Chromaphyosemions in Australia

[KillieOrCory]

Hi Ronnie and all,

Great selection of splendopleure and biteniatum you are selling there. I did not jump the gun this time but in about six month or a years time if you have similar/same species localities available to sell I'll get the whole lot to be imported to Australia legally.

Apart from me there are a couple of Chromaphyosemion fans here that will keep the fish going many years to come hopefully.

Once my splendopleure colors up I'll post a pic for you to muse over what it is. It originated from Germany I am told.

As far as I know currently in Australia we have Cr.bitaeniatum Aquarium Strain, Cr.bitaeniatum Lagos & Cr.splendopleure Aquarium Strain. We had in the past poliaki and riggenbachi as well, but I never had them myself. Some fish keepers are very secretive so they might still be in the country but I doubt it.


Cheers,

Serkan

[RonWill]

...I'll get the whole lot to be imported to Australia legally

Hi Serkan,
Some time ago, I did some sales on Aquabid to a gentleman from Australia. He won 2 pairs each, of Chrom BIT Ekondo Titi and SPL Moliwe. Shipping wasn't cheap and to make the best of it, his additional purchases add up to a total of 19 pairs.

The fishes were packed individually, then double-bagged as a pair. Within the bags, were differently colored filter wool inserts to tell the species apart (which I felt was idiot proof). On the buyer's instructions, a local SG agent will collect them and ship to a licensed transhipper in Thailand (Bangkok, I think) and then onwards to a receiver in Australia. The transaction was above board and very legal.

My repeated instructions to the local agent was to remind the transhipper of the packing code and NEVER to open the breather bags to repack everything together. Doing so will corrupt both populations.

Guess what? Murphy is always right. (heard of Murphy's Law? If something can go wrong, it will). Needless to say, the buyer and I were more than pi$$ed and have not corresponded since.

Non-annual killies are not the most prolific fishes and at that time, I couldn't assure the buyer of replacements. So quietly, there are some killies I'm raising to hopefully make good his fish loss but I simply cannot afford to foot the shipping costs as well. I'm hoping that that gentleman may be lurking here or I could simply invite him to join us here.

Still, I learnt an important lesson from this episode, that when things are made fool proof, the world comes up with a bigger idiot.

If you do have such plans, I'd seriously suggest you find a reliable licensed transhipper who can receive directly from Singapore (I'll accept their preferred agent, whoever he/she may be).

I would also like to take this opportunity to invite your fellow Chrom-fans to Killies.com to share a common interest and when your SPL colors up, please upload them for all to enjoy.

On the same note, if others have shipping experiences to share, please do. I'm all ears!

As far as I know currently in Australia we have Cr.bitaeniatum Aquarium Strain, Cr.bitaeniatum Lagos & Cr.splendopleure Aquarium Strain. We had in the past poliaki and riggenbachi as well...

Although I no longer maintain the Lagos population, it's one of those 'first loves' that I'd like to have in my tanks (but later in the future). The poliaki 'Mile 29' is a nice subtle beauty, as is the Chrom loennbergi Makondo that I'm trying to breed. IME, SPL Bamukong Ombe is another tough nut to crack.

As for secretive fish keepers, we have our share too but if we look at things from the bigger picture, such factions exist in every hobby, sometimes with good valid reasons.

[KillieOrCory]

Thanks Ron,

As you stated I would have assumed your shipping method to be "fool" proof but I also realise if people do not have prior experience with killifish they would not understand the need to keep them seperate; they all look similar anyway

I am still keen to get some fish in Australia through legal channels anyway, will look into finding a direct shipper from Singapore. Failing that I think importing one Chromaphyosemion species/location at a time maybe combined with Fundulopanchax, Aphyosemion and Epiplatys species might be a way to go.

A good mate of mine (actually my best friend) just moved to Singapore. He is living close to the Airport apparently. So I now have quite a few reasons to visit Singapore ;o) Can I bring fish into Singapore as hand luggage?

Cheers,

Serkan

[RonWill]

Serkan,
I've been holding back some killies for that Aquabid buyer from Brisbane and still waiting for him to respond. He has another week before I release what I have for this forum, yourself and other local forums in SG.

You can call this an 'out-reach program', to recruit new fish-keepers to killifishes and to understand more about them. But if you guys are serious, liaise with the chap from Brisbane (I'll give you his contact) and 'Scottie', also from Brisbane, who has expressed an interest in killies in this post.

After you're done, give me an idea of how many pairs you'd need of each population and we'll play it by ear from there. Some populations are limited in quantity and if time allows, I'll do a count and see what is available. I'd still like to have some for local killie-keepers as well and in the event of an excess, I'm game to even ship to Europe, just so Francesco can stop drooling.

Meanwhile, I've contacted the same transhipper and he's game. Sure, it didn't work as intended with the previous shipment but sometimes, we need a second chance to learn from our mistakes (You can have a word with Jodi regarding this).

A good mate of mine (actually my best friend) just moved to Singapore. He is living close to the Airport apparently. So I now have quite a few reasons to visit Singapore ;o) Can I bring fish into Singapore as hand luggage?

Hand carried livestock is allowed in limited quantities and within specified volume of water. I'll check with some hobbyists who've done that and get back to you. However, I think it's more a matter of what is allowed to leave Australia.

BTW, if your friend is a frequent traveller between AU and SG, perhaps it might be possible to work something out with a licenced transhipper in AU and your friend. Find out what you need to legally bring livestock into the country and don't skip the fine prints for the devil is in the details.

[KillieOrCory]

I had a chat to a friend who has a friend who might know this person you are talking about in Brisbane It is one of those friend of a friend of a friend sort of thing.

Anyway my friends friend (in Queensland) is a great killifish keeper who was out of the hobby for a while and recently came back in a major way. This is a person who I sourced my first lot of killifish from albeit indirectly. I hope to meet him sometime.

Anyway to cut a long story short we might have a few more Aussies knocking on Singaporean doors for some killies to be shipped to Australia.

Thanks for all your help Ronnie



Cheers,

Serkan