Come on people, really...

Come on people, really...

Let's give goldfish another black eye

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/thousands-of-pet-goldfish-overrun-colorado-lake/48880/

Steve

I promise I won't do it again.

Seriously, this is plain stupid.
And I feel bad when I accidentally introduce duckweed in the toilet..

I read this today as well, can't understand why people do this stuff. Need bigger fines and jail time...

I don't understand how you could consider releasing a goldfish, a common pleco, or any other exotic species into an ecosystem, and not have one moment where you think "could this possibly cause a problem?"

There's no excuse for that level of 'clueless'.

Unfortunate, but not surprising. We are consumers not caretakers.

I always figured that species such as pike, perch and walleye would curb this from happening?

Even they don't want the goldfish.

Some people either just don't get it or worse don't care. Just return the fish to local fish store and its a done deal and no harm done.

guppyguy wrote:Some people either just don't get it or worse don't care. Just return the fish to local fish store and its a done deal and no harm done.

That's to much like work

I had a goldfish rescue a couple of years ago and it took me a couple of days to get there. I was told if I hadn't gotten there that day they were going to release them into the waterway at the city park

Steve

Sbenson11 wrote:

guppyguy wrote:Some people either just don't get it or worse don't care. Just return the fish to local fish store and its a done deal and no harm done.

That's to much like work

I had a goldfish rescue a couple of years ago and it took me a couple of days to get there. I was told if I hadn't gotten there that day they were going to release them into the waterway at the city park

Steve

Geesh Steve. I really don't understand the way some people think.

There are very few things that surprise me nowadays when it comes to environment. Why? Because, what you don't see, you don't feel.

It is much harder for people to euthanise a fish or dispose of it properly than releasing it because you can tell yourself that you 'took care of it' to ensure it doesn't die.

For the same reason, we permit that our natural environment is being destroyed to gain some money. On the one hand we are recycling (which is much less costly for the government than to find space to dump it!) and on the other hand this same government permits that reserves are being clear cut for a few pennies. This always happens in far away places where not many people come.

On the other hand, if you are trying to cut one sick tree that could infest all the others in an urban environment, then everybody starts screaming.

In my work we call this the: Not-in-my-backyard-effect

The best thing we can do if we have a fish that outgrows our tanks and that we can't find a home for is to kill it.
If you don't want to kill it, don't buy it. If you make the choices, you deal with the results. Do your homework. If you buy intelligently you will never have to be hard-hearted and euthanize a fish simply because it is unwanted. I never have, but I don't buy blind.

You are much further ahead to kill the fish than to release it into the wild, and kill an ecosystem.

how timely this is...

I just had a sales rep from a transport company come by looking to get some of our business. As she pasted one of my Koi tanks she commented that her daughter had two but they got to large and she released them in to one of the ponds at the previously mentioned city park. This park is part of a river system that goes through the entire city and has a healthy population of rainbow trout. All of these ponds are connected to this river system.

She even said she went back in the fall and they were still there.

I restrained myself very well explaining the dangers of introducing a non native species into the environment. these ponds are probably still covered in ice, but I will be making a visit within the next few weeks to see if anything is there. If they are, out they will come that's for sure.

Steve

Good call on that just be cautious waters still really cold don't need you falling in...

I read this article this morning. It's this type of carelessness that has led to the U.S. Congress to attempt to pass bills such as HR669, which would ban the import of all non-native fish species into the United States, unless proven that they would not harm the environment if released. I know working at PetSmart, I have many customers say "So, when this fish grows too big, I'll just dump it somewhere." I just point to the bag, which reminds customers that that is illegal, and I explain to them why.

You may not be able to hold and cuddle fish but I would NEVER release ANYTHING...unless of course it was a natural wild animal that I had helped save for whatever reason! Some people!

Aquaman_95 wrote:I read this article this morning. It's this type of carelessness that has led to the U.S. Congress to attempt to pass bills such as HR669, which would ban the import of all non-native fish species into the United States, unless proven that they would not harm the environment if released. I know working at PetSmart, I have many customers say "So, when this fish grows too big, I'll just dump it somewhere." I just point to the bag, which reminds customers that that is illegal, and I explain to them why.

Do you have an advisory printed on your bags saying it is illegal to release fish into nature? That is great! We need something like that here....

Well, I am happy to announce I HAVE found a home for Yecco Pleco, my now NINE inch common I found in my 20 gallon earlier this Winter!!!! I will move him into my goldies 55g for the Summer and my lfs has agreed to take him come Fall. They don't mind if I keep him this Summer since they have people with HUGE tanks that actually WANT big ones like him. They even said if I bring them a photo and someone wants him sooner they will call me.
WHEW!!!!!

nyleveiam wrote:Well, I am happy to announce I HAVE found a home for Yecco Pleco, my now NINE inch common I found in my 20 gallon earlier this Winter!!!!  I will move him into my goldies 55g for the Summer and my lfs has agreed to take him come Fall.  They don't mind if I keep him this Summer since they have people with HUGE tanks that actually WANT big ones like him.  They even said if I bring them a photo and someone wants him sooner they will call me.  
WHEW!!!!!

That's great new Nyleveiam! Nice work. I'm sure Yecco will be happy in their new home.


@Sbenson11

I hope you'll take some photos of your attempted Koi extraction.

Very upsetting to see people releasing these fish into the wild... perhaps even more sad for the plants and animals that are naturally in the ecosystem. I will forever remember @GaryE 's post on the plecos being released in Florida. I tell people about that quite frequently.

Steve you may need to pre-bait the site if you see them before trying to extract these fish. Try some of the Carp fishing methods maybe only with a net instead of a hook.
We have had Snake heads and a Pacu let go not to mention Gold fish let go into the Wild out here in BC. Thankfully the Snake head and Pacu were taken out the Goldfish are still out there.

Crazy.
I mean, if you don't want the goldfish, euthanize it (clove oil is easiest way in my opinion) or just give it back to a pet store.