BlackList

Yes once again the topic has come alive! I am currently watching NGwld channel 261 on DSTV. The program is Giant Python Invasion. Miami has a problem with the Giant Burmese python, Monitor Lizards and some other south american green lizard. The monitors and pythons are thriving and these peoples lives are all at risk. Pretty hectic. So for those of you who dont know how important the Blacklist is, You will have to watch this program. As these species are doing better here than what they were in the own countries. The same with fish, and before you know it, like with the plants story on Carte Blanche last week, local species get wiped out.

 

Very True

 

Little known fact(and I'm sure DEAT wont like me for spreading this....) Have to check the facts,but it was round 1930's that the then Natal provincial parks board released muisquito fish - Gambusia affinis - into rivers and streams around Kwazulu natal to control the spread of Malaria by eating the larvea of the Anopholes muisquito....Duh,that's the pot calling the kettle black...lol. guess they didn't know much about EIA's back then....Australia prob wishes they did an EIA before releasing the Cane Toad - now THAT is the worst one for me ever - totally devastating!!!!

 

Yeah, the waters here in the cape are infested with those fish

 

Yeah,you can prob find them in most river systems all across SA - even found them in Moz when there on holliday...the prblem with them is their voracious appetites/fast breeding - they outcompete local fish species for food and due to thei habitat choise of hanging around and in streamside vegetation,our larger predator fish can't get @ them....
The subspecies Ganbusia affinis var. holbrookii is rather pretty though(balanced by a NASTY disposition for such a small fish) - used to catch them in the Baakens river in PE as a kid as live food for my Arry....heh,heh,heh - was conservation minded even as a kid,even though my efforts was in vain.... Baakens river had a small population of Sandelia capensis (an indigenous Labyrinth fish a bit like the Central African Ctenopoma's) that the youth arm of the now defunct ECAS - Eastern Cape Aquarium Society - took to hart and tried to protect...Miss those days - our monthly meetings where held at a local library and usualy had 150 ish members attending.... Wonder if there are still any Sandelia's swimming round PE?

 

I had to google Sandelia capensis but it is a curper. I know there are plenty in the cape

 

Hi Riyadh

Nope,not a cichlid @ all - member of the anabantoid family.... one other highly endangered species of this family is the East cape Rocky - Sandelia bainsii.... yet again we see how confusing common names can be.... Some oke must have like to be thinking that it likes to look like dose Kurper like stuff like....just it's like in da Cape,so we like call it like a Cape Kurper(excuse all the likes,just trying to show"like"{sic} how common names start....

 

Well, that's some info right there . .

Since you are ex-deat . . I'm sure you know why freshwater shrimp and all freshwater crustaceans are blacklisted. I'm puzzled by the fact that they are . .

Where they blacklisted before you left DEAT? Would you know of a reason why they are?

TM

 

Looks a bit liek a cichlid though. Pretty fish, how come we dont have any of our local fish species available as tank pets, or am I wrong. I dont know if there are any available. Does anyone? People should regard aquarists as conservationist, maybe even use guys that keep fish to help in restoring threatened species. I know I would if there was some sought of compensation.

 

Nope TM
That was a "grey" area when I was a DEAT student - but I have an answer for you based on ecology...

When you look at a basic riverine systems food pyramid,Crustaceans form a very large part of both micro and macro predators prey items...not just the adults,but Crustacea have a very complex life cycle(esp the shrimps) and the larvea are both predators and prey on and in the basic building block of this food pyramid - the Zooplankton....

These creatures habbitats are often in highly sensitive ecological areas of a riverine system(up river pebble stream bed areas)... now take a bunch of Yahoo,gung - ho aquarium keepers with nets,jars and boots invading this area to catch a shrimp or 2 for their tanks - turn over just one rock,and you destroy a micro ecology for something like 50 years....not just the crustacea,but the other filter feeding organisms,bacteria,insect larvea etc as well...this knock on effect can be dramatic in the end...

