One of my fish gave birth to about 3 dozen fry, one of which was a stillbirth. They're all rather strong and so I am hopeful that a great deal many of them will avoid being eaten by the other fish upon introduction to the wider tank. With some sadness I noticed the mother had died and had begun to rot, her once golden complexion having turned to a motley red, green and white. I motioned to take her out of the tank and throw her away, when I noticed against all odds she still lived. She was upside down in the tank, rotting away, and still breathed. I'm on the phone with one of my friends detailing all of this as it occurs, and it just so happens he studied the ethics of euthanasia as a med student, naturally I ask him for his opinion. He told me that if I was certain this fish was terminally ill and had no chance of survival (given that rot had settled in and it was having trouble doing more than flip flop, I was certain), I should kill it (for those concerned if he applied those arguments to humans, he did not). After setting out to choke it to death on air, after 4 minutes I found it took far too long and seemed to have no end, and at once resolved to kill it with a knife. It took some effort to line up this fish I had cared for for so long, decapitating it with one quick motion. I picked up its head and staring into its brain, I was confident that it was destroyed. I set about brewing some tea and washing the knife, then washing my hands all thoroughly. I then turned to feed the fish, conscious of the fishes whose mother I had just killed, feeling guilty as I fed them fish flakes. Evidently I do not waste time on the death of lesser or smaller creatures or else I would not eat meat or keep carnivorous plants, but to have to kill something you cared for for so long is needless to say, stressful. As I do not eat seafood or practice fishing, I am not skilled at killing fish, thus I am glad at least I could give my fish a quick death in spite of all that.