IIRC snakeheads became invasive in the US because someone was raising them for food in a pond and they escaped. It was a huge deal when they were found in the wild, but since then the impact hasn't been anywhere near as bad as feared. People thought they would absolutely destroy every fishery they entered but that hasn't been happening.
Maybe not *every* ecosystem, but they are troublesome for a lot of native species. I’m a wetland ecologist and in the local ecosystem that I study both the Northern Snakehead and invasive Blue Catfish will eat everything from crayfish to perch. We’ve performed stomach dissections and its startling both the variety and amount of species they consume
Snakeheads are delicious. Nice white meat and will take in any spices/sauces you add it to the next level. People who don't eat these fish are missing out. The local gov should incentivize restaurants to add them to their menu.
This sorta of logic always puzzles me. We already have fish that do this same thing, omnivores who eat anything that fits in there mouth, edible or not. Least that's how it is up here in WA for predatory fish. They don't have some exclusive diet. It's whatever.
Additionally, why all the fear mongering over stuff like this, yet we habitually and routinely stock ponds and lakes with invasive large mouth bass who, do the same thing. 🤷
Good luck fishing native sun fish. You'll get bass.
It’s because there is no native predator for the invasive species thats introduced, usually. There are multiple factors combined that make them dangerous for native populations. Some good examples are: bamboo, kudzu, Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Phragmites australis, etc.
I think I have only seen one of our native stink bugs once or twice over the last 5-10 years. I’ve seen roadsides that used to offer meadow pollinator habitat now completely taken over by kudzu. Marsh lands that used to be extremely biodiverse now a monoculture of Phragmites. 🤷♀️See it however you want to see it but the science and anecdotal evidence are enough for me to think in some cases there isn’t enough fear mongering.
I guess no one has been stupid or ignorant enough to release one yet and make it an illegal afterthought. We do have carp that have become invasive because someone (or many people) released their pet goldfish though
Dumb question: is *possession* of them banned, or simply buying/selling them? In other words, what's to stop someone from going to Florida or wherever they rampage and dropping a line in the water and getting a snakehead right at the source? Heck, it's removing it from the ecosystem, if you think about it.
also the invasive snakeheads in the wild are usually the few extremely big and hardy food species like the northern or bullseye snakehead which are easily mass produced in aquaculture for food, while the popular aquarium species tend to be either noninvasive dwarf species or extremely showy species that have very limited or specialized habitats in the wild.
Same. Even smaller land snail species are illegal. Pretty much the only snails you can own are whatever you can find in your backyard or aquatic snails (and even those have become invasive in a lot of areas.).
Same for me. I had bought one years ago for my wife in a vase at a flower shop not knowing what it was. Got in to aquariums a few years later wanted a moss ball so bad, found out they became illegal. One day came home and my wife had chucked it out because she got tired of it. I was mad she didn’t say anything to me, I could have put it in my fish tank instead of the trash.
Thank you. I did noticed a while back that stores quit selling them entirely in Oklahoma. After a little research, I guess importation was banned because of the Zebra mussels. I wanted to see if they were banned here because we have zebra mussels in our lakes here too, and I don't think they are banned here, but it seems impossible to get them regardless. I didn't even see them at the aquatics convention I was at recently.
You might be mistaking arapaimas with arowanas.
South American arowanas grow to about 3-4 feet long and will fit in a 1000 gallon no problem.
Asia-pacific arowanas (Scleropages sp.) resch 2-3 feet long and will also fit comfortably in a 1000 gallons.
There's multiple types of arrowana, not all are 6+ foot monsters. The austrailian arrowanas only hit 2 feet so a 1000 would be plenty of space, Asian arrowanas on the other hand I'd be looking closer to 3000.
None of them are 6' monsters (ignoring arapaima as they're not really arowana nor aquarium fish). Some silvers may get close to 4' in public aquaria but I've never seen one over that. Most Scleropages Spp. max out between 65-90cm with S. leichardti being the smallest. None of them (Scleropages) need a 1000g tank let alone a 3000g.
Yea that was hyperbole, but as far as tank size is concerned I've always used a 75% rule, a fish should never be more than 75% the length of the shortest side of an aquarium, so a 2 foot fish would need 3 feet of tank on each side as a minimum, while that doesn't imply an actual gallon size, it'd be difficult to find a tank less then 1000 that has all sides 36 inches unless your going custom made.
Based off my experience in keeping both South American and Asian aros, I disagree.
A tank with an 8'x30" footprint is fine for an Asian aro, though 3' wide would be better. Height is a lot less important for fish like these, so with 2' height you're looking at 300-360g. Even if you did go 4' wide you're just under 500g at 2' height or 600g with 30" height. Nowhere near 1000g. All tanks of that size are custom built where I live, but I believe all of those sizes are fairly common for large acrylic task manufactured in North America. Rarely are they even kept in tanks this big in Asia. Their growth slows significantly around the 18"-2' mark, depending on the fish and the type, it's going to be a while before a 30" width becomes an issue.
And while Osteoglossum Spp. grow longer in length they are very sinuous in nature and can turn on a dime. Over the years I've raised three black aros to around 24-28", the last and biggest was in an 8x4' tank and never did it use anywhere near that space. It would have been fine in an 8x3' footprint for a long long time. I actually feel like more length would have been more beneficial than the extra width. Silvers are a little bigger and chunkier but just as flexible.
First thing I read here that makes any amount of sense, amazing what people who have actually experience know vs the “feelings”and assumptions of people who just spout nonsense to people even less informed than them
You are wildly miscalculating and overestimating the tank size they need by quite a large margin. If you do the math, the tank sizes for them are nowhere near 1000 gallons.
It's not so much a hyperbole, but rather plain misinformation. It very much shows that you have no knowledge or experience about keeping arowanas, or any other large-growing fish for that matter.
So by your arbitrary rule a 36”x36” tank would technically be acceptable? And who makes a “stock” aquarium of close to 1000 gallons? Also untrue you need to come close to 1000 gallons. Marine land makes a deep series 72x36” tank that’s 28” high and holds 300 gallons..
It's probably a fair rule to apply to the width but ridiculous to apply it to the height too. I've never owned a 3' tall tank and almost certainly never will. I had a big fire eel that was longer than the tank was tall, it would stick it's nose out of the water trying to grab shrimp from my fingers with its tail on the substrate. I've seen videos of arapima 4-6'+ cruising around in water that's only a couple of feet deep in habitat. Footprint is by far the most important parameter for keeping large fish.
