This is a moment a large Arapaima being kept in a tiny tank commits suicide by smashing into the top of its aquarium causing an electrical shock and then jumps out onto the floor.

The rare Amazonian fish was being kept as a pet in the increasingly smaller aquarium at a man's home in Binzhou, located in Shandong, China.

Owner Mr Liu said he had been taking care of the 5.7 ft (1.75-metre) long Arapaima for five or six years until it died in the accident on July 5.

CCTV footage captured how the freshwater giant first hit the light tube and was electrocuted as it tried to leap to freedom. It then tried again and this time sailed out of the tank and landed on the floor.

With its owner away from home, it was left slowly dying on the tiled floor until it eventually passed away.

Shocked Mr Liu later returned home to find the creature injured and covered in blood flapping its fins a few final times.

Although the fish has the incredible ability to survive for as long as 24 hours out of water, its wounds were apparently too severe.

Liu said he felt bad about simply disposing of the fish given the many years he had cared for it.

Instead of discarding its body, he made plans to preserve the Arapaima.

Later footage shows him wrapping it up in plastic film and placing it into a freezer with the help of a friend.

Previously, another Arapaima that had spent its entire six years of life in a small aquarium in Baoding, in China's Hebei Province, also died after smashing through the lid of its tank.

CCTV camera footage showed a barechested man, seemingly its owner, working on fixing a bamboo pole to a broken room when the fish smashed against the lid of the tiny aquarium on June 5.

The owner said it was a six-year-old Arapaima fish that he had managed to grow to 1.6 metres and was worth more than CNY 50,000 (GBP 5,400).

He said it was not only very expensive, but it was a pet and he was devastated at its loss.

The Arapaima is native to the Amazon River Basin in South America and is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world.

The adult fish can reach two-six metres in length. They live relatively freely in the natural environment, but in artificial environments, especially when they are raised in fish tanks, they often become irritable due to space restrictions and environmental changes, and even jump out of the tank.

The International Red List of Endangered Species does not categorise how much threat it is under because they do not have sufficient data to estimate.