by a fish keeper in 1970s commercial culture of the fish grew from 1990sextinction of local fish is not only damaging the environment but also posing a threat to fishermen like subhash environmentalists feel that any fish which is not indigenous does not go with the local ecology moreover they destroy local fish that have economic value environmentalist biswajit roy chowdhury said that along with other adverse conditions like pollution and water body encroachment these alien fish are taking a toll on the local fish population he said that using local species in aquariums instead of exotic fishes can save their lives as well as the ecological balance species like banded gourami kholse and scat are beautiful and ideal for aquariums if these fish are used in aquariums it will be a great contribution to the local environment he urged however madhumita mukherjee additional director of the state fisheries department said ornamental fishes like exotic carps and cichlids are not causing harm to the environment she feels exotic fishes like flowerhorn and arwana that eat up other local species are too expensive to be thrown away by pet lovers instead of releasing return them to any local pet shop for resale or trade give them to another hobbyist an aquarium in a professional office a museum or to a public aquarium or zoological park donate them to a public institution school nursing home hospital or prison if these options dont work out a veterinarian or fishery biologist can euthanize it put it to sleep commonlyfound exotic fishes in local ponds african cat fish paku and piranha different types of exotic carps crocodile fish different cichlidsfor more stories follow us on twitter and facebook