My pet fish at Shaw's

[scubahorse]

After weeks of reserch, I decided to free my pet fish "Shao", a 5 inch length Strawberry Grouper. I released it at Shaw's Cove tonight. I hope it live well around the reef. Anyone see it, please take a picture for it.
I am going to Shaw's this saturday morning. I hope I can see it.

 

[Scubaroo]

Strawberry Grouper, as in Epinephelus cruentatus, native to Caribbean / Atlantic, released into the Pacific?



Please tell me they're also found in the Pacific...

 

[roteri]

Being that he lives in Orange County, I would assume that it's a Pacific fish. But, I'm just assuming, mind you.

 

[scottfiji]

Strawberry Grouper, as in Epinephelus cruentatus, native to Caribbean / Atlantic, released into the Pacific?



Please tell me they're also found in the Pacific...

They are now.

 

[ReefGuy]

In Florida, it's illegal to release aquarium fish to the wild.

It's also a bad idea.

 

[Scubaroo]

Hmm, the best line of my post got edited out. Apparently the word "idiot" is no longer acceptable on ScubaBoard.

Releasing aquarium fish into the wild is simply a stupid action to undertake. Aquarium fish can have parasites or disease not found in the locale where released, and can also become an invasive species themselves. I don't suppose the original poster has ever heard of the snakehead fish?

 

[mempilot]

Even though they weren't introduced into the Great Lakes on purpose, the zebra mussel sucks for that ecosystem. Same thing for some type of asian carp on the Mississippi and it's tributaries. - causing serious ramifications with our tax dollars to fix the problem.

 

[headhunter]

Unfortunately, we are hearing about this after the fact and therefore don't appear to have any ability to change things for the moment.

Now we can only hope that it does not have a negative impact on our local environment.

Given the the very little bit of information that we have, this appears to be an irresponsible act. However, I'd like to give scubahorse the benefit of the doubt and allow him to explain his actions.

Did you somehow find this species in our local waters? If so, did you use local waters in the aquarium? Are you now returning this fish to what you believe to be its natural habitat?

When you say you did weeks of research, did you mean as part of a class project for a marine biology class in a school? Either way, was this research on the fish itself or on the release of the fish? What did you find out through your research?

I looked through your posts on ScubaBoard and didn't find a single question about your fish. Maybe I missed it or maybe you asked questions via PM, but it seems strange that any member here would do research about marine life and not bother to ask the many professional marine biologists or marine biology students on this board anything. Who did you consult when doing your "research"?

I think we'd all like to know the answers to these questions and maybe others for a clearer picture of what led to this "release".

Christian

 

[mstudley]

I was a little shocked when I read the subject. "Shaw's" is a supermarket around these parts

 

[pasley]

I wonder if this fish has ever lived in the wild before? Does it know how to hunt for food and to avoid becoming a meal for other fish? If not then it is highly likely it will be part of the food chain before Saturday.

Releasing aquarium fish, for reasons already cited is probably not a good thing for either the fish involved or the environment IMHO. If it is not a native species, then it is a real bad thing.

At least he researched something which I am assuming (yeah, I know, bad thing to do) was on the merits and issues involved in releasing his fish into the wild. Perhaps his research had something to say that may shed more light on this subject.