Why arent Native fish sold in Pet stores?

[SwedishFish]

Fish like Bass, Trout, creek chubs fish like that why are they not in pet stores. They are wonderful fish. I have kept creek chubs before they lasted quite along time until one got chased by a betta too much and stressed out so much that it jumped. It cant because of agressivness or size for most fish. Has anyone ever kept wild fish in the home aquariums?

[Sum-X]

Because they're giant, and there isn't a very big demand for them I would suspect. I'd say if you want some, go catch some! :p I've never kept them, strictly because of size matters, but I'd like to keep bass, or blue-gill sometime, given I have enough space. :D

[SnakeIce]

because you would need a chiller to keep alot of them, esp the smaller fish from higher elevations or small streams not to mention very good water quality
and then there are our lovely fish and game laws which vary from state to state that would make transporting them across state lines alive a mess of paperwork if it is not illeagle to do so

I too have wondered why some of the small, very pretty/colorful some of them, fish are not kept in tanks and this is the conclusion I have come to

[RTR]

Abd there is also the legal requirements for fishing license, and in some jurisdictions, an additional permit is required to keep native fish. Lots of hassle on natives about that sort of thing.

[SimonWoodstock]

if i had to guess, i would say all of the above comments combined w/ the fact that i think it is illegal to sell game animals(and fish). to sell a creature that is normally considered wild game, for food or anything else, you would have to raise it on a farm. this brings us back to the demand statement.

just a guess. ive been looking into keeping natives, but havent checked w/ the laws. im sure its diff. for each state.

if you are wanting a specific fish, try this site Watcher gave me:
http://jonahsaquarium.com/

[Ghetto2k4]

u cant keep no game fish that is out of a lake and if they find out u keepin them u will get a long jail time for it and u can go to your town hall and see if u can or not

where are u from?

[dethjam316]

ghetto, tru dat yo. i did fitteen upstate for keepin dis trout in my tankizzle.

[SimonWoodstock]

haha, was that necessary?

i think he is right about not messing around w/ game laws. i believe most of them are felonies and will end up being a serious pain in the gluteus.

i cant see much of a diff. between keeping a native fish and a store bought pet that is from somewhere else. as far as some people keeping them in crappy conditions, like tiny tanks, pacus should not be sold either.

[Ghetto2k4]

dethjam316...wtf u tryin to say lol are u a little kid or something that cant type right **** u are a dum azz too

[blitzen25bm]

yea probably they get too big and then people can just release like a large bass or something in a little lake or pond and it will eat everything. i wanted to stock my pond with some bluegills or one of the other smaller fish once i get my koi moved into their new pond. then i would hang worms from strings and pretend to fish.

[watcher]

Originally posted by SimonWoodstock
haha, was that necessary?

i think he is right about not messing around w/ game laws. i believe most of them are felonies and will end up being a serious pain in the gluteus.

i cant see much of a diff. between keeping a native fish and a store bought pet that is from somewhere else. as far as some people keeping them in crappy conditions, like tiny tanks, pacus should not be sold either.

In some states it is legal to sell game fish, for example in the grocery store. I know in PA we used to see trout in the grocery store all the time. I don't know the exact reason why we don't anymore, be it logisitics of keeping them cool and fed, or changes in the law. I've seen comments that in Minnesota you can sell a large variety of fish, including bass and pike.

Its probably due in part to the legal vagaries from states to state, and in part due to the public perception that keeping natives is illegal. Check with your state, most of them (except for CA) are quite fine with keeping the fish as long as you caught them yourself. In many states if the fish breed, the offspring are your property to do with as you will, although you may need a breeders license to sell them. I can't recommend the smaller sunfish enough to people-they're very smart, colorful, and fun to watch. Unless you have a huge tank, I'd recommend leaving the bass to a pond. Large mouths are well known to get to 20 lbs in good conditions, and all of the bass species are extremely territorial. I've heard many stories of people putting a young smallmouth in their tank, and finding that not only are there no longer other fish in the tank but that the smallmouth has completely redecorated the tank to its liking.

