Collecting native fish from the wild
Scooping a few rainbowfish or blue-eyes out of a local creek sounds like the most natural thing in the world, and it is the question that comes up every time someone discovers how good Australian natives look in a planted tank. The answer is more restrictive than most people expect, and the single most common misunderstanding is assuming that holding a recreational fishing licence covers it. It does not. This guide explains what actually governs taking live native fish for an aquarium, why four separate bodies of law can apply to one afternoon with a dip net, and where to ask in your own state.
Published 15 October 2026 · Last updated 16 October 2026 · 11 min read
A fishing licence is not a collecting permit
This is the heart of it. A recreational fishing licence, where your state requires one, permits you to fish recreationally: to catch fish by the permitted methods, within size and bag limits, and generally to keep them for the table. It says nothing about removing live fish from a waterway to put in a tank at home.
Taking live fish for an aquarium is treated as a different activity, usually requiring a separate authorisation, and in several jurisdictions it is not something an ordinary hobbyist is expected to be granted.
New South Wales puts it most plainly. The state's fisheries guidance for aquarium keepers states that native fish cannot be collected from the wild to keep in ponds or aquaria without a specific permit, and directs hobbyists to aquarium shops, native plant nurseries and water garden suppliers instead. The relevant permit is applied for under section 37 of the Fisheries Management Act 1994, using a dedicated aquarium collection application. Applications are assessed on their merits and a permit is not guaranteed, a fee applies, and the form asks for the species, numbers, methods and exact locations, including whether any of them fall inside aquatic reserves, marine parks, national parks, or culturally significant areas.
Four things that all have to line up
Even where collecting is permitted, it is rarely governed by one rule. Four separate systems can apply to the same net, and clearing one does not clear the others.
| The rule | What it governs | Who administers it |
|---|---|---|
| Fisheries law | Whether you may take fish at all, by what method, how many, and whether a collecting permit is needed on top of any licence. | Your state or territory fisheries agency. |
| Threatened and protected species law | Whether that particular species may be taken, kept or moved at all. Overrides anything fisheries law allows. | The state environment or conservation department. |
| Where you are standing | National parks, marine parks, aquatic reserves, water catchment land and private property each carry their own access and collection rules. | The parks agency, water authority, or landholder. |
| Translocation rules | Moving live fish between catchments or across state borders, which is restricted even for species that are legal to keep. | Fisheries and biosecurity agencies in both the source and destination states. |
The threatened species layer catches people out most often, because conservation status has nothing to do with how ordinary a fish looks. Plenty of small, drab, locally abundant natives are listed somewhere in their range, and a population that looks healthy in one creek can be the remnant of a listed one. Queensland, for example, requires authorisation under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 to take, keep, use or release a protected animal, and that sits entirely separately from any fishing rule.
The land layer is the one people forget entirely. A great many attractive collecting spots sit inside national parks or declared reserves, where taking anything living is prohibited regardless of what your fishing licence says.
State by state, and where to ask
What follows is orientation, not a legal answer. The licence positions below are the general recreational fishing requirements; the collection question is separate, and in most jurisdictions it is not published in a form a hobbyist can simply read off a page. Ring or email the agency and ask specifically about taking live native fish for a home aquarium.
New South Wales
The clearest position in the country. Native fish cannot be collected from the wild for ponds or aquaria without a specific permit, issued under section 37 of the Fisheries Management Act 1994. A recreational fishing fee applies separately to ordinary angling for most adults.
Where to check: NSW DPIRD, choosing which fish to keep, and the section 37 aquarium collection permit application.
Victoria
A Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence is required to take fish from public waters, covering marine, estuarine and inland waters, and it reaches well past line fishing: bait collecting, gathering shellfish, taking yabbies and prawns, and spearfishing all count. Exemptions include people under 18 and those aged 70 or over, certain concession and veterans' card holders, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Separately, threatened and listed fish require a permit before you may disturb, capture, sample or remove them, administered by the environment department rather than fisheries.
We could not find a standard hobbyist aquarium-collection authorisation published by Victoria, which is not the same as there being none. Confirm with the authority before collecting.
Where to check: the Victorian Fisheries Authority licence page.
Queensland
A Stocked Impoundment Permit is required for anyone aged 18 or over to fish with a line in Queensland's prescribed stocked dams and weirs, and the state publishes a search tool for which waters are covered.
