KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 — When most people were grappling with boredom during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 and 2021, Mohamad Haziq A Rahman decided to kill time by fishing at a stream near his home in Banting, Selangor. 

The stream originated from the Langat River, once a thriving ground for native fish species such as patin and baung. 

The 38-year-old content creator kept angling for some of these prized fish in the river for several weeks.

But each expedition led to the same outcome: hauls of suckermouth catfish or ikan bandaraya. 

The suckermouth catfish, known for its specialised suction-cup mouth and armoured body, is originally a tropical freshwater fish from South America.

Now, it has emerged as an invasive species driving local fish species out of Malaysian rivers. 

In late 2022, Haziq and some like-minded anglers went on another fishing trip at a stream near the Langat River in Bangi, Selangor.

As expected, they netted hundreds of suckermouths, and when Haziq posted videos of their catch online, more anglers volunteered to join his mission to eradicate invasive species. 

“With just 10 people, we started Komuniti Pemburu Ikan Bandaraya (KPIB), and we went on our first fishing expedition at Klang River.

“The number of suckermouths we caught there was not just double or triple — but many times more than we caught in the Langat River.

“We netted almost 200kg to 400kg of suckermouths in that single expedition!” Haziq told Malay Mail.

KPIB’s fishing trips soon caught the attention of the Fisheries Department, which backed their mission by providing the team with assets such as boats, fishing nets and rods.  

Haziq formally registered the organisation as Skuad Pemburu Ikan Asing (SPIA) in 2023, which currently has about 1,000 registered members. 

Now they weed out invasive species from rivers across the peninsula — from suckermouths to African catfish and alligator gar.

But how did invasive fish end up in our rivers? 

Haziq said the menace began with the boom in collecting and breeding ornamental fish in Malaysia — a popular hobby over the past three decades. 

“During the 1990s and even 2000s, almost every house had an aquarium.

“Ornamental fish like the suckermouths were introduced into aquariums because they feed on algae and leftover food and clean up the aquarium surface.

“That is why they are known as ‘ikan bandaraya’,” Haziq explained, referring to the colloquial name that likens the invasive fish to the city council’s refuse collectors. 

However, Haziq said many owners irresponsibly released the fish into rivers when they grew bigger or when the owners lost interest in the hobby.

Once they entered the river, these foreign species bred rapidly and colonises the ecosystem due to their high tolerance for pollution and a lack of natural predators.

In October 2024, the Fisheries Department director-general Datuk Adnan Hussain said invasive fish species had permanently inhabited more than 80 per cent of rivers in Klang Valley, driving the local species to extinction. 

“Every year, the Fisheries Department tries to replenish the local fish population by introducing fingerlings and fry of native species.

“But as long as the invasive ones colonise our rivers, the local fingerlings and fry don’t get a fighting chance,” Haziq explained. 

An uphill battle

Despite casting their nets wider now, Haziq said SPIA is fighting an uphill battle because the invasive fish population is continuously booming. 

However, he said the team has successfully leveraged the population boom to create resources for aquaculture farmers breeding local fish.

“We don’t encourage commercialisation of the invasive fish that we catch for human consumption because some rivers are so badly polluted. 

“What we do instead is we work with researchers at local universities to process our catch into fish pellets for aquaculture breeders,” he said.

Haziq said SPIA has spent nearly RM20,000 on lab tests and researchers to study the behaviour of suckermouths and the contents of the invasive fish.

A successful collaboration between SPIA and Universiti Selangor (Unisel) led to the processing of invasive fish caught by the squad into fish pellets.

Haziq said the Selangor Fisheries Department has been providing the fish pellets for free to registered aquaculture farmers since early last year. 

“It’s like killing two birds with one stone. 

“The invasive fish population is freely available and needs to be reduced.

“So we created a sustainable cycle by turning them into fish feed for the native species threatened by them,” Haziq said.