[demon_surfer]

sounds like most cichlids :)

[tricksterpup]

Oh there are plenty of natives sold on the market but they tend to be hard to find but you can get them. I personally have seen all of these sold one time or another at a LFS. The first 4 I see all the time at LFS.
The number one Native is:
Sail fin Molly: Poecilia latipinna
Texas Cichlid: Cichlasoma cyanoguttatum
American flag fish: Jordanella floridae
Fat head minnows: Pimephales promelas
Golden Shiners: Notemigonus crysoleucas
Least killiefish: Heterandria Formosa
Bluefin Killie: Lucania goodie
Golden topminnow:Fundulus chrysotus
Mosquito Fish: Gambusia Affinis holbrooki

jim

[tricksterpup]

Also, instead of going to your local fish store and try to find some natives, remember you can always go to your local bait shop. They have some really cool fish always in stock.

jim

[DMS]

I don't know if it's true for all states but I know that in Michigan, we weren't allowed to sell natives in the pet store I worked in. It was weird, there was a guy that raised Michigan native snakes & he couldn't sell them in our store but he could ship them to a store in another state to sell them. Sunfish are native to Michigan and are really pretty, lots of people kept them in tanks. BUT, you had to sneak them out because if the DNR guys knew you had them, they'd take them & you'd get a citation.

[dethjam316]

i just wanted to say tankizzle.

can anyone tell me some common native fish in northern florida? esp. small ones. i see these minnow-looking things all the time, but i'm not sure what they are. usually i see plain-looking silvery-grey ones, but occasionally there are 1-2 inch gold fish with speckles in a local pond. i'm just curious.

[tricksterpup]

Try this site out, it should help you knowning the fish in florida.
http://floridafisheries.com/fishes/sci-name.html




jim

[dethjam316]

cool, dude. i'll check it out. thanksizzle.

[SwedishFish]

why is it because of size? If we keep araowana's (dont know if i spelled that right) and Redtailed catfish and all this huge fish! Anyway I understand that it would be illegal to in some states.
I hope its not illegal in West Virginia cause i kept another native fish besides the creek chub.. I took care of a very small loach for awhile then it died :(

[OrionGirl]

For many states, it's a matter of what happens when the owner gets bored with the fish, and dumps it in a pond somewhere, messing with the local native fish. Keep in mind, just because it's a native in this pond, doesn't mean it's considered a native two miles down the road in that stream.

As for sales, it's a matter of demand and permits. Selling live fish requires permits and such, much more than most stores are willing to do. The people who buy the most fish are not hobbyists--they are people who dump water in the glass box and want it to be pretty. When fish die, they just jog out and buy more, no big deal. And, they want cheap and brightly colored--something the common game fish are not. Some non-game fish are, and they make occassional appearances in the fish stores.

[bettaman]

I'm not advocating stealing native fish illegally but I can't imagine it would be that hard to get native fish in your home from a local lake, river or stream.

[SwedishFish]

when i did it the fish was happy in his new home. The creek chub got along with most of the fish in the aqurium. It would eat flakes too.. but its favorite was blood worms!

[andruboz]

this is the native i most want to keep.

http://webpages.charter.net/doponder/longearsunfish.gif

the long ear sunfish

[SwedishFish]

thats a pretty fish .. where is it found?

[andruboz]

supposed to be some in a lake near by - central texas. i think they are all over.

[Gealcath]

Alot of this problem is due to fishes like the Walking catfish, which are now a major problem in warm water areas like Florida (they have lungs like mud skippers do, so they can walk on land to find better water sources and food)

[Firsttanks]

I believe as OrionGirl mentioned, it is more a matter of controlling local species in certain areas. In Northern Ont. when I was a kid it was common practice to go to the bait shop, buy a dozen "Red sucker" minnows and go fishing. Now it is illegal to fish with live sucker minnows because all the "bait" that was released into the lakes decimated the Bass and Trout populations by scavanging on the eggs. Same could happen to the Walleye (Pickerel) populations if a Pike species was to take hold in one of their lakes the Pickerel population would dissappear within a couple of years. Too great a chance of contamination by fishes that are native to the climate but not necessarily to the lake/river.

[Hans]

at the shop i work at , we have a sun fish in our plant tank, and we sell some kind of bass, i dont recal the name, but its green with a few black dots on the side, and orange eyes

[SwedishFish]

weird walking catfish.. I was curious about that fish so i looked it up! http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/WalkingCatfish/WalkingCatfish.html
Thats a cool fish it would be interesting to own :D

[thecareys]

in oklahoma:
Game laws only apply to public lakes and what not. if you have access to private land and can prove where you got the fish from. game laws do not apply to private ponds.

with one exception: make sure the fish is not endangered.
otherwise just take good care of your new pets

and most sunfish like blue gill and green sunfish can be passed off as a ciclid to someone who isnt a ciclid exspert.