fish id please

[Teacherman]

anyone know what these two are? I fished them out of a local waterway. They are now 3 times the size that they were when I caught them, and are now around 3 or 4 cm.

They look native, perhaps a perch, but then they have an uninterrupted dorsal fin.

Cheers,

Adam

[mooch]

look like some kind of grunter

[Teacherman]

I was thinking grunter, or perhaps silver perch. But neither seem to have an eyespot on the dorsal fin.

Hmm. Lots of lookers, but not many guesses- I've emailed the museum and Kevin Warburton too.

The plot thickens....

[damo83]

Well i'm gunna guess banded grunter... the one on the left looks to have faint vertical bars and the body shape is kind of grunter like and the eyespot may well fade as they grow... although considering they are only 3-4cm its kinda difficault to id them.

Cheers

Damo

[ryanwatts]

they are juvy talapia!!!!

pest fish!!! :geek:

[Teacherman]

Well done Ryan! See below for response from the Museum!

Hi Adam,

Unfortunately, your fish are Tilapia. There are several species of cichlid fish that are called tilapia, yours are probably Oreochromis mossambica. These fish are not native and they are serious pests in Australian freshwater ecosystems. They are now known from several catchments in the Brisbane area. There are hefty penalties for keeping these fish and you will have to euthanase yours. Please do not release them.

I have caught them in the Brisbane River at Colleges Crossing and have heard of them in impoundments in the Redland Shire. Which creek did you find yours in?

Thanks for your inquiry.

Regards

Kieran Aland

Information Officer

Inquiry Centre

Queensland Museum South Bank

[damo83]

Thats a pity... cool looking little fish!

Where did you catch them?

[ryanwatts]

thanks adam :cloppy:

i caught a 35cm talapia in a local creek with a cast net.......i froze it as its illegal to keep.

:cloppy: :bunny: :geek: :kitty: :worm: :monkey: :flower: :penguin: :penguin: :sheep: :petrified: :upsidedown:

[Teacherman]

Cast net? freshwater creek?

Oh, I get it- You've found a strain of salt water tilapia....

[japes]

I imagine he was just using a cast net in freshwater. Unfortunate that fish like this are in our eco-systems, as I'd be quite confident that the aquarium trade would be to blame. I've read about Tilapia in the southern states of USA like Florida absolutely taking over, it's a shame.

There was a video on YouTube from a member from large global forum (MonsterFishKeepers) releasing a bunch of huge Red-Tail Catfish, Tiger Shovelnose, etc. into a local stream because he had to move and couldn't keep them or something. Absolute disgrace.

[Teacherman]

Hi Japes, I imagine you're right about the cast net- but I was giving Ryan the benefit of the doubt- Last I checked casts nets are prohibited in non-tidal waters!

Caught them in Humpybong creek, near the skate park. I'm sure I saw a red devil in there a couple of years ago.

I know tilapia got "out" up north around Townsville somewhere from an aquaculture farm many years ago. They are capable of tolerating salt water, and so can migrate to new water courses. I dont think either common tilapia are popular aquarium specimens.

Any fisheries/aquaculturalist on the forum have any more details?

[waltec]

The aquarium trade is not the only ones to blame. Governments need to take a long look at themselves. They too are also reponsible for situation similar to tilapia, Gambusia was released into the waterways to control mosquitoes by the government. Only to find out that they damage the waterway causing the native fish population to be devistated.

Funny part is that in later research they actually found that the native fish were actually better mosquito eaters than the gambusia. So double whamy for that one.

There is another fish in the Murray river but I can't remember its name.

Of course there's the cane toad and the list goes on.

Also if you catch a noxious fish, do not take it home (even to kill it, the fine is still the same), do not return to the water, you must kill it on site, and then take it away from the water

What do I do if I catch a tilapia or carp?

If you catch a noxious fish, kill the fish as quickly and humanely as possible. Methods include freezing the fish, cutting through the gills with a sharp knife or applying a quick, hard blow to the head. It is an offence to have noxious fish (such as carp and tilapia) in your possession, dead or alive (except dead Nile perch). You must therefore dispose of the fish as soon as practicable after killing. It is recommended that you do this by burying it a suitable distance from the waterway where it was caught or disposing it in a rubbish bin.

But yes WE All need to be involved, if not we will eventually not be allowed to keep any non native fish.

This is something that QFAS use the money raised from the super Auctions for. That actively consult and debate these issues with the government to keep our fish off the noxious list...

Matt

[japes]

The aquarium trade is not the only ones to blame. Governments need to take a long look at themselves. They too are also reponsible for situation similar to tilapia, Gambusia was released into the waterways to control mosquitoes by the government. Only to find out that they damage the waterway causing the native fish population to be devistated.

Thanks for that, my comment was based purely on the fact that you can't just accidentally have live fish introduced into the local systems, and the aquarium trade was the only possibility that I could foresee as a way for importing these fish live.

[aef]

I too have caught these fish in cast nets and dispatched them immediately. They have been let out of the freshwater dam at Capalaba that runs into a saltwater creek and seem to be surviving ok. I think they would be euryhaline.

[Mirandarin]

I had one of these in my tank for awhile, i thought it looked like a nice fish, gave it a name and everything. Untill it started growing radidly and was eating all the food and not leaving anything for anyone else. Thought we should take it in and get its ID, a talapia :lafhard:

My 2nd eperience, not long after i took my talapia in for its ID. I was doing work experience at a LFS at the start of this year. A man had a bath tub full of fish in the back of his ute, he asked "how much will you take for all of these fish". After awhile of trying to convinve him they where all talapia, he stormed off saying we where lying bastards and that he would try another LFS. :lafhard:

He was only angry due to the fact we knew he had just cought them all at a creek and tryed to sell them. The manager wasn't all to happy about the matter. , but i must admit that LFS accepts any type of fish and has quite poor quality tanks there was once an axolotl with 2 extra toes on its right foot!

[batters]

i have caught tilapia cast netting in saltwater. there everywere up around townsville i checked out a small drain on my lunch breek once and it had tilapia, mosquito fish and platys no native fish were seen.