Free: Peacock Bass

[roadwarriorsvt]

OK, these are NOT out of Lake Wilson, but my friends 650 gallon aquarium. He's not even looking for sell the, rather find them a suitable home. If he can't find a good home for them, they may find their way into a very large body of freshwater in the central Oahu area. I believe he has three temisis (?) breed of Peacocks. The largest one is probably close to 30" long, so obviously he will not let them go to someone with a 10 gallon aquarium. This breed is the largest and most aggressive species of Peacock bass. PM me if you're interested and have a suitable aquarium or pond. Sorry about the poor quality pic.

[fish4fun]

30 inches! Would that be that be a state record size fish?
If that is the variety that gets big it sure would be great if they could breed and have their offspring escape into local waters!

[roadwarriorsvt]

Yes, this is the species that is located in the Amazon River. I doubt they would survive in the lake though. Who knows....

[Stan Wright]

How about seeing if the guys at the HFFA could take them for breeding at the Wahiawa hatchery?

[fish4fun]

That would be awesome!

[SteveLee]

Listed below - Per the SOH Dept. of Agriculture ( http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/admin-rules/subt ... AR-71C.pdf ) there are two allowable tuc species that can be brought into the state. And I agree, it would be awesome to have the temensis up at the lake - what a game fish that would be!

§4-71-6.5
LIST OF CONDITIONALLY APPROVED
ANIMALS
November 28, 2006
State of Hawaii

SCIENTIFIC NAME, COMMON NAME

Cichla ocellaris cichlid, eye-spot; tuconary
Cichla temensis cichlid, spot-line peacock

And here is another website that helps ID the specie:
Peacock Bass website: http://www.acuteangling.com/taxonomy/pe ... ecies.html

[Ken]

Yeah, PLEASE give them to HFFA so they can breed and stock some temensis into "a very large body of freshwater in the central Oahu area"

[roadwarriorsvt]

I'll contact James from the Wahiawa Middle School (hatchery) who is a HFFA member. I don't know the fish's sex, but its worth a try. I wonder how many years it would take to get that species established?

BTW, that was a great idea to try and re-produce them!

[Ca_Bass]

650 gallons....that is a huge tank I have 90 and that is big. I can't imagine those be good for the largemouth population though. I wonder if they can spawn with the tucs at wilson/hatchery and make hybrids. That would be cool too.

[Ken]

650 gallons....that is a huge tank I have 90 and that is big. I can't imagine those be good for the largemouth population though. I wonder if they can spawn with the tucs at wilson/hatchery and make hybrids. That would be cool too.

Big predators put selective pressure for prey to grow bigger faster Just think how it works for largemouth / bluegill relationship.

[roadwarriorsvt]

I like that trane of thought there Ken. I'm not sure of the legalities of introducing another species of fish into the lake, but since the temesis is legal to have in Hawaii, I would "assume" it would be ok to put them in the lake. Don't ask/Don't tell?

[Ken]

I like that trane of thought there Ken. I'm not sure of the legalities of introducing another species of fish into the lake, but since the temesis is legal to have in Hawaii, I would "assume" it would be ok to put them in the lake. Don't ask/Don't tell?

This thread never existed. Quick Stan, delete it before DLNR sees it. No post, no evidence. We may have to bribe the online witnesses though.

[HFFA-TC]

Hi Guys,

I talked to the State and just as I suspected it is NOT okay to release the Temensis into the lake. While it is on the list of fish that is legal to bring into the State, releasing it is another matter. That comes under the Dept. of Agriculture and we have had problems with them before on bringing in the Florida strain of bass. From what the DLNR told me, you can forget about raising the Temensis for eventual release. Since the Fisheries is funded by the Government, we would not be able to raise them legally anyway.

Roadwarriorsvt, if you haven't talked to James yet, you can forget about it. I don't think he would want to risk losing funding to raise the Temensis.

[roadwarriorsvt]

I'd never (knowingly) ask him to do anthing illegal and/or anything to put their grant in jepordy. I'm looking in to buying (another) pond and keep the temesis myself, unless I can find them a suitable home. They are awsome fish and put on quite a show during feeding time.