Saying goodbye to a pet fish in Collinsville
Not every crematory near Collinsville accepts fish, and the smallest ones leave little to return. We'll help you find the right option and ask the right questions.
- Freezer tips so nothing is rushed
- Private or communal cremation explained
- Help keeping the rest of the pond safe
Collinsville, Illinois
Who will cremate a fish in Collinsville?
Collinsville straddles the Madison and St. Clair county line some 11 miles east of downtown St. Louis, climbing from the edge of the American Bottom up onto the bluffs. Older brick homes fill the uptown streets near Main Street, and newer subdivisions spread east along the interstate. Metro East aftercare services cover Collinsville, and some based in Missouri will cross the river; compare what each adds for a home visit.
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, sits at Collinsville's western edge, and the bluffs above the bottomland offer wide views toward the St. Louis skyline. Both are protected places, so leaving ashes there requires a conversation with site staff first. A redbud planted in your own yard, or a small vessel indoors, keeps your pet near at hand with no permission needed.
If you live outside Collinsville itself, ask about mileage before booking any collection. For a fish, it usually makes more sense to drive it yourself, frozen and sealed inside a small cooler. You avoid a call-out fee, you choose the timing and you can ask your questions face to face. Many families combine the trip with something else they need to do in a larger town nearby.
Collinsville is home to about 23,717 people, the 96th-largest of the 151 Illinois communities we cover. Some of the providers who serve Collinsville are based about 11 miles away in St. Louis, the nearest larger centre, so collection times reflect that drive.
Collinsville sits within easy reach of Granite City (7 miles), O'Fallon (7 miles) and East St. Louis (8 miles). A provider based in any of them will usually collect from Collinsville; ask what the mileage adds to the bill.
60.2%[1]
The NFDA projected Illinois's cremation rate at 60.2% for 2024.
10 million[2]
About 10 million US households keep freshwater fish.
13%[3]
13% of UK households keep an indoor fish tank.
3-5% of body weight[4]
Embrace notes cremated remains typically weigh about 3-5% of the pet's original body weight.
The numbers above come from UK Pet Food (formerly PFMA) Pet Population 2026 and Embrace Pet Insurance, if you'd like to read the original sources.
Local attitudes to cremation
In Illinois, with a human cremation rate around 60.2%[1], habits often split by generation. Grandparents may remember burying a goldfish in a matchbox at the bottom of the garden; younger keepers who rent or move often lean toward cremation or a planter. Both instincts are sound. If the family can't agree, the fish's size makes a fair tiebreaker: the bigger and older the fish, the more a cremation tends to make sense.
The Illinois figure comes from NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). It describes people, not pets, so read it as a sign of local attitudes rather than a pet statistic.
Season by season: fish losses in Collinsville
Pond keepers in Collinsville tend to lose fish at the turn of the seasons: in the first hot spell, when warm water can't hold enough oxygen, and in early spring, as fish wake up under melting ice into water full of winter waste. If you lose fish at either time, test the water the same day and do a partial water change if ammonia or nitrite is up.
With hot summers and freezing winters, burial timing in Collinsville can be awkward. Baked summer soil is hard to dig and frozen winter soil is impossible. Cremation sidesteps both, and for a large koi it gives you ashes you can scatter or bury whenever the ground allows. For a small fish, a big planter on the patio or balcony is a year-round alternative.
Fish cremation quotes in Collinsville: what's normal
Cost is a fair worry, even for a small pet. In one US survey of pet owners, 61%[5] said the cost of aftercare was a concern. The good news for fish keepers in Collinsville is that there are low-cost options: communal cremation through a vet, a garden or planter burial that costs next to nothing, or a private cremation only for the larger fish where ash is worth keeping.
Prices for Collinsville track the wider Illinois market, so use the Illinois price table as your baseline and the services page to see what is included.
Free tool
Cremation cost calculator
Estimate a realistic price range for your pet's size, location and the type of cremation.
The legal side of losing a fish in Illinois
Rules about pets after death are set locally, and fish are usually covered by the same rules as other small pets. Garden burial is often allowed on land you own, with limits near wells and water. Scattering ashes directly into lakes and rivers may need permission. Releasing live fish into the wild is restricted in many places, and some ban releasing goldfish outright.
To find your county or city office in Illinois, start with the official Illinois local government directory.
