Barbel for Sale!

I recently took a helluva lot of flack on a forum merely because I stated that Barbel are a river fish and should be left in rivers: not put into a commercial because some lazy sod who calls himself an angler cant be arsed to get off his fat behind and attempt to catch the fish in its natural surroundings and environment. Scientific evidence that was supplied to back up my claim did not one jot of good. I haven't been back to the site in question since. Its an old chesnut I know but I truly beleive barbel should not be put into lakes because as one idiot put it "they are a commodity and we want to catch them in the comfort of a commercial"! Thats the preamble over with! So this weekend I went for some supplies for my pond at World of Water and guess what? barbel in tanks are now for sale to be put into your ornamental fish ponds! Now imagine if it were a dog or a cat for sale and it was placed in a budgie cage, yup there'd be hell to pay! So why are they allowed to do this to a river fish that does not breed when confined to stillwaters? Are all our fish now just commodities?Is angling just about catching a species we want to in comfortable surroundings and bugger the fish and its welfare? What next Great Whites in the public swimming pools? No doubt some muppit would fish for them!

Remember,it's supply on demand, don't buy them and they won't sell or stock them.
But there will be some muppet somewhere who will easilly convince himself that he is only doing it to study them.

Ive wrote to World of Water expressing my concern Baz. Some of the garden ponds I have helped put right can hardly sustain aquatic life and to put barbel into these conditions verges on cruelty. The stillwater/river debate will go on and on but there cant be any question that a barbel should not be put into someones back garden goldfish pond. Or can there?

Let us know what kind of response you get, if any, also their website address so we can all voice our disdain.

Had a reply Tom but honestly cant say it makes much sense to me, although thats not World of Waters fault as such. They have been in touch with their coldwater fish supplier "prestopets" who tell WOW that, and I quote, "all the barbel they supply are bred and grown on in stillwater for the purpose of the aquatic trade" It would seem then that prestopets have succeeded were others have failed by getting barbel to reproduce in stillwater! Or could it be they are kept alive in stillwater and milked like cattle in order to make money? Maybe I am getting cynical in my not so old age! nottingham@worldofwater.com manager Chris Smith is who I have been in touch with, I'm trying to find out more about prestopets and will keep you informed.

To be honest you can't blame the people who buy them for their garden ponds
They are probably ignorant as to whether they are stillwater fish or not.
They just see them in a tank and think 'they look nice ,I'll have a couple of them for my pond'

Like baz said its supply and demand and if there is enough demand then they will be sold and at the end of the day you can voice your opions to world of water about this but if there are enough customer sorry anglers asking for these fish for there ponds then they will get them in. i spent three years working for an aquatics company and most of the poeple who asked for coarse fish for ponds where anglers so untill every angler agrees that these fish should be in rivers only then it will continue to happen.

Have to agree with what you say ED its not the customers fault. I imagine most barbel stocked in garden ponds wont last very long. The losers are the barbel and those who buy them.
Daniel a lot of coarse fish will thrive in ponds and of course in stillwaters with no problems at all as you probably are aware to a greater degree than I am. There were gudgeon on sale and they are tough little critters who will flourish in most waters. It seems unethical to me to supply a fish that is not suited to the environment into which it will be put, having said that money and of course supply and demand as mentioned are high motivators. If I look at this realisticly I guess a lot of tropical fish are unsuited to living in tanks, certainly my sons partner as a high rate of mortalities in her tropical tank despite a good knowledge of both aquatics and her chosen species.Nonetheless it does make me somewhat annoyed.

That place at the side of Japanese water gardens near Derby sold chub as well, the last time I was there..............not big and not clever! 0/10

The thing is that some people could be being told that they are bottom feeders and will eat all the surplus food instead of it rotting.

Ask the manager to supply the scientific data to support what his supplier is telling him.

They were on sale a couple of years ago at our local aquatics shop.

Much as I agree with the basic concept that they should be put into moving water there is no law to prevent them being sold for introduction to ponds, lakes, gravel pits or anywhere else. They're a fish and to these people, fish = money.

There ought to be an audit trail that leads you back to the original source of the barbel.
I hear what everyone is saying about supply and demand but someone removed barbel from running water and that is unethical.

There is a very big garden centre near Abingdon and Witney in Oxfordshire which has the lot - restaurant, farm animals for the kids and the old lake made into a fly fishery. Lovely place it is and families go ther en masse.

It also has a decorative pond in the garden centre bit with big carp (doubles) rudd, koi etc but also several barbel in the 3 - 5lb class!
The pool section is only 12-15feet wide.

No more than has been going on in commercials for years though. How many sturgeon would have been caught in this country 20 yrs ago?