In Colorado or just Interested in Native Fish ..pls read

[brian1973]

I have recently taken a very high interest in keeping native fish, unfortunately im my state this is illegal. This is actually pretty common in many western states and in canada. There is an orginazation that is trying to change that but membership is relativley low and most of the membership is east of the Mississippi river, which means those of us in the western states have no voice or so few people that it is a whisper.
I for one have started the ball rolling in Colorado starting with DOW , I need some help pushing this rock up hill, if your in Colorado and interested in supporting legalizing the keeping of this countries beautiful native fish please let me know, if you want to support the orginization I am speaking of click here. The North American Native Fishes Association.

Colorado DOW seems to think that there is danger in allowing us to keep natives and the possible release of these fish, we all know that most problems come from irresponsible tropical fish keepers and the fact the impulse buyer gets an oscar or pacu, etc then dumps them into our local waterways yes these wont live though the winter but they will survive long enough to introduce diseases.

 

[FroggyFox]

interesting, I didn't know it was illegal here in CO. Are you sure its not just a few species? A lot of our fish are river fish though that need pretty specialized water conditions so I would think unless people are set up to do a river tank that the DOW is mostly trying to protect the fish. Here anyway.

Seastaar is one of the only members here that I can think of off the top of my head that is big into keeping natives...

 

[brian1973]

heres my email correspondence so far...you will also find under illegal species a few common tropicals...the only allowed fish fall between 26N and 26S latitudes per DOW REGS.

RE: keeping native fish in aquariums‏
From: Fisher, Bob (Bob.Fisher@state.co.us)
You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as unsafe
Sent: Tue 4/22/08 2:10 PM
To: brian9181973@hotmail.com

Hi Brian,



We do not allow fish to be taken alive, transported and kept in aquariums. We are concerned these fish may be released into water where they may be harmful to existing fish

or the habitat.



Thank you





Bob Fisher

Colorado Divison of Wildlife

6060 Broadway

Denver CO 80216



-----Original Message-----
From: Wildlife, Info
Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 3:32 PM
To: Wildlife, Info
Subject: keeping native fish in aquariums



FAQ Question from Web
Contact Us and Ask DOW

Division: Division of Wildlife
Subject: keeping native fish in aquariums
Topic: Fishing
Subtopic: Other
From: Brian
DOB: //
Senders Email: brian9181973@hotmail.com
Question or Message: I have read thru all DOW regulations and I found that I can appearantly take a bluegill that i catch and use it as bait but i can not take that same bluegill home and put him into an aquarium. This makes no sense to me, why is the keeping of Non protected native fish for use in home aquariums illegal.
Address: [ none ]
Telephone: [ none ]
CC#:


Want to race through your inbox even faster? Try the full version of Windows Live Hotmail. (It's free, too.)

 

[brian1973]

Froggy,
you will see my question pertained to a bluegill, and some minnows...I may be able to use the 26N "sub tropical zone" as a native loop hole. I dont know how many other fish keepers you now of in Colorado but I have joined with NANFA to fight the battle, I need all the support I can get. I use the same username on NANFA if your interested in some more in depth info on this, including my response to DOW. You dont have to pay to be a member of the forum, the paying members have NANFA member under their forum names.

My question is with ignorance like the response DOW sent me how long befor they decide no fish should be kept, it wasnt to long ago that all native herps where illegal some vry common species still are, and if you actually check the laws I can keep a native herp and then release it back into the wild given certain factors. This is total BS when the most common scenerio remains impulsie buyers releasing tropicals into the waters, yes they wont survive the winters but you dont have to survive to spread diseases.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Brian

 

[skratikans]

in my state we are starting to find pacu or all ages...fry and adults... and they are trying to make it illegal here to own them..personally i dont mind bc for the avg fish keeper they dont realize what they are getting into..you should need a license IMO to keep certain fish like tankbusters