Thousands of pet goldfish take over lake

Colorado Parks and Wildlife say goldfish have taken over a lake in Boulder.

Wildlife officials think someone dumped a handful of the pet fish into Teller Lake a few years ago. That handful has now multiplied to thousands.

"These are domestic fish actually.These are fish from a store I imagine. They can out-compete the native fish," Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Jennifer Churchill said.

The goldfish are much larger than the ones you may win at the fair. If they aren't contained to a fishbowl, goldfish can grow to be several inches long.

Wildlife officials say they have two options: They can drain the lake and start rebuilding the natural fish stock from scratch, or they can bring in a specialized boat that would allow them to pick out the goldfish only.

"[The boat] has little pointers at the front with electroshock. It stuns the fish. It doesn't kill them. They get stunned and they float to the surface and we can collect them," Churchill said.

In that scenario, the fish would then go to a raptor rehabilitation center as feed.

There is no timetable for when CPW will actually remove the fish.