Recently our local pond, which is rather large, is now fenced in because local fisherman have been catching HUGE oscars, at first there was a big panic because these people were catching pirahna. They have netted dozens of oscars, so it seems they have been breeding. Now the pond is to be drained and filled in for the carelessness of an aqaurist who decided the easy way to discard his/her fish in the local pond, although a huge oscar pond would be kinda neat.
Local pond closed because of aquarium fish dumping
- Thread starter fishRmylife
- Start date
Well depending on the size and location of the pond...and the type of fish...there are several VERY good reasons that fish shouldn't be dumped...and that the local wildlife authorities would be up in arms about it.
We all know what kind of fish we can put in our tanks...and adding fish of one type or another can seriously change the ecosystem in our tanks. In a pond or a drainage system or an entire area...there are natural species and then there are species of animals that have been added by human intervention, or natural migration.
Its the same reason (in a different way) that a forestfire area gets seeded with plants that are either native to the area, or are less overpowering than the native plants...so that the area can get back to itself in time.
Even if its cool that the Oscars were breeding and apprantly thriving in this pond...what kind of natural fish did they kill off to get to that point?
Now as for whether the pond needs to be drained and all of the Oscars taken out and destroyed?? I don't know enough specifics of the ecosystem where it is...but from what was said I can't see the justification of that action rather than putting a system in place to maybe keep the oscars from spreading or?? I dunno...Gomer we were talking about having an Oscar fry...anyone ever eaten an Oscar? Maybe the fishermen would rather catch and eat something edible
-=end rant=- I think I need one of those disclaimers at the end of my signature about this being MY opinion
We all know what kind of fish we can put in our tanks...and adding fish of one type or another can seriously change the ecosystem in our tanks. In a pond or a drainage system or an entire area...there are natural species and then there are species of animals that have been added by human intervention, or natural migration.
Its the same reason (in a different way) that a forestfire area gets seeded with plants that are either native to the area, or are less overpowering than the native plants...so that the area can get back to itself in time.
Even if its cool that the Oscars were breeding and apprantly thriving in this pond...what kind of natural fish did they kill off to get to that point?
Now as for whether the pond needs to be drained and all of the Oscars taken out and destroyed?? I don't know enough specifics of the ecosystem where it is...but from what was said I can't see the justification of that action rather than putting a system in place to maybe keep the oscars from spreading or?? I dunno...Gomer we were talking about having an Oscar fry...anyone ever eaten an Oscar? Maybe the fishermen would rather catch and eat something edible
-=end rant=- I think I need one of those disclaimers at the end of my signature about this being MY opinion
If you think releasing fish is not a problem you obviously dont live in an area where it is a problem, the florida eco system has been totally destroyed by exotic fish, people release them then they begin breeding, they have no natural predators breed fast and easily out compete the native fish who have a specialized niche in the enviroment, the oscar would have spread if they had not filled in the pond, and soon the whole area would be overrun in them like florida, it is best if they can stop them before they become a large problem, to give you an example of waht happens, lake victoria in africa once home to 500+ species of african cichlids, in the early 20th century, overfishing caused the drop in numbers of the common fish of the time so people introduced nile perch into the aters thinking they would make a geat food source, at first nile perch only occupied a small amount of the lakes fish species and cichlids still occupied 80% of the fish, but within 25 yrs the cichlids were down to only 1% of the fish in the lake while the nile perch had become over 80%, now from the original 500+ under 200 species still remain the rest were totally wiped off by the nile perch, this shows what an exotic species can do and that even though we may not see the effects in full force today in the future it could have massive effects, there is always someone who will take your large fish, put an add in the newspaper, give it to a fish store, eat it, dont release it
It depends what was or is in the pond before the oscars!
Because its a pond and depending whats in the pond or the intend of the pond, it may not be a big deal. I do not agree with fish dumping in the wild though like rivers n lakes!
Another problem with may arise though is that certain fish may start being banned something similar that happened with piranhas.
Because its a pond and depending whats in the pond or the intend of the pond, it may not be a big deal. I do not agree with fish dumping in the wild though like rivers n lakes!
