YeW Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 Hi Guys - Just curious... if a quarentine room was properly setup etc. Is there any reason a breeder (or group thereof) couldnt import cichlids? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 It would depend how much money your prepered to spend. Then you have to find a supplier that will sell to you not to mention all the pitfalls you will encounter with that. I know people have tried to do this before but have not made it work. I am not trying to put you off the idea. So David if your really interested how importing works give me a call when you have a few weeks to spare and I will explain how to set it all up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 dave, I know of at least one place with a quarantine room where its possible to import stuff and you just pay them for the hire of it. certainly cheaper than getting a markup on top of what you bring in. also much cheaper than setting one up and getting the applicable licences. alternatively there is a couple of shops with them that have very reasonable prices on stuff they will bring in, and they are run by cichlid enthusiasts. again they are more than happy to bring stuff in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Nigel will do it, just ask him nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevkoi Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 The biggest problem is volume. How many fish are u going to bring in to justify the quarantine/freight cost... it better be quite a few. There are also some exporters (European mainly) who will only send out fish on miminum $$$ order (and the mininum $$$ is fairly substantial). The biggest problem with hobbyist wanting stuff is that they want specific things and only in small numbers. So unless the "specific fish" is on one of the quarantine room's regular exporter's lists and it can be brought in as an addition to an order already coming in, it can be a logistical nightmare. Not to mention freight can be expensive if it doesn't meet the weight break. The quarantine charge for bring thru one box of fish or 10boxes of fish is not much difference. The more you bring in, the more u can spread the charges. Next question is, is the fish you are after ON the permissable import list? Chances are if they are, they're already here in large numbers, so why the specific import? Especially with all these wild and german F1 cichlids, supply is erratic and inconsistent. U get what they have. You may find one fish species on the list you are interested in on one exporters list, but it's only ONE type, and to justify a shipment, u need a lot more than just that. The rest of the fish on the lists may not appeal..... so how to make up the numbers? What exactly are you after that you feel the need to import yourself? kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 kev, maybe I am crazy but I personally would pay a premium price for premium quality fish, imported or otherwise, to bolster the quality of local stock which is seriously under threat from our limited gene pools and our obsession with new 'fad' fish which disappear and get bred 'badly' after only a few months in the country. There are many fish on the allowable list which may be here in good numbers, but are not worth keeping due to inherent deformity, or dubious lineage, or just a general bad quality about them. I also think if someone paid for premium quality broodstock, there would be more likeminded people (such as myself) who would support them by purchasing fry at generous prices to ensure good quality stock of 'boring old' species has a permanent place in the hobby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlabxr Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 The ADA ( Australian Discus Association) does it as far as I am aware. Also the Canadian Cichlid association does it. There is no reason why a group of individals could not do this. They could target the specific fish they were after and also bring in other fish to sell off. They don't have to make a large profit therefore even allowing for not being large scale importers they would be competitive with other importers. Obviously the better the research done beforehand the better for all. Discus are imported all the time maybe that's another line they could import as well. After all they are Cichlids. Tetras, Barbs,Sharks,Silver Dollars could all bulk up the list and just look how many of them sell through the LFS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lv426 Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Does anyone know if the Cichlid Society has considered importing stock?. Large group of enthusiasts. Well known in this forum and vice versa. Im sure people would support for all the reasons that our newest forum vet Ducksta mentioned. Just a thought.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlabxr Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 I am sure this topic has come up before. Unfortunately the usual conflicts arise. We have members who also have commercial interests. Some are longtime members and have been of tremendous help to many people over the years. Whenever it is suggested to "cut out' the middleman so to speak just stand back and wait for the noise. There are going to be clashes with the retail outlets, some of the more well-connected and some of our more entrepreneurial members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeW Posted December 26, 2004 Author Share Posted December 26, 2004 Hi Guys - My suggestion was one that a group of hobbyists could do this.... I'd like to be involved but I'm not sure now is the time for me financially etc. I wasnt asking because I wanted to import anything specific - it was more of a general query. ACE is the largest cichlid organisation in Australia... obviously there'd be a few members I'd imagine interested in setting up such a co-op. Dave aka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlabxr Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Count me in Yew. I think a co-op formed by a group of hobbyists is a great idea and has a lot of merit. Like you I don't want to import any specific. Although I would like to see the Blue Acara lines improved sometime in the future. Maybe a Poll could be conducted. What do you think Mark?(Cichlids_au) I'd be interested for your thoughts on such an idea. We could possibly utilise it to "import" species that are more prolific in other states. Regards Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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