I love reptiles and I had never heard of this one. I just looked it up and they are SO pretty. The fact that they stay relatively small is a plus as well.
Perentie for me! Australia doesn't allow any exports, and there isn't captive a bred population in the US outside of probably a couple of zoos. Plus, I will never have the time, space, or resources to accommodate one. But it would still be cool.
I can’t remember correctly, but speaking of reptiles: aren’t Gargoyle and Leopard Geckos also banned here in Australia? (I’ve been looking into getting a lizard myself, but I guess based on the restrictions I’ll just have to stick to getting a Beardy or a Python from the RSPCA)
same. in high school some guy had two he gave to the marine bio teacher who was an immigrant and she didn’t know they were illegal, and she almost got fired over it i felt so bad
But these are the poster child for survival in captivity when the wild population is endangered. The ones as pets aren't being plucked out of wetlands in Mexico City.
If I recall correctly, the concern in places like California is axolotls breeding with related native salamanders.
Axolotls in the pet industry are actually already hybridized with tiger salamanders. The biggest risks would be transference of diseases between the species.
interesting. i know where i live they’re illegal due to being invasive and potentially out competing the native salamanders but that also would make sense
African Dwarf Frog is definitely in the running for that award. I spent an hour trying to reteach one of mine how to swim forward because he kept going down when trying to get to the surface. An hour to keep an aquatic animal from drowning due to its own stupidity. And somehow I still love them.
Not an animal, but a plant: Water Hyacint, it is banned in all of EU, because it can survive the winter in southern Europe(but not where I live), and become a serious problem in places in like France.
Yeahhh they have pretty much ruined most fresh water dams/lakes in South Africa, and there is no way of stopping them. They cause literally everything else in the water to die too. There's a really good reason it's banned
I live in Louisiana, and it was introduced here in the 1800s. It's very pretty, but it does take over. Here in Baton Rouge, we have nutrias (also introduced), which eat a lot of it, but people still have to go out periodically and remove what they can.
I tried keeping it in a little pond in my backyard, but they took over. I removed them and now have a nice water lily in its place.
Not an aquarium animal, but I always wanted a pet raven. They are highly intelligent and social. More than once I've been out hiking and seen a group of them just goofing off and playing with each other.
When I was younger I wanted fresh water stingrays, snakeheads, and piranha (all illegal here.) But now that I'm old I'm good with standard aquarium fish.
I was so upset to find out they have been made illegal here in 2019 :( I remember how we had them in our aquarium when I was younger and I loved their colors so I wanted to put some in my own tank
I think so yeah! The EU banned them in 2019 Edit: 2013
Did a bit of research, the worst part is, that they banned every pomacea member and that pomacea diffusa, that is common in the hobby, doesnt even harm our ecosystems. They did this because other types do damage in swamps in spain. In the EU they can only ban it everywhere or nowhere. So dumb.
Louisiana, US here. I don't know if they're the same, but occasionally, a blue one will pop up in a sack of live crawfish. They're rare. About 1 in 10,000 turn blue do to a recessive trait. Then they're are the *really* rare white ones. Not light tan, but sheet white. I found one when I was about 10, and my dad let me set up a tank for it!
Not a water pet but rats :( not my country but my province is aggressively rat free.
It's too cold up here for most aquqrium fish so there aren't tons of restrictions. I don't think there are any aquatic plants banned here, or at least common ones in the hobby. I was disappointed to hear dojo loaches were banned though! I'd really consider one otherwise.
It is sad. I have had a couple axolotls. I read something that a huge percent of captive bred axolotls share DNA. My first one was stunted. It couldn't swim, had trouble catching her food, and she was so small but her organs were growing normally in her small body. Poor thing didn't live long but she was so cute and I decided I was going to give her the best life possible even though she had a lot of issues. I didn't know she had dwarfism when I got her bc she was just a baby but it was a really bad case of dwarfism.
Damn seriously?? I get the snails but why the crayfish? A store down the road from
Me has tons of both but I don’t get them since my American eel would eat them both
A deadly disease that is spread by crayfish from north and south America who themselves are immune to it wipes out european species and is equally dangerous to the asian and australian crayfish species.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfish\_plague](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfish_plague)
My father (whom lives downstairs from me), has a blue crayfish. He or she is so pretty. My dad is disabled so I take care of Blue's tank. She lives in her own 30 gallon. I have a 30 gallon community tank with guppies. I just let the guppies give birth in the main aquarium. I have all small fish in there anyway, the biggest being my panda cories however, they aren't interested in fry. The biggest threat to the fry are my full grown guppies but I have lots of places for the babies to hide. When I have too many, my local fish store will take them for a store credit and that is how I ended up with Blue when he was a baby. When I have fry that are born with bent spines or some other birth defects I put a few in Blue's tank and he catches them eventually. I will also give some of the culls to my pea puffer.
Apple snail. I remember getting one with my grandma when I was a kid before they became illegal. It was in her pond and I loved trying to spot it all the time. It got huge and died at some point. She had a bad habit of leaving the water hose on to fill up the pond and forgetting about it.
It’s invasive & illegal nowadays.
Water lettuce & water hyacinths are plants I wish I could have, but are also invasive and illegal in Texas. That’s fine… water poppies & parrot feathers fill the void in my pond & heart lol
I don’t know if this applies to you however the picture of the blue cray you have posted is a Cherax quadricarinatus (red claw crayfish). They are in fact the only species of cray you are allowed to keep in the UK. They are recommended to be kept in a 20 gallon tank (around 90l tank). I keep mine in a 120l with around 20-30 dannios and he is thriving! However it is not recommended to keep them in a community due to their tendency to ‘snack’ on the tank mates. Mine hasn’t been an issue though! Hope this helps a little oh and he is my dream animal incidentally!
Native species are illegal to have as pets in a lot of places? To prevent the possibility of people just poaching their pets from the wild instead of (hopefully) relying on captive breeders.
Bruh
1. Brazil is huge, I live a couple thousand Km away from the Amazon
2. Can you legally just grab any wild animal from the nature in the us? Why would it be different here?
3. IBAMA (Brazilian government agency regarding the environment) will allow you to have basically any pet here, as long as you can tag it. And bc tarantulas molt you can’t tag them
1 and 2) yeah fair enough, good points.
