Monster-sized goldfish are taking over an Alberta city that now has to cull them by the thousands

National Post ^ | 09-27-2017 | Staff

[RegulatorCountry]

Maybe there are subspecies in different regions of the country with different feeding behaviors, but here nobody would touch catfish other than poor people and most often black poor people. Trash fish just like carp, that’s what I always heard, until farm-raised catfish started entering the market.

[al_c]

We made a pond in our yard years ago, and added those 50 cent tiny goldfish to it, and they did grow half a foot long. Those that made it. Lol.

They grow to their environment. Keep 'em in a small tank (where water gets dirty quicker), they won't get that big. Put 'em in a lake where water is plentiful so that the gunk won't stunt the goldfish's growth, then they keep on growing.

[al_c]

Officials say the aquatic invaders are the result of goldfish reproducing after people released their unwanted pets into the wild or flushed them down the toilet.

Why do people do this? Releasing pets into the wild is never a good idea. For another example, look at the python issue in Florida.

[jonno]

Great story.

[al_c]

It is my understanding that a lot of those “fish tank” fish will grow as big as their environment allows.

That's mostly due to water quality. Low quality stunts the growth. Fish never stop growing until they die. Kept in good water, a fish will continue to grow.

[qam1]

Goldfish (and all carp) release a hormone (I think it’s a progesterone) that in high concentrations acts as a growth inhibitor & birth control.

This is why goldfish in a 10 gallon tank will stay small, but if you take them and put them in a 100 gallon tank they will all of a sudden get huge and the best way to get goldfish to breed is to do lots of water changes.

[eastforker]

Personally I wouldn’t give a plug nickle for any farm raised catfish. Knowing how to clean a catfish, what to keep and what to throw away makes all the difference in the taste. never keep any of the belly flap beneath the rib cage and it is a must to fillet out the blood line down the middle of the fillet. When I do a fish fry using catfish, everyone is amazed at how good it is.

[right way right]

My wife would feed goldfish (feeders) to her Arrowana
One did not get eaten (mystery as to why) it grew and was about 4 inches long and started growing a huge tumor.
The fish lived about five years more, grew to about 10 inches and the tumor grew to about 5 inches in diameter on it's back over that time. She had it in a 50 gallon aquarium for the five years. She loves her ‘critters’.
I question her sanity.

[Snickering Hound]

[Kommodor]

I think Ted Kennedy already tested the other part of that theory...

:)

[Rio]

[Buckeye McFrog]

Tonight's Feature on Monster Chiller Horror Theater is The Giant Man-Eating Goldfish That Destroyed Edmonton.

[BitWielder1]

The old fisherman's trick of holding up the fish close to the camera.
How to tell the lie: Compare the size of the fingers with the size of the human's nostril.

[Seruzawa]

Sounds like the title of a Roger Corman movie.

[bgill]

Officials say the aquatic invaders are the result of goldfish reproducing after people released their unwanted pets into the wild or flushed them down the toilet.

Because toilets flow straight to the ocean. Wait! What? They don't?!? My toilet is about 50 feet from the rive but with regulations, it has to be pumped up hill, across the street, down the block, around the corner, across that street and into a tank on several lots I had to buy to be in compliance with the laws governing waste. No fish could survive that. I'm sure city sewer systems are even more hazardous to flushed pets.

[GreenLanternCorps]

"When you feed a fish, never feed him a lot. So much and no more! Never more than a spot."

[dfwgator]

Paging Kevin Kline...

[JimRed]

So, how do they taste?

Depending on their environment, probably like carp. IIRC, they are a variety of carp.

[blueunicorn6]

This is from all of that nuclear testing they did in Edmonton.

[Red Badger]

None of these have three eyes...................