Yea I feel for yas, you get less than what we can here in Adelaide and tropicals can survive our summers outdoors easily.
Explaination for Piranha Laws.
- Thread starter itrebebag99
- Start date
Yup. I doubt many if any tropical fish would survive our winters down here yet there's so many I'm not allowed to keep, and most of the fish I can keep are hardy and highly adaptable and make me question why I can keep them, but not a damn shrimp!
I doubt most tropicals would survive a Tasmanian summer let alone even making it to winter. A goldfish could survive there all year round though and thrive.Yup. I doubt many if any tropical fish would survive our winters down here yet there's so many I'm not allowed to keep, and most of the fish I can keep are hardy and highly adaptable and make me question why I can keep them, but not a damn shrimp!
I have goldfish in a pool in my back yard, I didn't bring them in for winter and this was their first winter outside. The pool holds 1500+gal (so not very big) and I don't expect the water would hold the temperature too well outside.
I lost one goldfish (a hybrid between a comet and fantail) but I'm not sure if that was the cold or lack of food since I stopped feeding while the days averaged 7°c and below and they hadn't been fed in over two months
this is my first time keeping goldfish outside so I'm still learning what to do as the weather changes...Goldfish are very resilient. Why they're legal yet so many tropicals aren't, is beyond me.
In the opening post, California and Texas were emphasized, and I believe piranhas that are endemic to Uruguay and a few of the other "southern" (colder) South American countries could survive in parts of both those states.
And if they did, the damage they do could be devastating to the endemic species.
Some time back in the 1950s a doctor kept peacock bass in a pond here in Panama, he didn't let them go, but they escaped during heavy tropical rains.
Today they have wiped out many of the native cichlids and other species native to Lake Gatun.
When I lived in Wisconsin, lakes would regularly need to be poisoned because of carp and goldfish, they were both released decades before realization of what introduced exotics can do.
Regulation may not be needed for the enlightened, but for those who only see a small part of the picture, i.e. those who release or flush a goldfish when its too big for a tank, or worse, drop it in the nearby lake or stream.
And if they did, the damage they do could be devastating to the endemic species.
Some time back in the 1950s a doctor kept peacock bass in a pond here in Panama, he didn't let them go, but they escaped during heavy tropical rains.
Today they have wiped out many of the native cichlids and other species native to Lake Gatun.
When I lived in Wisconsin, lakes would regularly need to be poisoned because of carp and goldfish, they were both released decades before realization of what introduced exotics can do.
Regulation may not be needed for the enlightened, but for those who only see a small part of the picture, i.e. those who release or flush a goldfish when its too big for a tank, or worse, drop it in the nearby lake or stream.
I like how everyone's discussing piranha and cichlids.. Why has nobody mentioned the fact that goldfish are legal?! If anything should be illegal its goldfish. They eat anything, breed easily and can tolerate some pretty extreme temperatures both up and down.. That to me sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.. There are plenty of examples of feral goldfish and koi all across the world, you would think the areas that don't have invasive goldies would make them illegal, but nope.
Living where I do I'm very restricted with what I can and can't keep. I've always wondered why I can't keep ANY freshwater shrimp but I'm allowed to keep as many goldfish as my little heart desires..
There are three very good reasons why noone is passing laws about goldfish.
1) They have already invaded to the point in which it is irreversible. I honestly know of 3 lakes within 50 miles of me that I have never seen goldfish in, and one of them only has algae and snails in it.
2) There are too many already in circulation for the law to be practically enforced. Imagine telling every goldfish breeder, every lfs, every kid with a fishbowl, every park with a pond, and many others to give up their fish. Nearly impossible, and it would probably damage the economy.
3) They are already 'grandfathered in'. They have been around (at least in NY) for so long that many people do not even realize they don't belong here.
