NEVER release an aquarium fish into the wild.

[Red_Man]

There are a lot of stories about farms, business's, and other places designed for fish use that fall prey to acts of god and every time the livestock some how manages to go from a tank/pond/pool to a large body of water and establish. A lot of the stupid stories I hear about fish being released into the wild are people that are not hobbyists in any sense of the word. Life was good, they walked by a store and said "Oh sweet!" Bought what they needed and went home. Life took a u turn and the fish either died or the person grew attached and rather than sell/re-home/donate, they put them in the river/pond/lake to live long happy lives in the great outdoors. I think the worst cases are the people that do it intentionally to turn a profit by the fish establishing and breeding and then they just collect and sell specimens. Let's not forget that it is not just no brain fools that do this. The story that always pops into my head is Hawaii. They had a rat problem after steam ships became popular in the 19th century and the cargo/tourist ships started bringing them over. The USF&W thought that it'd be a great idea to release Mongoose. Dumb dumbs didn't take into account that Mongoose party during the day and rats party at night. Needless to say the two don't cross paths often and now Hawaii has two invasive species!

 

[butchie]

The fish down here tend to get out competed for resources. Basically the natives lose out on food, shelter and breeding grounds competing with the natives. There's not much they can do. Some adapt to it and adjust to a new niche others just compete until it's gone if they are stuck in a pond. You get snakeheads in a closed pond (not connected to a canal) and they will eventually eat out the pond and move on.

The amount of invasive fish down here is rediculous, I used to go catch fish out of ponds to keep. I got a nice breeding pair of jags from a Miami canal. Its sad that it has gotten this bad. Though some fish like pbass were introduced here by fish and wildlife and others were escapes from aquaculture farms.

People are stupid. Lionfish were here when Andrew hit and a surge busted through a pet store and crashed the display tank of lionfish. 6 og them. Not horrible but when they were spotted by tourist on a tour diving and snorkeling they loved it so what do dive/snorkel companies do? Release more of them to get more business.

Now those lionfish are basically decimating the native fish population of the entire tropical Atlantic. No native predators. It's a nightmare.

 

[Warborg]

Nothing new, but came across this article on not to release goldfish into the lakes and rivers.

http://mashable.com/2016/08/16/giant-goldfish-australia/#IxV54vGFSsqV

 

[MN_Rebel]

Now those lionfish are basically decimating the native fish population of the entire tropical Atlantic. No native predators. It's a nightmare.

Plus the lionfish have been found in the inland in both brackish water and freshwater environments...crazy.

 

[BahamaPacu]

Now those lionfish are basically decimating the native fish population of the entire tropical Atlantic. No native predators. It's a nightmare.

There are ongoing campaigns in The Bahamas to make Lionfish a delicacy. The Bahamas National Trust Conservancy even gave local fishermen gloves and nets in attempts to teach them to catch that invasive species, as well as having seminars on how to remove the poison sac to prepare it for eating.

Another campaign involved catching the lionfish and feeding it to sharks and sea turtles. Being protected species in The Bahamas, we have a high density of both sharks and sea turtles. So far it seems as if it is working slowly, but surely.

Lionfish decimate the wildlife within coral reefs by preying on juvenile stocks of other species. It is a must that we get rid of them.

 

[Hendre]

There are ongoing campaigns in The Bahamas to make Lionfish a delicacy. The Bahamas National Trust Conservancy even gave local fishermen gloves and nets in attempts to teach them to catch that invasive species, as well as having seminars on how to remove the poison sac to prepare it for eating.

Another campaign involved catching the lionfish and feeding it to sharks and sea turtles. Being protected species in The Bahamas, we have a high density of both sharks and sea turtles. So far it seems as if it is working slowly, but surely.

Lionfish decimate the wildlife within coral reefs by preying on juvenile stocks of other species. It is a must that we get rid of them.

Some sharks are learning a method of attacking from a particular angle to kill it amd eat it

 

[monkeybike]

Someone on the local Facebook group here in Upstate New York posted that they caught a Tilapia Buttikoferi in one of our local lakes.

 

[Hendre]

Someone on the local Facebook group here in Upstate New York posted that they caught a Tilapia Buttikoferi in one of our local lakes.

View attachment 1200313

wow

 

[Deadliestviper7]

MN_Rebel . Lionfish in freshwater? Tell me more

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Ok I looked it up : volitans can can tolerate 5 ppt