South Florida Spring Panfishing

**D10** · 03-30-2020, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by ArthurLK11

There's an uncountable under of non-native fish down here and the only one that has regulations is the peacock bass. No tilapia species has any regulations. While the FWC lists the spotted tilapia as an "established exotic", it lists the blue tilapia as "invasive". Basically the spotted tilapia doesn't do as much damage as the blue tilapia.

Interesting. Why does the FWC actively manage peacock bass but not tilapia? Are they both non-native introduced species?

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**ArthurLK11** · 03-31-2020, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by D10

Interesting. Why does the FWC actively manage peacock bass but not tilapia? Are they both non-native introduced species?

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Long story but lets see if I can make it short. In the mid 1900s the aquarium trade released dozens of fish into the South Florida water ways. Many of these fish were tropical and thrived in the warm waters of South Florida. By the mid 1980s the FWC realized it had a big problem on its hands and needed to do something. They stocked two different species of peacock bass to help control all the released pets that were now reproducing. The butterfly peacock bass (Max size around 10 pounds) thrived and has been reproducing without any help since then. The speckled peacock bass (Max size around 25 pounds) did not thrive and died off quickly. Today, the main role of the peacocks is to help control the populations of all the aquarium fish that are taking over the waterways, the tilapias would be one of those fish.

**D10** · 03-31-2020, 02:40 PM

Thanks for the explanation! That makes sense to me. They are protecting the peacock bass because they help control the other non-natives.

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