Aquarium fish laws in Australia, state by state
Australia regulates aquarium fish more tightly than almost anywhere else, and the rules are not the same in every state. A fish sold freely in a Sydney shop can be illegal to bring into Perth, and Tasmania will not let you import a shrimp at all. Most hobbyists never run into trouble, because a reputable local shop stocks what is legal where it trades, but the moment you buy online, move interstate, or take on a fish secondhand, the rules become yours to know. This guide explains how the system works, which species catch people out, and where to check for your own state.
Published 29 July 2026 · Last updated 29 July 2026 · 13 min read
Why Australia is so strict
The rules exist because the damage already happened. Australia's freshwater systems evolved in isolation, and introduced fish have proven devastating in them.
European carp now dominate large stretches of the Murray-Darling, muddying water and out-competing natives. Tilapia, an escaped or dumped aquarium and aquaculture fish, has established in Queensland waterways and is regarded as one of the worst freshwater pests in the country. Gambusia, the mosquitofish, was deliberately released to control mosquitoes, does the job poorly, and now harasses and out-breeds native fish across most of the continent. Even goldfish, harmless in a tank, grow large and destructive when released into a creek.
A striking share of these arrived through the aquarium trade rather than commercial fishing: fish dumped in a drain, tipped into a farm dam, or escaped from a flooded pond. That history is why regulators treat home aquarists as part of the biosecurity system, and why the obligations fall on you as an individual keeper, not just on shops.
The three layers of rules
Confusion usually comes from mixing up three separate systems. They stack, so a fish must clear all of them.
Layer one: what may enter Australia. The federal government maintains lists of live ornamental fish permitted for import, one for freshwater and one for marine, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry through its permitted live ornamental fish lists. If a species is not on the list, it cannot legally be imported, full stop. Importing also requires a permit and an approved quarantine facility, and is limited to the aquarium trade, which is why you cannot simply order fish from overseas as a hobbyist. This is the layer that explains why so many species you see on international YouTube channels are unavailable here.
Layer two: what your state lets you keep. Clearing customs nationally does not make a fish legal in your state. Each state and territory declares its own noxious, prohibited, or restricted species under its own legislation, and the lists differ. Some states go further and regulate movement itself, so bringing fish across a border needs authorisation even when the species is legal on both sides.
Layer three: native species. Australian natives sit under wildlife and fisheries law rather than import law. Collecting them from the wild generally requires a recreational fishing licence and obedience to size, bag, and closed-season rules, and some species are protected outright. Buying captive-bred natives from a licensed dealer avoids all of this, and is the approach we recommend in our native Australian fish guide.
The species that catch people out
Most restricted species are fish no hobbyist would encounter. A handful, though, circulate in the hobby, get passed between keepers, or turn up in ponds, and these are the ones worth knowing by name.
| Species | Status | Why it matters to aquarists |
|---|---|---|
| Tilapia (Oreochromis and Tilapia species) | Noxious or prohibited nationwide | Regarded as one of Australia's worst pest fish. Some African cichlid genera are restricted alongside it. |
| Carp, including koi | Noxious in several states, including Victoria | The one that surprises pond keepers. Koi are ornamental carp, and legality varies sharply by state. |
| Weather loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) | Noxious or restricted in several states | Sold historically as a hardy coldwater oddball, now established in south-eastern waterways. |
| Gambusia, the mosquitofish | Noxious | Occasionally mistaken for a livebearer and moved between ponds. |
| Climbing perch | Restricted, notably in Queensland | Can survive out of water and travel overland, so containment matters. |
| Large predators: alligator gar, spotted gar, pacu, snakeheads | Prohibited | Occasionally offered illegally as "monster fish". Queensland requires sightings be reported within 24 hours. |
This table is an orientation, not a legal list, and it is deliberately short. The full declarations run to more than a hundred species in some states, they are amended over time, and the same fish can be prohibited in one state and merely restricted in the next. Check the official list for your jurisdiction in the next section.
State by state, and where to check
Each card below names the governing legislation and links the authority that publishes the current list. Open the one for your state, and use its list rather than any secondhand summary, including this one.
New South Wales
Regulated under the Biosecurity Act 2015. Species on the national noxious fish list are declared prohibited matter in NSW, which makes possessing, buying, selling, or moving them an offence, and in most cases makes sightings notifiable. NSW also publishes a list aimed specifically at the aquarium trade and hobbyists rather than at commercial fisheries, which makes it one of the more useful pages in the country for a home keeper.
Victoria
Regulated under section 75 of the Fisheries Act 1995, which declares noxious aquatic species. Victoria is the state where koi carp most commonly catch people out: koi are a noxious aquatic species there and must not be held without authorisation, which is a genuine surprise to pond keepers moving from interstate. Permits exist for some activities, but without one the activity is an offence.
Check: Victorian Fisheries Authority, noxious aquatic species.
