Few things are more precious to Rich Price than sharing a fish hobby with his son Josh. This special bond started when Josh was a young boy and fascinated by the family’s 300-gallon fish tank. A mutual love of fish turned into a lifetime hobby together.
“It was a father-son type thing,” said Price, founder of Ohio Fish Rescue. “He and I started going to all the auctions and picking up tanks, and then we bought our tank to end all tanks, a tank to die for, a 1,000-gallon. We thought we’d never be able to afford anything bigger and that would be our biggest tank forever.”
Ohio Fish Rescue livestream by Big Rich, his son Josh and wife Tracy. (Photo: Ohio Fish Rescue)
Price, who goes by the name "Big Rich," chuckles at the absurdity of that thought now when he considers what the family-run hobby has become.
In the span of 12 years since that 1000-gallon tank the father-son duo have amassed more than 200,000 gallons of tanks and ponds for fish and a facility housing one of the most unique rescue operations of its kind.
“Everybody started hearing about us,” Price said. “Everybody started giving us their fish when they didn't know what to do with them.”
Price began taking in people’s fish because he knew that they might otherwise end up in local waterways. Before long, it became clear that the hobby had a higher calling.
The family pool was converted into a predator species pond. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
With one expansion after another, the initial fish room has turned into a maze of aquarium rooms making up the Ohio Fish Rescue. Some of the most dramatic additions include a 14-foot-long, 4400-gallon tank that required the walls to be built around it and the family pool that was converted into a pond for predator species.
The thousands of fish taken in at the rescue include some of the most unusual and even rare species from around the world including arapaima, paroon sharks, sturgeon, albino goonch catfish, and Australian lungfish.
KINUTE got an inside look at the non-profit Ohio Fish Rescue to see how this unique operation provides a haven for unwanted fish, a resource for owners who can no longer manage them and a way to prevent these unwanted pets from ending up in non-native waters as invasive species.
Outgrowing Fish Tanks
The Ohio Fish Rescue got its official start with Big Betty, a pacu that outgrew her 125-gallon fish tank. While many pet owners dropped off their fish to Price previously, Big Betty was too big to transport. So, in 2018 Price made his first pick-up.
“When we went to rescue her, she really could not turn around to swim. She'd go one way in a skinny tank, and she couldn’t turn. So, she would have to put her nose up and wiggle her tail and turn and fall back into the tank,” said Price.
Big Betty was the first rescue for Ohio Fish Rescue and swims comfortably in a 3000-gallon tank with other pacu. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
The video documenting Big Betty’s rescue went viral and there was no looking back. The family hobby became a non-profit to start helping as many people, and fish, as possible.
Today, Big Betty is the queen of her 3000-gallon home at the Ohio Fish Rescue commanding a double-take look by anyone who passes by her tank.
Big Betty represents a common scenario behind why most of the fish in the facility end up here. They were purchased from pet stores at only a few inches long with owners unsuspecting of their immense growth potential.
“When you buy a fish they don't tell you in the pet store how big it can get,” Price said. “You buy a little four-inch iridescent shark, they don't tell you they can grow to 36 inches and can be like 60 pounds.”
Pacu are the most common example of fish that are cheap to buy and grow fast which is one reason the Ohio Fish Rescue sees more of these than any other species. Pacu are sold at pet stores for about three dollars and at three inches, so they fit into almost any sized tank. Within the first year a pacu can grow up to 15 inches and depending on the species they can keep growing upwards up 50 to 300 pounds.
Redtail catfish are another species that get owners into a pinch. They are cute and colorful at four inches when they sell for around 20 dollars. They grow fast and eat anything so they quickly surpass livable space in a tank. Redtails can grow to over 100 pounds.
Schwarzenegger, a 27-year-old xanthic iridescent shark, is one of the eye-catching species in one of the largest tanks in the rescue. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
Price says that the first time a fish outgrows its tank, owners typically invest in a bigger one, but they have no inclination of just how many times that would have to happen over the course of the fish’s lifetime.
Schwarzenegger, a xanthic iridescent shark surrendered by his owner, is 27 years old. Price says the long lifespans of many of these large-growing fish become a financial investment that owners are not prepared to make when they initially buy the fish for a few dollars.