For aquarium collection the more important rule sits with a different agency: protected animals require authorisation under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 to take, keep, use or release. Taking anything from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park or state marine parks needs a permit as well. Two agencies are therefore in play, and the wildlife one is the one most likely to catch you.
Where to check: Queensland protected fish and invertebrates, and fishing in dams and weirs.
Western Australia
A south-west freshwater angling licence is required for all freshwater angling in waters south of Greenough (29°S) and above the tidal influence, including all lakes, dams, rivers and their tributaries. Anglers under the age of 16 do not require one, and marron fishing carries its own separate licence and rules.
Where to check: WA DPIRD recreational fishing, and the department's south-west freshwater angling licence guide.
South Australia
PIRSA states that you do not need a licence for recreational fishing in South Australia. A Reservoir Fishing Permit is required to fish in all South Australian reservoirs, however, and size, bag and gear limits apply throughout. The absence of a licence requirement says nothing about whether live collection for an aquarium is permitted.
Where to check: PIRSA recreational fishing rules and reservoir fishing.
Tasmania
Everyone aged 14 or over needs a current angling licence to fish inland waters, and that explicitly includes farm dams on private property. Whitebait fishing needs a separate licence, and the licence itself confers no right of access across private land. Tasmania also runs the tightest aquatic regime in the country more generally, operating an allow-list for what may be brought into the state rather than a ban-list, and freshwater shrimp and snails cannot be imported at all.
Assume Tasmania is the least permissive jurisdiction on anything involving moving live aquatic animals, and confirm before doing anything at all.
Where to check: the Inland Fisheries Service, whose Inland Fishing Code is reissued each season, so read the current one.
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory Government states that you do not need a recreational fishing licence in the NT. Permits are generally required to enter Aboriginal land, however, and may also be required to access tidal waters overlying it, and since 1 March 2021 the Northern Land Council has required recreational fishers to register for access to some of those waters. A large share of the Territory's intertidal waters sit over Aboriginal land, so the permission question arises constantly and is a matter of respect as well as law. Bag and size limits apply throughout.
Where to check: about NT recreational fishing and fishing on Aboriginal land.
Australian Capital Territory
The ACT Government states that you do not need a licence for recreational fishing in the public waters of the ACT, though the rules in the Fisheries Act still apply and some waters are closed entirely. Googong Reservoir is the trap: it is governed by the New South Wales Fisheries Management Act 1994, so a NSW recreational fishing licence is needed to fish there.
Where to check: recreational fishing in the ACT.
Why wild fish and tank fish should not mix
Set the law aside for a moment, because there is a practical case that applies even where collection is lawful.
A wild-caught fish arrives carrying whatever its home water carries: parasites, bacteria, and viruses that its own population has adapted to and yours has not. Dropping it into an established community tank is the highest-risk introduction in the hobby, considerably worse than a shop fish, and it is how keepers lose entire tanks. If you do collect lawfully, quarantine is not optional, and our quarantine guide covers how to do it properly.
The same logic applies between sites. If you move between waterways with the same net, bucket or boots, you can carry eggs, fragments and pathogens from one catchment into another. Clean and dry gear between locations. This is exactly how several of the pest species in our fish laws guide spread in the first place, and how aquatic weeds move too.
The easier route, and the better one
Almost everything people want from wild collection is available captive-bred, legally, in every state.
Captive-bred natives are the better aquarium animals in nearly every respect. They are already adapted to tank conditions and prepared foods, they arrive without a wild parasite load, they can be moved and sold legally, and buying them supports the breeders keeping these species available. A Murray River rainbowfish, Pacific blue-eye, Gertrude's blue-eye or threadfin rainbowfish from a licensed dealer gives you the tank you wanted without any of the above.
Our guide to native Australian fish for the aquarium covers which species suit local tap water, where to buy them, and how to set up a native tank. If your interest is in the fish of your own catchment specifically, the Australia New Guinea Fishes Association is the place to start, since its members breed, document and trade these species and are the people most likely to know what is available as captive-bred stock and what the rules are where you live.
Related reading: native Australian fish for the aquarium, aquarium fish laws in Australia, state by state, and quarantining new fish, or browse the species directory.