WE HAVE CONFIRMATION!

[Ltygress]

We FINALLY received word on the "ban" that many people were claiming would happen with certain pleco species. Just as previously thought, the list has been RENEWED, and here is the outcome of those plecos in which many people purposely price-gouged the general public to buy.

I'm not saying that anyone knew they would be banned, or wouldn't be. Fact is, no one knew at all, and these people used the claim as a statement to sell things like L134 plecos for $200 (was listed on ebay). They pointed out that the list was set to EXPIRE in April/June of 2018 (April for collection, June for final exports). And they used it to show that the plecos could no longer be sold after that. But we now have official word through a VERY common and respected name in the fish hobby that this is NOT the case at all!

[TwoTankAmin]

There is an old saying which first appeared in a Poe short story published in 1845, "The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether":

You are young yet, my friend,” replied my host, “but the time will arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself of what is going on in the world, without trusting to the gossip of others. Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.

(bold added my me.)

Then combine these with this saying which has been falsely attributed to P.T. Barnum and is probably anonymous:

There’s a sucker born every minute.

or the 1941 W.C. Fields movie, "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break"

A little mixing of the above and, voila, you get a $200 P. compta.

And this leaves us with this bit of Latin wisdom, "Caveat emptor."

[YSR50]

Years ago, when my L134s were breeding like BN, I was selling them for as little as $10-15 each if someone bought a large group at once. Yet the local "chain" fish store had them for $80+ and couldn't keep them in stock.

As TTA said, "Caveat emptor"

[Linus_Cello]

Yah! Anyone have a link to the “recovery plan?” Hopefully there is an English version.

[Narwhal72]

Well it is certainly good news for those who love those fish.

But I wouldn't be so quick to chastise those who believed in the ban happening. It wasn't revealed that the ban on these species would not be enforced until April 27th. 3 days before the collection ban was to go into effect.

Nothing like a last minute reprieve.

Andy

[Ltygress]

Yah! Anyone have a link to the “recovery plan?” Hopefully there is an English version.

I do not, but most likely you can find it by searching ICMbio. That is Brazil's version of the Environmental Protection Agency.

ALSO, to translate any web page to english, go to translate.google.com and enter the actual URL in the box on the left.

[Ltygress]

But I wouldn't be so quick to chastise those who believed in the ban happening. It wasn't revealed that the ban on these species would not be enforced until April 27th. 3 days before the collection ban was to go into effect.

That is true. But to state an upcoming ban as a straight fact, and use it to justify the $200 price, is immoral. Of course this is my own opinion, but I feel 100% honesty is the ONLY way to do business properly.

When I worked military intelligence we had a saying: "Tell me what you know, and tell me what you DON'T know." It means unless you are absolutely 100% sure, and have proof to back it up, you simply don't know, and can not truly say it will or won't happen. Sure, you can look at history to make an educated guess, but the truth is, you don't KNOW, and can't automatically assume either way.

More interestingly, all signs actually pointed to NO ban, as Brazilians themselves didn't bother raising prices.

Sadly, one of the guys who made that claim to justify prices, still has some of these species listed for those outrageous prices on eBay, and still claims they may be banned "next month". But I also know who his supplier is, and it's the same one who sold L134 to ME for just $19 each just this past December (direct importer). So this guy's mark-up is just plain outrageous, since he also seems to be out of the loop on their ban status (which lends MORE credit to the idea that he was using an unfounded excuse to charge stupid high prices).

Granted, it took me almost a month to find out, but I am not actively buying or selling any of these plecos right now, either. If I was, I would certainly be making every effort to stay up to date!