Goldfish In A Natural Lake

[JamieBailie]

Hey everyone,

I was out today fishing at my favourite spot, I was fishing for course fish such as Roach, Perch, Rudd etc.
Basicaly I seen an orange fish around 5 inches long that looked like goldfish you get at the LFS. For a second I couldnt believe what I was seeing as I have fished at this lake for 12+ years and never seen a goldfish.

I think it's obvious someone has put the goldfish in the lake for whatever reason, But I was wondering if it's possible for common goldfish to live in natural lakes or even breed!

I understand goldfish are close relations of various course fish so.. Why not? It would be cool if anyone had any info/pics of goldfish living in lakes.

Oh, I forgot to say this is not a pond im talking about, Its a huge lake.

 

[helterskelter]

Yes they can populate lakes but perch will eat fry and small fish and pike will eat the adults!!!!! so their not last to long.

If there are wild crucian carp though gold fish may cross and affect them instead of keeping as they should be.

Gold fish only thrive where their no preadtors as they stand out and make an easy lunch.

 

[kewskills]

yeah where i live there are lakes where these are stocked deliberatly they seem to fair OK, however there are no predators like pike zander and perch in this lake

 

[Midnight Rose]

There was study done at my university about pet goldfish being released into lakes. The goldfish that survive develop wild colouring over the generations, obviously the orange ones are nice an visable to predators!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Goldfish will survive in the wild and breed very easily, they aren't good for the native natural ecosystems, but often there isn't a great deal you can do remove them from wild habitats once they are in there. The main thing is to educate people and tell them not to release their domesticated fish into the wild- one of the worst things that can happen is when a domesticated fish is released into the wild and it is carrying diseases that the wild fish have never encountered before and have little or no immunity against and they all get wiped out.
However on the plus side, although goldfish aren't good in the wild, they are not generally as devasting over here as they are in places like Australia, where the wild native ecosystems tend to be very fragile.

 

[afishdude]

lol i have caught an easy 10 goldfish in my life (i am 16) from ponds