People Urged Not To Dump Pet Goldfish In Waterways As They Can Grow Absolutely Massive

People have been urged against dumping their pet goldfish in the wild as they can grow to be absolutely massive.

While some people would probably only ever get rid of their beloved Goldie if it was dead, there are others out there who want to give them a better life while their heart is still beating.

This can include taking the fish to the local river, pond or lake and setting them free. It's a beautiful sentiment but it can actually cause some horrendous damage.

A US city has asked residents not to do this and shared what can happen when goldfish are allowed to live out their lives not confined to a tiny tank in your bedroom.

Burnsville in Minnesota has issued a very serious PSA showing those tiny animals that live in your home can become larger than you could possibly imagine.

The city wrote on Twitter: "Please don't release your pet goldfish into ponds and lakes! They grow bigger than you think and contribute to poor water quality by mucking up the bottom sediments and uprooting plants.

"Groups of these large goldfish were recently found in Keller Lake."

The post sparked many questions from concerned residents.

One person replied saying: "Okay so what are ppl supposed to do with them instead? Don't throw them in salt water bc they'll die, don't throw them in anything else bc they'll get fat & hurt everything else.

"At least tell ppl what to do instead, unless PetSmart has a return policy we don't know about."

PA

It also led to many people questioning why their Goldie never made it to that size when they were trying their hand at raising an animal.

A common household goldfish will typically only grow to about six inches if it's lucky and that's because of a lack of low oxygen and very high ammonia/nitrite levels.

They release a large amount of waste both in their faeces and through their gills and that's why they need their water changed all the time.

Not doing this can cause an early death, but if you look after them properly they can live up to 15 years.

But whatever you do, just don't release them into the wild thinking you're doing something nice. Because you're not.

Topics: News, Animals

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie