The Queensland AQIS Officer has as of yesterday made official application to have the L168 removed from the import list.
His reasons are simply that they are too hard to identify from other L number catties..
His application will probably be accepted so its back to smuggled fish at smuggled prices and the chances that they will ever allow another L number onto the import list is remote.
Linda
Please insert every swear word you can thing of in here.
AND I MEAN [size=24:da936bb5d3]EVERY[/size:da936bb5d3] SWEAR WORD
Do you know how long it will take to be processed?
thanks
jamos
Hi Linda,
How did the 2 new additions settle in after Saturday night
Regards Chris
Wow, this is going to make everybody frantically buying up what they can get their hands on. Holy smokes, it's like having the best looking chick or guy as a partner, and suddenly waking up and finding them gone. Man,emotions swing high and low when it comes to the old rare pleco. I advertised some adult L135 at very bargain prices, with an excellent sex ratio, and finally somebody put their hand up and snapped them up. Now, instinct always tells you to be greedy, but, a deal is always a deal regardless of circumstances. So, i hope all who have, keep on holding onto what they have, if the confirmation of L168 is going to be removed from the list. Hold onto them, and accumulate what you can get. Bit like a collectors item L catfish.
Collectors items indeed :lol:
I'm not sure how long it will take to process but Bay are expecting to not be allowed anymore in at all. A new shipment has made it into Sydney but the prices are going up already so they can't be planning on getting in too many more either.
Of course his application may be reqected but it does have a reallty good chance to going through.
Chris.
Ones pretty beat up. Must have brawled in the box. Buggers but its by its self and hopefully comes good.
Linda
What I can't understand is... If its so easy for the hobbyist breeders to come to the conclusion that it is not the correct fish why can't the professionals?
If there are not enough experts amongst the professional to check imports throughly, it sounds to me like there ought to be more jobs going in the public service for people who know their fish! Not just ban the fish.
The type of money changing hands in the catfish market in
Australia more than justifies the cost of wages.
i guess identifying fish to the correct genus species level requires checks that could make the fish more expensive and does take time e.g. if you had to count the fin rays and what other criteria, even for an "expert" it would take 5 mins., added to a bit of handling and catching stress. At $50-100 ph for an ichthyologist, expect paying at least an extra $10-20 per fish. Obviously, for expensive catfish i'm referring to. Have you ever tried identifying sea snails, it is very tedious?
Also to add, the DPI/GREENY folk are very concerned about introduction of exotic diseases. Hence, i can understand why there is such a trade in quality imports. If you have ever visited overseas and saw the prices, you'd have a heart attack. A redtailed catfish in Aust has a commanding price from 500-800 per unit. In the Philipines, the same fish you can pick up for 80-100 (and that's for a 15cm one) Bristlenose are 25c each and longfins i was told go for 3-5 per unit. Zebras (difficult to track down) go for around $80-125. Again, the old Zeb is dearly loved and sought. Adonis catfish one canpick up for 25-45 US, king tiger plecos around the $40 US. Again, if these rarer items were offered for $200 per piece, the sales would boom. Too many are targeting for over $400 per item and they are usually indiv ones. I sold some very nice L135 big and fat for a price that would be silly to ignore and no one except one hardcore player picked them up. Cheers and keep the Zebra dream alive!!!
As a further update on the 168's.
A shipment of them came into Sydney on Monday and have been seized by AQIS so its not looking good.
Linda
Goodness,
Lets hope that those of us who have L104's (Clown plecos) or those fortunate enough to get L168's (Butterfly plecos) get serious and breed a few.
The storm clouds on the horizon don't bode well for future imports!!!!
I have not got any of either at the moment and prospects don't look good!! :cry:
Alan.
No chances of getting them again are slim.
Enough of both varieties did make it in legally though so we should be able to get them both breeding here.
Pity its probably nailed the coffin closed on any other L numbers to ever be included in the import list again.
To those of you who phoned AQIS whining about being ripped off for $30 or so GOOD ON YOU. . . IDIOTS.
Linda
It's a pity AQIS didn't just say buyer beware.
Brian.
Why would AQIS say' buyer beware' when they have just been handed proof that other varieties that were still illegal to import were being slipped into the shipments as L168.
They probably couldn't believe that any hobbist was stupid enough to tell them... then after they picked themselves up off the floor said
'YEHA lets stick it to um'!!!.
True i didnt think of that.
brian.
I do get what you meant.
What is silly is that with the prices we have all paid for any L number [other than the few types we havp breeding in Aust.] in the past one would think that people would have jumped for joy at anthing under $100ea in the L number line not carried on about being ripped off because they got a 104 instead of a 168.
Linda
yep, same old story. people dont think before they open their mouths and stuff the whole show for everyone. this will make it a lot harder in the future for any new imports. i hope whoever rang AQIS is really proud of themselves. they should have a stamp on their foreheads "BLOODY IDIOT"
Like you said before Linda I hope these fish that are in will breed quickly.If AQIS stops l104 & l168 from coming in maybe they will accept another l no. that is easier to identify(maybe in another 10 yrs).Hope is not lost.
brian
what a piss off :evil:
not that i can afford any of them at the moment :wink:
Yeah, it really sucks now that PC has realised they can make a buck out of the situation...