“You get it home, and after a while, you buy a bigger tank. The first time is an easy decision. But then you're like, oh my God, now I need a bigger tank. The second time, you're going from a 125 to a 300 gallons. But then it's too big for the 300 gallon tank. What do you do? Now it's a big decision and a lot of money, and it's harder, so most people don't do it. The pet stores won't take them back,” Price said.
A flowerhorn cichlid swims with other species in its tank at the Ohio Fish Rescue. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
Other scenarios that require people to relinquish their fish include moving homes, accumulating the hobby after the death of a spouse, or they just can’t take care of the fish anymore.
There are even cases in which fish owners possess something illegal and don’t know what to do with it. The Ohio Fish Rescue is equipped to deal with that too.
“Let's say you bought an exotic animal, and you knew it was against the law, and you raised it at home and now you don't know what to do with it,” Price said. “You drop it off here anonymously, and then we're legally allowed to hold it for so long to find it a home.”
Price has special permits allowing him to temporarily take in fish that people aren’t supposed to have, and he works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Ohio Division of Wildlife and other agencies to legally rehome them.
The pond loach is an aquarium fish that is now an invasive species in the Scioto River in Ohio. (Photo: Ethan Simmons)
Invasive Species Impact
The Ohio Fish Rescue provides a safe place for pet owners to surrender fish they can no longer care for and while it’s noble, the non-profit is also keeping invasive species out of local waters.
“What typically people do is they just dump them in their local waterway,” said John Navarro, Aquatic Stewardship Program Administrator, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. “They'll become established and then, they're prolific spawners and can out reproduce and out compete with our native fish and really change the dynamics.”
States like Florida have an uphill battle with invasive species resulting from unwanted aquatic pets because its tropical waters make it easy for them to thrive. States like Ohio, Michigan and Illinois face other challenges trying to keep invasive species out of not just local and regional waterways but also the Great Lakes. In these larger systems invasive species can alter an entire ecosystem by targeting zooplankton that is an essential food source for larval fish.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife sampling the impacts of the invasive pond loach in the Scioto River. (Photo: Ethan Simmons)
An example of a popular aquarium fish released into Ohio waters that Navarro and his teams look for during routine surveys is the pond loach. It was first spotted in the Scioto River by road works crews and it is already well established. Collection studies of the pond loach reveal multiple year classes meaning they are actively reproducing and expanding.
“That one is probably well established. There's no way we could eradicate them in a large river like that,” Navarro said.
Another popular aquarium fish that is showing up in Maryland and Arkansas in concerning numbers is the Northern snakehead. Its numbers are spreading and as a top predator it can inflict a great deal of damage to native species and habitats.
Not all released fish causing damage to native species are tropical or exotic. One of the most destructive and most released is the pet goldfish. These fish are easily obtained and quickly unwanted.
“I know they sound pretty innocuous, not that big a deal, but man, they can really take over a system,” Navarro said. “A big problem with those is, and I've done it with my daughter, is you go to the local county fair and you win one, and you take it home and you get tired of it. Some people just dump it in their local pond, and they can pretty much overwhelm it. We see them a lot in Lake Erie and a lot of our water bodies.”
An example showing the growth potential of a wels catfish that author Anietra Hamper caught in Spain. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
Navarro says that some species like the wels catfish, native to European waters can grow so large and become so destructive that they are classified as Injurious Aquatic Invasive Species (IAIS), meaning they are illegal to possess because they are likely to harm native ecosystems.
The injurious classification is implemented as a measure to proactively control the introduction of a wide range of species that could cause catastrophic destruction to native species and waters. Fortunately, only small numbers of the wels catfish have been reported in the U.S.
The round goby is a popular aquarium fish that is causing destruction to native species in Lake Erie. (Photo: Zac Slagle)
The destruction caused by invasive species that start as aquarium pets can spiral out of control quickly as evidenced by the round gobies. Their impacts are detrimental to spawning smallmouth bass and to bottom-dwelling native fish, including darters and sculpins in Lake Erie.
“When they came in, they just exploded and they out-competed our native fish,” Navarro said. “It got so bad that they were taking over and eating a lot of native fish eggs.”
Scientists from The Ohio State University studied the impact of round gobies on nest-guarding smallmouth bass in Lake Erie. The results showed that when the guardian male was off the nest, round gobies consumed 2,000 unhatched embryos before its return in the span of 15 minutes.
