# Australian Eastern Water Dragon eat my Goldfish?



## Jackson26 (Jan 30, 2018)

Hi!
So not long ago I installed a larger fish pond in my back yard with surrounding rocks etc. today I went outside and saw what I assumed is an Australian Eastern Water Dragon. I know how large these tend to get so I am wanting to know if they will end up eating my Goldfish? 
If so, does anyone have some ideas on how to get rid of it?
But if not, does anyone know if they can be dangerous at all?
Thanks!
Jackson :-D


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## Bluetongue1 (Jan 31, 2018)

The short answer Jackson is no. They are not know to eat underwater. And no they are not in any way dangerous.

There is a field observation recorded of one surfacing and then chewing. But who is to say the animal didn’t have a mouthful of something when it was disturbed and submerged. People I know who have kept smaller sized fish in tanks also used by water dragons have never lost one to a dragon. They will eat aquatic animals like yabbies if they are crawling around in very shallow water.

Herons and kingfishers are a real threat. Once a heron has located a pond it will often keep returning until it has cleaned out all fish or the fish become too hard to catch (because they get wary and have hiding places where the birds cannot reach}.

Water Dragon are very wary lizards, despite the large size some get to. If you approach them, they will disappear into bushes or dive underwater, where they can remain submerged for up to an hour. The only way they could hurt you is if you caught one and stuck your finger in its mouth. I would not fancy your chances of catching one though.

So you can relax Jackson and enjoy the visits from one of nature’s magnificent creatures…


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## bluedragon (Feb 3, 2018)

i had one eat my goldfish


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## Bluetongue1 (Feb 3, 2018)

Did you actually see it dive into the water and grab your goldfish? Or do you have a shallow section where the dragon can grab your goldfish without being submerged? Again, did you directly observe this? It is very important to accurately detail what you actually observed, if you don't mind. 
Thanks.


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## bluedragon (Feb 3, 2018)

sorry yea i saw him dive in the pond its about a meter deep and he jumped out with my black commet


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## Bluetongue1 (Feb 3, 2018)

Fascinating! Did you lose any other fish to it?


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## bluedragon (Feb 3, 2018)

no just the onetime and have never seen him again


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Feb 3, 2018)

Well, this sums it up nicely...


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## Wally (Feb 3, 2018)

Nice vid AP. I've had the pleasure of watching both Eastern and Gippsland Water Dragons feeding in the wild and have no doubt about their ability to eat what is available to them. As a species, they have shown an ability to be displaced and yet survive.


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Feb 3, 2018)

Wally said:


> Nice vid AP. I've had the pleasure of watching both Eastern and Gippsland Water Dragons feeding in the wild and have no doubt about their ability to eat what is available to them. As a species, they have shown an ability to be displaced and yet survive.


Every week I visit a man-made lake here in Toowoomba to trap feeder fish for my turtles and replenish my stocks and these guys are always present and making a splash only meters from where I sit and watch my traps. I'd have no chance of approaching them but they come quite close to me and go about their business. I'm not really into lizards/monitors or dragons at all but I'm glad to know they're still thriving as the Urban jungle encroaches ever more into the natural world.


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## Imported_tuatara (Feb 4, 2018)

That's a nice australian water dragon in the vid


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## Bluetongue1 (Feb 4, 2018)

Aussiepride83 said:


> Well, this sums it up nicely...


Fascinating! So have you seen them do that? Where was the video taken?


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## Imported_tuatara (Feb 4, 2018)

It's a chinese water dragon, so most likely not australia Asia or America is where i'm guessing.
[doublepost=1517679367,1517672116][/doublepost]Okay yeah, they just replied, United states and they still have the water dragon.


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## Smittiferous (Feb 4, 2018)

Aussiepride83 said:


> Well, this sums it up nicely...



Not really given it’s a different animal than in question. Physignathus cocincinus are from China.


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Feb 4, 2018)

bluedragon said:


> sorry yea i saw him dive in the pond its about a meter deep and he jumped out with my black commet


I definitely believe that.


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## GBWhite (Feb 4, 2018)

Eastern Water Dragons are total scavengers and will eat pretty much anything. I've seen them around our yard catch and eat finches and mice that hang around our bird cages. I once witnessed one catch and eat a medium sized Swamp Snake and on another occasion watched a large male catch and eat a juvenile Red Bellied Black at a couple of our local swimming holes so although I haven't witnessed it personally I don't have any reason to doubt that the would catch and eat fish. When I kept them in a pit together with Bearded Dragons and Blue Tongues it wasn't uncommon to see them dig up and eat clutches of bearded eggs or make a meal of the odd baby Bluey that had avoided being located and removed.

As Wally said they have an uncanny ability to survive in an urban environment. They are all over our town and often entertain people sitting and having a meal or a cup of coffee in our local cafe area with their antics. Plenty of people have their resident males who aren't backward in coming forward to nick dog and cat food (soft and hard) out of food bowls. Others that live around houses are often fed by the home owners who leave fruit out especially for them. Some even get that used to the occupants that they'll just come and sit near them in the yard or on the veranda waiting for a feed. Others even have the audacity to venture inside the house looking for a feed.


