# Discussing Snakeheads



## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

I am sure this was a hot topic earlier this year when a snakehead was discovered in a Burnaby lake. Unfortunately, I was not a member of BCA at the time and would like to discuss it.

Do you think Snakeheads should be banned from entry in Canada? They are an aggressive species that can adapt almost anywhere and they can "crawl" on land and have been known to attack and eat land mammals while doing so! Small land mammals have no defence against them and Snakeheads are at the top of the food chain here, with no predators to attack them (other than us).That alone is a huge reason to ban them. The problem with banning them is that people will just smuggle them in! I also understand they are culturally important to Chinese.

Snakeheads are legal right now. They are being imported here every day. They breed like rabbits. There are undoubtedly thousands of them in here in BC aquariums right now.

I have no problem with people keeping them as pets. I do have a problem with people releasing them into the wild when they get too big, or their housing situations change, or whatever. 

Can you imagine what would happen to our salmon runs if a pregnant female got released into the fraser river? It would decimate it.

THEY SHOULD NOT BE RELEASED INTO OUR WATERS


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

#1 they have to be extremely large to breed, #2 they dont get pregnant they spawn like every other fish that is egg laying
#3 they are awesome and as far as im concerned the pitbull of fish tanks and have the same misconceptions as the dog #4 the only snakehead that can withstand our water temp is the NORTHERN snakehead and the rest would perish very quickly.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

ok a spawning female lol - semantics


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

They are an aggressive species that can adapt almost anywhere and they can "crawl" on land and have been known to attack and eat land mammals while doing so! Small land mammals have no defence against them and Snakeheads are at the top of the food chain here, with no predators to attack them―――― that is bs by the way they have the ability to breathe air but not travel over land, slip from one water way thats drying out to the next but CAN NOT hunt on land that is bogus and boo boo dont believe that horseness, 

if you watch river monsters the episode of the snakeheads he even goes over this portion of the snakehead myth and the scientist he is talking to disproves this because they do not have proper fin strengh to propel themselves forward on land they just flop around like a reg old fish...


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

There are videos on youtube.com of snakeheads flopping on land; i used the term crawling because there really isnt a term for what they do.

you can see them travelling on land using their bodies to propell themselves, gasping for air but not having a hard time breathing


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Do you think the Northern Snakehead should be banned because there is no way to stop stupid people from releasing them into the wild?


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

i believe those are the ones they sell at the chinese market, banned NO maybe a registration process same as super exotic snakes and such but not a ban.. dumb people are everywhere and they are breeding at an alarming rate lol, there are plenty of other things threatening canadas waterways besides the one snakehead in the lagoon, PEOPLE primarily


ThePhoenix said:


> Do you think the Northern Snakehead should be banned because there is no way to stop stupid people from releasing them into the wild?


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## bottles151 (Apr 21, 2010)

Where did you get this info?



ThePhoenix said:


> I am sure this was a hot topic earlier this year when a snakehead was discovered in a Burnaby lake. Unfortunately, I was not a member of BCA at the time and would like to discuss it.
> 
> Do you think Snakeheads should be banned from entry in Canada? Channa Argus is the only species that they have a reason to ban.They are an aggressive species that can adapt almost anywhere and they can "crawl" on land and have been known to attack and eat land mammals while doing so! Channa Argus is the only species that can survive our winters. There are many dwarf species. My Channa Harcourtbutleri max out around 6" and will not eat land mammals haha. Any snakehead that leaves the water to "crawl", is now vulnerable to birds, rodents, racoons, skunks, cats, dogs, turtles, etc.Small land mammals have no defence against them and Snakeheads are at the top of the food chain here, with no predators to attack them (other than us) I have 5 species of snakeheads right now that don't grow more than 12". They would have lots of predators..That alone is a huge reason to ban them. The problem with banning them is that people will just smuggle them in! I also understand they are culturally important to Chinese.
> 
> ...


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

ThePhoenix said:


> There are videos on youtube.com of snakeheads flopping on land; i used the term crawling because there really isnt a term for what they do.
> 
> you can see them travelling on land using their bodies to propell themselves, gasping for air but not having a hard time breathing


see they dont have the pectoral fin strength to propel forward much less hunt, and they are air breathers so of course there not struggling to breath they surface in your tank in the wild thats how they do , FYI so are electric eels but no controversy over them same thing


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

All that info was blasted over the media during the time that snakehead was found. If anything is wrong, I am sorry. I did not verify what I heard. Thats part of the reason I started this, I figured myths could be dispelled, and we could learn something about them.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

thats why you dont buy into the media bs


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

electric eels are not an invasive foreign fish lol. they exist around here I believe and you can see them at the vancouver aquarium, I belive they are a pacific ocean animal.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

ThePhoenix said:


> electric eels are not an invasive foreign fish lol. they exist around here I believe and you can see them at the vancouver aquarium, I belive they are a pacific ocean animal.


