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I was perusing the fish videos on youtube the other week, and surprise surprise it seems there is yet another flurry of videos showing fish being maimed by other predatory fish. Im not against the feeding of fish to other fish, but together with mice needlessly tortured and bitten to bits by fish that would probably take prekilled food there was one particularly charming video named " the worlds toughest goldfish"

This video basically involved some idiot holding up a goldfish that had been bitten in half and was still alive gloating about how tough it was. It made me sick that someone can be so insensitive to needless torture and suffering.The least he could have done was knock the fish on the head to end its suffering, but noooo, he had to wave it around in front of the camera , presumably for some sick self gratification in the mayhem his predator fish caused another helpless fish. I have a polypterus myself, and never would I ever concieve of allowing this situation to happen.

Investigating further I found this was just one of many such videos and it is seriously disturbing me that this vicious and sick subculture of entertainment is so prevalent on the net. Normal feeding is one thing, but these videos are shot exclusively to promote voyeuristic sadistic behaviour. As someone who cares about fish and animal welfare generally I find this stuff truly abhorrent, theres nothing natural about what these people are broadcasting, its torture for entertainments sake.

I wont post links here , but if you look at youtube and various other similar sites youll find the videos soon enough. Personally i will doing my usual best to publicly humiliate anyone who has posted one of these videos forthwith, by at the very least complaining to youtube and posting some cunningly rude comments in their comments section. Personally I think people should speak up about this sick trend more.

Anyone else feel the urge to do something about this? And what do you chaps and chappettes think about these videos? Id love to know.

while I can't blame people for taking pleasure in seeing their predators do what comes naturally (I greatly enjoy watching my bichir and africans chasing down feeder guppies, and the same goes for feeder goldfish and the my SA's). it does seem a little sick to re-capture a preyed upon fish for the sake of waving it around in front of a camera. unfortunately these sorts of people feed off the fact that we find it so disgusting, it helps them get their kicks, so I hate to say it, but the best thing we can do, save tracking them down and reporting them on charges of animal cruelty (probably wouldn't stand up in court anyway...), is to ignore the videos entirely, don't look for them, don't watch them, and don't go on rants about them. I applaud you for dealing with it in such un-specific terms, and especially for not linking back to the video. it keeps this particular rant from becoming a big thrill to those who would enjoy knowing they have so badly angered us reasonable fish keeper types.

proud father of a bunch of baby haps. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sktchy/BABIES

i also love to watch my fish gooble up a smaller fish,but theres a diference,i dont wave half a dead fish in front of a camera,just to get my kicks,these sort of sites,youtube,myspace,ect,ect are well known for this type of barbaric behavour i would like to dangle that guy in front of a camera after,lets say a crocodile has bitten him in half,and see how camera freindly he feals,it just astounds me how people can be creul to ANY ANIMAL,LET ALONE A HELPLESS GOLDFISH.even thoo the goldfish mite not be the smartest or best looking fish,its still deserves to be treated correctlyif i get the time i mite jump on youtube tonight,and see if i can have i winge,and get the blokes footage removed,i still cant get it throo my head how people get injoyment from being cruel to fish,or any animal i should say...

One disturbing thought occurs to me here.

Gratuitous cruelty to animals during one's teenage years is considered to be a high risk sign by criminologists that the person in question could develop a career in adulthood as a serial killer. The FBI has been studying this for years, and has discovered that cruelty to animals for kicks as a teenager was very strongly correlated with the later development of sadistic brutality toward other human beings on the part of numerous serial killers.

Take a look here on the behaviours considered as childhood precursors of psychopathic behaviour - gratuitous cruelty to animals is one of the correlating factos. I suspect law enforcement agencies might be interested in tracking down this individual, not only with a view to enacting a prosecution on charges of animal cruelty, but with a view to keeping track of him in later life in case other unwholesome behavioural traits begin to manifest themselves ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Cali - what you mention about animal cruelty being a precursor to more violent crimes against people is something I can remember hearing since I was a kid, but when I tried to research it last year for my environmental ethics class, the only source I could really find for information regarding this was from PETA (not what I would consider unbiased!) Do you have any more reliable references I could look into?

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Well there was jeffrey dahmer for one, he did weird things to pigeons and other small animals when he was a kid. Not nice.Ed gein was supposed to have started out with animals too. There are some hard facts publications , particularly on psychological profiling on killers that show consistant links between animal abuse during the childhood years of serial killers, it is apparently a common phenomenon for rage to be vented on animals in the case histories of serious psychopaths, it even has its own term, namely zoosadism. try this sort of reading.

"From Animal Cruelty to Serial Murder: Applying the Graduation Hypothesis", published in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (Volume 47:1, February-March 2003,

By no means is harming animals exclusive to serial killers, but it is apparently quite usual for killers with general rage issues, and is made worse by the added complexity of cowardice and inadequecy issues,a tendancy the non serial killer can easily suffer from. This makes perfect sense to me, because frankly I instinctively view people who enjoy inflicting torture on non conseting individuals be they animal or not, as complete inadequetes and mental deficients. Beyond childhood, which can be the time of many foolish moral mistakes, adults who torture animals basically have to have at least a limited mental disorder or deficiency of conscience that does make them innately more dangerous than the average person. Being unable to resist sadistic urges will always indicate a person who is not truly in control of themselves, or someone who has sociopathic tendancies.

Personally I they should either be helped in the case of illness , or brought to book in the case of deficiency of conscience.Give em a reason not to do it, ie: something they fear associated with the act and they probably wont. I often feel that unrelenting social pressure and ridicule will enforce the negativity of the torture process on even the sociopathic mind, and as such , worth a go .I fail to see why anyone who tortures anything or anybody should be tolerated for even an instant. I t does seem that torturing animals does consistantly lead to other foul things even if it is only the continuation of the habit, and there is evidence to show there is often escalation in habits.

Its a nasty , nasty business.

And for the record, I agree. There no need to use PETA as a source of authority on anything much. Ever. lol

Looking for a source other than PETA? Try the FBI.

For that matter I think it's now more or less a given among law enforcement agencies around the civilised world that gratuitous animal cruelty (as opposed to moments of ostensibly cruel behaviour linked to anger in a child that hasn't yet fully developed a set of moral self-restraints, and quickly abandons such behaviour), especially if that cruelty continues to manifest itself (and possibly intensifies) in adult life, is a serious cause for concern with respect to the possibility of a psychopathic mindset.

Hopefully, the extension of additional wariness of gratuitous cruelty to the protection of creatures that aren't 'cute and cuddly' will continue apace, so that our fishes will be considered just as valid recipients of due care and attention on our part as kittens and puppies. A certain studied wisdom in this area is advisable, however.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002