Seen this Emma?

[Graeme Robson]

Oh! How depressing!

Now i'm "stuck" with single 'rare' species and no hope of breeding them!

[Jim Powers]

Its really unfortunate, but something HAS to be done about invasive exotics. Locally, we are having a great debate about how to eliminate the Brazilian elodea that has become established in Griffy Lake, the old city water supply. This is the farthest north that this invasive has been recorded and the DNR wants to prevent it from spreading, particularly to the 10,000+ acre reservoir nearby. Unfortunately, the city govt. did not want to use chemicals. Finally, after three years of doing nothing, the state DNR stepped in and treated the lake plus eight local ponds it had spread to while the city wrung their hands over using chemicals. Hopefully, this will stop the spread of this exotic that was probably dumped into the lake by someone dumping their aquarium. It seems colored gravel is occasionally found along the shore.
As is often the case in life, a few people mess things up for the rest of us.

[TammyLiz]

I wish I could find the thread I'm thinking about from another forum. It pointed out an article which I also cannot find. Maybe someone here has read it? It was about a guy in the UK who bought some fish, but didn't realize they were illegal to keep until he had them for a while. He immediately applied for a permit to keep them, but instead of granting him the permit, they came to his house and euthanized his fish. Anyone remember that? It wasn't that long ago. I know I am coming from a viewpoint outside the country, but it seems to me that the mindset of those in charge of this is a little overboard on the 'conservation' side. The guy who's fish were killed had a good point...why don't they allow responsible people to keep them? So now, what? If they find out you guys have chenis or whatever, are they going to come to your house and KILL them? It just seems so unfair.

[Jim Powers]

We had a similar situation here. A lfs had a very cool snakehead of some kind that was about 18-20" or so and probably 3-4 lbs. The owners had the fish for some time. The state passed a law prohibiting the sale and possesion of snakeheads after the incident in Maryland of documented reproduction in the wild.
The owner of the lfs never offered the fish for sale and just had it in a display tank. Someone was in the store, saw the fish and reported it to the DNR saying the owners were wanting to sell it. The DNR came in with a small cooler to take the fish and stated that the owner may end up facing charges. The cooler, was in fact, too small, and they ended up coming back with a larger one. No charges were pressed, but instead of taking the fish to the local university for study, they killed and dissected it. What a waste. So you see, this can happen here, too.
Its a tough situation. We don't want invasive species to establish themselves where they would to damage, but we also don't want to kill the aquarium hobby in the process.

[TammyLiz]

Or kill the pets of responsible owners. That is a very sad story.

I have heard of the snakehead issue but not of that incident. My dad is a fisherman so he knows all about invasive species making a mess of things. I used to listen to the stories over dinner. And really not all that many years ago. ::I wish this site had a decent lol smiley and not just that evil looking snickering thing. thinking of my dad makes me laugh::

[Graeme Robson]