Game Fish as pets

[walkeraviator]

I was once told that it is illegal in Ky to have gamefish in a home aquarium.. is this true? I have been considering a 55gal tank with some pan fish in it...

[Panfish Man]

I have never heard of it being illegal, don't know how it could be since there is no size limit on panfish. I have some crappie and a couple redear in a tank that I have had for a couple years. They are a lot of work, they get very dirty, and need the water just right. But they are enjoyable, and the kidos love to feed them.

[zx150]

I had a teacher that had some game fish when I was in high school and he had to get a permit. It was free but he had to have one just the same. That was 20 years ago, so things may have changed.

[first2fish]

I have a 40 gal tank at home that i put some bluegill and a warmouth/rockbass in. None of the bluegill survived but the rockbass has been in there for 1 1/2 years and weighes at least 1 1/2 pds. Kids love feeding it.

[bassin bruce]

I was once told that it is illegal in Ky to have gamefish in a home aquarium.. is this true? I have been considering a 55gal tank with some pan fish in it...

If you want an enjoyable aquarium, a few pet shops sell actual Peacock Bass. They are about 1 1/2" long for around $15.00 each. They grow fairly fast and have all of the same beautiful colors of a wild Peacock. I have a 110 gallon with 4 of them in it that is a lot of fun.

[walkeraviator]

yeah I am just lookin for good color without teh cost... used to be into african cichlids til Hurricane Charley proceded to kill $700 worth of fish my roomie and i had put in a 120gal tank

[nonamesleft47]

As long as the fish you catch for your tank are within the size limits it's legal. Which means no 3" bass but small bluegills-cats are fine.

Over the years I've had channel, bullhead and flathead catfish, gar and most of the sunfish along with darters and shiners, ect.

To me the pumpkin seed are the most colorful of the native fish along with darters and emerald shiners 2 pair or a male and a couple of females should work good in a 55. Any of the sunfish will keep similar to central/south american cichlids.

They aren't any dirtier than any other fish but most people feed them live food and overfeed them at that. Every other or every third day is fine and only as much food as they can eat in 30-90 seconds. Any leftover food needs to be removed. I've never had any trouble getting sunfish to eat pellets, although darters need live or frozen food.

[Bobby Headrick]

Cat fish make good pets as they use the litter box and like their tummys rubbed. lol lol lol.

[smljaw]

My cousin has kept gills, cats, crappie, etc. in a tank before. It's actually really cool watching their behaviors, the ways they eat, etc... Kind of cool.

Here's a funny story he told me as well... He caught a 6 or 7 pound flathead cat several years ago and put it in his biggest tank. He and his wife had fish tanks, cats, dogs, birds, and other critters. One of their pet birds was a talking parrot.

He said he was roused out of a deep sleep one night because the parrot was squauking and going nuts. It was 2 or 3 in the morning and he started down the stairs expecting to come face to face with an intruder. He said the parrot was carrying on and out of sorts because the flathead had jumped out of the tank and was flopping all over their living room. When I asked him what he did with the flathead he said, "I got dressed, went outside and filleted him."

[Oldhipboots]

There are several i-net sites about keeping native fish that might help you out. As said above it's legal but you can't sell any, except hybids. Several years ago the Europeans were offering some pretty good money for sun fish but it was big trouble if you got caught trying to sell.

[ON3 3Y3D WILLI3]

I am a researcher at KSU's Aquaculture Research Center and while I do know that regulations exist for the propagation of [native/exotic] aquatic organisms I am not 100% sure, but I do believe that it is illegal to hold aquatic organisms without a permit from the State (in essence, a commercial license.) Statute KRS 150.280 and relating Statutory Authorities found at KDFWR's website should clarify.

[nonamesleft47]

I'm pretty sure that applies to only commercial endeavors, not private citizens keeping fish for their own use. I've got an e-mail in to KDFW to see.