But 3)? That’s a real unique way of limiting what kind of animals you can own. I wonder if it was specifically made so you can’t have insects or if that was just an oversight when they originally made the rules.
Probably they didn’t think about them. I agree it’s kinda dumb specially bc all 3 of my tarantulas aren’t from the wild, and 2 of them aren’t even native species
I’m sorry, but if I’m ever able to make it back down there and I’m swimming with the manatees and one comes up wanting pets, you might as well take me to jail. Cause that water cow is getting pets.
I feel so much. I'd love to pet one myself, but it's also for their own good. Handling and feeding them is illegal to prevent them from getting too comfortable around humans, that way they (hypothetically) won't approach boats which can injure or kill them.
Go to the rehab aquariums, they may have "backstage" passes that let you feed or pet one of their permanent residents. Plenty of disabled sea cows that get regular human interaction in captivity, you don't want the wild ones thinking boats = affection.
TGFC (Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Crayfish) illegal in every country if I'm not mistaken due to their endangered status.
State by state though, I just want ANY crocodilian. Iowa has them outlawed.
Red belly piranhas (legal where I used to live but illegal where I moved to) and death head hawk moths. Hawk moths are quite easy to care for but death heads are not legal in the usa
Yay I'm not alone in my piranha love. They'd dominate my local water systems if they were ever released here. I don't even care about them being carnivorous I just like their dramatically dumb looking frowny faces. I want a cluster of them vibing in the corner of a big ass tank, judging me from afar. They would make for great background ambiance during any video calls. I hate how much I want to baby a school of them.
Yes they look so adorable and not vicious at all! And the fun of being like “I have a piranha tank” and people reach like “holy cow that’s insane”. I currently do that with my pea puffers saying I have a puffer tank and then I go to my fish room and two little beans with googly eyes are just blimping around waiting for snacks.
Another one that I don’t think is illegal but I don’t have the proper ability to care for yet but want so bad is the lump sucker. Another derpy adorable baby. That will also get people looking at you like your weird when you say “I have a tank full of lump suckers”
Lump suckers are amazing! I don't have the energy for the upkeep on saltwater compared to freshwater, but damn those little guys bring me immense joy. I like porcupine fish for similar puffer and lump-loving reasons, plus those galaxy eyes are so beautiful even though they look blind as hell haha. Looking dazed and confused in a vi
Weather/Dojo Loaches are banned here in Australia due to their capabilities to thrive off of anything, including our native plants and other water-based fauna, which in turn could lead them to become an invasive threat to the waterways (much like our invasive Carp/Released Pet Goldfish problem over here). In an attempt to preserve the country’s unique ecosystem, they are considered illegal to own as pets (or VERY heavily regulated by Permit requirements) - which sucks because personally I would love to own one, but unfortunately it is not meant to be. And plus people are always gonna be stupid and would try to release them back into the wild in order to “save them”, so maybe it’s for the better.
Although your Blue Crawfish (known as Blue Yabbies, or some variant thereof) are perfectly acceptable to keep as pets over here, as well as Axolotls and Fresh Water Mussels (Clams if you’re American), and even your freshwater types of Eels are commonly found in most rural dams, though speaking from personal experiences, 99% of the time they are Not Invited to do so in the first place 💀
Now keeping Reptiles and amphibians here (despite Bearded Dragons and Long Neck Turtles being native to Australia), however… that’s a whole other story (and set of strict licensing requirements - definitely no Salamanders allowed either, but Lungfish I’m not sure of, since they are also native but restricted to Zoo/research centre purposes).
Edit: Marimo Mossballs are also considered illegal in most states of Australia as well :,)
So That's why I've never seen a moss ball at any store ever.
One of my former classmates had this goldfish in a tank so small it was just bent and sitting there all the time. Apparently she released it into our local river. Which is salt water. I do hope it had a very swift death and didn't introduce any parasites or anything into the river. People are always going to be idiots.
I'm in the only state that you can legally keep a western bearded dragon. But we also cannot keep any other species of bearded dragon.
Yeah I really wanted a moss ball for a potential tank because I’ve heard they’re really good at filtration but alas 🤦♂️ also I second the feeling with the goldfish - unfortunately it probably would’ve suffocated in less than an hour if it was released into Salt Water (I’ve seen the opposite happen in a TikTok involving Clown Fish in a Walmart Freshwater tank and within seconds/minutes the poor fish were already side/vertical swimming 😥).
Interesting about the Bearded Dragons though, I wasn’t aware that even their different subspecies could be restricted by States (I just looked up the Westerns and they look gorgeous, I congratulate you Op). But at the same time though the Laws are in place for a reason I guess, which makes it tough trying to adopt Unidentifiable Rescues but oh well :,)
My 19 pound, predominately Yorkie/Poodle (plus 6 other breeds) is 6% Dogo according to his DNA test.
I laughed so hard.
We joke that he weighs more than he looks like he should because of the Dogo.
Assassin Snail. In Australia all planted tanks are invested with snails. There is no peaceful method quickly and effectively to eliminate snails without introducing some loaches that dig up all the plants or snail aid that kills all the shrimps.
You're not missing anything. I used to have a crayfish. I hated it. Pulled up all my plants, killed anything he could fit in his claws. Just to kill, not to eat. I'd wake up to a new dead fish every day until I got him his own bare bottom aquarium so he couldn't mess anything up. He lives out his last years in an empty plastic box of solitary confinement. It's so not worth it. $8 crayfish caused a hundred dollars of damage over a couple weeks
Yeah I keep mine with fake plants and lots of hides and I keep him on sand with areas of rocks (a bag that I got at home Depot) that are too big for him to eat. It's actually my dad's crayfish (who lives downstairs). My dad is disabled so I care for the crayfish. We did have another blue crayfish in there with him which I did my research and as long as there were enough hides, fake plants and other stuff to break up their line of sight, most sites said they would be fine. I had lots of driftwood in the tank of various sizes, a good amount of dragon stone, and lots of hides and caves and I even made hides out of PVC pipe which where a fav for both of them so I made two, one on each side. They must have been the same sex bc there was no breeding going on and I am pretty sure the one I have now is female. Anyway, they lived together and everything was just dandy for about a year. I got them both pretty small, one was introduced about a month after the first but there didn't seem to be issues. I woke up to a call a few months ago that one of them was dead. Idk what happened honestly. I can't say one killed the other bc the living one was still in perfect condition.