Another problem with may arise though is that certain fish may start being banned something similar that happened with piranhas.
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I'm sure everyone knows in the back of thier mind that they shouldn't throw aquarium fish in wild waters. It can destroy natural ecosystems and hurt existing fish in the water by stealing food, becoming food, destroying breeding cycles, ect......... Most fish now a days are controlled by people. If the local wildlife dept. only wants a certain fish(s), they will do anything to make sure that fish strives. They use laws. But what people may not know is they stop the NATURAL migration of fish also. Again, in some cases, they inhibit natural migration. Doesn't seem natural to me. I'm gonna get it for this one but, "I SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH DUMPING FISH IN PUBLIC WATERS." If it comes to it, I will do that rather than kill my fish. Besides, we are part of nature, so its ok to dump fish where ever you want. Can't wait to see the hell i'm gonna get for this one.
I'm not going to be rude Eire, neither should you. I know oscars wouldn't migrate here on their own. You missed my point completely. If you didn't know, fish can spread by overflow, tributaries, and even birds. The DNR takes action agaist this happening. But hey, the oscars were in the pond. Its a shame they had to drain it so that people can catch bass instead of oscars. Bass have many homes. They should have left that pond to the oscars.
It is amazing to me that even in a fish forum of people who care about fish how many people can still think it is ok to destroy the enviroment to get the pleasure of owning a fish, if the fish gets to big, dont buy it, there is always another fish you can buy, why must you buy the one that you know you cannot house and when you release could possibly help cause the extinction of an entire species, possibly multiple species of fish, which will each leave a niche open leading to other problems within the enviroment such as food shortage for other fish or preying on other fish such as little fish which eat bugs, without their natural predator the bugs begin breeding like crazy, when the bugs begin breeding like crazy they begin destroying plants, when these plants die habitat for what lives in them is lost and its place in the eco system is left open causing more problems and the chain will go on until everything is effected, all this done because you wanted to rent a fish until it got to big for ou or you grew tired of it
about the migration point said above, when a river over flows it does not take it half way across the world to another ecosystem, it merely takes it into the next river which the chances are is just like the one it came from, eco systems are very wide spread things, i work with people who used to work for fish and game and my father has worked with the DNR for 25 years and this is not a problem, nor have i ever heard of this being a problem, if a river over flows in the amazon its still in the amazon, the only potential problem would be the further spread of already intorduced exotic species
about the migration point said above, when a river over flows it does not take it half way across the world to another ecosystem, it merely takes it into the next river which the chances are is just like the one it came from, eco systems are very wide spread things, i work with people who used to work for fish and game and my father has worked with the DNR for 25 years and this is not a problem, nor have i ever heard of this being a problem, if a river over flows in the amazon its still in the amazon, the only potential problem would be the further spread of already intorduced exotic species
the catch with that logic though is that your idea supports man as the main source of evolution which we are not.only time and dominant traits should determin the change of an ecosystem.as long as the pond is an unnatural pond there is no harm in oscars being in there as nothing is native to a man made pond though.
Whoops, that came across badly. I didn't mean that as rude, more on the sarcastic with a smile. Sorry about that.
However, I must continue with my skepticism that oscars could naturally get to California. It's just too far, across to much inhospitable territory. If natural migration is going to be used as a reason, it should be at least plausible.
However, I must continue with my skepticism that oscars could naturally get to California. It's just too far, across to much inhospitable territory. If natural migration is going to be used as a reason, it should be at least plausible.
There is much evidence against the fact that early man caused the extinction of the mammoth and the mastadon, but there is also the fact that early man killed to survive, we dont need to keep aquarium fish to survive, infact we could live perfectly happy lives without aquarium fish, when early man killed mammoths they killed as little as possible because the hunts were extremely dangerous, they also used every part of them to hlep themselves survive, it is a bad relation in my opinion as each topic is very different
o btw flex26, yo mama likes to release aquarium fish into the wild, jking
o btw flex26, yo mama likes to release aquarium fish into the wild,
jking