Importing Fish

OK guys

The long and short is.

I will get a list of Apistos (seem like the species most in demand at present) that will be available for longer than only one week. Then I will post that list with +- prices and the bag amount here for you.

The best you guys can do NOW is to appoint:
1. a hobbiyst (preferably in Pta.) to pick it up for you and distribute it.
2. A hobbyist to manage the funds (if the same guy even better)

Then you guys can coordinated FASTER.

 

I expected some other retailer to jump in on this opportunity so I have news!!!!!!!!!!

Look out for the new thread I am busy typing now and will post this morning.

If you are close to Pet Stop today come and have a look for yourself :blink1: they .................... are spectacular

 

Bring on the Apistos, I see Altum has some now as well lets see what you guys can bring in..

 

So they are already in stock? And what are they

Type Moolis type

 

This is the thread
http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/s...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!&p=145073#post145073

 

they are in stock NOW!!!!

 

@Moolis – just following up on the list that you were going to post with the Apistogrammas that are readily available. Once the list has been established, we can take it from there.

 

Hi Guys,

I see that the suggestion that I made in post #26 is now coming in to being after EVERYONE put my idea down.... :banghead:

I think that it might also be useful if some of the members, like @Dirk Bellstedt could also post a list of difficult or aggressive fish that are not recommended/practical for us to keep or breed with. This could also minimise the cost outlay and time spent looking for these particular species at the end of the day.

I read earlier on in the thread from the Prof:
Apistogramma diplotaenia, an extremely pretty but difficult fish to keep
A hongsloi red (nice, but actually not a wild type but an inbred selection, so needs careful attention)
The hongsloi that you have indicated are the ones that are inbred and quite sensitive
The macmasteri group are more aggressive
Anomalochromis thomasi are too aggressive

These are just a few that I picked up but I'm sure there are more.

This is just my 2c worth....

 

Hi Sky,

I must be quite honest, but I think you are pushing it a little here. I have bought the books, did extensive reading up in my own time, and experimented with fishes that I bought for a lot of money, and you are asking me to just list around 70 species here and give you a run down on how to keep them. I think this is a little unfair as I have to do some work in between as well. If folks are interested in keeping dwarf cichlids, then they should buy some books and do some reading themselves and not just try to get this all from the internet.

Just my 2 x 2 = 4 cents worth.

Regards,

Dirk

 

Just responding to post #81 by Moolis. Wondering if he has managed to compile a list.

 

@Dirk Bellstedt, No, I'm not asking you to out and out spoon feed all the future Apisto owners, all I was asking is that maybe you could give us an idea of which are breeds that are too aggressive to keep, or too fragile to keep. I was not asking you to go through all 20 million species, just the ones that you might be aware of....

Don't worry, I will do my own digging and share the info I find....

 

Hi guys did not forget. Busy making a short list for you. Should be ready in less than a week, just waiting for the last possible supplier to come back.

 

Hi Sky,

Glad to hear that you understand.

For the serious dwarf cichlid keeper there are two books which you need: The Aqualog book on Dwarf cichlids called "South American Cichlids II" and the "DATZ" book on Dwarf Cichlids in German and English. These books list all the species and then also give an idea of difficulty. Easy to keep species are those that have been advertised by Petstop recently, but those offered by Altum at higher prices are already one step up on the difficulty scale and the A. elizabethae and A. diplotaenia are super difficult. In my considered opinion, the easy ones can be kept in normal tapwater in the Gauteng area, but the more complicated ones from Altum and the ones that we hope Moolis will offer will need softer water i.e. RO plus salts in the Gauteng area and A elizabethae and A doplitaenia are in the difficulty league of altum angels and more difficult than discus to give you a relative idea. A good reflection of difficulty is actually their price, so this is a disqualifier very quickly. There are some very pretty ones that have not been discussed though, species such as bitaeniata, species Mamore and A iniridae and A uaupesi are stunning but more difficult. Needless to say our soft water from the tap in the Cape Town area makes this much easier for us.

One other aspect that I want to mention is that the Rams which are frequently discussed and which I view to be absolutely stunning are one of the biggest disappointments in South Africa, because the fishes are commonly imported from the East and these are all weakened by artificial raising and indiscriminate use of antibiotics. As opposed to this the Rams coming from Europe are much more robust, but they should actually also be placed in the more difficult group which require softer water if you want to keep them in Gauteng, so this should also be considered when persons want to purchase them.

I hope that with this advice those of you wanting to purchase fishes from Moolis will also make a success of keeping them and not just end up with the fishes dieing on you. Dwarf cichlids need a lot of attention to detail, good filtration, water changes, good food and softer water and you need to work on this. I use small amounts of freshly hatched brine shrimps besides the usual flakes, granulates and frozen foods, all the time even for my adults so that they have really high quality food. Thanks also for your efforts Moolis, now you guys in the north must do your thing and place your orders with Moolis to make it worthwhile for him to land some more complex species.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Nearly forgot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last A. agazzizi double red pair I decided to keep for myself ended up breeding in the shops aquarium before I could remove them to their own quarters.:love:

Stunning if you keep in mind that this is under the stresses of a busy shop and in normal Gauteng tap water, so eggs might not hatch. But it shows the dedication that Didi have towards all the fish under his care. Just to clarify, when I book fish for myself, they do not get the royal treatment. Because Didi hates it when I take his customers fish for myself:cheesy:

 

@Dirk Bellstedt ,hi professor ,i've got the mergus cichlid atlas vol 1 by uwe romer ,it seems to cover many species too but it isnt a recent book.

 

correction its authored by baensch

 

@Moolis - Looking forward at what the list will have to offer. Thanks for the effort you are willing to put into fans of the Apistogramma species. Hope there will be enough interest shown in the list so that we can get some different fish into the Gauteng region.

 

@Moolis - any news on the list you have been working on?

 

I spoke to @Moolis today and the man is running around like a mad man. Year end etc was a bit hectic for him.