So,even though we bitch and moan about not being able to keep this or the other Aquatic species,there is a sound ecological reasoning behind this....not just "mean and nasty" DEAT officials....that also explains why most of the fish on the black list is there....not because they will "invade" our river systems,but due to wild collection in their country of orrigen and the harm that's done to sensitive riverine habitats there

So guys,stick to the BL - we ALL need to do SOMETHING to protect Mother Earths waters(although this seems a losing battle worldwide..... ) - even if it's not buying that awesome BL fish in your LFS's tank that got snuck in and you crave so much...

---------- Post added at 12:10 ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 ----------

@ riyadh - read my explanation above....there's this little Goby species in Northern KZN that has made my fishy fingers itch for many years....but the joy I've got visiting those areas and watching those little bueaties go about their biz(and NOT catching any...) - has left me with a glow in my heart.... Take only pictures,leave only footprints....

 

Yes I agree, take only pictures, leave only footprints. But look at mamals that get rehabilitated into the wild. Surely this can be done with fish, people breed them, make some available to pet shops and try to promote local species, if they get into the water systems, it wont matter cause they are local. Also I think (I do stand corrected)they have a program in Malawi where a breeder is breeding cichlid on the banks of the lakes. He returns a % to the lake to help increase the decreasing numbers. And then what about invasive species like these snakes in Miami, certainly here one cant take only pictures, one has to get rid of these invasive species and also try to restore damages done to native species

 

good point, but i think not all species may be that easily bred in captivity... if they can have that type of success with breeding an endangered local species tho, then that would be the way to go for sure..

 

Fully dude,but yet again an eco answer...

Mammals,being terrestrial don't pose such a threat to croscontamination of pests/virusses/bacteria by their contact with humans during rehabillitation.... H20 is amazing stuff - whatever you put in it goes EVERYWHERE...
So lets say we(or DEAT or whoever...) start a captive breedin programme for some of our more endangered local fish - Clanwilliam yellows,the East Cape rocky or those 2 cute little Chilloglannis catfish you get in the Drakensberg...the habitats of these fish are extremely sensitive,so think what the impact of the act of collection to the habitat would be...

Now we get the fish back to a "breeding " facility - that is if they survive the journey due to bad packaging/handling... This is where the bugger up in my eyes start... these fish are endangered because they are niche fish in thei ecosystem(impact of bass/pollution destroying that feeding niche) - do we have enough skil/info to recreate their needs well enough to have them survive,not even talkin breeding yet?

So we have our fishies,they survive,even breed - but we think the tank looks a bit sad,so we add plant or two from our LFS..... RED LIGHT,RED LIGHT - WARNING,WARNING.... Contamination with ANYTHING from ANYWHERE in the world due to the international trade in ornamental fish,wild caught or farmed... Lets say the fish survive,breed under these condition and reach numbers where we can now go release them in the wild.... Those parasites/bacteria that these fish have grown immune to,can be devastating to theses sensitive habitats....

The J.L.B Smith institute in Grahamstown has a captive breeding program for most if not all our CITES red list species - they do it in a completely scientific aproach and we should rather leave it up to themm to ensure the survival of these species....

 

agree. breeding of any species for the sake of saving them and reintroducing them later on, should not be done as a hobby or for relaxation purpose.

artificial environment would have to virtually exactly replicate the natural environment, if that is even possible..

an endangered fish/species should not be kept captive as a display fish. ever.

the resources required would be substantial i think, you would require things like back up generators and all sorts of things in case something went wrong..

 

@ riyadh: fully agree with you on the eradication of invasive species.... I take great delight in shooting indian Mynahs with my pellet gun,house sparrows and european starlings to....Don't get me started on the house mouse or black rat...
Remeber the big bru-ha-ha about the himalayan Tahr goats on Table Mountain a few years ago.... I know a LOT about the fragile Fynbos eco system and used to do a lot of free climbing of Table mountain when I used to live there...the damage those buggers did id irrepareable!!! And all those bunny hugging housewifes just didn't get the point of eradicating the " cute little goatsies "..

