Laws and what are they?

[gumlyd]

Are there laws about what fish I can keep in an aquarium in Kentucky? And if so what are they?
I ask because the guy who owns the closest fish store to my house said there were laws about which fish he could keep in and sell from his tanks.
I got on google and tried for about twenty minutes to find out and did an exhaustive search and could find the answer.

 

[Oddball]

Kentucky is one of the most lenient states for fish-keepers. Their DF&W does not maintain a restricted species list. If it's not on the federal lists (snakeheads, clarias cats, round goby, zebra mussels, etc.), you can keep it in Kentucky.

 

[gumlyd]

Thank you very much. I am thinking of going out to some local streams or even some lakes to get some shad or bass or minnows or any other little fishes that would fit in my tank for a time. Bass would eventually outgrow my tank though; so this raises another question for me.
Are there any regulations on releasing native fish back into the wild?

 

[Oddball]

YES!!!!!!! Any native species taken from the wild, then held in captivity, is ILLEGAL to be released back into the wild. The ONLY exceptions are licensed wildlife rescue shelters that maintain strict separation from the species being rehabilitated. And, legal/inspected fish hatcheries used for federal/state gamefish stocking.

 

[gumlyd]

Thank you for answering my question. I will not do this thing. I wanted to make sure before I even went out and got the fish in the first place.
I can understand your alarm. Just looking over the site I have seen posts about poeple releaseing even non-native fish into the native environment and that is pretty alarming.
Would the laws agianst releasing natives back into the pond they were taken from be the result of heavily inbred genes entering the gene pool or for fear of disease?

 

[Oddball]

The main concern is disease. Even if the fish looks fine, any disease it may have contracted and was cured from can wipe out a local population that may not have ever been exposed to that pathogen before.

 

[JD7.62]

It is illegal to keep piranhas in Kentucky. I live in the Louisville area and no pet shops sell them here. Except for the ones in southern Indiana.

 

[Oddball]

JD7.62: Show me the law listing. I checked Kentucky's DF&W site and the dept. states that no restricted fishes listing exists for the state.

 

[DeLgAdO]

JD7.62: Show me the law listing. I checked Kentucky's DF&W site and the dept. states that no restricted fishes listing exists for the state.

so you can keep snakeheads?

 

[Oddball]

Yeah right!! Now you have to refer to the federal lists.