The fish Hypostomus plecostomus, commonly known as the janitor fish, is not a native fish of the Philippines. Decades ago, it was accidentally introduced to one of the countries' rivers. Since its introduction, it became an invasive species. It became predators to other species native to the river like that of catfish and milkfish. There presence disrupted the river ecosystem and biodiversity. Thus; I have this question of whether or not its removal could help restore the river's ecosystem back to its normal state (pre-introduction of the janitor fish).
Thank you.
Of course may the removal of an invasive species help to restore the original ecosystem. But an eradication of an invasive species is hardly to put into execution. You have also to take care of avoiding new damage of the original ecosystem by the management of the eradication.
You may wish to consider if any keystone species or other predators/prey have been lost since the invasive Janitor fish was introduced. Removal of an invasive species will certainly help restore balance to the ecosystem but could you also potentially be creating another issue? Maybe also consider the reintroduction of lost species, if there are any, and methods to increase existing population numbers.
Erradication of invasive species is next to impossible. How do you plan to kill all the Hypostomus?
Any method to kill all the Hypostomus will severely impact several other components of the ecosystem. That is the problem of invasive species, the invasion cannot be reversed.
The first thing that you have to do is check the taxonomy, many so-called Hypostomus plecostomus are not of that species at all,but belong to other genera. Secondly, do you have evidence of predation on the native species as many (most?) species are algal or detritus feeders. We have an invasion of Pterygoplichthys paradalis here in Jamaica.
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