Did anyone else see this article? They suggest that invasive goldfish will make it difficult for the following fish to survive:

"channel catfish, blue gill fish and sun fish"

Danger includes:

"outcompete for resources" "wipe out the ecosystem"

What am I missing. The channel cats can't eat the goldfish? The bluegill I bet can survive fairly well on their own or not?

I did have one straggler bucket stocked gold fish when we drained and dug out the pond that managed to survive and our number is up to 4 goldfish spotted this spring. I don't think I can electroshock my pond for a survey like they are recommending, but there are some scary assertations in this article on the front page of the internet that made me wonder if this is journalism at its best or a real ecosystem 'red alert?'.

Is there something about this lake in Colorado that is different or more fragile than other lakes?

Are goldfish an invasive specie?

Red (Orange) Alert!!

must not be many bass or other predators in that lake.

I read that lake went bone dry 3 years ago so probably not.

I am no expert but I've been afraid to stock Goldfish
because I've heard they stir up the water pretty bad
and they can over-populate.

I wouldn't mind having "a few in the stew", but I am not sure
if my black bass could keep them under control.

I suppose it always goes back to "it depends".

Bass love to eat goldfish, good bait for them

Another article, perhaps on a different Colorado lake?


Be forewarned. One of the most poorly written articles I think I've ever read.

In the vernacular; Don't sound like is fish in the Colorado Lake to control them. Catfish maybe but not like if had bass. Sunfish won't be doing it.

Not sure it's the same lake or not. I believe Colorado has many lakes that don't have largemouth in them, where the main predator is trout. Could be mistaken though.

Goldfish will quickly outgrow trout gape to be effective predator IMO. I've seen escapee GF in buddies pond [we used to use them for live bait LMB and CC] and the thing was at least 4# and looked like a basketball. Would have taken a 30# flathead to prey on it.

Goldfish can reach 20" and 6+ pounds. There are feral populations in the Potomac River that are likely over 100 years old. When running a seine in the river, I regularly catch the natural olive drab reverted colored young. In the spring, it's not uncommon to see numerous mostly drab colored adults spawning in the shallows. Occasionally you'll see a "pet store" colored one mixed in. It was likely released at such a large size that few predators could feed on it so even with bright coloration, it survived.

followup to the article posted at the top of this thread. Apparently when goldfish in the lake in Colorado disappeared! See this:

Aerial goldfish attack!

Now, how get rid of the pelicans?