stratos

The CITES cost is not too bad if it gets spread out over a large enough shipment. I've always had to pay in full for shipments from Asia, Australia, and Europe. With all the dams they have coming to Brazil I am sure a lot of plecos will soon be on CITES 1 or 2.

A little bit late perhaps, but for anyone in the Edmonton area interested in Asian arowana, Nic Chia, owner of Dreamfish Inc., Asian arowana farm in Singapore is putting on a talk tonight at Marine Aquaria in Edmonton. He put on another talk at Concept Aquariums in Calgary last night. Before that he was in Banff, the Rockies, and Vancouver. A thread with a few photos of his Vancouver stop can be seen at: http://www.arowanaclub.ca/forums/showthread.php?p=49758#post49758 I think at least one member of this forum was at the talk last night at Concept Aquariums so maybe they can provide an account of the talk.

A complete scam: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-other-pets/calgary/canadas-leading-arowana-specialist/1074329578 More detailed post on the subject found here: http://www.arowanaclub.ca/forums/showthread.php?p=48913#post48913 Beware of who you deal with, never ever agree to send money by Western Union; make sure you get a company vetted by trusted third parties before ever wiring off money.

Here is another really good thread that shows 3 or 4 separate operations, step by step: http://www.arowanaclub.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=4879

There was a fellow in Ontario with one for sale: http://www.arowanaclub.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=5565 Beautiful looking fish for sure.

There were initially at least a few hundred fry from the first batch, though by the time I got to stripping the fry I was left with somewhere around 75 or so. They are in a 5 gallon now, growing well. I have been feeding them live baby brine shrimp, am going to experiment with a new food product from Repashy; otherwise will also use crushed Hikari/NLS, whatever I have around. I will have to look into using microworms. I was thinking of getting a white worm culture going too; I used to have luck getting baby oscars to put on body weight with white worms. I agree that raising geos is pretty entertaining for kids, great way to share the hobby with them.

Hi Noodles - it looks like you and I are enjoying the same experience in the hobby right now. Check out a thread on my fish and their spawn here: http://www.arowanaclub.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=4619 Cheers

Too bad you are not in Vancouver to help me with my set up. I am installing a Marineland 300 gallon (6 X 3 X 2.5) in my laundry room against a wall; then I am cutting out a hole in the wall to provide a large picture window on the other side. Project is underway.

Have you ever tried posting the food dye idea on a dedicated aro forum? Something tells me it would provoke a response.

I wonder if yours are ones I shipped to Alberta hobbyists? I have imported and shipped out dozens of them, though they never look as skinny as that when they come in. I have some more coming in the month, will upload photos when they arrive. So far I have been bringing in the Summatran ones, working to bring in some guys from Borneo in near future. I'd recommend you give yours a jumbo piece of plastic PVC pipe to hide in, maybe try to do target feeding. In my experience clowns burn up a lot of calories and need a morning and evening feeding to stay in good shape. RD, by tank raised do you mean captive bred? It was my understanding that all clown loaches were wild caught, with no confirmed captive breeding yet?

I no longer have any connection to Panda Aquatics, but when I did, Mr.Kan put me in touch with a hobbyist in Singapore who raised a champion red. Here is a link to an article he wrote: Raising a winner I had hoped to see this fish a few years ago, but the owner sold it for use as a brooder before I got the chance. It would be great if you could follow Bret's advice and blog journal entries while doing it all.

Sometimes super reds turn out well, sometimes not so well. It is a real crap shoot when you buy them small and without confirmed colour characteristics. I've heard (but not witnessed) sudden "turning" of SR's, so don't give up hope. Meanwhile, your fish looks healthy and well fed so congrats.

The problem with random batch checks is that ornamental fish have too many entry points into the country for the system to work. It would require tanks/quarantine systems (not to mention CFIA staff with specialized knowledge/fish keeping skills) to be placed across Canada at every major airport and border crossing. Lots of liability issues, and too onerous I think. I think what is needed is some kind of international body to oversee the global trade in all ornamental fish/pets; The CITES treaty is a good example of how something like this could be set up.

Absolutely. And to answer your question before you edited your response ..... China was used as an example because in recent history it has one of the worst track records with regards to human health/safety issues, and is clearly at the top of the CFIA's hit list when it comes to human health/safety issues & concerns. I simply find it ironic that the CFIA insists on first hand risk assessments being performed by their (CFIA's) own people of overseas fish food manufacturing facilities, but at the same time are going to allow these same countries to perform their own risk assessments of all live aquatic animals being exported to our country. How in the hell that makes any sense to anyone is beyond me. I wonder if lobbyists have had a hand behind the scenes in applying political pressure on CFIA to keep the tropical fish trade/pet trade running here? Or maybe the CFIA themselves realized they would kill the aquarium trade in Canada if they were too stringent in their oversite? There is a lot of money at stake.

There is corruption all over the world in the fish trade.

Almost all fish I import come with pretty extensive paperwork already. Europe has required various import/export certificates for some time. A very expensive part of importing stingrays from the Netherlands to Canada is getting the EU health certs for the rays - certs Canada doesn't even ask for (but the Europeans insist you have anyway). In the UK, they force you to register the sale or movement of all Asian arowana within the country - even if it is a private sale between hobbyists. These new Canadian regulations do not strike me as much of an impediment for importing the fish I am interested in.

Multi-tasking men = oxymoron

I like birchirs too, and imported an aussie lungfish because it reminds me of a coelacanth; but my all time favourite fossil fish would have to be the Asian arowana.

You've done a great job grooming it. I can't even see any evidence of the old chipped scales.

I tried to take some video of a couple larger loaches I have now (10 and 11 inchers); were recently wild caught in Sumatra to my knowledge.

Interesting read, thanks. I know an Indonesian fellow guiding a scientific expedition deep in Kalimantan right now. The multi-year project is profiled a bit here: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/04/23/tech-borneo-new-species.html With a bit of luck I might be able to access some cool loaches in future.

The scam on Calgary Kiji is here: http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-pets-other-pets-for-sale-Arowana-babies-for-sale-RED-TAIL-GOLDEN-W0QQAdIdZ182710942 Some discussion of it here: http://www.arowanaclub.ca/forums/showthread.php?p=18836#post18836

I agree with the points you raise RD. Although I use grow out tanks myself, it's probably not the best advice to give a complete novice to the hobby.

There is more to consider here. In my experience, most people want to buy a juvenile arowana (irrespective of species) of around 6-7 inches, and then raise it up. If a person were to purchase a large tank based on the ultimate size requirements for the fish, they will be buying a minimum 180-270 gallon tank. Obviously it does not make much sense to drop a juvenile arowana into such a big tank, especially if the hobbyist is new to fishkeeping. Thus, the new aro hobbyist will likely be looking at owning a series of grow out tanks. I agree that anyone can start out by keeping arowana, they just need to know that there will be further cost and investment down the road in the form of larger tanks, filters, etc. A specialty forum especially set up for new Asian arowana keepers in Canada can be found at: http://www.arowanaclub.ca/forums/forumdisp...&order=desc

I've been told a popular bait used by indigenous Amazonians to catch arapaima is a hooked adult silver arowana... I saw some kept in ponds in SEAsia, the owners would throw in whole chickens (dead) for food.