This thread is great. Unfortunately those of us that read it most likely already knew releasing our fish was a no no. It's the idiots that don't read it or tat don't listen that ruin it for us all. It's sad that responsible adults can't own the fish they want because a scant few had to let their fish go. That said sell em, give em away, flush em heck eat em it's better than releasing them. Period. Rant over you may now return to your regularly scheduled program.
NEVER release an aquarium fish into the wild.
- Thread starter ewurm
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Some people think goldfish are safe to release (the influx of them into a local lake would suggest this). If any of those people are here, the max size of a goldfish is more than 12 inches. In a couple generations they lose their nice colors and turn brown. Goldfish are closely related to carp. Do you see where this is going? Even worse are koi. The same process goes on with them, except koi are even more similar to carp, growing to a size of 36". The amount of carp present in the US and Canada is too high. Common carp and Asian carp are not native. Neither are koi and goldfish.
To give a clue to the problem near me, and this isn't because of aquarists I will admit, is huge. The worst lake has an estimated 20,000 (might be 200,000 but that sounds like a ridiculous population so I will go with 20k) common carp, the odd goldfish or koi, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed sunfish, brown bullhead, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, steelhead, yellow perch, and maybe more. The native species? Cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, steelhead. With most of the common carp under 10lbs, I can't help but wonder if they are not all common, and some are escaped koi or goldfish. Some of those introduced species are in pretty much every water system in the area but largemouth bass, and the carp are exclusive to this lake. The native species are rare, particularly cutthroat trout which are not stocked. The only gov't stocked fish to my knowledge is rainbow trout, for the fishermen. So there are 6-8 introduced species there. That is just wrong. And proof that introducing fish wreaks havoc upon an ecosystem.
To give a clue to the problem near me, and this isn't because of aquarists I will admit, is huge. The worst lake has an estimated 20,000 (might be 200,000 but that sounds like a ridiculous population so I will go with 20k) common carp, the odd goldfish or koi, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed sunfish, brown bullhead, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, steelhead, yellow perch, and maybe more. The native species? Cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, steelhead. With most of the common carp under 10lbs, I can't help but wonder if they are not all common, and some are escaped koi or goldfish. Some of those introduced species are in pretty much every water system in the area but largemouth bass, and the carp are exclusive to this lake. The native species are rare, particularly cutthroat trout which are not stocked. The only gov't stocked fish to my knowledge is rainbow trout, for the fishermen. So there are 6-8 introduced species there. That is just wrong. And proof that introducing fish wreaks havoc upon an ecosystem.
Pretty good write up, but for one minor problem- koi ARE the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and goldfish are also a carp (Carassius auratus). Semantics maybe, but the difference carries huge connotations.
My mistake, thanks for the correction. Common carp are illegal to transport live here, but koi are sold in stores quite commonly. This now seems to be a bit of an interesting situation....
This time of year if there is no wind, you can see most of the fish in the canals and local waterways down to a depth of a few feet. This last week or so, in the canal by my job I've seen Midas Cichlids including a huge, bright orange one caught by a kid, fishing. Mayan cichlids. (the most common fish now) A 10 inch pacu. A few oscars. Dull red colors. A giant gourami. Several tilapia,both silver/ white and white with orange specks. A couple of peacock bass. Many giant plecos, and some small convicts. I've only seen a handfull of largemouth bass and no native pan fish have been spotted at all. There are nests all over the banks that were previously guarded by mayans that have moved off now. These large patches of light colored sand make for great viewing spots when any fish swims over them. In south Florida, it's WAY TOO LATE.
One of the good things about the weather in Denmark, is that its way to cold at Winter to have this issue with most fish. The snakeheads tho, not sure if they can take the cold temperature. In the parks in Denmark you can sometimes see Koi, ive heard about it atleast. I once saw a gold crucian carp tho, atleast thats what i though it was. There was however a problem with people releasing there turtles... I've seen turtles in Danish park lakes. only 2 tho. Its a shame some idiots ruin it for all of us. A bad apple in the bunch.
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