How they got there
Every redtail in Florida water was somebody's pet1. They are sold as cute three inch babies, they grow fast, and a fish that outgrows its tank sometimes ends up in the nearest canal or pond.
Where they've turned up
The earliest record is in a 1984 survey of exotic fishes in the US. It gives no place or date, so all we know is they were already showing up by the early 1980s1. Since then the US Geological Survey has logged these Florida reports1:
- Panama City, 2007: found dead in a saltwater marina.
- Kendall, Miami-Dade, 2015 and 2016: Mimosa Lake, Lake Louise and Kendale Lake. At Kendale Lake someone saw two, about two and a half feet long, hunting by a storm drain. Another report came from the same area in 2022.
- Lakeland, 2015: a five year old caught one at Saddle Creek Park.
- Gemini Springs, Volusia County, 2017.
- Pinellas County, 2025.
That list only has the fish somebody reported. In 2014 two 12 year olds caught one in a neighborhood pond in Oakleaf, in Clay County, and put it back2. The biggest one below isn't on it either.
The biggest one caught in Florida
In March 2026 angler Zak CatchEm caught a redtail in South Florida that measured 52.5 inches, about 133 cm, on a fish board and again with a tape laid under it. It weighed about 64 pounds and was thin, with someone else's hook rusted in its gills3. That is within an inch of the largest redtail science has measured. He kept it in a backyard pond.
That fish didn't get that big in a tank. It has probably been loose for years, which says a redtail can live a long time in South Florida if it finds enough food and warm enough water.
Are they breeding in Florida?
No. Every Florida report is a single fish or two, and USGS lists the species as failed in Florida, meaning no population took hold1. There are no reports of babies.
Cold is the main limit. A redtail can live through water in the low 60s °F, but it eats less and gets sick4. USGS notes one might get through a winter in a warm refuge like a spring1.
The cold snap of February 2026 showed both sides of that. Zak found a 42 inch, 50 pound redtail sitting where warm water flowed into a dead-end canal, the warmest spot it could find. He caught it and moved it to his pond, and it died anyway. He had already found another dead one nearby, 41 inches long3. Watch that video here.
Is it legal to keep one?
Yes. Redtails are not on Florida's prohibited or conditional species lists, so you don't need a permit to own one, and anglers can take non-native freshwater fish all year with no limits5. Those lists were last changed in April 2021, so check with FWC if you are reading this much later.
Releasing one is illegal. Florida law bans letting any non-native animal go without FWC's permission6.
If you catch one
Don't put it back. Keep it only if you can house a fish that will pass three feet (see tank size). Otherwise give it to a rescue like Fish Story in Naples (see rehoming), or hand it in through FWC's Exotic Pet Amnesty Program, which takes fish with no penalty5,7.
Either way, report it to USGS so it gets counted. Most of what we know about redtails in Florida comes from people who did.