tanks at home and being on the carpet for quite some time never mind one which was found buried in soil for atleast a whole morning and then swam off once in the pond I am inclined to believe the theory. My uncle says he loses one or two in the winter but reasoned they were weaker anyway.

Rehome his bloody fish - doesnt sound like he is very concerned about them - unlike you.

[higgyjig]

Hands up on this thread if you eat fish.

[EverythingsDozy]

Fish are quite hardy, even the weaker ones. We once got a tank off a friend who took his fish out, emptied the tank and transported it to our house after about a week. When we filled it back up, we found a tiny harlequin in it that was in a fairly bad shape (obviously the original owner hadn't expected to leave him in there) but the little bugger lasted ages!

[FloatyBeatie]

Plucky little critter. One of our pond fish is a survivor of The Great Cormorant Massacre. He was a bit too big for the bird's beak so got spat out and left by the pondside, with a beak-gash along his flank, until we spotted him later and put him back in the water. He is fine now.

The smaller fish weren't so lucky. We lost loads that day, and now we just have two big monsters.

[FivesGoldNorks]

[Greensleeves]

it was FishOrphans, not FishRescue. Seriously. Ring Gerald.

[FloatyBeatie]

FishOrphans is even better. I am in love with Gerald, really. Do you think he will come and rescue me, if I promised to live in a tank?

[MooncupsAndSaucers]

Can't you put them in the bath until the weather improves?

[FivesGoldNorks]

Mooncups, that surely is not a serious suggestion?

[PumpkinPositive]

A famous dog trainer once trained a goldfish to push a ball though a hoop. While she was training she made a mistake and took training too quickly. The fish turned green and sank to the bottom of the tank in disappointment.

This is the funniest thing I've read on MN.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

It's true Pumpkin, some of it is on YouTube, although I don't think the bit were she moved the training too fast is on, but the fish putting the ball through a hoop is on. She used some variety of clicker training to do it.

She wanted the fish to get the ball through the hoop twice for a treat, but the fish had been used to getting a treat after each time, so got very upset when he performed and his treat didn't appear

I had absolutely no idea that fish could live in suspended animation. I assume they'd still need clean water and oxygen?

[MissCellania]

Yes you can to do very basic "tricks", but its just operant conditioning. The fish don't get upset and they certainly don't die of disappointment when they don't achieve!

[D0oinMeCleanin]

The fish didn't die. It just sank.

[FloatyBeatie]

Its heart sank, and the rest of it followed.

[MissCellania]

That makes even less sense.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

Well it happened. Footage of it was used in a seminar by Karen Pryor (I think) to show what effect suddenly switching from a continuous reinforcement schedule to a varied reinforcement schedule would have on dogs. The thinking being if that is how it effects a fish imagine what effect it would have on a dog.

I don't understand why you are so keen to argue this point with me?

It was covered in a lecture I had recently on reinforcement schedules. If you really need me to look up the references for you I suppose I could. I have an hour to kill before work.

[PumpkinPositive]

The fish didn't die. It just sank.

I'm at work, and trying to die of laughter in an inconspicuous way.