Koi Fish Information Centre

Alan,
Thanks for supporting my post. Goldfish should be no problem, however Asian carp (same species as koi but all plain colored) have spread rapidly in some big US rivers and have displaced native fish. I saw a documentary where they were being counted by running a boat with electric current along a river. The place instantly came alive with scores of huge carp leaping many feet out of the water. Some of the men came away with serious bruises from being hit by flying carp. Many were really huge up to nearly 3 feet long and packing plenty of weight. It was really amazing how powerful they are. I don’t know if koi would grow as robustly and large like their wild cousins or not but I haven’t put any of them in the local lake myself. On the other hand a lake full of huge koi would certainly be very attractive.
Some invasive fish are causing big problems, but one needs to use some common sense as to what will actually have a deleterious impact on the environment and not just succumb to knee jerk reactions.
The only lake I know of that has a thriving goldfish population is in Central Park NYC, probably because little else was living there. There are hundreds of large goldfish and seeing them spawn in the Spring is quite a beautiful sight.
Edgar

On Jun 5, 2008, at 8:15 AM, Alan wrote:
> I have to agree with Edgar, I have seen koi and goldfish live quite > happily in the same lake/pond with no problems. > > Koi how ever, there have been recorded problems when they were > introduced into an echo system. > > New Zealand was the first I believe to find out the problems that > can be caused by Koi, several years ago they introduced then into > rivers to help with a weed problem, but in just a short time the > Koi became a bigger problem than the weed, they are now considered > a pest, and it is ILLEGAL to return one to the water if you catch > it! they have regular culls of KOi to try and reduce thier numbers. > > There have been a couple of other instances regaurding Koi in the > wrong place, but to my knowledge there has not been one caused by > goldfish, unless you know different. > > Here in the Uk it is illegal to put any fish in to lakes or rivers, > but that hasnt stopped people doing so, I have seen both koi and > goldfish in local rivers, and there are no reported problems, and > they been seen and caught by anglers for years. > > Zander were introduced to Uk rivers about 30 yeras ago, natives of > Europe, in a similer way to new zealand they have become a pest > here, its just a case of the wrong fish in the wrong place, but as > Edgar says, most places have bye laws reguardign such things, some > based on reality others on fear……..personaly i dont see that > goldfish would become anything more than a colourful addition to a > river and a brighter target for preditors to see. > > Edgar Owen wrote: > I think this is nonsense based a poor understanding of ecology. First > of all they are goldfish, not koi I put in the lake. They have little > chance of surviving the otters, herons and predatory fish and just > serve as a little food for them. Even if they did survive they could > not possibly displace any native species or do any ecological damage. > I don’t know about legality, that would be a local legal issue. > > Edgar > > On Jun 4, 2008, at 11:18 AM, wyrdology wrote: > > > > > > > It’s illegal and a highly, highly dangerously potential ecological > > hazzard. You don’t want to be ground-zero for any disasters. > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > ——————————— > Sent from Yahoo! Mail. > A Smarter Email. > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > >

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