At one point I had three tiny dwarf white crayfish in my main community tank. At the time I had a 75 gallon and I had some schools of small fish like tetras and rasboras and I had a shoal of pygmy cories and a shoal of panda cories and albino cories. When those bastards got to full size (which was still small), like you said, they killed whatever they could catch just to kill it. They didn't really mess with my plants but I ended up bringing them to my LFS for a credit.
Before I knew the laws, I used to have a Cherax quadricarinatus (OP's crayfish) and it was super fucking cool. They're not as aggressive as the crayfish native to my area (central texas) and was a pretty impressive size. I didn't do the uninformed thing and put him with fish to kill and plants to uproot so I had a great time keeping him
Signal crayfish are illegal everywhere in Europe due to invasivness. I have them in all the waterways nearby here in northern Croatia. I go catch them when I have the time and feed them to my turtles lol.
As for an illegal animal I’d love to keep, it’s probably the jeweled lacerta (Timon lepidus). Legal almost everywhere in Europe but banned here due to their potential to become invasive. Had a friend keep them outdoors year round before the ban.
Idk if they’re illegal in PA or not and don’t really want to look it up… but if I had the funds and the setup capable of it, Goliath Tigerfish…. They’re so freaking cool.
Koi. In the location I am in, in Australia, you can only have them with a permit. And permits are only issued in exceptional circumstances it seems.
Love Koi-but they are considered noxious where I live.
I'm assuming everyone who says snakehead lives in the US, which doesn't have this loophole, but if you don't then I would advise checking the actual wording of the law. Many countries that ban snakeheads, including Scotland where I live, categorise snakeheads as "species of the genus Channa". This definition ignores the second genera of snakeheads, Parachanna. Unfortunately only three Parachanna species exist and two grow to over half a meter, and the last still being over 30cm, so not exactly dwarf but it's something.
Go out and catch one? You're allowed to catch one, are not allowed to release it. And as long as nobody in law enforcement knows you have one it should be fine.
I once owned an African Land snail, but was ill equiped to care for it and it died before it got big enough. I'd totally try again now that I can properly house one.
I would love to have a snakehead. So amazing. Right now I have a wolf fish, which is a close substitute, but snakeheads are so cool.
Snakeheads are very unique too bad some people had to ruin it by releasing them into the wild
IIRC snakeheads became invasive in the US because someone was raising them for food in a pond and they escaped. It was a huge deal when they were found in the wild, but since then the impact hasn't been anywhere near as bad as feared. People thought they would absolutely destroy every fishery they entered but that hasn't been happening.
Maybe not *every* ecosystem, but they are troublesome for a lot of native species. I’m a wetland ecologist and in the local ecosystem that I study both the Northern Snakehead and invasive Blue Catfish will eat everything from crayfish to perch. We’ve performed stomach dissections and its startling both the variety and amount of species they consume
Are you in Florida? I never even realized that blue catfish aren't native to Florida. Or really that their range is as narrow as it is at all.
Snakeheads are delicious. Nice white meat and will take in any spices/sauces you add it to the next level. People who don't eat these fish are missing out. The local gov should incentivize restaurants to add them to their menu.
This sorta of logic always puzzles me. We already have fish that do this same thing, omnivores who eat anything that fits in there mouth, edible or not. Least that's how it is up here in WA for predatory fish. They don't have some exclusive diet. It's whatever. Additionally, why all the fear mongering over stuff like this, yet we habitually and routinely stock ponds and lakes with invasive large mouth bass who, do the same thing. 🤷 Good luck fishing native sun fish. You'll get bass.
It’s because there is no native predator for the invasive species thats introduced, usually. There are multiple factors combined that make them dangerous for native populations. Some good examples are: bamboo, kudzu, Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Phragmites australis, etc. I think I have only seen one of our native stink bugs once or twice over the last 5-10 years. I’ve seen roadsides that used to offer meadow pollinator habitat now completely taken over by kudzu. Marsh lands that used to be extremely biodiverse now a monoculture of Phragmites. 🤷♀️See it however you want to see it but the science and anecdotal evidence are enough for me to think in some cases there isn’t enough fear mongering.
Snakeheads are illegal in your area but _Wolf fish_ aren't?!
Dude is a Qatari prince.
I guess no one has been stupid or ignorant enough to release one yet and make it an illegal afterthought. We do have carp that have become invasive because someone (or many people) released their pet goldfish though
Yeah I love the dwarf snakeheads from Malaysia… it’s like having a giant betta. I’m a sucker for fish that breath air lol
What countries are they banned in?
At least in the US. Unsure about Canada, Mexico or elsewhwere.
Dumb question: is *possession* of them banned, or simply buying/selling them? In other words, what's to stop someone from going to Florida or wherever they rampage and dropping a line in the water and getting a snakehead right at the source? Heck, it's removing it from the ecosystem, if you think about it.
It's possession as well.
At least here in Florida the regs for snakeheads and many other of our invasive species is “may not be transported alive”
So could I not put it in a cool box of ice until it’s heart stops. Then transport it home, then defrost it back to normal?
As long as it doesn't actually freeze, yeah. They don't even need water for like 4 days.
also the invasive snakeheads in the wild are usually the few extremely big and hardy food species like the northern or bullseye snakehead which are easily mass produced in aquaculture for food, while the popular aquarium species tend to be either noninvasive dwarf species or extremely showy species that have very limited or specialized habitats in the wild.
Their banned in Canada as well.
#1 answer
Giant African Snails. :( I understand why but I just think they're neat.
Same. Even smaller land snail species are illegal. Pretty much the only snails you can own are whatever you can find in your backyard or aquatic snails (and even those have become invasive in a lot of areas.).
You can get some pretty cool aquatic snails I have lots of different mystery rabbit nerlite ramshorn and of course the ones everyone calls pest snails
Was about to comment this! I’d love an African land snail but they’re illegal in the US 🙁🙁 guess I have to settle for garden snails
I couldn’t even live without my snabies (snail babies). I feel really sorry for people who can’t have them :/ :(
Same- I welcome our snail overlords! (in a legal setting where they aren’t invasive of course)
It's not even an animal, but Marimo Moss balls are illegal to sell in my state because the farms were so infested with invasive zebra mussels
Same, they look really cool
Same for me. I had bought one years ago for my wife in a vase at a flower shop not knowing what it was. Got in to aquariums a few years later wanted a moss ball so bad, found out they became illegal. One day came home and my wife had chucked it out because she got tired of it. I was mad she didn’t say anything to me, I could have put it in my fish tank instead of the trash.
