A little silly ol' thought

We have officially got to that time of the year when it's too cold outside for my fish. That's what my mom thinks, so we take them to their  new home in a large bucket in the garage till the spring time. It's unnatural. My dad has tried to tell us that fish are supposed to freeze in the pond, and hibernate till the ice melts in the spring. Not sure if were willing to take that risk of them thawing before we know if their still alive.

The water has been drained, and the leafs had no problem taking over.

Just a side view

 It's starting to look like a ghost town, with the way it stands still with nothing but the colors fading into the winter.

How do the fish feel about this? Do they feel the sense of not knowing, and confused. They must be confused, their home has been moved and new fish have moved in. We have a smaller pond which is just a bucket with some small goldfish. They have never met before with the fish located only a few feet away from them.  Of course it would seem as though they don't really care whats going on, but do they care or notice that their home has completely changed? They go from natural sunlight, to having a light in the garage be their controlled sun for a few months. Different depths and a nice amount of space, to all being put together in a black boring bucket. It's a huge sized bucket, so don't worry thinking they're getting treated poorly or anything.

Do fish care? They must. I wonder if they feel stress when they get put in a different environment. As though would humans, feeling like their whole world just changed and they couldn't even control it. Some of this research can be found at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2662297/Fish-feelings-Expert-claims-creatures-experience-pain-way-humans-better-treated.html. Within this article it speaks about how fish are very intelligent and do know whats going on in their lifes. Something I got out of the article was that they  have machiavellian itelligence such as cooperation and reconciliation. This means that they do know what's going on, and have as much feeling as anything else. Though there's no study saying how much they can feel emotionally. We have to stop and think. People see fish as just that... fish.  We eat them, kill millions everyday, and yet its like they don't feel any of it. Thats why i'm trying to make all of it a bigger deal.  By us moving the fish, is like taking where we live and locking us in a room with people we don't even know. What if we hate eachother? I love putting them back in the ponds in the spring, because I'd hope that they remember their long lost home.

Since we don't and most likely won't know what a fish or any other animal is thinking. It's just important to remember that it's living too, and even if they can't tell us how they feel.. we should always do the moral nice thing to do. I can't control whether the fish mind if they get moved homes for a little. But, I hope that they don't stress over the change. It wouldn't be a healthy happy life for them...I wouldn't want to deal with that guilt. Which i'm already starting to feel since things arn't going the happiest.

Now since seeing the fish outside, I've starte tort observing them a few times in the garage. I'v already noticed little changes in their behavior. We had to build a little wall on the outside ledges because one kept trying to jump out. One actually hit the floor, my dad had to hurry and swoop him back into the water. That makes me sad, why would they do this? They must be frustrated that they are there, and dont really think that they could end up dying if they jump to far.
 

Griffiths, Sarah. "Fish have feelings too: Expert claims creatures experience pain in the same way humans do - and should be treated better." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers Ltd. 19 June 2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.