“It made us change our regulations for spring smallmouth bass fishing in Lake Erie. So, it does have an impact. They just out compete for space and food,” Navarro said.
The damage invasive species can cause is significant and once they are established in a waterway, the problem is irreversible.
Ohio Fish Rescue caretaker Jerry Johnson checks on species in the predator pond. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
Caring for Global Species
Public education about the problem of invasive species caused by disposing of aquatic pets is a big part of what the Ohio Fish Rescue does, but caring for thousands of species from around the world requires significant food and habitat resources.
Jerry Johnson is one of the caretakers of the Ohio Fish Rescue managing the day-to-day feeding and water-testing required at the facility. A self-proclaimed fish hobbyist, Johnson says taking care of species that range from tiger shovelnose catfish native to South America to the Fly River turtle of Papua New Guinea and Australia to Chinese paddlefish from the Yangtze River in China requires a lot of time and expertise.
“There's a joke in the hobby about when you get a fish tank, that don’t know you need to become a plumber and an electrician and a carpenter and a chemist, but everything applies,” Johnson said. “Everything I've studied in my life, geology, sociology, everything, applies.”
A fish tank with dozens of rescued species getting active during feeding time at the Ohio Fish Rescue. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
The rescue never knows what will come in next, but species are housed together with similar sized fish and in communities that get along. Each tank has its own filtration system and habitat but the entire facility and the species within it operates as one balanced ecosystem.
“It's a matter of balancing the system. This is one living organism, all the way from bacteria on up and you have to treat the bacteria the same way you treat the fish, to the best that you can keep them,” Johnson said. “Each tank is flow-through, and each tank also has its own independent system. You're walking around inside a living organism, and you're a part of it.”
A puffer fish checks out visitors who come through the Ohio Fish Rescue. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
The intake of fish requires diligence too. The facility has a quarantine section for when fish are brought into the rescue. The three-week quarantine for intakes requires a series of bacterial, fungal, and parasitic medications.
The approach of the small team of volunteers who run the Ohio Fish Rescue is humble, down-to-earth and folksy. They do it as much for the owners as for the fish and the environment as chronicled on their YouTube channel.
“The people stand behind a rescue that cares and is doing good things. We do a video every other day of what we do here,” said Price. “Basically, it's like a soap opera. You just follow along. We don't do fancy editing or retakes or re-shoots. We just video what we're doing, and you can follow along and people like it.”
A tank of colorful stingrays at the Ohio Fish Rescue. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
Swimming Happily Ever After
With so many species coming into the Ohio Fish Rescue, it’s had to develop a sustainable system for also re-homing fish in order to open new space.
The rescue adopts out some fish and it works with nine public aquariums and zoos to re-home species for educational purposes. The facility also keeps a wide collection of rescues on hand to educate people on how big some species can really get.
“We try and keep one or two of every fish that get big so that people can see and we can educate people what fish get big and what fish don't. We say, don’t buy this at your local pet store because this is how big it can get, and we try to keep that on display at all times,” said Price.
A platinum alligator gar swims among other species in the predator pool that accommodates its potential to grow up to 400 pounds. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
Some of the fish at the facility are what Price calls “lifers.” They are permanent residents that were donated under unique circumstances and their owners can always come by for a visit.
An example is the tank of angel fish in Price’s front room. A widower donated her husband’s prized collection of fish that she could not care for after he died.
“She can watch them on the YouTube channel and see them in the videos, and she can still see that they're here, they're not given out and that we're growing them out here for life,” said Price. “It makes me feel good. It makes it all worth it.”
A 3000-gallon tank is home to several pacu, one of the most common rescues for the facility. (Photo: Anietra Hamper)
The Ohio Fish Rescue depends on its followers and donations to keep the organization running but Price has another message for how potential fish owners can help with the bigger picture.
“If you see a pacu for sale, don't buy it. If the pet stores have a problem selling this fish, then they'll stop getting those fish because they're not making money on them. If you buy them and think you're giving them a good home, you're worsening the problem because now the pet store can make a dollar and they're going to buy more of them,” said Price.
In the meantime, the mission is an educational one for a father-son bond and a love of fish that has expanded far beyond just the fish tanks and into a meaningful purpose.