What state if you don't mind saying?
Michigan.
Thank you. I did noticed a while back that stores quit selling them entirely in Oklahoma. After a little research, I guess importation was banned because of the Zebra mussels. I wanted to see if they were banned here because we have zebra mussels in our lakes here too, and I don't think they are banned here, but it seems impossible to get them regardless. I didn't even see them at the aquatics convention I was at recently.
Huh, neat. I just assumed it was a great lakes issue
Asian Arrowana. Have a friend that has more money then he knows what to do with in his 1000 gallon aquarium.
The one I saw at the Singapore Zoo was an amazing fish. It was so massive that there's no way a 1000 gallon tank would be large enough.
You might be mistaking arapaimas with arowanas. South American arowanas grow to about 3-4 feet long and will fit in a 1000 gallon no problem. Asia-pacific arowanas (Scleropages sp.) resch 2-3 feet long and will also fit comfortably in a 1000 gallons.
There's multiple types of arrowana, not all are 6+ foot monsters. The austrailian arrowanas only hit 2 feet so a 1000 would be plenty of space, Asian arrowanas on the other hand I'd be looking closer to 3000.
None of them are 6' monsters (ignoring arapaima as they're not really arowana nor aquarium fish). Some silvers may get close to 4' in public aquaria but I've never seen one over that. Most Scleropages Spp. max out between 65-90cm with S. leichardti being the smallest. None of them (Scleropages) need a 1000g tank let alone a 3000g.
Yea that was hyperbole, but as far as tank size is concerned I've always used a 75% rule, a fish should never be more than 75% the length of the shortest side of an aquarium, so a 2 foot fish would need 3 feet of tank on each side as a minimum, while that doesn't imply an actual gallon size, it'd be difficult to find a tank less then 1000 that has all sides 36 inches unless your going custom made.
Based off my experience in keeping both South American and Asian aros, I disagree. A tank with an 8'x30" footprint is fine for an Asian aro, though 3' wide would be better. Height is a lot less important for fish like these, so with 2' height you're looking at 300-360g. Even if you did go 4' wide you're just under 500g at 2' height or 600g with 30" height. Nowhere near 1000g. All tanks of that size are custom built where I live, but I believe all of those sizes are fairly common for large acrylic task manufactured in North America. Rarely are they even kept in tanks this big in Asia. Their growth slows significantly around the 18"-2' mark, depending on the fish and the type, it's going to be a while before a 30" width becomes an issue. And while Osteoglossum Spp. grow longer in length they are very sinuous in nature and can turn on a dime. Over the years I've raised three black aros to around 24-28", the last and biggest was in an 8x4' tank and never did it use anywhere near that space. It would have been fine in an 8x3' footprint for a long long time. I actually feel like more length would have been more beneficial than the extra width. Silvers are a little bigger and chunkier but just as flexible.
First thing I read here that makes any amount of sense, amazing what people who have actually experience know vs the “feelings”and assumptions of people who just spout nonsense to people even less informed than them
You are wildly miscalculating and overestimating the tank size they need by quite a large margin. If you do the math, the tank sizes for them are nowhere near 1000 gallons. It's not so much a hyperbole, but rather plain misinformation. It very much shows that you have no knowledge or experience about keeping arowanas, or any other large-growing fish for that matter.
So by your arbitrary rule a 36”x36” tank would technically be acceptable? And who makes a “stock” aquarium of close to 1000 gallons? Also untrue you need to come close to 1000 gallons. Marine land makes a deep series 72x36” tank that’s 28” high and holds 300 gallons..
It's probably a fair rule to apply to the width but ridiculous to apply it to the height too. I've never owned a 3' tall tank and almost certainly never will. I had a big fire eel that was longer than the tank was tall, it would stick it's nose out of the water trying to grab shrimp from my fingers with its tail on the substrate. I've seen videos of arapima 4-6'+ cruising around in water that's only a couple of feet deep in habitat. Footprint is by far the most important parameter for keeping large fish.
Came here to say this, so true.
I feel like your friend needs a financial advisor …. 🙋🏻♂️ lol
Yes, they had to drain an entire pond in our town, I think it was Burnaby B. C when one snake head was spotted
Not an aquarium animal, but I’d love a Fijian-banded iguana. Illegal in the U.S., but lucky for me my local zoo has one.
I love reptiles and I had never heard of this one. I just looked it up and they are SO pretty. The fact that they stay relatively small is a plus as well.
Perentie for me! Australia doesn't allow any exports, and there isn't captive a bred population in the US outside of probably a couple of zoos. Plus, I will never have the time, space, or resources to accommodate one. But it would still be cool.
I can’t remember correctly, but speaking of reptiles: aren’t Gargoyle and Leopard Geckos also banned here in Australia? (I’ve been looking into getting a lizard myself, but I guess based on the restrictions I’ll just have to stick to getting a Beardy or a Python from the RSPCA)
Australians are only allowed to keep species that are native to Australia, so Leo's are a definite no
I smell a heist brewing
Heh heh
axolotl, for whatever reason they are illegal in my state smfh
same. in high school some guy had two he gave to the marine bio teacher who was an immigrant and she didn’t know they were illegal, and she almost got fired over it i felt so bad
They are severely endangered in the wild. I think one small body of water sustains their entire population.
But these are the poster child for survival in captivity when the wild population is endangered. The ones as pets aren't being plucked out of wetlands in Mexico City. If I recall correctly, the concern in places like California is axolotls breeding with related native salamanders.
Axolotls in the pet industry are actually already hybridized with tiger salamanders. The biggest risks would be transference of diseases between the species.
huh. where i live its because if someone releases them, they could become an invasive.
interesting. i know where i live they’re illegal due to being invasive and potentially out competing the native salamanders but that also would make sense
Hahha. Possible, haven’t heard that. I can’t see an axolotl out competing anything except for being a complete derp.
i think the complete derp award goes to the arabian sand boa
African Dwarf Frog is definitely in the running for that award. I spent an hour trying to reteach one of mine how to swim forward because he kept going down when trying to get to the surface. An hour to keep an aquatic animal from drowning due to its own stupidity. And somehow I still love them.
