Strange fish showing up in Louisiana

do you think allot of these strange fish showing up in the south are do to Hurricane Katrina?
I am a hurricane survior and i must say only the bigger pets(e.g cat-dog) made it from our home.

Jaguar Guapote - Cichlasoma managuense
Picture courtesy of Prashant Seneviratne the youngster who caught the fish!
jaguar guapoteJaguar Guapote are native to Central America and is popular in the tropical fish aquarium market which is probably their route of introduction through released pets. The Jaguar Guapote is an aggressive, predatory fish that will feed apon smaller native species.

The fish pictured here was caught in a small lake within the city limits of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Another, unconfirmed and with no picture available, was caught in Lake Henderson to the West of Baton Rouge.

A nice healthy guapote, certainly a recent aquarium release. Katrina may well have set the stage for that release. One of my pet rabbits is a Katrina survivor, he was found in a flooded, abandoned apartment in Slidell, LA. He certainly wouldn't have survived being released; a guapote would have an edge in surviving in LA.

The correct name is now Parachromis managuensis. Beautiful fish, though that particular individual is pretty nasty looking. It wouldn't surprise me if they were in LA before Katrina occurred, nor would it surprise me if that one was released due to Katrina.

The correct name is now Parachromis managuensis. Beautiful fish, though that particular individual is pretty nasty looking. It wouldn't surprise me if they were in LA before Katrina occurred, nor would it surprise me if that one was released due to Katrina.

please allow me to try again, after the storm surge i'm sure there was thousands if not 10's of 1000's of fish free and loose in the water ways.
i would say for years to come we will see all kinds of fish from all over the globe in the water ways of the south.

I believe Hurricane Andrew was implicated in the presence of lionfish in coastal Florida. Let's hope the cichlids don't take off like the lionfish have...

I used to keep a pair of managuense. Mean mothers for sure. The male eventually killed the female.

I would be surprised if those fish survived year around in LA

Most certainly an aquarium release

Lots of fish shops sell those

The Florida population appears to be restricted by winter temperatures. Chances are they won't survive after a few winters in Louisiana, unless of course they find a nice warm power plant outflow

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Florida is swamped with exotics, but only as far north as the temperature allows. You'd think a nice huge swampy area like southern Louisiana would be a haven for all sorts of hurricane refugee fish, but it can get pretty cold there in what passes for winter. Still, I suppose some might survive. Let's hope that the sheer amount of pollution also dumped into the floodwater got rid of most of the exotics before they got very far.

Hmmm... there were a LOT of aquarium stores in New Orleans, and a lot of them got flooded. Tony is right; tens of thousands of fishes may have escaped. With any luck, the looters didn't smash too many of their doors down, thusly leaving most of those fish trapped in the buildings.

EDIT: HA! I just thought of something. Maybe next time ( and there WILL be a next time ) the store owners can put up signs saying "Warning! Dangerous critters swimming loose inside. Don't open this door! "

Edited by Mysteryman, 30 January 2009 - 10:00 AM.