A Breeding Problem

[attitude_plus5]

I just recently found a Ponage 5miles from my house that is heated by a power station to cool machines. The pondage is at a constant temp of 80.6 (f) to 86 (f). This pondage has had lots of tropical fish released in it and have thrived but the problem is that the pseudotropheus zebra and the African cichlid have bred with each other what i want to know is if this has happend before and if so are they a good fish to keep.

Any help or questions about the fish or pondage would be great.

This is an official report posted by the department of fisheries victoria.



Hazelwood Pondage rivals Lakes Victoria and Nicaragua for cichlid diversity?: Until recently Hazelwood Pondage, a warm-water effluent pondage for the Hazelwood power station in the LaTrobe Valley contained self-sustaining populations of the South American convict cichlid (Archocentrus (Chichlasoma) nigrofasciatus), and the African cichlid spotted Tilapia (Tilapia mariae), first reported in 1980. Both species were still present during a survey in March 1994, along with carp, goldfish (Carassius auratus), Gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki), and the native short-finned eel (Anguilla australis) and Australian smelt (Retropinna semoni). In February 2000 two additional exotic species had become established: the South American blue acara (Aequidens pulcher) and a potential cross between African Lake Malawi cichlids Labeotropheus sp. and Pseudotropheus zebra(?). More recently in April 2001, the Central American Red Devil from Lake Nicaragua (Amphilophus (Cichlasoma) labiatus) was also discovered, with a breeding pair and nest observed, and young fish from earlier spawning also present. The last three species require final verification against published keys. Contact: Tarmo Raadik.


Also When i catch another one of these fish i will take a photo of it

 

[nmonks]

This is actually distressingly common.

Tropical fish of various kinds have been released legally and illegally all over the world. In some places, releases are deliberate, e.g., with mosquitofish to control malaria, and tilapia as food fish. At other times the releases have been by hobbyists and others who have fish they no longer want. Sometimes the releases are purely accidental, following floods or some other event whereby fish are washed out of their normal enclosures and into the wild.

In the wrong climatic zone such fish die quickly, but in the right place they can become established very quickly because of an absence of natural predators and/or competitors. In many cases, these "exotic" species become harmful, damaging the environment or outcompetiting the native fish. Carp, for example, churn up the substrate making water cloudy and less good for plants. This is bad for fish that need clear water to find food or utilise plants for food or whatever.

In theory at least the fish should be in excellent condition. Competition and predation will remove runts and sickly fish very quickly.

Hybridisation is, I would think, unlikely because the fish will have access to their own species.

I'd definitely collect a few of these fish and see what happens. Sounds a really interesting situation, and one I'd certainly like to hear more about.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[attitude_plus5]

Thanks for the information.
I will try to catch another one and i will hopefully be able to keep it as it is a very nice looking fish that has a purplely metalic blue to it with faint black stripes.

Also these fish have no problem with finding food as there is a little old lady that goes down to the pondage each day and throws in bacon (which is what we catch them with) and also corn and cichlid food as well.




also these fish have no natural predators because there isnt many native tropical fish in the part of australia that i live in.
My friend has been a fish freak for about 25 yearsand he said he has never seen one before so i gave it to him to study. he also said that it would be possible for these two fish to breed if they had the right conditions.
Also these fish are extremely aggresive and do not like people near the tank and are very found of attacking things (such as my hand) and also other fish.
Also there is another 3 other species that have not been identified as no published fish index closely resembles these fish and the red devils are no longer red the have turned into a yellow colour and they also are very aggresive.

 

[nmonks]

It's possible for lots of things to hybridise in the wild, they just don't. Tigers and lions are the classic example: both live in India, but for various reasons don't interbreed. But they will in captivity. In Europe, a lot of cyprinids (like roach, dace, bream, etc.) will hybridise from time to time, but they don't seem to do it often enough for the species to blend into one another to any great extent. For one thing, species "speak" different languages, so their breeding behaviour tends to work better with their own species, particularly with things like choosing a mate or organising defence of offspring. Hybrids also tend to suffer from reduced fertility, so even when they happen, they have little or no net effect on the species.

Another interesting thing with wild offspring of domesticated fish is that they quickly revert to their ancestral behaviour and colours. Not individuals, but down the generations. Gold goldfish always have a proportion of offspring that are not gold buy green. With each generation in the wild, the green goldfish do better because predators can't find them so easily, and hence eventually a population of wild goldfish is invariably green, much like ordinary carp.

I'd imagine this will happen to your red devils too, and they'll drift away from colours favoured by aquarists closer to their natural colours (which I believe are yellowish or silvery green).

Predators need not be fish. Could be birds, cats, rats, frogs, snakes, etc. Remember also that predation occurs on the fry, too, in which case beetles, dragonfly larvae, leeches, etc., will be equally important.

Anyway, sounds a fascinating things to explore. Is the pond isolated from the other rivers and lakes? Is the local climate tropical or temperate? Please do post some pictures some time!

Cheers,

Neale

 

[attitude_plus5]

hi the hazelwood pondage is not fed or conected to any river or any other body of water. It is a man made structure of water and its sole purpose is to cool the machines and other things at the hazelwood power plant.
this water stays at a constant temp of around 27 and 30 degrees celcius the carp do not thrive as much as the other fish (spotted tilapia) and (red devils) the convict cichlids are also a very abundant fish.
Rarer fish such as the angel fish are harder to catch but they are still in there.
These fish were released in hazelwood on purpose because not many other fish would survive in that warm of water.
there is no Australian tropical fish in the area because it is not a warm climate here all the time unlike the top half of australia. These fish are really having no trouble breeding.