Aquatic pest plants & fish

Releasing fish and aquatic weeds in natural waterways can be accidental or intentional.

Common problems are:

dumping aquarium collections into waterways such as goldfish, guppies, platys and water snails
introducing species as sport fish such as carp and tilapia
using pest fish as live bait
using non-native fish species in ornamental ponds which overflow into waterways.

Pest fish and plants can:

In Queensland, it is illegal to release noxious or non-native fish into our natural waterways. To learn more visit Biosecurity Queensland.

How can we prevent problems?

You can prevent problems caused by pest fish and aquarium plants by:

never disposing of aquarium collections within our natural waterways or lake systems
not releasing exotic species back into a waterway if caught while fishing
keeping aquarium collections in secure ponds
using native fish rather than exotic species
trading unwanted fish and plants with aquariums, pet shops or auctioning fish.