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Fish display robust neuroendocrine and physiologic stress responses to noxious stimuli. Many anesthetic, sedative, or analgesic drugs used in other vertebrates reduce stress in fish, decrease handling trauma, minimize movement and physiologic changes in response to nociceptive stimuli, and can be used for euthanasia. But extrapolating from limited published anesthetic and sedative data to all fish species is potentially harmful because of marked anatomic, physiologic, and behavioral variations; instead, a stepwise approach to anesthetizing or sedating unfamiliar species or using unproven drugs for familiar species is advisable. The anesthesia with etomidat and clove oil was efficient in all three species; the other anesthetics had variable effects. Fish blood sampling is possible using different techniques, regarding fish size and purpose of the study. The results of hematological profile for the three freshwater species were in range of reference values, with the presence of an anemic syndrome in Cyprinus carpio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]