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posted by cmn32480 on Friday September 23 2016, @06:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the holy-carp dept.

The New York Times has a story that describes just how devastating it can be to an ecosystem to dispose of goldfish, "the most invasive aquatic species" in a river or stream.

Two decades ago, someone dropped a handful of unwanted pet goldfish into a creek in southwestern Australia. Those goldfish grew, swam downstream, mucked up waters wherever they went and spawned like mad. Before long, they took over the whole river.

Researchers from Murdoch University believe this scenario, or something like it, is the cause of a feral goldfish invasion in Australia's Vasse River. Since 2003, they have been running a goldfish tracking and control program that involves catching fish along the length of the river, freezing them to death and studying them in the lab. Despite this program, goldfish in the Vasse are thriving, with some fish growing as long as 16 inches and weighing up to four pounds — the size of a two-liter soda bottle.

The article contains some insightful information as to how to get rid of unwanted goldfish:

The best strategy is to give healthy fish away, to a responsible aquarium, pet store or hobbyist.... In Florida, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission takes unwanted exotic pets off people's hands on regularly scheduled amnesty days.

If your fish is sick, the most humane way to kill it is probably to put it in an ice slurry. As for whether you should flush your fish down the toilet, experts recommend against it. Not only is there a slight chance your fish could survive a journey through the septic system and end up in the wild, but, in general, it's just not a very pleasant way to say goodbye to Bubbles.

I have a couple alternate solutions. First, tropical lion fish love goldfish, as I learned in a middle school science class. Second, goldfish are edible. Think about that the next time you complain about the price of fish!


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Joe Desertrat on Friday September 23 2016, @10:35PM

    by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Friday September 23 2016, @10:35PM (#405752)

    Goldfish are carp. A slightly bred for color (or whatever) strain of fancy carp, but once released in the wild within a couple generations they are pretty much indistinguishable from carp anywhere else. They can live a long time and can eat just about anything. They breed prolifically. They also have the ability to gulp air to extract oxygen, allowing them to survive in eutrophic ponds and other low oxygen environments. They also greatly alter their environments if they are in a small enough one, uprooting plant life and muddying the waters enough to affect the breeding of other fish. A big carp can shove its way into a bass nest (or other fish) and suck up many of the eggs and fry. They usually put up a long but unspectacular fight when hooked, they are great eating if caught from clean water, but they have many bones which make eating more difficult and as a result are often scorned by fisherman.

    I took off one year and spent a summer in Maine. They had very strict and detailed fishing regulations, with different rules for virtually every body of water in the state. There were a great many bodies of water in which is was not permitted to use minnows for bait, mostly to prevent the escape and spread of fish like carp or bass and screwing up their trout and salmon fisheries.

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