It is illegal so don't do it for this reason if no other. It also gives other fish keepers a really bad name.
Regarding releasing fish into the wild...
- Thread starter mikeb210
- Start date
No that's my point the first two sentences vs the whole remaining paragraph. Also like I pointed out we use aquaculture to replenish native species. I'm not saying it is something you should do but from a biological end it's not all that dangerous. Any bacteria that might be in your tank would most likely be in the lake through run off.sick_lid;3495600; said:
That said it's still generally a bad idea as that pet fish will most likely die due to lack of food or lack of fear of humans. I've seen breeding groups of Blue Acara in a lake in Mass. which should have died from the cold but didn't. I'm not in any way for releasing nay pet into the wild.
there is a difference in using aquaculture because in aquaculture you are not exposing the fish that you are releasing to foreign parasites and diseases that your other fish (from other parts of the world) may carry. you generally keep trout with other trout etc.
however,
if I take a sunfish from my local pond, introduce it to my tank, buy a severum or something from the LFS with camallanus worms (unkown to me), the camallanus spreads to the sunfish, and then I release the sunfish back into the pond, I may have just introduced a foreign parasite into the local pond.
apparently, Hawaii has had this very same thing occur in lakes, camallanus worms from aquariums have began to parasitize the local fish populations..
however,
if I take a sunfish from my local pond, introduce it to my tank, buy a severum or something from the LFS with camallanus worms (unkown to me), the camallanus spreads to the sunfish, and then I release the sunfish back into the pond, I may have just introduced a foreign parasite into the local pond.
apparently, Hawaii has had this very same thing occur in lakes, camallanus worms from aquariums have began to parasitize the local fish populations..
^Agree^ and Seeding lakes with fish also runs great risk, they don't always leave healthy fish. as that a fish could be an intermidiate host of a parasite or even a bacteria/virus that affects other wildlife (not just fish) read the sticky DNR-Do Not Release (in this case)
Lots of interesting info. Thanks folks. I know this is a hot-button topic, and a lot of people are quick to scorn for doing it, but I'm not sure it would cause a catastrophe. Also, what about minnows in bait stores? They are definitely not kept in good conditions, so stress levels may be high, weakening their immune systems rendering them susceptible to whatever parasites, viruses etc. Would fishing with those fish then harm the local fish populations?
Edit: I am not saying that people should release fish into the wild. Do not release fish into the wild after keeping them in an aquarium.
Edit: I am not saying that people should release fish into the wild. Do not release fish into the wild after keeping them in an aquarium.
not likely, because minnows from the local bait store are native minnows in the first place. these native minnows are not exposed to foreign species of other fish so they are safe.
the problem is generally when you either expose native fish to non-native fish (ie bacteria and or parasites) and re-introduce them, or with simply releasing non native fish into a water shed..
the problem is generally when you either expose native fish to non-native fish (ie bacteria and or parasites) and re-introduce them, or with simply releasing non native fish into a water shed..
Introducing non-native species is not good becasue of ecological reasons as well. Each species in an ecosystem has a niche (a particular role, place it lives, food it eats, etc.) If you introduce a non-indigenous species that manages to survive in the ecosystem...then what? Well it replaces one of the indigenous species. Bascially it steals that specie's niche. Now there are two species fighting for the same niche which raises competition and eventually one of them is going to win. In some cases it's not the indigenous species which is where the problem lies.
The whole thing with the large asian predators like the Snakeheads can fall into this category too. They've taken over as the major predator and local prey species don't have natural defenses for it. So it throws off the entire ecosystem.
All the other things people have mentioned are valid points as well. You could introduce foregin pathogens to wild populations etc.
As far as bait fish that actually is a concern. In one of our local ponds/creeks we've had a new species of striped killifish introduced as a result of people bringing in live bait.
The whole thing with the large asian predators like the Snakeheads can fall into this category too. They've taken over as the major predator and local prey species don't have natural defenses for it. So it throws off the entire ecosystem.
All the other things people have mentioned are valid points as well. You could introduce foregin pathogens to wild populations etc.
As far as bait fish that actually is a concern. In one of our local ponds/creeks we've had a new species of striped killifish introduced as a result of people bringing in live bait.
