HELP bichir with big fish
- Thread starter neko1
- Start date
Good choice, even at 17 yrs of age you seem to understand the potential results of releasing aquarium fish back into the wild.
Hopefully others will learn from your experience. Good luck.
Good for you, Anthony. The reality is that aquarium fish can introduce exotic parasites and diseases, which is why many jurisdiction's prohibit, or at the very least, advise against such activity. Not very likely to happen doesn't pass the sniff test, when native waterways along with the fish, flora & fauna are placed at risk. This is also why dead fish should also never be flushed down the toilet. Common sense really, apparently even for a 17 yr old kid.
Im not saying to dump exotic fish if its native and came from the water it shouldn't be a problem. I see ur point but its a slim chance of tht happening Ive never even heard of a native fish being brought into a tank then being released back where it was from and then a disease spreading to all the other wild life.
Same species of fish found in nature, but one has been exposed to exotic parasites/pathogens in captivity, then finds it's way into the wild, where it infects wild stock.
Better to put the fish down, than reintroduce it back to the wild.
Better to put the fish down, than reintroduce it back to the wild.
Anyone familiar with VHS?
It started decades ago with salmon in the Northwest, and now is found in numerous species in the Great Lakes. It has been speculated that part of the spread of this viral disease has been caused by baitfish taken from the Great Lakes area, used as breeding stock in captivity, then later released elsewhere.
From the link above; "Fish belonging to a large number of cyprinid and other species are collected from the Great Lakes and used as bait for sport fisheries around the U.S. Baitfish from Canada are routinely exported to the U.S. Additionally, some aquaculture producers collect baitfish broodstock from the Great Lakes to produce commercial baitfish in aquaculture facilities. The destinations and numbers of baitfish moved are not well documented, and regulation of this sector is inconsistent among States, or lacking entirely."
Native fish, going back to nature, can sometimes have serious consequences.
Outbreaks of infectious disease can occur when a pathogen is transferred to a new geographical area where it comes into contact with native fish which have no resistance to it. Seeing as there is no way for a hobbyist to state that their native fish is "pathogen free", after being exposed to captive conditions, it only makes good sense to never re-release a native fish back into the wild. There's no telling what it was packing when it arrived in your tank, and there's no real way in telling what it may be packing when it leaves your tank.
Hopefully we're all good on that now.
It started decades ago with salmon in the Northwest, and now is found in numerous species in the Great Lakes. It has been speculated that part of the spread of this viral disease has been caused by baitfish taken from the Great Lakes area, used as breeding stock in captivity, then later released elsewhere.
From the link above; "Fish belonging to a large number of cyprinid and other species are collected from the Great Lakes and used as bait for sport fisheries around the U.S. Baitfish from Canada are routinely exported to the U.S. Additionally, some aquaculture producers collect baitfish broodstock from the Great Lakes to produce commercial baitfish in aquaculture facilities. The destinations and numbers of baitfish moved are not well documented, and regulation of this sector is inconsistent among States, or lacking entirely."
Native fish, going back to nature, can sometimes have serious consequences.
Outbreaks of infectious disease can occur when a pathogen is transferred to a new geographical area where it comes into contact with native fish which have no resistance to it. Seeing as there is no way for a hobbyist to state that their native fish is "pathogen free", after being exposed to captive conditions, it only makes good sense to never re-release a native fish back into the wild. There's no telling what it was packing when it arrived in your tank, and there's no real way in telling what it may be packing when it leaves your tank.
Hopefully we're all good on that now.
