Taronga Zoo gold fish in platypus tank.

boof

boof

Well-Known Member
20+ year member
Just a random question for Taronga zoo regulars. What do you think about the gold fish in with the platypus in the main tank. I would prefer a native species of freshwater fish. I know it sounds like I am having a whinge but it really annoys me.
 
i'd agree that on the surface its a rather bland and uninteresting choice.

if one looks into it further then saying its fostering a unspecific view of nature is also fair.

rather surprising since so many cold water native fish are available from aquariums for about the same price...
 
the only way i would agree with this idea is if taronga was theming it as 'introduced fish wreak havoc on native freshwater eco-systems'. other than that, stupid idea
 
I know they look like it, but are they actually goldfish? Biggest bloody goldfish I've ever seen (and dirty dark brown or black colour).

:p

Hix
 
I know that taronga have a large amount of koi (over 100 I think) so it could be a koi. I also looked on isis and it seems they don't have any goldfish but I may be wrong.
 
I doubt that most zoos participating in ISIS will list their goldfish, guppies or domestic guinea pigs...
 
phoenix said:
i dunno you'll be surprised how many zoos hold african wild asses, wild boar and junglefowl!!

;)
Click to expand...

:confused:
And that strikes you as particular? All of your three examples are wild and, at least in the case of two wild donkey subspecies or wild Red Junglefowl, endangered animals. Can't say the same about domestic goldfish guinea pigs or guppies, can you? So I don't see anything wrong in zoos listing their Somalian Wild Asses or Sri Lanka Junglefowl at ISIS-just like they would list their lions, elephants or gorillas...
 
Last edited:
Sun Wukong said:
I doubt that most zoos participating in ISIS will list their goldfish, guppies or domestic guinea pigs...
Click to expand...

They DO list domestic guinea pigs on ISIS! And Taronga, Adelaide and Perth Zoos have all listed their numbers on the website.
 
Last edited:
Then why do I have the feeling that these lists are certainly neither representative nor in accordance with the actual number of "piggies" kept...?;) I especially like the "mysterious" 'Guinea pig groups'.
 
Zoos join ISIS to allow them to make use of animal records keeping software to manage their own animal collections. One of the requirements of joining ISIS is that every member's data must be submitted to ISIS at least every six months. ISIS then pool the data into a "global" dataset, and a small subset of that information is made available on the public area of the ISIS web site.

Most ISIS-member zoos maintain records for all of their animals, whether they be domestic species or not - plenty of zoos have children's zoo's with ponies, sheep, chickens etc. and most of these animals are individually identified, and therefore, individually accessioned into the ISIS software.

Hence, if a zoo has a group of guinea pigs in its children's area or petting zoo, they are usually entered into the records so the usual behavioural and medical data can be maintained.

Many zoos also have groups of animals that are bred for food - rabits, mice, rats, guinepigs etc. These are almost never entered into the records system, as keeping accurate records on them is a somewhat pointless excercise.
 
and since many domestic breeds carry the same latin names as their ancestral species, you'll be surprised how many zoos list african wild asses, wild boar and junglefowl!

(get it know sun wukong?)
 
Thanks for telling me what I already know, @ZooPro...The record-keeping in smaller, "less valuable" animals in most zoos is often dubious to say the least, and the one or other petting zoo guinea pig might be "transferred" to the food animal section and vice versa. Therefore, said data are to be taken with more than a grain of salt.
Got me (k?)now, @phoenix?
 
Well this topic is getting off topic so to bring it back on I will say that the goldfish are used for live enrichment at the zoo and they use goldfish because it's cheap.
 
That is good news.:)
It is a great way to display some of our lesser known natives.
Do you know what they are?
 
according to zoonooz mag they are two murry cod, a number of murry river rainbow trout and some silver perch fingerlings and the turtles are eastern long necks that will be rotated with others between the playt tank and the wollemi
 
torie said:
according to zoonooz mag they are two murry cod, a number of murry river rainbow trout and some silver perch fingerlings and the turtles are eastern long necks that will be rotated with others between the playt tank and the wollemi
Click to expand...

I recon that would be Murray River Rainbow Fish:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top