release of alien fish into rivers

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03gobra

AUSSIE
May 19, 2006
23
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0
here in western australia there is a quit large amount of released jewl-braziliensis cichlids,these fish hav been said to be a danger to native fish populations but of wat iv seen there is nothing but alien introduced fish like gambusia around.these fish have been controled via small explosions and controlled poisoning,do u think these fish pose a real freat or should be left because they are much more impresive than the zero natives we had before?
 

fishcatch22

The Picotoper
Jun 13, 2006
4,214
2
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Morris, Illinois
if it's not a threat to other organisms in the watershed, no need to remove it. still no reason to introduce foreign species, and people should really be more careful.
 

TropicalNorth

Bligh..The Demander Of Attention..
Jun 9, 2006
860
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North Queensland, Australia
Any non-native species that is introduced is most likely going to cause a problem eventually, even if they seem harmless they will probably end up changing the ecology of an area somehow. Take carp for example, they've out competed many species in the Murray River (causing many native fish numbers to decline) and have actually made the river much dirtier than it was.

Then there's Tilapia (which is sorta similar to the jewels) which has caused big problems, they're taking over and killing the natives.
 

Rbishop

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 30, 2005
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Mr. Normal
Not good for them to be there.
 

Dwarf Puffers

Registered user
Dec 11, 2006
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NS, Canada
I mean, if a wildlife filmer or something would film one for a series of months and see what it eats and it was fine...
 

Coler

AC Members
Jan 30, 2007
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I would be cautious to conclude that a few months study is anything on which to base conclusions. Impact of a non-native species into an ecology is potentially extremely serious and the full extent may not become apparent for many many year.

There are plenty of instances of terribly flawed efforts to do this deliberately.

Anyway, imo, the true beauty of observing a biotope is in seeing the native species existing and interacting in their natural habitat. Visual splendour of non-natives could never outweigh this for me. Geographical diversity allows fuller appreciation of all flora and fauna.
 

ct-death

Fish & Visitors Smell in 3 Days...
Feb 27, 2007
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New Hampshire
here in western australia there is a quit large amount of released jewl-braziliensis cichlids,these fish hav been said to be a danger to native fish populations but of wat iv seen there is nothing but alien introduced fish like gambusia around.these fish have been controled via small explosions and controlled poisoning,do u think these fish pose a real freat or should be left because they are much more impresive than the zero natives we had before?
Does this not say enough???? :Boggle:

I wonder why I do what I do for a living sometimes... :(
 

kw0me

AC Members
Feb 13, 2007
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Yes carp are not cool. In the Murry darling system they damed it of in sections and let each area completely dry out then undam it and do the next section. on one of many camping trips me and my brothers would go canoeing around these dammed areas and find mud puddles no bigger than a cricket pitch with about 30 carp in them all over 1 1/2 foot. as my bro said forget the rods get a big stick. was a slaughterfest. over easter my uncle went camping in the same spot we used to goto and for the first time in years he finaly caught a murry cod and some red fin. so i did my bit and saved the mighty murry!
 
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abh19

AC Members
Mar 31, 2007
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There are a lot of examples when an invasive species takes over part of an ecosystem, decimating native species. However, no one notices the examples when a new species comes in and finds a good niche, making the ecosystem richer than it was before. I'd think that the positive instances would be more than the negative ones, because, the more diverse the ecosystem, the better it will be, in general. They must, of course, have a natural predator already present or they'll take over. However, we label zebra mussels, africanized bees, argentine ants, and carp as "introduced species" and then in our minds, all "introduced species" become ecosystem-wreckers.

It all depends on the niche that the introduced species can fill, and how it interacts with other species. The biggest problem is that you usually can't precisely predict how the ecosystem will react to the introduction of a new species, so you'll only really know after the fact... at which point it's probably too late.

So... release a predator of the cichlids at the same time :)
 
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