Do a bit of research first...

Channa don't hunt on land. They do not crawl on land. They can breath but they have no purpose destination of where they are heading on land. And they do not hunt land animal.
They only channa I can think of that might possibly live through our winter (that is if we are going to have a very warm one) is the northern channa.

Electric eel is not a native fish. It is from South America. Just because Vancouver Aquarium has it doesn't not make them a local fish. They cannot live in cold water.

Don't buy into whatever the news sent you. Do a bit of reading and judge to see what is real, what is not.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

*wrong* south american native fish very freshwater

haha charles beat me to it
i wasnt implying that electric eels are cold water capable btw i was using them as another air breather without the stigma of the snakehead


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

wow I had no idea! Thanks

I always thought they were salt water eels. After all, electricity travels faster through salt water than fresh water


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

nopers, there awesome if i didnt have kids i would rock an electric eel tank for sure , but the wife wont green light it , she is a glass half empty kinda gal lol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_eel


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

macframalama said:


> nopers, there awesome if i didnt have kids i would rock an electric eel tank for sure , but the wife wont green light it , she is a glass half empty kinda gal lol
> Electric eel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Very interesting


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## Lamplighter (Aug 3, 2012)

I think that ALL types of snake heads should be banned from Canada. These types of fish could be released in May and survive into September so they could wreck havoc for lets say four months.

I think that the lakes around here are too cold for this species no matter what the month, but there are ponds. Why should our indigenous pond life be interrupted by this species?


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

ahhhh lamplighter such a disappointment you and i agree on so many things how can you be so far skewed on this one....... for that matter midas cichlids should be banned then or jags, who wants to keep fish if you cant own anything exotic a swarm of guppies could do damage for that matter to an eco system... it all comes down to the stuîdity of the person owning it , i would have no issues and neither should any other responsible owner for a registration for the northern snakehead as a way of controlling who owns them or at least a record of who owns them similar to the reticulated pythons and such in the states


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

macframalama said:


> ahhhh lamplighter such a disappointment you and i agree on so many things how can you be so far skewed on this one....... for that matter midas cichlids should be banned then or jags, who wants to keep fish if you cant own anything exotic a swarm of guppies could do damage for that matter to an eco system... it all comes down to the stuîdity of the person owning it , i would have no issues and neither should any other responsible owner for a registration for the northern snakehead as a way of controlling who owns them or at least a record of who owns them similar to the reticulated pythons and such in the states


But how would you control breeding? Sure you know who owns one. are you going to DNA every one as well so if one is found in the wild here you do a dna test to figure out who the parents are and charge the owners? that would be so expensive to implement.


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## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

I think that any invasive species or possibly invasive species should be chipped or atleast registered. Irrisponsible people would think more than twice about letting one go in the wild if there were a way to trace it back to them carrying a heavy fine.

Sent from my SGH-T959D using Tapatalk 2


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

see a ban alternative, and responsible people should have any issue with that , i know i wouldnt care so long as the chip wasnt detrimental to the fishs lifestyle but a registration would be my first choice


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## Lamplighter (Aug 3, 2012)

macframalama said:


> ahhhh lamplighter such a disappointment you and i agree on so many things how can you be so far skewed on this one....... for that matter midas cichlids should be banned then or jags, who wants to keep fish if you cant own anything exotic a swarm of guppies could do damage for that matter to an eco system... it all comes down to the stuîdity of the person owning it , i would have no issues and neither should any other responsible owner for a registration for the northern snakehead as a way of controlling who owns them or at least a record of who owns them similar to the reticulated pythons and such in the states


I've read that releasing these fish into the wild is a Buddhist thing. If the species were kept in captivity I'd have no objection to their entry. However, some people are NUTS and totally irresponsible.

There are VENOMOUS snakes released in Northern Europe by individuals that smuggle them in. I guess they no longer want them.

But you're right any fish could disturb the eco system.

Perhaps, then, it's because I don't like the looks of snake heads. Their teeth look scary and I bet the large ones pack quite a bite.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

have you seen a adult dovii cichlid?, there is a reason the call them wolf cichlids , they got chompers buddy , anyways not the point , if you take away snakeheads its the begining of teh end as far as importing exotics

look at australia, there rules are no joke man we dont wanna end up like that at all


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Oh they pack a bite! Youtube them and see videos of them being fed


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

I really dont think exotics should be allowed. If that means I give up some of my fish, so be it. Id be down for it, to protect our native species.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

WHATTTTTTT DID YOU HIT YOUR HEAD THIS MORNING???????

boy you are crazy there are way scarier things than the *what if* of exotics being released happening to our water ways , hydro dams alone are f-ing up migration routes for spawning fish


