Wanted Dwarf Cichlids

Discussion in 'Fish for sale or trade' started by Lizid, Jun 11, 2015.

  1. Lizid
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    Lizid Algae harvester

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    Hi there guys does anyone have or know where I can get me some Dwarf Cichlids!
     
  2. Joshua Tree
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    Joshua Tree Valued Contributor

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    What type?
     
  3. Lizid
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    Lizid Algae harvester

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    Joshua, I would like to get triple reds or inkas, borealis would be awesome...
     
  4. Joshua Tree
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    Joshua Tree Valued Contributor

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    Where are you based?
     
  5. Lizid
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    Lizid Algae harvester

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    Roodeport Bud
     
  6. Joshua Tree
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    Joshua Tree Valued Contributor

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    Ok. Now the guys up there can help :)
     
  7. Deadpool
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    Deadpool Algae destroyer Staff Member

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  8. biotopical
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    biotopical Green fingers

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    I'v seen 5 apistos in all in 2 petshops all male though
     
  9. Deadpool
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    Deadpool Algae destroyer Staff Member

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    Wonder what happened to all the apistos that came in with the BLA order last year?
     
  10. Lizid
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    Lizid Algae harvester

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    @JAX not sure, I am not getting much response in the way for stock besides the odd one here to there... Pity my old suppliers out of the game and he has what I am looking for...
     
  11. Dirk B
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    Dirk B Aquascaper

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    Just about all of the BLA order Apistos died shortly after arrival because they had not been transported correctly. They were in transit far too long.

    Marco and I have investigated importing dwarf cichlids from Germany as I have announced on this forum a while back. We were confronted with absurdly high transport prices and informed the exporter that we could not afford the import. Subsequently the importer has managed to negotiate cheaper rates per kilo for the transport, but the minimum order size was 100 kgs. This meant that we had to take a larger number of fishes. We investigated this over the last couple of weeks, and tried to include altum angels and others fishes as well. We then insisted on pics of the fishes and the altums all had striping errors which needs to be selected against when breeding altums. So we have now cancelled the order for certainly a number of months.

    One of the problems is also that importation into JNB airport is a nightmare. SAA and Airports Company SA simply do not hold to IATA regulations and do not release fishes within the specified time after arrival according to acceptable standards and also do not send shipments on the Cape Town on flights they are reserved on. They also muck up all the documents so that the shipments are not released on arrival. Bottom line is that you cannot take the risk with flights into JNB and the only option is direct flights to Cape Town. Lufthansa flies to CT directly only in our summer from about October until April. We will therefore reconsider our imports only when these direct flights are back.

    Sorry guys, but this is almost like playing Russian roulette.

    Kind regards,

    Dirk
     
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  12. Lizid
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    Lizid Algae harvester

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    Thanks for the response Prof, I had heard about this order and that it was not going ahead.. have you by any chance got any Dwarf Cichlids breeding at the moment?
     
  13. Dirk B
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    Dirk B Aquascaper

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    Lizid, I see that you have been trying to get into touch with Dolphin. He does not deal in freshwater fishes any more, only marines and does not frequent these forums any more. We have also been in touch with him about our imports but although he tried his best, he could not help us with his contacts and we have given up on the imports via him.
     
  14. Dirk B
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    Dirk B Aquascaper

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    No, Sorry, I do not have dwarfs any more other than Rams, my focus in presently on my parasite free discus.
     
  15. Lizid
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    Lizid Algae harvester

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    @Dirk B this really does suck, I go away for a couple months and all my suppliers vanish... I feel like I am starting from scratch
     
  16. Dirk B
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    Dirk B Aquascaper

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    Hi Lizid,

    There are a number of reasons, why this has happened.

    The big importers do not want to battle with the special requirements of dwarf cichlids. The reason for this is because they are simply not capable to keeping these fishes alive. All they are interested in is making big profits on easy fishes such as tattoed parrots or such abominations.

    The few smaller outfits that tried to import them, tried the cheaper option from Malaysia and Singapore and made huge losses. They are bred by smaller breeders in these countries and before they are even shipped out of Malaysia and Singapore they have already been in transit for a few days and they then die upon arrival because of a lack of care. BLA must have almost gone bankrupt on that last shipment and got out of the business as fast as their feet could carry them, before everyone started claiming their money back.

    As indicated, Dolphin went into marines.

    On investigating European sources, which included Germany and Hungary (funnily enough) we found out that there are also many small hobby breeders in these countries. However the market is flooded with easier dwarfs such as A borelli (sunsets and triple reds etc), A trifasciata, A aggasizzi, A bitaeniata, A macmasteri and quite a few others, so much so that the price has fallen out of these and again the wholesalers are not really interested in stocking them. What can be supplied are the very difficult dwarfs, species such as A elizabethae, A diplotaenia and the Dicrossus species, but at incredibly expensive prices. Also minimum orders make this very difficult because of the huge outlay of finance and the huge risk one has to take.

