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Disposal of Aquatic Plants and Animals

11K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  Garbonzo 
#1 ·
I felt we needed to briefly cover this, as too many times non native plants and animals are released into the wild either unintentionally or because the aquarist can no longer care for them.

This poses a unique problem to many hobbyists…what exactly do I do with my aquatic plant/animal that I cannot care for? With the help of this wonderful thing that eats up most of my day (the internet, for you non-it people that actually work) I’ll try to cover some of the basics here…

Plants

Let’s say that John Q. Aquarist has an over abundance of a particular aquatic plant. “Whatever will I do with all of these plants?” John wonders. Well, there are a number of ways to safely dispose of these potentially invasive species, here are a few:

Burning: If allowed in your area, can be an excellent way of disposing of plants that have seeds.

Freezing or Drying: This will effectively destroy plants, but might allow seeds to survive. You can place them in a zipper type plastic bag and throw them away after this.

Composting: Like freezing or drying, this will also do the job of destroying the plant, but seeds can potentially survive to be carried off by birds or animals that might ingest the seeds.
(Source:http://invasives.eeb.uconn.edu)

Animals

John Q. Aquarist got up this morning and discover that his tank contained a huge batch of baby platies. “Ruh roh, what I’m going to do now? My tank can’t support this many fish!” John laments. Don’t worry, John, there is help!

Friends: If you have a friend that is into the wonderful world of fish keeping, perhaps he’d like some little guys. Use your head though: if he or she would like to have them, make sure you let your friend know the particulars about the species…it will just put your pal in the same position if he or she is not prepared.

LFS: If your LFS is like mine, they will take your unwanted pets…sometimes for a trade, sometimes not. Either way, it’s better than euthanizing or flushing. (Flushing is particularly cruel...a slow death is guaranteed by suffocation or poisoning)

CFT:The forum is a great place to offer your little pariahs to good homes!

Whatever you decide to do, never release them into the wild! Aquatic plants and animals could introduce diseases that the native population is not prepared for. At best, some species can out- compete the natives.

Some states have penalties for improper disposal of aquatic life. I hope this helps to answer some questions and prevent any unfortunate incidents.

If you have anything to add, by all means, do. In no way do I consider this definitive, so let’s see some other opinions!

(Remember, you can always contact your local Department of Natural Resources or Health Department for specific information for your area)
 
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#2 ·
a good example of how a hobbyist can really mess up a ecosystem is to look at southern California. they are have a huge problem with a Caulerpa outbreak. this is thought to have started by one guy rinsing a tank into a water drain that ran directly into the bay. all it took was a few spores to start an outbreak. now the Caulerpa has taken over. same thing goes for fish or any other livestock. never dump it in a pond, or even flush it. even if its dead there could be bacteria on it that the native animals and plants cant handle.

you just never know the destruction something will cause. i remember a story one of my teaches told us back in high school. i cant remember where it took place but anyway, the farmers there were complaining about the mountain lions killing their livestock. well the gov. decided to allow the farmers to hunt the lions until they were gone. well that in turn took away the deer populations main predator. the deer ended up eating all the plants and grasses on the hill sides. then when it would rain, the eroding soil would end up in the river below. that ended up killing off the brown trout in the river, as they couldnt survive in the water conditions.

for each action there is a reaction!
 
#4 ·
#5 ·
I saw that same Nova episode. Scary.
As a brief: This german enginered aquarium plant was released to the warm mediterranean and started growing. Believe the source came from a french aquarium/conservatory. Now it has pocketed outgrowth throughout the mediterranean and is overtaking natural wildlife. Biggest problem is that it produces a chemical that fish don't like, so nothing eats it. Also limited outgrowth in California. They either have to chemically treat/salt the area or freeze the damn stuff.

Now they have engineered a snail that eats the plant...

This discussion is very important info to all aquarium hobbiests.
 
#6 ·
I think they we're trying to cut squares of the stuff off of the seafloor for a time, and realised that "hey, this isn't gonna do it"...and it's spreading. It's funny that an academic aquarium did it, too.