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Feb 4, 2018)

The ones roaming free at Australia zoo are especially brazen. They will come right up and take food from your feet.


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## Bluetongue1 (Feb 6, 2018)

Lizards like EWDs and Bluetongues are suburban adaptors. They are naturally broad opportunistic feeders that adapt to eating whatever is suitable and available in a suburban environment. I know of people who have tried keeping blueys in bird aviaries and lost finches lizards as a result. They also develop a tolerance of human presence over time. Lace monitors at BBQs in parks adjoining bush are a good example of this. However, this is not the key issue.

The question is do Eastern Water Dragons forage/hunt food underwater? At the moment we have one observation of them doing so. This may be atypical given it is has not been noted where EWDs have been kept with fish. We don’t know. However the observation is significant and warrants further investigation.



Aussiepride83 said:


> Well, this sums it up nicely...


The reason I asked questions of this post (refer Post #12) is because I wondered why you thought it relevant to put up a video of a foreign species, with NO indication of that. This thread is very specifically about an Australian species. In a serious discussion this nature, that sort of contribution is at best unhelpful, and at worst misleading.


Imported_tuatara said:


> It's a chinese water dragon, so most likely not australia Asia or America is where i'm guessing. …


 For your future reference… There are no naturally occurring water dragons in America, only the Chinese Water Dragon as a pet/captive display animal. There are some iguanids from Central and South America with similar habits. Although commonly called the Chinese Water Dragon, _Physignathus cocincinus_ are much more prevalent throughout SE Asia than in southern China. There are currently photo of this species available for sale on the net and labelled “Indian Water Dragon”, even though their natural range does extend that far.
[doublepost=1517837167,1517719759][/doublepost]@Jackson26. Given the information the information provided in this thread it is probably best to adopt a ‘wait and see’ attitude. If you spot something like White-faced Heron then you can guarantee that any fish disappearances are down to it. Providing hiding places for fish, like emergent vegetation and substantial sized over-hanging rock shelfs makes it a lot more difficult for these birds to get a meal. The only 100% guaranteed protect I now of is to put some form of mesh over the pond. My preference wold be the nylon bird netting they put over fruit trees and to allow it sink just under the water line so it is not so obvious. Others here may have equally effective ideas that are less obvious.


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## Smittiferous (Feb 7, 2018)

I think I’ll re-jig my EWD enclosure with a larger water trough and a filter, and throw some feeder fish in there. For science.


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## Foozil (Feb 7, 2018)

Smittiferous said:


> I think I’ll re-jig my EWD enclosure with a larger water trough and a filter, and throw some feeder fish in there. For science.


A noble sacrifice


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## pythoninfinite (Feb 7, 2018)

I have a half-grown Gippy here, and the feeding response to anything that moves is electric. I have no doubt that it could grab a fish or two, especially in shallow water or on the surface. I'll ask my friend Peter Harlow who did a lot of work with them for his PhD if they are known fish predators...

Jamie


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## Scutellatus (Feb 7, 2018)

@baker I believe was involved in a study of them in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens. He may be able to shed some light on whether they are known to take fish in the wild.


Something unrelated to eating fish, but very interesting was said to me by Dr Hocknall from Queensland Museum, the population of juveniles there were found to be congregating under a waterfall at night, with water running over them under 10c in winter. They would come out from under it in the morning no worse for wear.

Definitely some pretty tough reptiles, but I suspect this may the norm across many species.


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## Smittiferous (Feb 7, 2018)

Scutellatus said:


> @baker I believe was involved in a study of them in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens. He may be able to shed some light on whether they are known to take fish in the wild.
> 
> 
> Something unrelated to eating fish, but very interesting was said to me by Dr Hocknall from Queensland Museum, the population of juveniles there were found to be congregating under a waterfall at night, with water running over them under 10c in winter. They would come out from under it in the morning no worse for wear.
> ...


Fairly certain they've been observed spending the night in much colder water than that. I can't for the life of me find the source though, so take that with a grain of salt.


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## baker (Feb 17, 2018)

So I managed to totally forget that I was even tagged in this thread. 

I am not aware of anything in the literature about whether they would take fish in the wild or not (I was primarily just a research assistant). It would certainly not surprise me if they did though and from my personal observations I would not discount it. Throughout my time assisting with the project I saw them eat a wide range of things, with them feeding primarily on flowers/plant matter and insects (which sometimes required very impressive acrobatics). Along with this and the random stuff people would feed them I have also observed them feeding on roadkill ringtail possum, juvenile dragons and one observation of an adult male who seemingly crushed the head and began eating one of his females. 

From these observations and how agile they can be when they want to be, I can certainly see them sitting in shallow water and nailing the occasional fish and tadpole. However, I would be sceptical of their ability to capture fish in deep water while swimming. Could be possible, but that claim would certainly need some evidence to back it up. 

To the worry's of the OP, I would advise that it is possible, however if you provide your fish with a deep area to escape and places to hide you should be fine and suffer negligible at worse losses. 

Cheers, Cameron


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