This is why you should never flush a goldfish down the toilet

If you have invested in a goldfish and have grown tired of your new pet, it is not advisable to dispose of it alive in a river or stream, and nor down the toilet. Although releasing it into the wild without killing it could be considered a solution, it would be the worst thing you could do for aquatic life.

A threat to biodiversity

Your goldfish is not as innocent as it seems: this animal has great survival skills and a voracious appetite according to The Guardian. In the UK, researchers from the University of Belfast have found that local aquatic life has been completely devastated in some areas due to the repeated release of goldfish into natural waterways.

Many goldfish were adopted during lockdown for entertainment or home decoration, but they are time-consuming animals for their owners to feed and change the water in the aquarium regularly. Some of them did not want to keep their aquatic companion for a long time and did not have the patience to take care of it. So they decided to get rid of them, and the local waterways are now full of them.

The problem is that the goldfish, once released among its fellow fish, consume much more than others swimming in English freshwater. Its appetite makes it aggressive and it steals nutrients from others by plundering the depths, showing a high tolerance to cold. Its presence in these waters, which are unusual for it, therefore threatens biodiversity.

Take it back to the shop

Goldfish are highly adaptable and once released into a canal they can transform completely: in the US, some have been found measuring 30 centimetres longer than their original size! Some owners believe that throwing away their little housemates alive is a positive and humane act, but it is quite the opposite. It leads to the destruction of wildlife.

To limit the damage, the researchers suggest that owners return the goldfish to the shop where they adopted it and that shops that sell such fish limit their sales. They should also warn owners not to release them into the wild.

Flushing them down the toilet is not a solution either, as they can be flushed directly into the waterways.

This article has been translated from Gentside FR.

Read more:

⋙ Peeing in the shower could save the environment

⋙ Global warming: How does night-time heat reduce our sleep time?

⋙ Zodiac: What pet should you get based on your zodiac sign?