Thousands of fish poured into Tempe Town Lake

TEMPE, Ariz. (KSAZ) - The fish population at Tempe Town Lake just increased by more than a million. Officials added 1.2 million goldfish and minnows to the lake.

A truckload of fish just made a cross country trip to relocate the bottom feeders to the lake; their job is to keep the lake bug free.

"We put the fish in there as a biological control for the environment, it's the best way to control them vs. chemicals," said Rick Amalfi.

The fish will feed on the larvae of lake flies.

"Midge flies are aquatic gnats, they don't bite or carry any disease, but they sure can cause a lot of nuisance," said Amalfi.

The fish came from a farm in Arkansas and spent two days on the road, kept in special tanks where they were drained out of the tanks and put into Tempe Town Lake.

"At first, they tend to school together and congregate together," he said.

The surface of the lake appeared to have an orange glow for a small time as the fish acclimated themselves to the lake water. But some of the fish will not last long as the lake is already stocked with thousands of bigger fish including bass, sunfish, and catfish.

"They will be food for some of the game fish, the bass appear to be moving in as the goldfish are, so they have will have a nice food supply," said Amalfi.

The public is welcome to fish the lake, but you will need a community fishing license.