Help! Am I crazy?

Heh. I just saw a post on the Kingsnake.com forums from a guy who found coquis at his nursery in CA (he said the place gets plant shipments from HI); he took one home and wants to know how he can get more. I told him to contact his DNR, but I kind of doubt he'll do it. They might confiscate his pet, after all.

Why do posters keep keep saying that predators will clean them up because of their bright coloration? This trait is an evolutionary advantage in some way. Look at neon and cardinal tetras, marine fishes, etc., etc. Are there no predators in their native waters? The WCMM appear to be thriving, not just surviving, in this ditch.

Well, since you brought it up, do you know where Neons live? No, they don't have much in the way of predators to worry about in their native home, but I think we all know what happens to neons when any larger fish spots them. Reef fishes have colorful surroundings and nooks and crannies aplenty to dive into at the first sign of trouble. Fish get bright colors where they can afford to have them. Our own natives tend to only sport their best colors at spawning time when they really need them.
On yet another note, our native shiners are accustomed to swimming in the way they do, and are strong, fast swimmers handily able to avoid being eaten. WhiteClouds? Not so much. They're sitting ducks in comparison.

One picture. We've seen one picture of some whiteclouds of different ages, and from that you assume they're thriving. Heck, I could drop a few big fat guppies into a creek and a few weeks later it would look like they've completely taken over the place. That doesn't mean anything, as we know they'll all be gone soon enough. If a bunch of whiteclouds spawned in a ditch, which apparently happened, it's still no proof that they are established and thriving in this ditch. It only means that some well fed adults wound up in this ditch and spawned a few times within a few weeks of each other. If we still see some of those fish next spring, and they are in turn spawning, then things really are as bad as they seem. Until then, though, it's just assumptive guesswork.

I don't know why I'm being so hardheaded about this. I'm certainly in agreement that they have to be swiftly and completely removed immediately. I guess I just think it's silly to be having such a fit about something that's either easily remedied or already too late to remedy at all, and the last thing we need is for some of the fanatical attitudes and verbiage displayed in this thread to be reaching the ears of people with too much power to do far too much about it. We're NANFA. If NANFA says that something is horribly, terribly wrong and we have to call out the national guard immediately before the whole watershed is doomed, then some politician who doesn't know any better just might believe us, since we're the experts, after all, and then who knows what he might do in response?
For crying out loud, people, CHILL OUT, already! Gather up some guys and go nab them and be done with it. Sheesh. If the problem is too big to handle that way, which is an issue still very much in doubt, THEN we can panic.

I have contacted a biologist at Georgia DNR and was told that he would possibly check it out on Friday. I will give him a call next week and see what he says.

Hopefully this will allow us all to rest easy tonight...

I have contacted a biologist at Georgia DNR and was told that he would possibly check it out on Friday. I will give him a call next week and see what he says.

Hopefully this will allow us all to rest easy tonight...

Thank god! I couldn't sleep last night!

All kidding aside, thanks for talking with the DNR. If they need assistance, there are folks that are willing to help so please relay that.

It sounds like at least three of us have contacted someone at GA DNR. Hopefully this will convince them to take a serious look into this. Since the locality data is presently unavailable to NANFA, perhaps it will be made available to DNR.

Mysteryman is right, we only have one picture to go on. Unfortunately, that picture is not at all encouraging. In light of this, the most calm, rational, and responsible decision is to locate and eradicate the population as quickly as possible. Mysteryman, since we are both from Alabama, we should carpool to Augusta as soon as this locality data is released.

Mysteryman, since we are both from Alabama, we should carpool to Augusta as soon as this locality data is released.

Okay guys, I think this has gone on long enough. The GA DNR has been notified and augustaranger has removed as many fish as he can. This situation is as much under control as it can be at the moment. Talk of heading down to his neighborhood to look for these fish is a bit creepy. I don't see the need for him to give out the location of the site since it has already been reported to the authorities.

I also want to agree with Teleost when he stated earlier that not everyone is on line all day every day hitting refesh and waiting for a response. The constant pestering and questioning of augustaranger is no way to treat a prospective member that came on the site for a little guidance.

Augustaranger, I am sorry if I sounded creepy. I am glad you were willing to share this experience on the forum. As I communicated earlier in our pm, I am willing to help remove these fish at any time, just drop me a line (kwksand@yahoo.com).

This situation demonstrates the critical role that NANFA plays, mediating between the general public and professionals. Without this public forum, a very long time may have passed before the WCMM situation was brought to the attention of the right people. It is good to know that the situation is now under control.

I spoke with the DNR biologist again today. He visited the site on Tuesday and collected several fish. He told me that he has forwarded them to another DNR facility for further study. I will contact him again in a couple of weeks for another update. I will keep you guys posted...

Since this old thread was brought up again I wonder if there any progress since January? Is there any attempt at studying this population and any actual impact on other fishes in that ditch?

bump

bump

Well this was a long thread and a good cause
bu I must say I also would like the read the end result.
and I agree they are real nice looking little minnows.
I could find space a few.

The original poster hasn't been on here since April, so I wouldn't expect a response...

The WCMM collection was reported to the USGS Nonindigenous Fishes Database:

http://nas.er.usgs.g...ecimenID=256031