Fish keeper polls: what would you do?
About 77%[1] of US fish owners keep more than one fish, so many have faced a loss already. Add your vote and see how others handled it.
- Anonymous, one vote per question
- Live results the moment you vote
- Questions written for fish keepers
Why we ask
Why we run polls for fish owners
Research on pet loss almost always focuses on dogs and cats. Fish owners rarely appear in the surveys, so there's very little published about what they actually do when a fish dies. Our polls are a small way to fill that gap and to show you that other people have been where you are.
Each question was written with fish keepers in mind: the koi owner with a twenty-year-old fish, the parent whose child's goldfish has just died, the reef keeper who lost an expensive tang overnight. Browse them below, vote on the ones that apply and skip the rest.
Browse every poll
How koi keepers, pond owners and aquarium families handle a fish's death, from the first hour to the memorial.
Which fish are you thinking about right now?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
What would you choose for a fish you loved?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Before reading about it, what did you think happens to a flushed fish?
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Would you keep your fish in the freezer while you decide what to do?
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Was a fish your child's first pet?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Which memorial feels right for a fish?
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How long had you kept the fish you lost, or your oldest fish now?
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When your fish died, did people around you take it seriously?
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The basics
How voting works, and what we do with it
- One vote per person per question. Your first answer is the one that counts, so take a moment before you choose.
- Anonymous. We don't ask for a name or email to vote, and results are only ever shown as totals.
- Live. You see the current totals the moment you vote, and they keep moving as others join in.
- Not a scientific survey. People who find this site aren't a random sample, so read results as a conversation, not a statistic.
We never pre-fill results or show invented numbers. If a poll has few votes, it will look uneven, and that's honest. See the current totals on the poll results page.
Worth a look
What these questions help fish owners think through
The flushing question asks what you believed before you learned otherwise. Plenty of people grew up thinking a flush was a neat ending. The real concern is disease and live fish reaching the wild: goldfish can live 6-7 years[2] and, as Minnesota's natural resources agency explains, grow far beyond tank size once released.
Before reading about it, what did you think happens to a flushed fish?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
The freezer question is practical. Freezing a fish sounds odd until you realize it removes all the urgency. It gives you time to talk as a family, choose a provider or wait for the ground to thaw.
The first-pet question matters because a fish is often a child's first experience of death. Parents want help with it: 93.4%[3] of parents in one large UK survey asked for better guidance. Our short rituals after aquarium loss are designed with children in mind.
Was a fish your child's first pet?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
For pond keepers
The questions koi and pond keepers answer differently
Koi owners often have very different answers from aquarium owners. A koi can live 30-40 years[4], so the "how long did you keep them" poll can stretch into decades. Their fish are large enough that private cremation returns a real amount of ash, which changes how they vote on memorials.
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.
If you've lost a pond fish and aren't sure what to mark the spot with, our guide to pond-side markers has ideas that suit water gardens, and the memorial ideas page covers options for any size of fish.
The big decisions
The aftercare and memorial questions, and why size changes the answer
For dogs and cats, published surveys give a clear picture. In the UK competition regulator's owner survey, 67%[5] of owners whose pet had died in the previous two years chose cremation. Nobody has asked fish owners the same question at that scale, and we'd expect a very different split, because many small fish are buried at home. For comparison, our estimate from UK and US surveys is that roughly two in three bereaved owners of all pets choose cremation and about 30% choose burial[6].
What would you choose for a fish you loved?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
The memorial poll includes one option that surprises people: a gyotaku-style print. Gyotaku is a traditional Japanese art of printing fish in ink on paper, first used by anglers to record a catch. Today some artists paint a gyotaku-style portrait from a photo of a pet fish, so nothing has to happen to the body at all.
Whatever you choose, the memorial doesn't need to match the size of the fish. A single water lily can mean as much as an engraved stone. If you're weighing costs, the memorial budget planner adds up the options before you commit.
Being taken seriously
Why we ask whether people took your loss seriously
Fish owners are often expected to shrug off a loss. In the RSPCA's large pet-loss survey across all pets, 34.5%[7] of bereaved owners had been told "it's just a pet", and only 13.4%[8] felt fully understood. Our "did people take it seriously" poll gives you a place to say how it really was.
If your answer is "no", you're far from alone. Our page on grief after losing a fish has practical ideas, and if you're still deciding on aftercare, the aftercare options comparison lays out the choices without pressure.
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.
Before reading about it, what did you think happens to a flushed fish?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Which fish are you thinking about right now?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Which memorial feels right for a fish?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Questions people ask
Are the poll results accurate?
They accurately count the votes cast, but they aren't a scientific survey. People who visit a fish aftercare site are more likely to have just lost a fish, so results reflect our readers rather than all fish owners. We compare them with published research on the results page.
Can I see results without voting?
Yes. The poll results page shows live totals for every question, whether or not you've voted. Voting first can be interesting, though, because it lets you see where your own answer sits before seeing everyone else's.
Why do some polls mention koi and others goldfish or bettas?
Because fish owners face very different situations. A koi keeper may be deciding what to do with a large fish they've fed for decades, while a parent may be handling a betta's death with a young child. Asking separate questions keeps each result meaningful for the people most likely to read it, instead of blending pond and tank answers into one.
Do you collect personal information when I vote?
No. Votes are anonymous and results are only ever shown as totals. A small anonymous browser cookie stops the same person voting many times, but we don't ask for your name, email or location to take part.
Can I suggest a poll question?
Yes, and we'd like to hear from you. Send it through the contact form. Questions that help other fish keepers make a decision, like whether to freeze a fish or how to tell a child, are the ones we're most likely to add.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] 77% of U.S. fish owners keep two or more fish (APPA 2025). American Pet Products Association - From Bigger Tanks to Stronger Bonds: Fish & Reptile Ownership Evolves in 2025, 2025.
- [2] Goldfish typically live 6-7 years, usually grow 5-8 inches but can approach 2 feet and 6 pounds; releasing them into Minnesota waters is illegal. Minnesota DNR - Goldfish (Carassius auratus) invasive species page.
- [3] 93.4% of parents in the RSPCA survey wanted better guidance on helping children through pet loss. RSPCA — Pet Loss Survey Results, 2026.
- [4] Nishikigoi (koi) typically live about 30 to 40 years depending on their environment. All Japan Nishikigoi Promotion Association - Ancient koi 'Hanako', 2024.
- [5] In the CMA's UK pet owners survey, 67% of owners whose pet died in the previous two years had the pet cremated. UK Competition and Markets Authority - Veterinary services for household pets, Provisional decision report Part A (Oct 2025), 2025.
- [6] UK and US survey evidence converges on roughly two-thirds of bereaved owners choosing cremation (UK 67%; US 68% ever) and about 29-32% choosing burial. Our estimate: mean(67, 68) = 67.5; burial range 29% (UK) to 32% (US). How we calculate.
- [7] 34.5% of bereaved pet owners were told 'it's just a pet'. RSPCA — Pet Loss Survey Results, 2026.
- [8] Only 13.4% of bereaved pet owners felt fully understood by others. RSPCA — Pet Loss Survey Results, 2026.
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