red congo tetras??

hey everyone...i have seen pics of these fish online and in aquarium magazines...anyone have any idea if they are available locally..red congo tetras are STUNNING

 

Anyone??so i guess i wont be able to get these fish anywhere then pity..they so stunning

 

PM Altum. If anyone knows he will.

 

in the June copy of TFH there is a small writeup about them.

Says its sometimes sold as fireball congo tetras, orange flash congo tetras or simply orange congo tetra. It is at this time un-identifided. Simply known as Alestopetersius sp.

pretty fish i must say...

 

Red Faced....

Which online pics?
The nicest descriptive idea of these fish ; waterwolves.com
They are a complex of close species.

ARE AVAILABLE!
But not imported as yet, to my limited knowledge. Difficulty with it, and huge min qty for export .

Again, it's only a FEW types which go orangey-red. Some have redder fins, and metallic sides, others have the whole package!

GOOD NEWS!
Just got off the phone with my "Nigerian brother"
I CAN get ALL of them.
Poor consistency in species ID makes it hard to get ALL of the same fish. Some are contaminants in shipments of normal "interruptus" . Other times misidentified.

Maybe IF I can put together a decent variety of OTHER species to warrant MORE localised specimen collection and selection?

BETTER NEWS!!
They ARE being exported as RED/Cherry Red Congo Tetras,as well as "trade names" to North America/Japan by MY partnership in a Niger Delta collector/exporter station.

BEST NEWS!!!
Nigerian Collector-exporter partner of mine, confirms their availability and location is quite guarded from overfishing.

See below email excerpt

"Dear Sir,
i am supplier to Rehoboth Aquatics hes a Nigerian ...i know the fish you talking about.
Let me have your order quantity of all the fishes."

WHO told you!?

Sarfaraz ALSO look at
Blue Diamond Congo Tetras ("Micralestes" smykalai)
ANOTHER special import
I brought in about 800, 3y ago.
I think just <200 made it alive into trade.
PLENTY went to Pretoria hobbyist with breeding ambitions. Who later lost his due to an accident of sorts...

BAD NEWS!
ALL "NEWER Congo Tets" ship poorly, and are weaker than "normal Congo".

Same applies to Red, I heard.

UGLY NEWS!!
Another reason to push actual fish cost up.
We JUST don't have enough top-end hobbyist/fanatics to shell out crazy cash, insodoing subsidising influx of varied/exciting species.

SO the HOT fish go to Japan and OTHER Asian, Germany , East European and North American markets.

BUT there's hope. JUST BE PATIENT.
That's why I have become involved in Nigeria, Benin/Togo /Ghana fish explorations and hobby exports, amongst others.