I went to a LFS today for some live food, and was surprised to see three Paddlefish for sale in one of their tanks! I've always wanted to see one of these guys, (although I would have preferred to see them under different circumstances). I asked the owner if he knew how big they get and he said that if someone bought one and it outgrew their tank, they could always release it. When I told him people should never release a once captive fish, he looked at me like I had two heads, and dismissed the comment. There sure are a lot of misconceptions and foolishness out there in the aquarium industry!

I went to a LFS today for some live food, and was surprised to see three Paddlefish for sale in one of their tanks! I've always wanted to see one of these guys, (although I would have preferred to see them under different circumstances). I asked the owner if he knew how big they get and he said that if someone bought one and it outgrew their tank, they could always release it. When I told him people should never release a once captive fish, he looked at me like I had two heads, and dismissed the comment. There sure are a lot of misconceptions and foolishness out there in the aquarium industry!

Well that is just a wonderful way to start my morning....
I would suggest the next time you visit to give him a handful of information to get educated...

Are these captive raised fish or wild caught?

Most likely captive-raised; I don't know of any states that allow collection of juvenile paddlefish, and it would be prohibitively expensive in any case. I believe there are several paddlefish farms in the midwest.

Are these captive raised fish or wild caught?

The owner said he knows a guy who has a special permit to raise them. Something about caviar???

Yeah, they're a major source for lower-grade caviar. The Chinese are beginning to raise American paddlefish for that reason as well, since sturgeon stocks are declining and sturgeon are difficult to raise.

Yeah, they're a major source for lower-grade caviar. The Chinese are beginning to raise American paddlefish for that reason as well, since sturgeon stocks are declining and sturgeon are difficult to raise.

Don't the Chinese have a specis of Paddlefish in the Yangtze River?

Well, they did.

Well, they did.

What from the GIANT DAM?

It couldn't have helped, but the giant paddlefish was already on its way out. There may be a few individuals still ekeing out a living in the Yangtze somewhere, but the species is considered effectively extinct in the wild.

I don't see why they could not live in the Three Gorges Lake.

Most likely they were fished out

I don't see why they could not live in the Three Gorges Lake.

Most likely they were fished out

I think the situation in china was a little more complicated than simply living behind the dam. first the Chinese paddle fish is not a filter feeder like the American paddlefish is. It is or was a piscavore and it ranged the entire length of the river from the mouth to the shallow spawning grounds. The dam not only limited it's feeding areas it also silted over it's spawning grounds and cut any fish in the lower reaches of the river off from any possible upstream migration. Add overfishing of the paddlefish and over fishing of it's prey and you get an extinct fish.

The Paddlefish in China aren't that bad off. The Chinese government has invested millions of dollars to protecting it. It's being treated as a Chinese Water-Panda. They've even created a lake, specifically for the species. Illegal fishing is punished severely, and there is no longer a market for their eggs (highly unique and easy to spot), or their meat (distinct taste/smell), since turning in an illegal fisher/supplier is more rewarding than eating the fish. The last time a Paddlefish died at the hands of a fisher in China, it made national news because it was such a rare occurance. In the end, the fish was abandoned, and the luxury meat was given to the children at the orphans (no word on where the caviar went!). The truth is, China isn't the big-bad anti-environmental wolf you Americans (HOLY crap MY CATFISH JUST ATE MY THERMOMETER!!!!!) make us out to be. Sure we've got tons of problems, but the progress now is amazing. In no way am I a communist or anything, but it bugs me when people think that Chinese people don't care about nature. Maybe 30 years ago, when we were all starving to death, fish weren't the primary concern, but now, schoolchildren everywhere know about the endangered species. Pollution is still a problem (as it is in the USA by the way), but with harsher penalties on illegal dumping (Death for dumping!), factory owners (my family being one of them) have more incentives to keep it clean. In fact, even in the eighties, the government PAID factory owners money, if they filtered all their waste waters, and treated them, to make sure they were safe for the rivers, as well as human consumption. My family, which owns a large chemical plant, along with the local government, went out and cleaned up large parts of the city river (the largest one in the province). This just shows with a few billion people, a large filtration plant, and the threat of death/deportation, anything is possible. And I'm 16.

The Paddlefish in China aren't that bad off. The Chinese government has invested millions of dollars to protecting it. It's being treated as a Chinese Water-Panda. They've even created a lake, specifically for the species. Illegal fishing is punished severely, and there is no longer a market for their eggs (highly unique and easy to spot), or their meat (distinct taste/smell), since turning in an illegal fisher/supplier is more rewarding than eating the fish. The last time a Paddlefish died at the hands of a fisher in China, it made national news because it was such a rare occurance. In the end, the fish was abandoned, and the luxury meat was given to the children at the orphans (no word on where the caviar went!). The truth is, China isn't the big-bad anti-environmental wolf you Americans (HOLY crap MY CATFISH JUST ATE MY THERMOMETER!!!!!) make us out to be. Sure we've got tons of problems, but the progress now is amazing. In no way am I a communist or anything, but it bugs me when people think that Chinese people don't care about nature. Maybe 30 years ago, when we were all starving to death, fish weren't the primary concern, but now, schoolchildren everywhere know about the endangered species. Pollution is still a problem (as it is in the USA by the way), but with harsher penalties on illegal dumping (Death for dumping!), factory owners (my family being one of them) have more incentives to keep it clean. In fact, even in the eighties, the government PAID factory owners money, if they filtered all their waste waters, and treated them, to make sure they were safe for the rivers, as well as human consumption. My family, which owns a large chemical plant, along with the local government, went out and cleaned up large parts of the city river (the largest one in the province). This just shows with a few billion people, a large filtration plant, and the threat of death/deportation, anything is possible. And I'm 16.

The Chinese paddlefish hasn't been seen in several years, the paddlefish can no longer reach it's spawning ares due to two dams and the three gorges damn is silting up the paddlefishes only spawning grounds. no fish has been found in five years, and probably no hope of ever saving them. No juvenile Chinese paddlefish has been seen since 1995, No one says the Chinese are bad people, I'm sure they love their environment as much as anyone else does but the Chinese paddlefish is in deep trouble and probably functionally extinct. do you have any links to info about a "lake" with Chinese paddlefish in it? with it's spawning areas gone even if they do manage to breed it in captivity it is functionally extinct in the wild. .

http://freshwater-fi...nese_paddlefish

http://www.capachi.c...ion2006-1-7.pdf

http://news.softpedi...nct-61207.shtml

http://news.national...china-fish.html

Sorry ladies and gents but it's slipping into the near political realm and you know the rules. Let's get it back on track.

Sorry ladies and gents but it's gone political and you know the rules. It's not tolerated and there is some misinformation seepipng into the politics, which is even worse. Michael, thanks for the links but for the time being this thread needs to go on time out.

WHOOPS! I meant the Chinese Sturgeon! My bad.

WHOOPS! I meant the Chinese Sturgeon! My bad.

Amazing the amount of trouble you can get into when you don't use Latin names!

I went to a LFS today for some live food, and was surprised to see three Paddlefish for sale in one of their tanks! I've always wanted to see one of these guys, (although I would have preferred to see them under different circumstances). I asked the owner if he knew how big they get and he said that if someone bought one and it outgrew their tank, they could always release it. When I told him people should never release a once captive fish, he looked at me like I had two heads, and dismissed the comment. There sure are a lot of misconceptions and foolishness out there in the aquarium industry!

Why can't something like that ever come up for sale around here? I just set up a new 500 gallon swimming pool/pond and my vat of live daphnia is producing like crazy!