# General > Member's Lounge > Nature and Conservation >  Non-native reservoir fishes in Singapore

## Stuporman

http://www.worldscinet.com/cosmos/06...710000504.html

See what rubbish exists in our reservoirs.

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## Kiatster

Have to pay to see the whole article. $25!

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## tcg170980

thats very normal.. people keep exotic pets when outgrown home habitats will released to the natur parks.

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## felix_fx2

> thats very normal.. people keep exotic pets when outgrown home habitats will released to the natur parks.


With folks having a mindset like you. There is no wonder Ava laws are so strict.

Do not try to encourage other fourm member to do in such a way.

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## icefire

> thats very normal.. people keep exotic pets when outgrown home habitats will released to the natur parks.


bro.... responsible pet owners will not do that... its like throwing a living in singapore person who has no experience of other habitat into a desert.. 

and.... 

Satanoperca jurupari???? got this meh?????????? *eyes brimming with hope* hehehee...  :Evil:  who knows maybe we will see white tree frogs or others in the future if such irresponsible people buys pets due to impulse...
 :Exasperated:

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## Trichopsis

Long rant ahead...

Releasing unwanted fishes into the reservoirs is ultimately irresponsible, and on par with dumping your pet dog or cat on the streets. Sure, fishes are more likely to survive, but there's no knowing how they can affect our aquatic environments. Remember a time before people started releasing peacock bass and eartheaters into every other lake and reservoir for fishing? Or some of you might not realise that guppies don't actually belong in our forest streams, where they might compete with our native barbs and rasboras, or even spread diseases that they've picked up from captivity. Threadfin acara (_Acarichthys heckelii_) have been recorded in Nee Soon swamp forest, the last refuge for many of our endangered aquatic species, and god forbid that they get overrun by even more invasive species.

It seems like the American bullfrogs aren already popping up in all sorts of places, thanks to people who think that they're doing good while oblivious to the ecological damage. No idea if the American bullfrogs have started breeding locally, but I think it's probably only a matter of time. Counting on the herons, snakeheads and monitor lizards to eat them before they wreak any more havoc!

And someone has already found escaped/abandoned White's tree frog...

All you need is some irresponsible person dumping his unwanted monster fish into a reservoir, prompting calls for tighter regulations and bans on certain species. I won't be surprised if there are already arapaima lurking in some water bodies. We already have South American stingrays and alligator gar; I seriously hope no one dumps his electric eels or electric catfish in the nearest reservoir!

Having said that, I do concede that introduced species aren't necessarily all bad. Lakes (i.e. reservoirs) are an artificial environment that did not exist in Singapore in the past, when most of our freshwater habitats would have been forest streams, maybe rice paddies and associated marshes and aquaculture ponds around the traditional villages when people settled here. And those species that inhabit the reservoirs tend to prefer the sunlit, neutral to alkaline waters there. Some species do have the potential of invading the forest streams, but even if all the tilapia, plecos, carp and guppies vanished tomorrow, the reservoirs wouldn't be colonised by the forest stream fishes. In the meantime, they are part of a new ecosystem that existed here only since the 19th century, and help sustain predators like otters, birds of prey, and herons. But still, I'd rather that we avoid throwing in so many different species, especially those that stand a chance of invading our forest streams and wiping out what remains of our threatened native fishes, freshwater crabs, shrimps and other aquatic organisms.

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## xconnect.

i heard already got motoro in the reservoir.that is not good if touch wood people got stung ;(

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## felix_fx2

> i heard already got motoro in the reservoir.that is not good if touch wood people got stung ;(


Really? That must have been a very rich and irresponsible hobbyist.

If they given it back to the lfs or other hobbyist. They would have been much happier.

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## Trichopsis

Yup, we have motoro rays in Upper Seletar:




> *Stingrays breeding in Upper Seletar*
> 
> Non-native species with venomous sting likely released into reservoir by hobbyists
> Grace Chua, Straits Times 25 Mar 10;
> 
> IT IS official: Freshwater stingrays the size of dinner plates are breeding in at least one Singapore reservoir.
> 
> These barbed Motoro stingrays, native to South America, are lurking in the Upper Seletar Reservoir where sport fishing, kayaking and boat rides are allowed.
> 
> ...

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## beanysoh

Saw an angler caught a huge arrowana from the reservoir once. I believe more arrowanas will be released into the reservoir at the end of this dragon year when irresponsible hobbyists grew tired of them. Happened to flowerhorns in the past as well.

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## agong

Since the article can't be accessed by everyone (Need to pay $25). I've written down almost all the fish that was found (according to the article) in the reservoirs of Singapore.

Fishes found:
1. Ocellate river stingray
2. Alligator gar
3. Clown knife fish
4. Bronze featherback
5. Silver arowana
6. Asian arowana, dragon fish
7. Clown loach
8. Red-tailed tinfoil barb
9. Tinfoil barb
10. Goldfish
11. Common carp, koi
12. Sebarau
13. Bighead carp
14. Indian rohu
15. Jelawat
16. Bony-lipped barb
17. Blackline or Redtail rasbora
18. Tiger barb
19. Kelah
20. Red pacu
21. Baung
22. Pearl catfish
23. African walking catfish
24. Vermiculated sailfin catfish
25. Spotted sailfin catfish
26. Amazon sailfin catfish
27. Featherfin catfish
28. Redtail catfish
29. Western mosquito fish
30. Guppy
31. Mexican molly
32. Siamese glassfish
33. Giant snakehead/toman
34. Threadfin acara
35. Midas cichlid
36. Peacock Bass
37. Flowerhorn cichlid (Luohan!)
38. Mayan cichlid
39. Green chromide
40. Eartheater
41. Severum
42. Mozambique tilapia
43. Nile tilapia
44. Jaguar cichlid
45. Demon eartheater
46. Zebra tilapia
47. Redhead cichlid
48. Finescale tigerfish
49. Barcheek goby
50. Giant gouramy
51. Three-stripe gouramy
52. Zebra spiny eel

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## agong

Quite amazed by how some of the fish was there. It was obviously placed by irresponsible fish keepers. 

Among those fish listed, particularly interesting are: 
1. Ocellate river stingray
2. Alligator gar
5. Silver arowana
6. Asian arowana, dragon fish
28. Redtail catfish
33. Giant snakehead/toman
37. Flowerhorn cichlid (Luohan!)

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## Merviso

Some of our drains and rivers are full of Mayan cichlid...  :Razz:

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## Trichopsis

See this recent article:

http://poskod.sg/Posts/2012/5/11/Longkang-Encounters

*Longkang Encounters: Alien fish in our waterways.*

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They come from places like China, Africa and India. They slip quietly into the Singapore environment, taking to its vagaries and matching the lifestyle and ethics of their local counterparts. Here, the landscape is unforgiving and ever-changing, and only the fittest can prevail. These migrants are growing in number, changing the population demographic at an incredible pace –

– The population demographic of the fish in our canals, that is. In the lively and vibrant ecosystems of our longkangs (as canals are more commonly and colloquially known) and drains, the fish that dominate are not local or native, but alien species introduced in recent years from Latin America, Africa, India or China.


_

Follow the link to read the rest of the article.

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