Are They Legal In Any Of The 50 States ? If So,where?please Help W/ Some Info . Also Looking For Small/med. Dovii & Umbee Cichlid
Snakeheads
- Thread starter dogfish134
- Start date
After what happened in Maryland, I would be amazed if they're legal in any of the 50 states and, if any legislature hasn't banned them, they're fools. Just my opinion. Can't imagine why you'd want one for other than the freak factor.
As for legality, the federal government has banned the importing and interstate transportation of them, so... though not technically illegal, they're basically off the local fish store market. Link to artcle.
As for legality, the federal government has banned the importing and interstate transportation of them, so... though not technically illegal, they're basically off the local fish store market. Link to artcle.
SnowHeart said:
Don't take this too personally, but it's just this kind of general ignorance regarding Channidae that resulted in the broad, overkill bans of the entire family.
Yes, Channa argus is a threatening and prolific foreign species that can thrive in temperate waters. However, there are many tropical snakeheads that max out at under 12" and simply cannot colonize temperate waters. These are fascinating and colorful fishes, and make excellent aquarium specimens.
It's a shame that one species had to cause bans on all of them.
SnowHeart said:
They're no more "freakish" than any other fish. I find Channids, in their beauty (look to this gallery of exceptional specimens), intelligence, and responsivity, to be of collectively unparalleled charisma. That being said, I largely concur with the present comprehensive import/transport ban.
Some thought-provoking considerations are presented in "Fish or Foul? What you don't know about the area's most notorious monsters...and the people who love them."
That may well be completely true. (I don't take it personally. I feel the same way when people make generalizations based on Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, etc.) And, if you're right perhaps the ban may be modified accordingly in time. However, after what happened, I think a dose of paranoia at this time is more than a little healthy. If we could trust all owners to be as responsible as you presumably are, then a ban would be pointless. As we have seen, however, that's not the case and good chuck of a state's natural ecosystem has been thrown completely out of whack by the stupidity of a few people. It's not just the hobby that's impacted by these actions, and it's not just the state and federal governments that may have acted out of ignorance. Perhaps lifting of the ban only in respect to certain species of Snakehead would be safe, but as a legislator I'd be concerned about people trying to use the "safe" species as a way to smuggle in the "unsafe" species past customs officers who aren't able to tell the difference.Raskolnikov said:
For good or for ill, I think it's an uphill argument to modify the ban. Helps when the species at issue is furry, cute and cuddly.
Snakeheads are decidedly not, whatever their other, uh, attributes.EDIT: Read the first part of the article (too long to read at work... will try to read this weekend). What I read is interesting. Again, as a legislator, however, I'd be concerned about the ability of customs officers to differentiate between the Northern and other less hazardous species. If it were shown to be to be easy... fine. If not... it'd take a lot more convincing. Maybe the media did play it out of proportion or maybe not (I was living in DC at the time, so perhaps I'm a bit biased by the coverage I saw).
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depends on the state. a lot of places you cant own them but in others you just cant bring them across state lines.
too many people dont know enough about them and get freaked out or go by what they hear on the news. im not a big fan of the big ones because i dont want to set up a huge species only tank but the smaller ones like the gauchas are pretty cool.
too many people dont know enough about them and get freaked out or go by what they hear on the news. im not a big fan of the big ones because i dont want to set up a huge species only tank but the smaller ones like the gauchas are pretty cool.
they are illegal, but heres a question. If someone ofered you one in the states, would you take it? I would set up a tank in the basement and put it behind a locked door