Parents, you know this problem:
College kids coming home for a break and invade your space, eat all of your food and take all of your stuff.
The fish of Colorado feel your pain. Ordinary goldfish are the problem.
We checked into it this week when Phil Nash sent us some photos from the Lake George area.
People are actually a big part of the problem, too. People decide they don't want little Bubbles and Nemo anymore, so they dump them into natural water.
Bubbles and Nemo breed, and then they all take food and space from the other species swimming there. They also share all their goldfish diseases with the other fish.
They're an invasive species in Colorado waters.
"They don't necessarily want to flush them down the toilet. They think they're doing the right thing by taking them up to these waterways and streams to let them be free," Kyle Davidson with Colorado Parks and Wildlife told us. "But the unfortunate part of this is it really does cause a significant problem for our native fish that we actually take great pains to grow and to stock these waterways with."
If the pond where Phil found the goldfish connected to streams or tributaries, Parks and Wildlife would mechanically fish out the goldfish, if possible. If that didn't work, they'd have to kill off the goldfish and the natural fish species, and then stock the water again.
Because the pond stands alone, CPW says they'll die off in winter, or predators will fish them out.
Dumping goldfish will earn the dumper a misdemeanor charge, and they're also responsible for the cost of getting rid of the goldfish. Davidson told us that can be pretty pricey.
If you spot goldfish somewhere other than your child's fishbowl, alert CPW.
Anyone who doesn't want Bubbles anymore should contact a pet store.