I know I bought this up earlier, and had to be educated about what they really had in the shop, but bare with me :oops:
Was in there today (thanks to a work trip to Brissy :lol: ) and politely asked 'so, do you still have any L168s for sale?'. This was after I noted that the L104s were still for $220ea. and a Panaque Sp for $199. No tanks were labeled L168 (I checked very carefully this time... :roll: ).
The reply - 'We have had some problems with the clown peckolita (sp) and have had to relabel them (Panaque sp.). There are no more fish coming in or available. You can have these for $199ea'. :cry:
Jeez, I realise that they are running a business, but how can they justify changing the name and upping the price on the fish that have been swimming happily around the same fish tank for the past x weeks. I know we predicted this and so it has finally happened. :(
My response to the poor chap explaining it to me - ))o ))o ))o
Damn you idiots out there, if you are reading this forum. You have gone and screwed it up for everyone - INCLUDING YOURSELVES. Hope you are happy.
Steve
Good point mate, if they are charging 199 for a fish that cost them 12 then I hope nobody buys em and they have top put em back down again. As for the idiots reading this they are prolly that dumb they cant read!! :P
They will sell at $199 & $220 because as people realize that there will be no more they will grab them.
Its still far cheaper than the $600 odd we were paying for them only a couple of months back.
I can see that some people may see the PC price rise as a bit cheeky but others will see its only business and if I had plenty to spare I'd be selling some extra off for a nice profit too. (and so would you if you could).
Just think in about a year if no one breeds them here they will be back to $500 or $600 again.
The thing stinks but it was big mouth idiots hobbists that stuffed it up not the shops.
Linda
The only idiots that are to blame for the whole disaster are those importers who thought they could get away with brining in one species labled as another and get away with it. They got caught and have now stuffed any chance of ever getting L numbers in again. The shops only sell what the importers bring in.
Only the very stupid money hungry importers who were stupid enought to try and brake the rules can accept blame for this.
Graeme :roll:
Graeme,
From previous posts/threads the word is that it wasnt the importers fault. They buy from the overseas wholesalers off a list and do not see the fish until they arive in the country.
There weren't enough L168 to fill the order so the wholesalers substituted the plentiful L104 instead, i guess thinking that they looked close enough to get through.
Now the problem is that they DO look close enough to the inspectors that instead of sorting the correct fish out they will just destroy them all....
All in all, I think that on this one the importers will be losing as well. It's the retailer that's still on a winner, together with those that managed to pick up a viable population before they became expensive again.
Cheers
Steve
oops sorry i went down there an bought them ought of L104"s last week
Good on ya Rumdrinka, now hurry up and breed them and get them back into the hobby at a reasonable price :wink:
Best of luck Rumdrinka with breeding them. We have a few 168 now so hopefully we can breed them and all is not lost.
Linda
Looks like those who have will be frantic about getting these guys to spawn. I suppose the reality is, we all want to have a go at rare fish but are limited by some things, for example, cost. Too high, who can afford them. Too low, and ones keeness may not be as high, due to commoness. Taking too long for maturity or getting a spawn will break ones keeness.Yep, whilst these were for sale cheap there must had been a few people waiting to see how much cheaper they were going to get but now... So what do we all do??? Probably not much we can do. Go back to the usual paying big bucks for pretty catfish. I had some L135 and the bloke who bought them I am sure is going to enjoy it when he starts getting spawns!!!! If anybody is going to get them to go, this guy will. A point of interest: I was offered some L333 for around $350 per unit. Not bad considering Sydney is selling them for $600+ By, the way some Zebra plecos were advertised for $650 per fish at 3-4cm.
I'm in agreeance with what Steve stated about what the importers sent in but also have to agree with Greame as well. I also can't believe that some f#@k wit/s would call AQIS complaining about a new fish that may have been mislabelled but was finally "commercially" availible at rock bottom prices in comparison to what they were previously.
Unfortunately I've been offline for a while and haven't had a chance to chase up the last of the L168's going round but happy as larry about the L104's I got but still can't believe after so short a time that pretty much all chances of acquiring and more L number catties will be out of reach again unless I start selling vital organs or my kids for experiments. On the other hand I could try and find the source of where the complaints to AQIS came from and sell theirs to increase my L number collection :D .
Cheers,
Bryce.
There still seems to be some L168's comming in, most of these are through other importers, in Sydney. no names will be mentioned.
But they are small in numbers.
so all is not lost at the moment!
jamos
Yes Jamos there is ...where do you think our small number are coming from. HA Ha. The unfortunate thing is that others have been seized in Sydney also.
If however the application to have them relisted is approved it will be Australia wide again.
On the bright side another shipment or two may slip in before all is official.
Linda
Did you get my PM.
no I didn't get your PM.......
jamos