Japes' 2010 Eartheater Work/Photolog

[japes]

Quick bump, shot from a couple of weeks ago.

 

['vspec']

How do you believe your white background concept will go, esp for post?

 

[japes]

Hard to say until I try it. Will only be fry tanks though.

 

['vspec']

tell me something, i havn't seen anyone sump a dedicated fry rearing tank yet, you come across it? assuming due to the inherent risks with turnover & losses. However if its a gentle roll, i dont see why not!

 

[japes]

Sponge filters work best as they provide housing and food for the fry. Have definitely seen setups with a combination of both.

 

['vspec']

intake would have to be fine sponge structure regardless, however ive not noticed my fry venture anywhere close to the top to begin with.

 

['vspec']

Have you built your grow out tank set-up yet, or is it apart of a future plan?

 

[japes]

Future plan, waiting for my currently Geophagus growouts to hit breeding age before I bother - plenty of other crap to concern me with the introduction of these further import laws/Iridovirus legislation. Job in jeopardy as I work in an LFS that imports small numbers of niche exotics.

 

[vfrstephen]

Future plan, waiting for my currently Geophagus growouts to hit breeding age before I bother - plenty of other crap to concern me with the introduction of these further import laws/Iridovirus legislation. Job in jeopardy as I work in an LFS that imports small numbers of niche exotics.

What laws would they be?

 

[japes]

What laws would they be?

Aside from re-regulation of our current noxious/grey/allowable import list, there is legislation coming through (or passed? not entirely sure) for a disease known as Iridovirus - I honestly haven't read too much about what the disease actually is, but the plan is to test varying percentages of every import batch. These percentages reduce in relation to the amount of fish imported. Import 10000 fish, then they might only test 2000. Import 100 fish, they might test 75. No exact figure has been given as far as I'm aware. Doesn't sound too bad? The fish need to be killed to be tested.

Now, I work for a small LFS which imports specific Bettas from Aquabid and other sources. We also specialise in Bettas, Wild Apistogramma, Wild Pencilfish, West African Dwarves, etc. No other LFS does this in the state, and very few (if any) in the entire country. We fill a niche market with small imports batches of rare exotics, so a high percentage will be killed for testing, driving up prices to something ridiculous. We have very small markup on live stock - we currently have wild Nannostomus rubrocaudalatus (Purple Pencilfish) in store at the moment at $23 a pop. Decent shoal will therefore run you at least AUD$200 (~USD$175) - I could justify that cost for my setups, but very few people would. I've seen people whinge about cichlids being more than $10ea. Imagine driving that price up 50-75%.. whos going to buy them, and whos going to bother importing them? A short-lived fish which is difficult to breed - it won't exist here anymore.

Want to import a specific HM Betta from Aquabid? It will be killed for testing.