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

ok, but I cant stop dams, and I can stop myslef from buying exotics if they become illegal. Thats all im saying. I am not trying to get them banned, just saying that I wouldnt be opposed if they did.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

look at your sig on the page would you rather have none of those because idiot people cant keep there stuff together. if we were allowed to keep natives i would keep them but WE CANT sucks i would way rather have a native tank but there ya go


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

I am not a hypocrite! I would give up my fish! if they became illegal i would hand them over!!! I love this hobby but I love my environment and local species MORE


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## Lamplighter (Aug 3, 2012)

macframalama said:


> have you seen a adult dovii cichlid?, there is a reason the call them wolf cichlids , they got chompers buddy , anyways not the point , if you take away snakeheads its the begining of teh end as far as importing exotics
> 
> look at australia, there rules are no joke man we dont wanna end up like that at all


 I acknowledge that I'm ignorant when it comes to many types of fish. The post here is about snake heads. Like our Department of Justice we have to deny entry on a case by case of the various species. I cut and pasted a long list on another thread and I must say that some of the banned fish seemed wrong to me. But who am I?

Australia has different temperate zones so they have to be on their toes insofar as the import of lifeforms go.


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## bottles151 (Apr 21, 2010)

If you want to ban invasive species, start with goldfish, carp, red eared slider turtles, etc. 
Out of the 30+ available channa, only 6 species that I can think of will reach 2'+....


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## AWW (Apr 22, 2010)

In my opinion banning animals is never the answer. Rules and regulations should be put into place. 

The way the government has gone about it is so stupid. 

Take red ear sliders for an example. Still allowed to be sold in pet stores. They out compete western painted turtles for food, and grow much larger. Sliders have taken over many turtle habitats. YET, they are still allowed to be sold. Western painted turtles are not allowed to be sold, because they are a native species, and we are seeing less and less of them BECAUSE of red ears. 

And for stupid banning, look at tortoises/turtle imports. Banned 20 years ago for fear of salmonella. I think we know how to deal with salmonella these days... maybe its time to review and change the laws?

Or, banning the sale of rabbits in north vancouver. I know there have been issues out at UBC with rabbits feeding off the gardens, but here we have too many coyotes for it to become a problem. 

Working in the pet industry really opens your eyes to how banning things really does not solve the problem at all. Rules and regulations should be in place instead. Inspections at owners expense etc.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

Lamplighter said:


> I acknowledge that I'm ignorant when it comes to many types of fish. The post here is about snake heads. Like our Department of Justice we have to deny entry on a case by case of the various species. I cut and pasted a long list on another thread and I must say that some of the banned fish seemed wrong to me. But who am I?
> 
> Australia has different temperate zones so they have to be on their toes insofar as the import of lifeforms go.


Sometimes they banned the fish not because the fish might survive here, disease that might transmitted to our native salmon is also a concern.

For example, a type of disease that discus can carry can also affect our salmon here in BC. That is why discus are in the 600 list that you need a permit to bring in end of the year.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

*spelling*

really...... weird is that why they are so pricey


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## Lamplighter (Aug 3, 2012)

charles said:


> For example, a type of disease that discus can carry can also affect our salmon here in BC. That is why discus are in the 600 list that you need a permit to bring in end of the year.


Well it's kind of late to shut the barn door when all the animals have escaped. Discus has been around here for a very long time. I don't know what the import versus locally bred ratio but discus are here to stay.

After reading this thread I've begun to realize that threats to the eco system go beyond a fish having sharp teeth.

I believe Zebra Danios were also on the list and that came as a big surprise to me.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

I think the CFIA also cares about the how to dispose the dead fish as well; not just live. They will not want you to throw a dead discus in our water system. Flushing it down the toilet (if it fits) is different as the water will be treated along the way.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

bottles151 said:


> If you want to ban invasive species, start with goldfish, carp, red eared slider turtles, etc.
> Out of the 30+ available channa, only 6 species that I can think of will reach 2'+....


I am curious, why goldfish? I have already heard that fisherman in the upper Fraser have been catching quite of bit of invasive carp.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

because goldfish are coldwater and could very very easily survive in our waters winter or summer, that and carp/carp family/goldfish are extreme eaters and would desimate any ecosystem they are introduced too


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

ThePhoenix said:


> I am curious, why goldfish? I have already heard that fisherman in the upper Fraser have been catching quite of bit of invasive carp.


the news again have spread the wrong information about the carp.

They are making the common carp like those invasive spiece like the big head or the silver crap which is causing big problem in the USA. Another prime example of filtering out the media and learn the information yourself before determine the truth.


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## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

As soon as I saw the pictures of the carp that were caught on the fraser, I said way to go media... Thats just a normal carp that have been here forever. Its not an invasive asian species. 

Sent from my SGH-T959D using Tapatalk 2


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

its all scare tactics, smoke and mirrors, i say baaaa humbug lmao the media sucks


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

you cant research every single fact they put out. But if you guys are saying the carp they are catching are fine, then I'll believe it.


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