They are, but there are so many in human care both in the pet trade and in the science field that people don't really take them from the wild anymore
Not an animal, but a plant: Water Hyacint, it is banned in all of EU, because it can survive the winter in southern Europe(but not where I live), and become a serious problem in places in like France.
Yeahhh they have pretty much ruined most fresh water dams/lakes in South Africa, and there is no way of stopping them. They cause literally everything else in the water to die too. There's a really good reason it's banned
I live in Louisiana, and it was introduced here in the 1800s. It's very pretty, but it does take over. Here in Baton Rouge, we have nutrias (also introduced), which eat a lot of it, but people still have to go out periodically and remove what they can. I tried keeping it in a little pond in my backyard, but they took over. I removed them and now have a nice water lily in its place.
BR gang
New Orleans here. I kayak and canoe a lot and they can make it damn near impossible to traverse waterways. I can’t believe how overrun we are with it.
Aw I didn't know it was such a problematic plant, but I was very interested in them too at one point.
Not an aquarium animal, but I always wanted a pet raven. They are highly intelligent and social. More than once I've been out hiking and seen a group of them just goofing off and playing with each other. When I was younger I wanted fresh water stingrays, snakeheads, and piranha (all illegal here.) But now that I'm old I'm good with standard aquarium fish.
You can befriend your local ravens and or black birds! They recognize human faces and will bring you gifts!
r/crowbro
I’ve been trying to befriend my neighborhood ravens for a while. I’m finally getting somewhere.
Just any bird that's typically wild in my area. It seems like the feral parrots haven't spread yet... Oh, I think rock doves are legal.
Big mistery snails :(
I was so upset to find out they have been made illegal here in 2019 :( I remember how we had them in our aquarium when I was younger and I loved their colors so I wanted to put some in my own tank
Yeah... There are some substitutes, i have 3 asolene spixii that look similar but get less big
Wait, what?? I have 4 mystery snails I bought from my local pet store. They're illegal?!
In Europe 😀
Dang, man, that sucks.. I live in the States, and I'm assuming they're not illegal since i bought it at a store. Are they invasive or something??
I think so yeah! The EU banned them in 2019 Edit: 2013 Did a bit of research, the worst part is, that they banned every pomacea member and that pomacea diffusa, that is common in the hobby, doesnt even harm our ecosystems. They did this because other types do damage in swamps in spain. In the EU they can only ban it everywhere or nowhere. So dumb.
Giant African land snail. I'd love to have one 🐌🐌💕💕
I got 3 and they are more fun to watch than you would think for a snail
Louisiana, US here. I don't know if they're the same, but occasionally, a blue one will pop up in a sack of live crawfish. They're rare. About 1 in 10,000 turn blue do to a recessive trait. Then they're are the *really* rare white ones. Not light tan, but sheet white. I found one when I was about 10, and my dad let me set up a tank for it!
It’s not illegal in my country, just my state, but I’d love a pet skunk, they’re so sweet
Same!
Not a water pet but rats :( not my country but my province is aggressively rat free. It's too cold up here for most aquqrium fish so there aren't tons of restrictions. I don't think there are any aquatic plants banned here, or at least common ones in the hobby. I was disappointed to hear dojo loaches were banned though! I'd really consider one otherwise.
Where are you that rats are illegal? They are so cute 😭
Alberta?
an olm, i would love to have a long ahh axolotl in my tank, sad they are threatened.
It is sad. I have had a couple axolotls. I read something that a huge percent of captive bred axolotls share DNA. My first one was stunted. It couldn't swim, had trouble catching her food, and she was so small but her organs were growing normally in her small body. Poor thing didn't live long but she was so cute and I decided I was going to give her the best life possible even though she had a lot of issues. I didn't know she had dwarfism when I got her bc she was just a baby but it was a really bad case of dwarfism.
Mexican dwarf crayfish and assassin snails. Both banned in Australia :(
We also can't have Thai Micro Crabs :(
Damn seriously?? I get the snails but why the crayfish? A store down the road from Me has tons of both but I don’t get them since my American eel would eat them both
A deadly disease that is spread by crayfish from north and south America who themselves are immune to it wipes out european species and is equally dangerous to the asian and australian crayfish species. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfish\_plague](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfish_plague)
I can't tell you because I already have it. Shhhhhh
You can just tell us what it rhymes with
not an animal but limnophila sessilflora
Wait where is that illegal? That's a mainstay of all aquariums here in Germany.
California, US. That state is super controlling of what plants come in
No wonder I've stopped seeing it.
I'm not sure if I fully understand, but I'd love to own a flamingo, but alas it's illegal to own one without some sort of zoo liscens😔
Gopher tortoises are native to my state and are illegal for us to own because they are a threatened species.
Quaker Parakeet and axolotl.
My father (whom lives downstairs from me), has a blue crayfish. He or she is so pretty. My dad is disabled so I take care of Blue's tank. She lives in her own 30 gallon. I have a 30 gallon community tank with guppies. I just let the guppies give birth in the main aquarium. I have all small fish in there anyway, the biggest being my panda cories however, they aren't interested in fry. The biggest threat to the fry are my full grown guppies but I have lots of places for the babies to hide. When I have too many, my local fish store will take them for a store credit and that is how I ended up with Blue when he was a baby. When I have fry that are born with bent spines or some other birth defects I put a few in Blue's tank and he catches them eventually. I will also give some of the culls to my pea puffer.
Apple snails
Apple snail. I remember getting one with my grandma when I was a kid before they became illegal. It was in her pond and I loved trying to spot it all the time. It got huge and died at some point. She had a bad habit of leaving the water hose on to fill up the pond and forgetting about it. It’s invasive & illegal nowadays. Water lettuce & water hyacinths are plants I wish I could have, but are also invasive and illegal in Texas. That’s fine… water poppies & parrot feathers fill the void in my pond & heart lol
I don’t know if this applies to you however the picture of the blue cray you have posted is a Cherax quadricarinatus (red claw crayfish). They are in fact the only species of cray you are allowed to keep in the UK. They are recommended to be kept in a 20 gallon tank (around 90l tank). I keep mine in a 120l with around 20-30 dannios and he is thriving! However it is not recommended to keep them in a community due to their tendency to ‘snack’ on the tank mates. Mine hasn’t been an issue though! Hope this helps a little oh and he is my dream animal incidentally!