Now,one rep power point if any one can identify who is the cause of these species into South Africa in the first place? Another clue.... European Chaffinch - Red squirrel - Grey squirrel.....Up the Empire(I'm giving it away here - just want to see how awake/aware you guys are....)

Saw this program once on the Cane toad invasion in Australia - there was this one section where this guy took a 3 Wood club to a toad....LOVED IT - taped it and watched it over and over and over..... Taking back the balance in EVERY way we can....

PS: If you are thinking tha t azurekoi is a bit of a eco freak/hippy type...? Your assumtions are ENTIRELY correct.....

 

@azurekoi- dont forget the damn pigeons that has absolutely infested SA. Friend of mine has to have them removed from his property ever so often. They invade his sheds and roof structures to the point where 'pest control' is needed. O, the Brits brought most of these buggers over here with them if I'm not mistaken.

 

Yeah Marco - Forgot about the "flying rats"...lol.... the street kids in Sea Point used to throw some bread down,catch them and wring their necks - chowed them later...Guess it's survival of the fittest...lol
You are on the right track with the British,but it was one b@st@rdt in particular....The "Grand Vision" of Mr. Cecil John Rhodes...his vision of basicly terraforming all conquered lands to look like Mother Britain is to blame.... Grand vision - WAY WRONG outcome....
Will give you that rep for your answer though...
Feel free to give me one for a lot of typing and explaining the reason behind DEAT's views that some feel is mind boggling....Think thing's are a LOT clearer now.... + Could have been workin on my paludarium.....(Shameless begging for rep power is not above me - megalomania is incurable....ROFLMAO....

 

One thing we need to look at, and it has been touched on here:

A species is BL because of the roll-on effect it might have on the ecosystem... (Micro and Macro). We all agree that the shrimp will not last very long in our water systems, because they will become fish food. However look at it from this angle... The shrimp will obviously not all be destroyed. There will be a survival rate... even if it's only 5%. Escalate that over a period of a few years, and what you will find is that the shrimp population may (or may not) become the staple diet of certain fish. These fish are now not controlling the mosquito. Remember that everything has a place in the food chain. Even you as a human ultimately become maggot food. Now if there is a disturbance in this, there will be an imbalance in the eco-system.

Which would you prefer... less mosquito's, or freshwater shrimp in your tanks with an outbreak of mosquito's every summer?

This is just a basic example of how a food chain could be re-distributed, with adverse effects.

The Anubius plant is such a slow grower that we really cannot see it becoming invasive... BUT if that plant (which is classified as an easy grower, and will survive our waters) is left unkept for 10 years?? What effect will it have on our water systems then?

Ultimately the point is to try and keep our natural water systems in a balance eco-system state... if this is disturbed, long term implications could result in undrinkable water. If you throw an eco-system out of balance, something has to give.

Just some food for thought.

 

I'll do it for the informative content of your post, how about that? O, and we shouldnt be too hard on the Brits, they also gave us Soccer, Rugby and Cricket. . . Back to the thread - Discovery recently aired a documentary on the consequences of the invasive African bee on the two American Continents. It was taken there by a honey farmer as he wanted to hybridize it with their local bees. Apparantly our bee's make more honey. . .but are also more agressive. They thought the cold North american climate would halt its spread, yet, the bee just evolved and 40 year after introduction to Brazil, they can now be found in states as high north as Montana. Amazing in a way. . . Dont mess with an African. . .

 

So true Ashley,just a pity that we as ornamental fish keepers contribute just a drop in the ocean to the deterioration of our riverine systems and drinking water supply damage.... Government's inability or apathy about maintaining sewrage systems in most urban areas,agricultural industries indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides...But,we still got to do our part...