South Africa's Wild Common Goldfish Photo's & Information
The
Common Goldfish is probably the most well know fish all over the world
and is a great pet fish to be kept in ponds, fish bowls and fish tanks.
The Goldfish have also become "wild" worldwide and in South Africa as
well where people have released their domesticated Goldfish when they
get too big or if they have too many into streams, dams and lakes.
Therefore the Common Goldfish are an invasive species although how
common they are in
South
African freshwater systems and what damage they do is not well
known, in fact there is not a lot of information about the wild Goldfish
of South Africa at all. However the Common Goldfish can grow to very
large sizes when it is released into dams... They grow to large sizes in
European countries and at the time of writing this the record was almost
3 kilograms... Imaging a 3 kilogram Goldfish! It just goes to show that
domesticated fish can adapt very well when released into wilder
environments.
As
the Common Goldfish is not considered an angling species, it is quite
hard to catch as only the larger specimens will take
baits presented for Carp and getting a Goldfish the size of the
world record is almost impossible in South Africa, but you never know
the amount of domesticated fish being released into freshwater
environments is increasing and they could start growing larger. But as
anglers and conservationists we want to prevent this from happening so
please if you are thinking about it, do not release your goldfish into a
dam, river, lake or stream. They are not supposed to be there an they
must be messing up the lifestyle of the other
freshwater fish
species somehow... Rather find an alternative home for the Goldfish
if you no longer wish to keep them.
If you ever happen to catch a wild South African Goldfish please email me the details, location, bait and a picture or two I would be really interested to see the areas where Goldfish are distributed in South Africa, so please contact me. Below are some pictures and images of very large pond Goldfish, these Goldfish are from a nursery in Pretoria called Fibre Features, who specialise in Koi, Goldfish and ponds and pumps.
 |
 |
 |
 |