    We are also looking at alternative suppliers in Germany.

    One of the other things that I want to mention to you is that we stopped advertising on the forums because we would get ridiculous requests such as "I want two pairs of sunsets, and can you deliver them free of charge to Bapsfontein, and I want them delivered by courier on Saturday please" . If you say that this just not a paying proposition you get a stupid reply, so we stopped offering them. Persons that are seriously interested can contact me by pm and I will add them to my list, but unless you are prepared to place an order that is significant, and by that I mean larger than R1000, we will also not be interested. We would not be making a profit on these shipments, and would be wanting to cover our costs but this is an expensive game. The poor leadership in this country is also leading to an ongoing drop in the value of the Rand which is constantly pushing up prices.

    Kind regards,

    Dirk
     
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  17. Lizid
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    Lizid Algae harvester

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    Thanks for the Feed back Prof, I am in a situation where I understand both sides of the fence, from the importers side it makes sense not to import unless you are making money.

    However the from the hobbyists side the fans don't have the money to do these sorts of imports unfortunately, this leaves us in a difficult situation.

    The hobby won't get better due to the lack of money from the average hobbyist, and the imports won't make money due to that as well...

    You say the market is flooded with Borellis and Macmasteri, it would be great to get my hands on either of those as for the rest, people won't know if they can keep them till they are here. This leaves us in a difficult situation.
    I will keep looking,and hopefully find something soon.
     
  18. Dirk B
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    Dirk B Aquascaper

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    Hi Lizid,

    Thanks for your reply and your opinion, but I would like to state my opinion about this matter as well.

    I have been ripped off blind now by a number of importers who imported fishes, promised high quality, charged the earth (I am talking about thousands of rands) and delivered diseased fishes or dead on arrivals and they did not want to reimburse me for them. So the importers are ONLY in it for the money, and could not give a damn about the hobbyist as far as I am concerned until they prove themselves otherwise (there are a few exceptions, but they are very few). I have very little sympathy with them wanting to make a profit or a living. Business is about adding value to the product, distributing it and delivering a service on top of that. It is my considered opinion that the majority of wholesalers do not do any value addition, they rather are weakening the fishes, and they can deliver no service. None of them can give advice about how to keep dwarfs (and other more complicated fishes), they are just not qualified sufficiently, and they do not have any interest in doing so either. So unless you are going to get knowledgable importers, this situation will not change for the aquarist.

    I as a serious hobbyist have been trying to import fishes or have already imported fishes that would be of real interest to the SA hobby and would give to advanced aquarist some greater variety, greater challenges to keep and prettier fishes than the run of the mill stuff. This involves applications for permits from authorities, arranging imports with overseas suppliers with whom you have to develop a relationship, deal with the airlines (of which SAA is the utter worst), employ clearance agents, get the fish into quarantine tanks and then redistribute them. This is, as you can see, a massive operation. I am in the fortunate position that I speak and write German, and have many contacts by now in Germany, which makes that part a lot easier. The other thing is that on the German side, there is an absolute striving for perfectionism. They want to the fishes that arrive to survive as best possible and then redistribute them live. Not this SA business of passing on the fishes as fast as possible so that they don't die on the wholesaler. Furthermore, the local importers want to wash their hands of any latent errors as soon as possible, and once they are in your tanks, they refuse flatly to take any responsibility for what happens after that.

    Marco and I have teamed up to try to address this shortfall of decent fishes, and have tried over months now to get this off the ground. As explained above, we have hit problems again. I will be going to Germany at the beginning of September and plan to see importers then and try to arrange a shipment towards October. What I have established is that the German exporters will be prepared to consolidate various fishes for me, in a shipment and also these more common dwarfs. What also needs to happen is that competent local breeders need to stick up their hands and come to the party and commit to buying fishes and then trying to get them to reproduce on a sustainable basis. So if you buy dwarfs, buy 5 pairs and get them established in a number of tanks to breed properly and repeatedly. This can certainly be done. This would allow others to then buy the offspring or perhaps some competent petshops (not wholesalers) could sell them as well.

    So those of you that are seriously interested please contact me or Marco, we are already in touch with a number of persons, and support us in this venture. If you are interested, Lizid, I can add your name to our list.

    Kind regards,

    Dirk
     
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  19. Lizid
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    Lizid Algae harvester

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    Hi sorry about the delayed response I have been setting up my 4ft again. You are welcome to add me to the list I would love to know whats coming in, I don't guarantee I will always have the money at the time of import, but please add me to the list.
     
  20. Deadpool
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    Deadpool Algae destroyer Staff Member

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    Apparently I cause too much trouble to be added to any list :p
     
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