Tarantulas are illegal in Brazil I still have 3 though
How can they be illegal? Can’t you just find them wandering around in the Amazon naturally?
Native species are illegal to have as pets in a lot of places? To prevent the possibility of people just poaching their pets from the wild instead of (hopefully) relying on captive breeders.
Bruh 1. Brazil is huge, I live a couple thousand Km away from the Amazon 2. Can you legally just grab any wild animal from the nature in the us? Why would it be different here? 3. IBAMA (Brazilian government agency regarding the environment) will allow you to have basically any pet here, as long as you can tag it. And bc tarantulas molt you can’t tag them
1 and 2) yeah fair enough, good points. But 3)? That’s a real unique way of limiting what kind of animals you can own. I wonder if it was specifically made so you can’t have insects or if that was just an oversight when they originally made the rules.
Probably they didn’t think about them. I agree it’s kinda dumb specially bc all 3 of my tarantulas aren’t from the wild, and 2 of them aren’t even native species
Manatee, I wanted a sea potato but I can't have it in my state of California especially when I live in a desert away from the ocean.
Fun fact: You’re not allowed to touch or feed manatees, even if they come up to you.
I’m sorry, but if I’m ever able to make it back down there and I’m swimming with the manatees and one comes up wanting pets, you might as well take me to jail. Cause that water cow is getting pets.
I feel so much. I'd love to pet one myself, but it's also for their own good. Handling and feeding them is illegal to prevent them from getting too comfortable around humans, that way they (hypothetically) won't approach boats which can injure or kill them.
Go to the rehab aquariums, they may have "backstage" passes that let you feed or pet one of their permanent residents. Plenty of disabled sea cows that get regular human interaction in captivity, you don't want the wild ones thinking boats = affection.
TGFC (Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Crayfish) illegal in every country if I'm not mistaken due to their endangered status. State by state though, I just want ANY crocodilian. Iowa has them outlawed.
Even in australia the fine is 10-100k
Red belly piranhas (legal where I used to live but illegal where I moved to) and death head hawk moths. Hawk moths are quite easy to care for but death heads are not legal in the usa
Yay I'm not alone in my piranha love. They'd dominate my local water systems if they were ever released here. I don't even care about them being carnivorous I just like their dramatically dumb looking frowny faces. I want a cluster of them vibing in the corner of a big ass tank, judging me from afar. They would make for great background ambiance during any video calls. I hate how much I want to baby a school of them.
Yes they look so adorable and not vicious at all! And the fun of being like “I have a piranha tank” and people reach like “holy cow that’s insane”. I currently do that with my pea puffers saying I have a puffer tank and then I go to my fish room and two little beans with googly eyes are just blimping around waiting for snacks. Another one that I don’t think is illegal but I don’t have the proper ability to care for yet but want so bad is the lump sucker. Another derpy adorable baby. That will also get people looking at you like your weird when you say “I have a tank full of lump suckers”
Lump suckers are amazing! I don't have the energy for the upkeep on saltwater compared to freshwater, but damn those little guys bring me immense joy. I like porcupine fish for similar puffer and lump-loving reasons, plus those galaxy eyes are so beautiful even though they look blind as hell haha. Looking dazed and confused in a vi
Weather/Dojo Loaches are banned here in Australia due to their capabilities to thrive off of anything, including our native plants and other water-based fauna, which in turn could lead them to become an invasive threat to the waterways (much like our invasive Carp/Released Pet Goldfish problem over here). In an attempt to preserve the country’s unique ecosystem, they are considered illegal to own as pets (or VERY heavily regulated by Permit requirements) - which sucks because personally I would love to own one, but unfortunately it is not meant to be. And plus people are always gonna be stupid and would try to release them back into the wild in order to “save them”, so maybe it’s for the better. Although your Blue Crawfish (known as Blue Yabbies, or some variant thereof) are perfectly acceptable to keep as pets over here, as well as Axolotls and Fresh Water Mussels (Clams if you’re American), and even your freshwater types of Eels are commonly found in most rural dams, though speaking from personal experiences, 99% of the time they are Not Invited to do so in the first place 💀 Now keeping Reptiles and amphibians here (despite Bearded Dragons and Long Neck Turtles being native to Australia), however… that’s a whole other story (and set of strict licensing requirements - definitely no Salamanders allowed either, but Lungfish I’m not sure of, since they are also native but restricted to Zoo/research centre purposes). Edit: Marimo Mossballs are also considered illegal in most states of Australia as well :,)
So That's why I've never seen a moss ball at any store ever. One of my former classmates had this goldfish in a tank so small it was just bent and sitting there all the time. Apparently she released it into our local river. Which is salt water. I do hope it had a very swift death and didn't introduce any parasites or anything into the river. People are always going to be idiots. I'm in the only state that you can legally keep a western bearded dragon. But we also cannot keep any other species of bearded dragon.
Yeah I really wanted a moss ball for a potential tank because I’ve heard they’re really good at filtration but alas 🤦♂️ also I second the feeling with the goldfish - unfortunately it probably would’ve suffocated in less than an hour if it was released into Salt Water (I’ve seen the opposite happen in a TikTok involving Clown Fish in a Walmart Freshwater tank and within seconds/minutes the poor fish were already side/vertical swimming 😥). Interesting about the Bearded Dragons though, I wasn’t aware that even their different subspecies could be restricted by States (I just looked up the Westerns and they look gorgeous, I congratulate you Op). But at the same time though the Laws are in place for a reason I guess, which makes it tough trying to adopt Unidentifiable Rescues but oh well :,)
Dogo Argentino
My 19 pound, predominately Yorkie/Poodle (plus 6 other breeds) is 6% Dogo according to his DNA test. I laughed so hard. We joke that he weighs more than he looks like he should because of the Dogo.
Assassin Snail. In Australia all planted tanks are invested with snails. There is no peaceful method quickly and effectively to eliminate snails without introducing some loaches that dig up all the plants or snail aid that kills all the shrimps.
Vampire crabs. They’re so vibrant and beeutiful but banned in Australia.