The rules that apply across Illinois (home burial, scattering and who oversees pet cremation) are summarized on our Illinois page. Collinsville may add its own conditions, so check with the city or county before digging.
A checklist for Collinsville fish keepers
- Remove the fish from the pond or tank promptly, especially in warm weather.
- Count your stock and look for a cause: a heron, a pump failure, a hot still night or a sudden water problem.
- Fix the water first: get more air into it, change part of the water if your test readings are wrong and skip feeding for a day.
- Freeze the fish you lost, bagging and sealing them individually if separate cremations are what you'd like.
- Decide whether you want ashes back. When you don't, a communal cremation or a burial at a good distance from the pond is a simple, kind choice.
- Ask for a written quote with collection, the cremation itself and the container itemized.
- Mark the loss with a stone by the pond, a water plant or a note in your fish log.
Keeping your fish part of the family story
Collinsville summers are long and steamy, with July afternoons near 90, while hard frost mostly holds off until December and fades by early March. Following a death in the heat, move quickly: place the body on an old blanket over a plastic sheet in the basement or coolest room, set bags of ice around it, and try for a same-day collection. During the short winter, an unheated garage buys you a night.
look through our guides and the blog, or see what other families chose in the poll results, try the free planning tools, Compare every option on our services page. You can also browse every city in the United States. Nearby, we also cover Naperville, Elgin, Joliet and Chicago, and every city in Illinois.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
How long had you kept the fish you lost, or your oldest fish now?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Which memorial feels right for a fish?
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If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
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Free tools to help you plan
Cremation cost calculator
Estimate a realistic price range for your pet's size, location and the type of cremation.
Ashes weight estimator
See roughly how much ash to expect back, by species and body weight.
Aftercare options compared
Compare private, communal and water cremation with burial on cost, timing and what comes home.
Questions people ask
Does the Collinsville climate change what I should do first?
Only the timing. In July, with highs near 90°F, cool the body and book collection the same day. In January, February and December, when lows sit below freezing, a home burial may have to wait for a thaw, so cremation with ashes returned keeps your options open.
Which nearby towns can I compare with Collinsville?
The closest communities we cover are Granite City (about 7 miles), O'Fallon (about 7 miles) and East St. Louis (about 8 miles). Providers based in those places often serve Collinsville too. Ask each one for a written total that includes collection, so the distance is priced in.
Is cremation common in Illinois?
For people, yes: about 60.2%[1] of Illinois deaths end in cremation, according to NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes the same figure for pets, but in our experience pet choices in Collinsville follow the human pattern closely, so cremation is the default most families here start from.
Where are the providers that serve Collinsville actually based?
Some are local, and some run from St. Louis, about 11 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Collinsville and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
How long will it take to get my fish's ashes back in Collinsville?
Many families receive private cremation ashes in about one to two weeks. In a smaller town, where the cremation happens in a larger city such as St. Louis, it may take a little longer, especially if your vet has a weekly collection. Ask for an expected return date when you book.
When is the best time to scatter a koi's ashes in Collinsville?
Spring and autumn usually suit best in a climate with both hot summers and freezing winters. Pick a calm, dry day so the ashes settle where you intend, and avoid frozen ground, where they'll wash away in the thaw. Many families scatter around the pond's edge or under a favorite plant rather than into the water. Keeping a small pinch aside for a keepsake is common too.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] The NFDA projected Illinois's cremation rate at 60.2% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [2] About 10 million US households keep freshwater fish. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 National Pet Owners Survey release, 2025.
- [3] 13% of UK households keep an indoor fish tank. UK Pet Food (formerly PFMA) Pet Population 2026, 2026.
- [4] Embrace notes cremated remains typically weigh about 3-5% of the pet's original body weight. Embrace Pet Insurance - Bury or Cremate Your Dog? Costs, Pros & Cons, 2025.
- [5] 61% of US owners in the Cooney survey rated the cost of after-death body care as a concern (27.9% concerned, 33.1% very concerned). Cooney, Kogan, Brooks, Ellis - Pet Owners' Expectations for Pet End-of-Life Support and After-Death Body Care, Topics in Companion Animal Medicine (2020), 2020.
- [6] Private pet aquamation costs about 2.5 times communal aquamation at the same provider. Our estimate: mean of tier ratios 150/50, 200/75, 250/100, 350/150, 450/225. How we calculate.
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