My first experience at importing tropical fish
(part 1)
- Randy Carey -reprinted from May/June '97 AquaNews,
a publication of the Minnesota Aquarium Society.
Tropical fish and the North Pole may seem like opposites, but last March they connected.
OHHHHH,...
you better watch out,
you better not cry.
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why...
e grew up hearing that Christmas comes but once a year and that Santa Claus makes his deliveries from the North Pole. I just learned that neither is true.
"Looking to buy or trade for rare tetras." That's what my ad said which I posted on the Internet through rec.aquaria.marketplace. The posting received two responses, one from a curious reader and another from "some guy" who could get rare tetras and had an interest in one of the Apistogramma that I listed.
I began a correspondence with the second. As it turned out, Oliver (who, in this article, metaphorically fills the role of a personified "Santa") runs a tropical fish importing business from Canada (maybe not the North Pole, but distinctly in the northern direction). While he sells wholesale to stores, he also sells straight to hobbyists. When he does, he tries to pick out pairs when feasible. (If this were multi-media, you would now be hearing a background melody of Santa Clause is Coming to Town.)
Many importers do not deal directly with hobbyists. Rather, they deal exclusively with large quantities to wholesalers and to the few stores that can handle a box of fish at a time. I knew a few places would sell to hobbyists, but each seemed to be inconvenient for my needs: [1] They might require large quantities (such as half a box) per species. [2] Often the selection of hard-to-find species is cichlid-based, thus ignoring the hobbyists with more diverse interests. [3] If I did find something of interest, they did not offer enough rare species so that I could put together an order that would justify the shipping costs.
African fish are usually hard to come by.
Cichlid keepers, take note...
The species list
Oliver sent me a list of his current species. Apparently most of the fish were wild-caught. The selection represented the variety of species which one would find on a collecting expedition: very few were the species commonly seen in stores and they came from all fish groups-not just cichlids!
Included within the listings was a set of African species marked as having yet to arrive. Wild-caught fish from African are rather rare as their increased importation costs hinders many suppliers from ordering them. Since I am looking for the harder-to-find species, this African shipment piqued my interest. The species that caught my attention were two Neolebias and a Nannocharax. The latter is the main genus of African darter tetras. I was wondering if my aquarist eyes would ever see one.
I queried back to Oliver about the Africans. (Note cichlid keepers: the term African refers to any fish from Africa, not just lake cichlids). He said he could get many various species and asked which ones interested me. I responded tetras, barbs, and labyrinths. So he sent me a partial list of Africans he could get for future availability:
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Labyrinths: Ctenopoma kingsleyae, congicum, fasciolatum, acutirostre, ...basically all.
Characins (tetras): Distichodus (12 species); Neolebias powelli, ansorgii, trifasciatum; Hemmigrammoptersius caudalis, Phago (3 species), Nannocharax latifasciatus and three others.
Barbs: Barbodes callipterus, Camptacanthus, gracilis, Puntius sylvaticus,...
Killifishes: Aplocheilichthys (4 species),
Others: Microphis (freshwater pipe fish), Phractolaemus ansorgei (mudfish), Phractura (2 species, catfish)
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He added that this was but a partial list. I should pick any species I really want and he'll see if it's on some list. This is like sitting on Santa's lap, and telling him what I want! Sure glad I've been good.
A new venture like this required research. I'm very happy that I called around and asked questions.
U.S. Customs: I was braced for a battering of questions as a form of resistance, but the officer was rather accommodating.
Fortunately I didn't learn the hard way: don't combine plants with live fish when going through customs.
Researching and preparing for the order
The night I received the initial list I sent a condensed version of it to several people I knew via email. I got three requests for species. I knew I could get enough orders together to justify a shipment, so I began preparation.
The African shipment was delayed a week, and I was determined to get some of its species. So I had some time to ask pertinent questions. Since this company was located in Canada, I had been advised to check into the issue of clearing customs. Oliver said they shipped several times each week to the U.S. All the required paperwork is filled out on their end. All I had to do was present the paperwork to the proper people at customs and at the Department of Fish and Wildlife. They would inspect the list of species to guarantee that each would be eligible for entrance into my home state. Once they approved the paperwork, I would be allowed to pick up the shipment from the airport cargo people.
He recommended that I contact customs before I ordered so that they know I will be coming through. By contacting them first, they should have less reason to be suspicious. After I go through them for a few shipments, the people from Customs and from Wildlife would probably become my allies.
I took Oliver's advice and attempted to contact the U.S. Customs Department. As expected, the process took a few transfers and referrals, but I eventually talked to the right person. Although he did not seem to have much experience with previous shipments of tropical fish, he was helpful and quite willing to cooperate. (I was braced for a battering of questions as a form of resistance, but he was rather accommodating.) His description of what I would have to do basically repeated what Oliver said, except the local officer could give more specific answers.
Fortunately, I mentioned that we were thinking of including some plants with an origin of Nigeria. This raised a red flag. Plant species from Nigeria most certainly should be cleared in advance since many plants from Nigeria are banned for being narcotic. Furthermore, each plant would need to be inspected overnight for accompanying insects, etc. In short, if we ordered plants, the entire order would mostly likely sit at the airport cargo building overnight while the plants were clearing inspection. Of course we would not want to subject our packaged fish to this, so I canceled the notion of ordering plants with this shipment. (We lost out on the seldom available Crinum natans, but Santa doesn't always deliver everything for which one asks.)
Enthusiasm and participation of my fellow aquarium club members surpassed my expectations.
Putting the order together
Before setting a price, Oliver inspects the size and condition of each species. The morning after he received his African import, he emailed his updated list which included the African species as well as a list of Brazilian species that he was to receive three days later. I packaged the species and price list into an email and sent it to several of my aquarium friends. I gave everyone five days to confirm his/her order.
When people realized that the shipment was going to be a reality and not just talk, the orders came in. In a very short time I realized that the order would be far more than enough to justify the shipping costs. I had hoped for four or five local aquarists to join me, but over a dozen fellow club members participated.
Since the importer deals mostly with wholesalers, they require payment up front and do not accept credit cards. I collected the money and submitted the order. Oliver told me to send an amount slightly less than the total because it was likely that a few species might not be available. I cut the cashiers check, FAXed a copy of it to them, and mailed the check right away.
Santa Clause comes to town (the shipment arrives)
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