Queensland
Regulated under the Biosecurity Act 2014, which splits pest fish into two tiers. Prohibited noxious fish, well over a hundred species, must not be in Queensland at all, and a sighting must be reported to Biosecurity Queensland within 24 hours. Restricted noxious fish, a much shorter list including carp, tilapia, gambusia, climbing perch, and the Chinese weatherfish (the weather loach), must not be moved, sold, given away, or released.
Queensland also places a general biosecurity obligation on everyone, meaning you are expected to take reasonable steps to stop pest species escaping or spreading. For the restricted species above, the state's instruction is to humanely kill them and dispose of them away from the water body rather than returning them to the water.
Check: Queensland Government, legal obligations for invasive freshwater animals.
Western Australia
Regulated under the Fish Resources Management Act, with noxious fish carrying substantial penalties, quoted by the department at ten thousand dollars and above. WA is also stricter than most about movement rather than just possession: you generally need authority to bring fish into the state or to move them within it, under what the department calls translocation. That catches people who move house interstate with an established tank, which is exactly the situation where hobbyists assume no rules apply.
South Australia
Regulated under the Fisheries Management Act 2007. Fish on the state's noxious list may not be held or traded without authorisation, and moving, keeping, breeding, selling, or releasing them attracts heavy fines. South Australia also makes the point explicitly that you need a permit to stock fish into private waters such as a farm dam, which is a common and well-meaning way that aquarium fish escape into catchments.
Check: PIRSA, noxious fish list.
Tasmania, the strictest in the country
Tasmania inverts the usual approach. Instead of a list of banned fish, the Inland Fisheries Service maintains a Permissible Imports List of freshwater aquarium fish, and anything not on that list may not be brought in. Importing is also restricted to registered fish dealers or people holding a permit, so a hobbyist cannot simply order fish from the mainland.
The part that surprises aquarists most: freshwater shrimp, snails, and other invertebrates cannot be imported into Tasmania at all, with live blackworms the only exception. If you are in Tasmania, read our shrimp guide and the nerite and mystery snail entries with that firmly in mind, and buy only from a Tasmanian source.
Northern Territory
The Territory maintains prohibited species lists covering both wildlife and aquatic pests, and its tropical climate means introduced tropical species that would die in a southern winter can establish readily. That makes the Territory's rules on aquatic pests worth reading carefully even for common species, and makes responsible disposal especially important.
Australian Capital Territory
The ACT declares invasive fish and aquatic invertebrates as prohibited pest animals under the Pest Plants and Animals Act 2005, and has deliberately aligned its declarations with NSW so that the two jurisdictions are consistent. In practice, if a species is prohibited matter in NSW, treat it as prohibited in the ACT and confirm with the ACT Government.
Check: the ACT Government's pest animal declarations, alongside the NSW list it mirrors.
Buying online and moving interstate
Two everyday situations create nearly all the accidental offending.
Buying fish online. An Australian seller can legally hold a species in their state and still not be able to send it to yours. Reputable sellers filter their catalogue by delivery state and refuse orders they cannot legally fill, and some publish an explicit list of what they cannot send to Western Australia or Tasmania. Treat a seller who ships anything anywhere as a warning sign rather than a convenience, because the liability for possessing the fish lands on you at your end.
Moving house across a border. This one is genuinely easy to get wrong, because nothing about loading a tank into a truck feels like an import. Several states regulate the movement of live fish in its own right, so an established, entirely legal tank can become a permit question the moment it crosses a state line. Western Australia and Tasmania are the two to check first. Contact the destination state's authority before moving day, not after.
Fish you can no longer keep
Fish outgrow tanks, life circumstances change, and sometimes a fish turns out to be something other than what it was sold as. There is always a legal option, and releasing it is never one of them.
- Ask the shop. Many aquarium retailers will take back or rehome healthy fish, particularly ones that have outgrown a home tank. Ring first.
- Try a club or a local group. Aquarium societies and local fishkeeping groups rehome constantly, and a large or unusual fish is often welcome rather than a burden.
- Ask a vet about humane euthanasia if the fish is sick, or if it is a restricted species you are required to destroy. Clove oil is the method usually recommended for fish, and a vet or your state authority can advise on doing it properly.
- Report it if it is prohibited. If you believe you are holding a prohibited species, contact your state authority rather than quietly disposing of it. Reporting is the outcome the legislation is designed to produce, and states set short reporting windows precisely because early detection is what stops an incursion.
None of this should make the hobby feel fraught. The overwhelming majority of fish in an Australian shop are perfectly legal to keep where they are sold, and a keeper who buys locally, checks before ordering interstate, and never releases anything will go a lifetime without a problem. The rules exist to keep it that way.
Related reading: native Australian fish for the aquarium, best fish for Australian tap water, and how to choose your first fish, or browse the species directory.