Basically, at one point, Hawaii, like every other pacific island, had a unique ecosystem consisting of native birds, insects, snails, and a native bat. The first Hawaiians came and introduced pigs, rats, and dogs to the islands and hunted many of the larger birds to extinction. Whaling ships stopped by hawaii to replace their water, and the water they dumped usually had Mosquito larvae that carried avian malaria. Loads of the native birds were wiped and they had to retreat to above the threshold for mosquitos. More invasives, sucha s the Mongoose and the Cane toad, appeared and began eating the seabirds. The logical conclusion for the government was of course to ban every creature NOT in the islands after letting almost every possible horrible invasive species in. Thus, we have a state where housecats that kill birds are fine, but keeping a herbivorous lizard or a hamster isn't. I'm not even sure WHY bichirs are illegal, the only native freshwater fish have been almost completely wiped by Tilapia and the ones that are left live high in fast moving streams which Bichirs hate. Besides, we already have snakeheads._JNavs_ wrote:Gawdziller1954 wrote: Eyup. Laws here are basically "IF IT BREATHES, IT IS A THOT." The friggin zoo is only allowed to have 2 (!!!) non venomous snakes in their possession.THIS>https://hdoa.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uplo ... AR-71P.pdf is a comprehensive list of illegal wildlife. Make sure you read EVERY SPECIES apart from the birds to let the insanity sink in.
My family member was living elsewhere a long time ago when he kept the Lungfish and such, and he says that the climate here is much more conducive for such a large tropical fish.
I knew a dude who apparently pulled a Bichir out of a fishing lake out here. He thought it was a weird snakehead (We have snakeheads up here that were introduced in the 1900's by chinese field workers) until he was reading up on aquarium fish and stumbled across the Senegal Bichir. He also saw what he thought was a gar in that lake, and seeing as there were reports of a "crocodile" there for a while I'd say there may be truth to that. I wouldn't be surprised if someone smuggled something in like that, as both fish can breathe air and every now and then animal control gets called out for an Opossum or Boa constrictor. If Bichirs are here, I don't think its a breeding pop tho, and if it is their eggs are probably eaten voraciously by Tilapia. Same with gar.
I already have a Fire Eel! He lives in one of my troughs and performs population control on the tadpoles and livebearers, like the ID's do in my other one (Though he won't grow as large as them). He's around 15 inches long RN and lives in the substrate behind my lily pot. They prefer livefood/soft organic meats to pellets ja?
My Pet Store usually has juvenile Silvers for good prices. The Jardini is a close relative of the Asian Dragonfish and thus resembles it greatly:(This is a Jardini, obviously not mine). I HAVE seen a Jardini on second thought-not for sale. Since Asian Dragonfish are illegal for sale in the US apparently, Asian restaurants usually use Jardini's in their stead to bring good luck like the Dragonfish is supposed to.
I'd say Hawaii would be perfect for reptiles and fish alike due to the constantly good weather, so it's a bit odd to see them be so strict. Fire Eels are so cool to just watch swim around, you should post a pic of him! 15 inches is a pretty nice size, and the fact that he has a solid food source with the Tadpoles means he's in a pretty good spot! I believe they do prefer live food/organic over pellets.
Definitely jump on that Silver Arow once you have everything set up though! I'd love to see some pics of your tanks!
He usually doesn't swim around, The only indication I get he's still in there is a long yellow nose poking out of the mud or the odd tadpole suddenly being pulled beneath the mud. He's like an aquatic graboid. Pepe and Mrs. Pepe breed really often due to the warm winter here so there are loads of tadpoles all the time.
I don't really have tanks, I have 200-220 gallon ag troughs with plants and fish in them. They work fine but they aren't aquariums.
___________________________
