Introducing yellowfish to stillwaters

[yella]

After a bit of digging it sounds like that hatchery closed down at some stage and their smallscale breeding stock went to stonecutters close to Dullstroom. Interesting! I got contact details of one of the guys that used to work at the hatchery and will look him up when Im in Dullstroom again.

[Fontuin]

Francois Roux is the expert on Smallscale Yellowfish and happens to work for Mpumulanga Parks board at Lydenburg. He will be able to give you all the advice you need and help you regarding permits etc.
Tel Number: 0132352395 ext. 229. If he can't help you he will know who can.

[Ko7Ad]

The biggest fear would be to introduce a wrong species or strain - and in floods they might get washed out and then you dont want hybridization. Do you need a permit to relocate in the same stream/river? It might be a better option to follow the streams until they are a bit larger and ask some of the farmers to fish there.

Please take into consideration stocking of the same species (obviously) PLUS same native strain as found in your catchment area. There could be genetic variation between catchment areas your strain of yellowfish are found that should be kept intact to protect genetic integrity. Its also suggested that you only stock under supervision of the provincial convervancy agency.

The link Buzzlitebeer posted has very good info!

[icstuff]

And another point worth remembering is that once you introduced the fish, you need to invite us regularly to assess the stock levels.

[yella]

Francois Roux is the expert on Smallscale Yellowfish and happens to work for Mpumulanga Parks board at Lydenburg. He will be able to give you all the advice you need and help you regarding permits etc.
Tel Number: 0132352395 ext. 229. If he can't help you he will know who can.

Thanks a million, I will give him a call tomorrow.

[Fontuin]

Keep us updated.

South Africans with dams are obsessed with stocking with Bass, Carp and to a lesser degree Trout. It makes far more sense to stock the local fish from the area with the guidance of your local authority.

Be carefull of fisheries who sell fish. I do not know of one that is honost. They will stock anything as long as they make a buck regardless of the effect on the environment.

I have a dam that I would love to stock with Kurper and Small and Largescale Yellowfish. Permits won't be a problem because the fish will come from a river that flows through my property but I am concerned about how they will adapt and breed in a dam and if they will even stay there once stocked.

[yella]

I 100% agree with your sentiments. Trout is to me less of a problem than Carp and Bass because in many conditions they struggle to survive (and do not reproduce as easily). But bass especially should be avoided at all cost. The amount of bass in all our rivers is frightening and the devastation they cause among yellowfish is alarming. Im not too clued up on Carp.

If I somehow can get the right yellows into our dam it will be a nice experiment.

P.S. I dont know how common it is but several years ago trout also successfully reproduced on our property, as I caught smaller ones than the sizes we stocked there, and saw them in the streams too. I haven't seen one in a long time though as I think the cormorants loved the smaller ones.

[yella]

So the feedback is this:

There is a COMPLETE block on moving any yellowfish whatsoever. Even in the same river system it is not allowed. There is currently research being done on the genetic makeup of the different populations, and until that is complete and the moratorium is lifted nothing can be done.

Taking fish from the steelpoort would probably be right for our dams/streams, but is not allowed at all now until the moratorium is lifted.

So unfortunately seems like it will continue to be trout for the next couple of years.

[Ko7Ad]

So the feedback is this:

There is a COMPLETE block on moving any yellowfish whatsoever. Even in the same river system it is not allowed. There is currently research being done on the genetic makeup of the different populations, and until that is complete and the moratorium is lifted nothing can be done.

Taking fish from the steelpoort would probably be right for our dams/streams, but is not allowed at all now until the moratorium is lifted.

So unfortunately seems like it will continue to be trout for the next couple of years.

Its unfortunate that you have to be forced back into stocking Trout.

It makes no sense that this study should restict you to stock a exotic species over a indigenous I understand they have a project on the go and want to limit changing parameters, but surely with guidance from the project team to advise you on where to collect a fish or 50 for your dam there should be minimal risk of impacting on the study outcome as they will be aware of the origin and destination of the fish in question.

[Korrie]

These genetics are amazing, on how there can even be genetic strains that differ in the same river, just a couple of kilometers apart. This is sometimes the result of small geological events.
For instance, the Congo river, have different evolutions of the same fish on either side of the river bank.
The power of the river was so great, that the fish could not migrate across the river to interbreed. The fish over the millions of years have developed into seperate sub species.