Lionfish off North Carolina

[H2Andy]

here's the article

the article speculates that the lionfish got to the Atlantic Ocean when some of them were washed from a Miami aquarium into the Atlantic by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. another possible scenario given is that cargo ships accidentally transported the lionfish when they took on ballast water in Asia, and then released it when they reached ports over here.


could it be that hobbyists release them from their aquariums into the sea?
just a thought.

 

[archman]

Deliberate release from privately owned aquaria is always a concern. I'm quite surprised the article did not mention that. Perhaps it wasn't dramatic enough for american news. Aquarists easily get attached to their animals, and often will "free" their critters when they can no longer maintain them. The alternative is to donate to pet stores (not very encouraging usually), find a friend to take them, or flush down the commode.

Most hardcore hobbyists do not keep lionfish. It's more of a macho thing for the trendy. They're high maintenance, large, and are not a good "community" fish. What this means is that many lionfish buyers will quickly tire of their charges. Hello toilet bowl. Hello local ocean.

Many upscale restaurants also keep these fish. Same problem with them.

I expect to see a similar phenomenon with clownfish. There were record sales of these things following the release of "Finding Nemo". Stores could not keep these fishes in stock. Thousands of small children and tropical marine tanks... not a very good combination. Another reason to hate Disney.

 

[padiscubapro]

I DON'T expect a similiar occurrance with clownfish.. Clownfish instinctively look for anenomes, they have no protection against atlantic versions, and the atlantic versions readily eat clownfish. Anyone who has had a salt-water tank and mixed these two find this out..

Most of the clown fish in the aquarium trade have no impact on the natural population. Clown fish are one of the few salt water fish that is readily raised for the trade. Many private people have also raised various clown fish species (myself included).

Lionfish are able to defend themselves, no such luck for clown fish. They don't have the benifits of large numbers for protection like their native relatives (others in the damsel family)

 

[archman]

There were specific species types earmarked for the "Finding Nemo" market last summer. These particular types were able to do well without the presence of appropriate anemones (as vendors realized it might inflate the purchase price too much), and could be stuck in a tank by itself, sort of like a goldfish. I'm not even sure they were Amphiprion, they just needed to LOOK like that cartoon fish (orange or red body with white bars). All I know is that Indo-Pacific reef damsels were desired to fit this role.

It's nice to know that the true clown's get gobbled up immediately in the Atlantic though. Those fish are far more common in aquaria than lionfish.

There's a freshwater pond on Big Pine Key that seems to be entirely populated by people's aquarium fish. It's fun to go there and see what was "dumped in" next.

 

[padiscubapro]

There were specific species types earmarked for the "Finding Nemo" market last summer. These particular types were able to do well without the presence of appropriate anemones (as vendors realized it might inflate the purchase price too much), and could be stuck in a tank by itself, sort of like a goldfish. I'm not even sure they were Amphiprion, they just needed to LOOK like that cartoon fish (orange or red body with white bars). All I know is that Indo-Pacific reef damsels were desired to fit this role.

It's nice to know that the true clown's get gobbled up immediately in the Atlantic though. Those fish are far more common in aquaria than lionfish.

There's a freshwater pond on Big Pine Key that seems to be entirely populated by people's aquarium fish. It's fun to go there and see what was "dumped in" next.

In an aquarium, most clown fish will do fine without any anenomies (sp), but if there they usually go for them.. In my last reef tank I had a pair of mated clowns ("tomato" ) that preferred the conforts of a nice leather coral to the various anenomies in the tank..

 

[JustAddWater]

I heard this story before, and my first thought was that a hobbyist had released the fish. (I personally like them, and keep a smaller species in my reef tank) We get "Piranha" scares in our local lakes and ponds nearly every summer when hobbyists release pacu in our swimming holes. The pacu are harmless but have a similar look to a piranha. They too probably get released because of their size, or when some bonehead feels duped that he wasn't sold a voracious flesh eater.

 

[H2Andy]

yup, i've seen the pacu... they do look like piranhas... but boy do they grow

 

[JustAddWater]

padiscubapro,
Did they hatch a litter? I have a pair of Sumatra clowns in my reef tank. I don't know if they'd be considered mated; definitely a female and male, and share an anenomae.

 

[padiscubapro]

padiscubapro,
Did they hatch a litter? I have a pair of Sumatra clowns in my reef tank. I don't know if they'd be considered mated; definitely a female and male, and share an anenomae.

If your pair is "truely" mated. The female will be much larger than the male in many species 3 or 4 times larger is not uncommon.. All clowns start out as males and the dominant fish gets a sex change, becomes a female and begins to grow larger and in some species (tomato clown for example) begin to change in appearance.. The males are bright red with bright contrasting strips, the females have the same bright red, but the stripes are pretty much lost, replaced by a small "cap" above their eyes

Sebae clowns seem to be the most prolific breeders in aquaria.

Clowns lay eggs on a regular basis when they are happy, the eggs must be removed to a seperate tank before hatching with a constant waterflow across them..

They start out in a larval stage and require daily feeding of cultured food.. culturing the food is a royal pain in the A**.. I haven't done it in a while but from what I remember you need about a 1 week supply of food at various sizes (a series of 1 gallon jugs works well to keep the cultures at various stages of development), If you get a crash in your cultures, your baby fish have had it.. The short larval stage is what makes raising clown fish feasable most other species have much longer stages..

 

[friscuba]

I suspect if you ever see clownfish it'll be further south. I remember reading somewhere that clowns need something like 82 degree temps to successfully breed and the average temp in Hawaii is more like 78-79. Don't remember the specifics because it was likely a decade or more ago when I read that. Apparently the nearest successful clowns are down around Johnston Atoll or Kiribati because of the temps.

Deliberate release from privately owned aquaria is always a concern. I'm quite surprised the article did not mention that. Perhaps it wasn't dramatic enough for american news. Aquarists easily get attached to their animals, and often will "free" their critters when they can no longer maintain them. The alternative is to donate to pet stores (not very encouraging usually), find a friend to take them, or flush down the commode.

Most hardcore hobbyists do not keep lionfish. It's more of a macho thing for the trendy. They're high maintenance, large, and are not a good "community" fish. What this means is that many lionfish buyers will quickly tire of their charges. Hello toilet bowl. Hello local ocean.

Many upscale restaurants also keep these fish. Same problem with them.

I expect to see a similar phenomenon with clownfish. There were record sales of these things following the release of "Finding Nemo". Stores could not keep these fishes in stock. Thousands of small children and tropical marine tanks... not a very good combination. Another reason to hate Disney.