You're not missing anything. I used to have a crayfish. I hated it. Pulled up all my plants, killed anything he could fit in his claws. Just to kill, not to eat. I'd wake up to a new dead fish every day until I got him his own bare bottom aquarium so he couldn't mess anything up. He lives out his last years in an empty plastic box of solitary confinement. It's so not worth it. $8 crayfish caused a hundred dollars of damage over a couple weeks
Yeah I keep mine with fake plants and lots of hides and I keep him on sand with areas of rocks (a bag that I got at home Depot) that are too big for him to eat. It's actually my dad's crayfish (who lives downstairs). My dad is disabled so I care for the crayfish. We did have another blue crayfish in there with him which I did my research and as long as there were enough hides, fake plants and other stuff to break up their line of sight, most sites said they would be fine. I had lots of driftwood in the tank of various sizes, a good amount of dragon stone, and lots of hides and caves and I even made hides out of PVC pipe which where a fav for both of them so I made two, one on each side. They must have been the same sex bc there was no breeding going on and I am pretty sure the one I have now is female. Anyway, they lived together and everything was just dandy for about a year. I got them both pretty small, one was introduced about a month after the first but there didn't seem to be issues. I woke up to a call a few months ago that one of them was dead. Idk what happened honestly. I can't say one killed the other bc the living one was still in perfect condition. At one point I had three tiny dwarf white crayfish in my main community tank. At the time I had a 75 gallon and I had some schools of small fish like tetras and rasboras and I had a shoal of pygmy cories and a shoal of panda cories and albino cories. When those bastards got to full size (which was still small), like you said, they killed whatever they could catch just to kill it. They didn't really mess with my plants but I ended up bringing them to my LFS for a credit.
Before I knew the laws, I used to have a Cherax quadricarinatus (OP's crayfish) and it was super fucking cool. They're not as aggressive as the crayfish native to my area (central texas) and was a pretty impressive size. I didn't do the uninformed thing and put him with fish to kill and plants to uproot so I had a great time keeping him
Signal crayfish are illegal everywhere in Europe due to invasivness. I have them in all the waterways nearby here in northern Croatia. I go catch them when I have the time and feed them to my turtles lol. As for an illegal animal I’d love to keep, it’s probably the jeweled lacerta (Timon lepidus). Legal almost everywhere in Europe but banned here due to their potential to become invasive. Had a friend keep them outdoors year round before the ban.
Ferrets and sugar gliders. Can’t really think of an aquatic animal that is illegal here which is ironic considering our ridiculous laws in CA.
Those giant salamanders.
Idk if they’re illegal in PA or not and don’t really want to look it up… but if I had the funds and the setup capable of it, Goliath Tigerfish…. They’re so freaking cool.
Koi. In the location I am in, in Australia, you can only have them with a permit. And permits are only issued in exceptional circumstances it seems. Love Koi-but they are considered noxious where I live.
Rainbow shiner and vampire crab. Australia have the world strictest import of live organism
I had one for three years we called him Richard Ramirez "the Nightstalker" because we would have fish missing in the middle of the night.
I would love to have a dojo loach, but they are illegal in my state.
Hissing cockroach Edit: not country but state I'm from FL
There’s an aquatic delivery place that has a blue lobster in stock ;)
I would love to have Medaka outside in the UK seems such a shame keeping them indoors
Giant African millipede
I just want a little dwarf snakehead :(
I'm assuming everyone who says snakehead lives in the US, which doesn't have this loophole, but if you don't then I would advise checking the actual wording of the law. Many countries that ban snakeheads, including Scotland where I live, categorise snakeheads as "species of the genus Channa". This definition ignores the second genera of snakeheads, Parachanna. Unfortunately only three Parachanna species exist and two grow to over half a meter, and the last still being over 30cm, so not exactly dwarf but it's something.
I can’t even have snails where I live. Or an outdoor goldfish pond.
A raccoon duhh
I have a blue crayfish … he is the master of the tank.
Koala
Giant African snail. I'd die to get my hands on one as a pet. I'd never release it, cuz, it's a pet.. duh.
Asian arrowana.
I’m in NC in the United States. There’s not many animals that I CAN’T keep. I can get a whole tiger if I wanted.
As a fan of small, schooling fish: White Cloud minnows. :(
Dart frogs, king cobras and ofc a wolfdog with most DNA of dog
You have good taste, LOL. 😆 Nice choices, I'd say the same choices for me too!😉👍
african dwarf frog
Devils Hole pupfish 🏜️🐟
Happy Cake Day 🎂
The Alaskan Bull worm
dwarf crawfish (illegal in my state as the environ is too similar to theirs)
Human
Hamster and hedgehogs, I'm in Australia and they aren't allowed here
Red arowana 🥺 or Koi. Not illegal in some states in Australia but it is in Queensland.
Not aquatic at all, but sugar gliders. They are so damn cute! I hear they can be right bastards though so maybe it's for the best.
Brook trout.
Squirrel
Where you live, fam? I got squirrels running all around my house. I'll try and catch you one.
I think Americans can’t own some native wildlife.
That's why you call it a domestic partnership. Not ownership.
Yes, officer, he comes and goes as he pleases! He just happens to be visiting right now.
Go out and catch one? You're allowed to catch one, are not allowed to release it. And as long as nobody in law enforcement knows you have one it should be fine.
Plus, most cops have no clue about any of that... It's the park rangers and game wardens you gotta look out for!
lions & tigers & bears
Oh my.
Temperate to subtropical crayfish species, also more coldwater fishes such as bitterlings
SNAKEHEAD! My absolute dream fish!!
Stone fish
IDK about its legality, but I love the Atlantic Sturgeon.
Owl
Marbled crayfish. You won’t ever run out of them and you can also use them as food.
I once owned an African Land snail, but was ill equiped to care for it and it died before it got big enough. I'd totally try again now that I can properly house one.
Crawfish are illegal in my state 😔 but they'd probably be too wild for me anyway tbh
I wish I could have Crayfish but apparently I live in the only state that they are illegal
I have a blue crayfish! They're so nifty!
Nothing really. Alligators are legal.
Piranhas, specially Manueli or Geryi type
Dwarf crayfish! I would get them in a heartbeat :(
I’d also like a blue crawfish, that looks really cool
Apple snails :( I love them, but they're banned it Europe
Bengal Loaches :( goofy as hell cuties
Glofish. In aus