Apparently not. Walking catfish alone have decimated your natural ecology,
and from some of the studies I have seen nearly 40% of Florida's fauna is
introduced species.

An exaggeration if you are referring to fish that are released from the
aquarium hobby. the state has doen some releasing of their own for sport
fishing that makes up a large portion of that.

What right? I may have missed the Right to Keep Exotic Pets in the
Constitution.

Exactly!

Because of
what someone ELSE did? Why should I be punished for the acts of
others? Does that seem right?

Not right just nesesarry, I handle some illegle exotics from time to time but
they never leave my fish room alive and keep in touch with my state government
about it so they know what i am doing and why
..
Hi there, welcome to the real world. Does it seem "right" to you that a
natural ecology should be entirely usurped because you want to keep
plant/animal X? Are your rights more important than entire sections of the
ecosystem your region depends on?

Good answer! If everyone was resposible there would not need to be any
restrictive laws on anything.

Besides, there are very few exotics
doing well, compared to the number in the hobby, and natives in FL.

This is actually true to some extent but any exotic is one too many!

You are very obviously not aware of the problem with exotics in your state
if you think this is the case.

http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/waterman/apm/apm.htm , to start with.
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Galler.../WalkingCatfis
h.html is another.

Bottom line, I am responsible for MY
actions. YOU are responsible for YOUR actions. Let's keep it like that
okay? (or rather, get it back like that).

Yes, let's. So be responsible, and follow the law, which is backed by the
Fish and Game Dept who obviously know much more about the natural ecology
of the area.

As much as I respect the fish and game people they have a nasty habit of
introducing exotics on a much larger scale than any hobbiest with no better
results. Again i say any exotic is one too many.

You may not think you are releasing these animals or plants in the wild,
and yet you may be doing so inadvertently. You may be flushing invertebrate
or fish eggs with your water changes. You may also be releasing spores from
spore-breeding plants (example: duckweed).

I hope that when I flush it doesn't go directly into the natural waters but you
do have a good point. Since i have the resposibility i have to show i have
taken the proper precautions to insure these thing don't happen. the average
hobbiest either dosen't or can't. But then i am a liscensed aquaculture
facility.

The bottom line is that you have no "right" to make decisions regarding the
Florida ecosystem, nor do you have any "right" to own any kind of aquarium
fish or plant.

I have to agree again with this, totally reasonable. But restriction should be
based on reality not emotion.



remove nospam from e-mail to send to me, I grow trees in aquariums like bonsai.
I breed dwarf crayfish, great for planted community tanks. If you can get me a
shovelnose sturgeon fingerling (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) no wild caught
please, contact me