Cute little goldfish turn into huge monsters if you dump them into a lake, experts warn

Whether your child unexpectedly won that bright-orange goldfish in a plastic bag from the county fair — or whether you bought it on purpose from the local pet store — there’s no telling how long the fish will keep on swimming.

But if well fed and taken care of, that relatively low-maintenance pet can live anywhere from five to 10 years while in captivity, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Yes, you read that right. Your cute, little goldfish can live for an entire decade.

For some, that tiny pet can become a big problem at home.

Did you remember to feed the fish? What do you mean you forgot to clean the fish tank again?

So, you may be tempted to “let your goldfish loose in a pond or lake.”

Don’t do it, the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife warned on Facebook.

Your tiny goldfish may become a huge, monster-sized problem.

“Please rethink the responsibility of owning a goldfish and what to do with it when it becomes too much to take care of,” the department said, because when you dump goldfish into a body of water that’s bigger than your at-home fish tank, “They get HUGE!”

They then breed with other “orphaned goldfish” and Common carp, which can be “detrimental” to the pond or lake.

“They can overpopulate and out-compete native fish throwing the food chain off balance, decrease diversity, and allow opportunities for other invasive species,” the post says.

Earlier this summer, Indiana wildlife experts said they found 31 goldfish, ranging from 6 to 11 inches each, in Roush Lake near Huntington.

But this wasn’t the first time “huge” goldfish were found swimming where they shouldn’t be.

Last month two goldfish weighing as much as 3 pounds were found in Iowa, the Des Moines Register reported. They were each between 15 and 18 inches long.

“They’re probably coming from an overflow of Koi ponds or they’re just the Walmart goldfish that people don’t want anymore,” community fishing biologist Tyler Stubbs told the newspaper.

In 2013, a “monster” goldfish was found in Lake Tahoe, KCRA reported. Other super-sized goldfish have been found in the lake as well, the United States Department of Agriculture reported.

“We believe that these goldfish were originally introduced to Lake Tahoe by well-intentioned pet owners,” aquatic biologist Maura Santora told the department. “If we can persuade the public not to release their aquarium fish or leftover bait fish into the lake, we will have made a critical step in addressing the problem of invasive species.”

This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Cute little goldfish turn into huge monsters if you dump them into a lake, experts warn."