And what problems will the snails cause? Hmmm....

Frankly, I'm surprised anybody else watches Nova. I was under the impression that they made that show just for me :oops:
 
#7 ·
I always try to emphasize to please, please, please call your LFS before releasing anything into the wild - fish, reptile, etc. A 9 foot albino burmese python showed up at the barn of a local resident. It was only discovered after many of the kittens in the barn disappeared. They brought it to the Local Pet Store for the reptile guy to identify. Imagine my surprise when he looked up, smiled and then went and got these welding gloves. The box was enormous - enough to fit a 35 gallon trash can. He pulled this enormous snake out of the box. 9 feet. It was beautiful but very dehyrdrated and the store housed it until a permanent home could be found. My local store will take any fish, sometimes for trade, sometimes not, but they will take it so it will not released into the wild.

Love Nova too.
 
#8 ·
fishiesrock said:
Some states have penalties for improper disposal of aquatic life.
All states do...in fact, it is a federal offense in the US as well as in Canada....and the fines can be very steep, but nowhere near as severe as the damage even one released fish or plant can do in a few years.
 
#13 ·
Paintbug said:
a good example of how a hobbyist can really mess up a ecosystem is to look at southern California. they are have a huge problem with a Caulerpa outbreak. this is thought to have started by one guy rinsing a tank into a water drain that ran directly into the bay. all it took was a few spores to start an outbreak. now the Caulerpa has taken over. same thing goes for fish or any other livestock. never dump it in a pond, or even flush it. even if its dead there could be bacteria on it that the native animals and plants cant handle.

you just never know the destruction something will cause. i remember a story one of my teaches told us back in high school. i cant remember where it took place but anyway, the farmers there were complaining about the mountain lions killing their livestock. well the gov. decided to allow the farmers to hunt the lions until they were gone. well that in turn took away the deer populations main predator. the deer ended up eating all the plants and grasses on the hill sides. then when it would rain, the eroding soil would end up in the river below. that ended up killing off the brown trout in the river, as they couldnt survive in the water conditions.

for each action there is a reaction!
Not to mention Zebra Mussels all around and Floridas Iguanas... Ive been a Naturalist for a long time studying our native eco system and I can tell you ALOT of species people take for native that actualy arent, many of which drove out the non native.
 
#14 ·
If you've ever been to the ocean, you've probably seen a common sea squirt (tunicate). Guess what: These aren't native. They think they were originally brought over on the early explorers ships.

Aside from the obviously invasive species we have to also keep in mind that some native animals can also be invasive in certain habitats that they would not naturally be found in. For example, if you caught some shiners in the Tar River and went fishing in the Cape Fear River, even though these shiners are native to NC, they could theoretically become established in a river that they are not naturally found and outcompete fish native to that river.

Even if you caught a fish and later returned it or its offspring to the same spot you caught it, you could be introducing a foreign disease, or even disturbing the genetics of the fish in that area by releasing captive bred fish. This is a real concern with salmon in the Northwest.
 
#15 ·
Too true...Did you know Largemouth bass have been introduced so widley that scientist are not sure of thier original native range?
 
#16 ·
Yeah, I've read some stuff about that before as well. As much as I love bass fishing, I'd guess they have probably done more damage to native fish populations than any other introduced fish in the US.
 
#17 ·
Yeah, they are about as destructive as a green sunfish, for those of you who have ever kept any in a tank of native fish you know what im talking about lol, not bluegill for the non native keepers, green sunfish, they can be devastating, but bass can be worse, given they grow large, consume alot of food, and have been known to strike and not consume thier prey, only injure it. bad mix in a invasive fish.
 
#19 ·
Yup. snakehead in almost every river system in NC now and my childhood backyard pond Bond Lake. I always respect cultural relevancy, but please release them to a bigger tank, not an ecosystem. It's actually surprisingly hard to give away freshwater stuff to the general public from my experience. I had 3 huge show size sword that easily had 60+smallies each that should go for $30-$50 a plant and couldn't give them away for free. Pity I had to compost them.
 
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