collecting cichlids in the everglades

[jpmroane]

I have herd of people collecting cichlids in the Florida everglades. Does anyone know about this? What species are present? Sounds fun!

[SayersWeb]

I've heard stories of how the fish farms in Florida ocassionally flood and the stock find their way into local waters. Not sure if it is true or not.

[NatakuTseng]

I know at least Oscars, Jaguars, and I believe Peacock bass *not positive about them* have become established in the everglades. In fact the Oscars and Jaguars are now a fairly popular game fish in florida,much more so the oscars. From all reports they are listed as an exotic species, but have not caused any problems, probably due to the fact that there are plenty of larger predators in the everglades that would make a snack of them.

[peifc]

Jeff Rapps went there with his brother. Go to AquaMoJo's Forum, you'll find some photos of his experience.

[Tiger15]

I lived in West Palm Beach 15 years ago. There are all kinds of cichlid in south Florida warm water. Some were escaped from fish farms and others were released by aquarists when they outgrew their tanks. In the lakes and canals around me, the most common cichlids I observed were Port cichlid, Tilapia, Oscar, Firemouth and Jack Dampsey. These were old timer CA/SA cichlids and I am sure today many more exotic species were established. Kids were fishing 10-inch Port cichlid in my backyard canal and netting baby oscar and sell them to pet shop. Interestingly, all baby oscars have reverted back to the wild color when their released parents I believe were the red type. Environmentalists have found that exotic cichlids have displaced not only native species, but one another as newly estalibhed cichlids can turn out to be more adaptable than older species. There is a member in the North Jersey club that gives talk on his annual trip to Florida to collect exotic fish.

[LMOUTHBASS]

i was reading there is a program now called once bought once caught never returned going on now where ppl are catching cichlids - once caught they are either sent to pet shops up north where its too cold for outdoors survival or destroyed they are not released no matter what