Stingray Permit in Florida???

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Oh they do, trust me ;)


It's different to a 'keeper' like we are here. None of us would do it. That being said, the average person would just dump, or if something happend (flood, tank damage etc...) the rays would be at risk of getting loose. Rays would breed like rabbits in FL waters. I knwo it doesn't seem like that to private ray keepers... but (as an example) one facility I worked at had so many ray pups we were feeding them out as enrichment for some of the bigger predatory fish.


What lol? that is crazy! I find that really interesting because I felt like even though the climate and ecosystem down hear could support them, I just cant wrap ny mibd around the idea that a fish that gives birth to live young and has no real parental instincts with small batch sizes could really take hold. It would take a very large amount of rays in my opinion to start a native population. I kind of felt like there was no way that the hobbiest in the area alone could feed enough unwanted rays into the water ways to actually establish anyhting. When the facility I work for wanted to get there permit to sell and distribute non-native ray species we had to viably proove that the amount of rays we would have at a given time was not enough to establish a population in lake Okeechobee. I suppose the risk is real if there was a large enough population that could be accidentally released at the same time via a storm. But I still find it hard to beleive that just hobbyist alone could release enough to justify restrictions, There should be a law limiting them but not outlawing them. I think you should have to get a permit. I know that most people would not end up with the permit anyway and still have the fish but it would still allow us decent ray keepers to keep our fish. I mean how could a ray be more of a threat than any number of other species.
 
All it takes is a male/female (or one pregnant female) and it's turned into a lost cause. Despite what a lot of hobbiest think, rays are VERY hardy animals that adapt VERY well. The waterways down here are EXACTLY what they thive in. I bet you'd have a real problem on your hands in 5 years if a pair where ever released.


I bet snake keepers used to say "Oh how long will it take to have a problem if I let ONE snake go." Or iguanas for that matter. We even have groups of macaws flying around my neighborhood. That's a bird that is just as costly as a FW ray that was turned loose and now established.
 
dparks87 said:
Oh they do, trust me ;) no way that the hobbiest in the area alone could feed enough unwanted rays into the water ways to actually establish anyhting.
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Educate yourself. Look at what Volitans Lionfish are doing in a space of water the size of an ocean. Maybe you'll rethink what you're saying.
 
^^ Very true. Lions are ALL over the coast here in Miami now. We saw over a dozen last time we were out ray collecting.
 

Yea, I do hear where everyone is coming from. The volitaninfestation is real. But the real question at hand and the one everyone is NOTanswering is why we are banning stingrays and not any number of other speciesthat would make themselves just as much at home as a stingray! If we are goingto restrict them on the perception that they are hardy fish from south Americathat can live in the Florida water ecosystems then why not restrict greenterrors and jack dempseys and african dwarf frogs and oscars and so on and soon. I would assume that a pair of green terrors could parent a batch of frymuch better than stingrays and have plenty of them survive and affect ourwaterways. We are all hobbyist and it is starting to bother me that all across thecountry there is legislation being passed that is further and furtherrestricting our hobby and the decisions are often being made by people who don’tknow the industry or the animal. People have been spreading animals around theworld far before the pet industry could become the poster child of invasivespecies. Now it’s stingrays, next will be constrictors and then any number ofother species they deem a hazard. In San Francisco legislation is in works andmay already be passing banning the sale of ALL PETS within city limits. This isand will affect all of use sooner or later; I have already had to face the ideaof giving up my pets which mean the world to me. There are better ways of restrictingand curving the amount of invasion we are currently experiencing, education andpermits are a better solution in my opinion than just simply giving up ourrights as pet owners. The animals arestill going to be here, distributors will still have the money to fight andobtain permits and to be honest I still find it hard to believe that ifhobbyist A lets a marbled motoro lose in Tallahassee and hobbyist B lets one goin Tampa that these fish are going to find each other, and populate. The onlyway these things would really get into the ecosystem on any permanent baseswould be if a large number of them were released in a concentrated area and theonly way that would happen is if an import/export, research or distributioncompany managed to have all of their current stock dumped or released. I knowthis can and has happen but the way we are handling the current situation issooner than later going to cost more and more and more. Those of us who havedogs and cats better become very aware that the people who make these restrictionsdo not plan on stopping at fish and lizards. Take a look around yourneighborhood, you can find feral cats and in many places dogs. They should notbe there and these people know this, it won’t be long before pet keeping in itsentirety is being threatened.
 
I actually contacted the Florida Department of natural resources for a permit for fw rays once they sent it too me but it does not mean I would actually be able to get the permit. I reside in Ga so fw rays are still out of my reach for now.
 
What use is a permit?

1. Plenty of people will get the ray without the permit.
2. Even if you have a permit, how exactly does that stop you doing whatever you like with the ray once you've got it - including dumping it in the waterways?

You can't just say the magic word "permit"..

As to why other species aren't banned.. Be careful what you wish for.
 
If you have a permit, you are accountable for the number of rays you have. They check, and they like to stop by without a heads up. Don't have the right number that your permit states, bye bye animals, off to jail you go. Not worth it to keep some pets.

The reason rays are targeted is because they pose a thread to human safety and have the ability to negatively impact a current eco system.
FWC actually ADDED peacock bass down here for sport fishing. They live in harmony with the natives. Same as the other South AM cichlids mentioned. You find them all over.
 
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