What does this behavior mean?

[Finthusiast]

caught him in a freshwater lake, these guys were originally from Central America but have made their way north to central Florida where I live and they are everywhere lol. Not sure if that means they are native or not.
also I have learned they live twice as long in this climate than where they were originally found (6 year life expectancy to 13 years now)
I read their max size used to be 6 or 7 inches now they get twice that as well

 

[deeda]

You can put an advert in the MFK Marketplace, online selling websites, get a larger tank or euthanize him.

Do not release any fish back to the environment that has been in your aquarium EVER!!!!

 

[Schniz]

If you're in Florida they are non-native, they are there due to people releasing them after out growing their tanks. I agree with D deeda as far as what to do with him if he gets too big. Hopefully one of the first 2 options will work so you don't have to euthanize him.

D deeda I don't live in the tropics so I'm asking only because I never thought about it before, but if a person living in Mexico had one they wanted to release it is still not advised? Is that due to introducing an aquarium illness to the natural surroundings?

 

[deeda]

Schniz , I would say that is the generally accepted reason for not releasing wildlife, plants, bugs, etc. to the environment because you don't really know what is in your aquarium, terrarium, etc. whether it be a disease, bacteria, virus or any other number of things that could potentially affect native populations.

I also watch nature programs either on TV or online and people or institutions that are involved in breeding or rehabbing species that are intended to be released back to the environment are usually required to test the animals to be sure they don't transmit something that can affect the environment.

 

[Finthusiast]

Wow thank you both for elaborating the details I never even thought of introducing disease into the wild. Any more info is appreciated but I know more of the risks involved now with releasing aquarium kept fish back into the wild. Great to learn!

 

[Schniz]

That's really good to know. I've always heard about non native species taking over lakes and canals in Florida but I never thought about catching a fish in a local lake, keeping it in an aquarium for several years, releasing back into the lake it was caught from and it potentially wiping out the fish population in the lake by introducing something foreign from the aquarium that the fish had never had to fight off before.

 

[deeda]

There is a much longer discussion on the topic here NEVER release an aquarium fish in a Sticky in General Aquarium Discussion.