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Hey guys I thought I would ask about this on here since I know that there are people 'in the know' on here. It has been reported on another forum that the Brazilian Gov't has put a ban on ALL Loricariidae species from the Xingu-can this really be true?!?! Hoping that one of the experts (Janne) will know more about this...Thanks for any news that anyone can offer up.
Dave

I don't know, but a lot of the Xingu species are treathened by some dam...

Some dam being the oprative words
They are going to flood a area the size of England to make cheap power.
I have been talking to a few people in the LFS Trade all have recived a letter or call regarding this "Ban"
But the Xingu type fish are still being sold
Mainly being brought out via Columbia I think?

macvsog23 wrote:Some dam being the oprative words
They are going to flood a area the size of England to make a few corrupt people and companies rich and not get appreciable returns of energy.
I have been talking to a few people in the LFS Trade all have recived a letter or call regarding this "Ban"
But the Xingu type fish are still being sold
Mainly being brought out via Columbia I think?

Mended.

I understand the whole dam thing, and previously it was just certain plecs were not allowed for export. The post I read on another forum says that now ALL Loricariidae from the Rio Xingu are banned for export...that's a lot of plecos! So many, in fact, that I just find it hard to believe...

I don't believe this is true (there have been rumours like this several times before, and it turned out to be false then, so I expect it's not true now either). But Janne will be able to say for sure.

--
Mats

Rumours, if there are no truth fully source it's just stupid to spread rumours like this.

I have been talking to a few people in the LFS Trade all have recived a letter or call regarding this "Ban"

This would never happen, you mean that IBAMA will send an email to all retailers in England to inform that from now on all pleacos from Rio Xingu is banned??

If there are some news to report I will do that on PC, I promise.

Janne

Thank you for clearing this up for us!

IBAMA has of list of species eligible for the OTF trade but it is not broken it down by the river.
Either the fish are allowed to be collected and exported and if it isn't on the list then it is not eligible for capture and export.
Others may construct their own list of fish which are banned by simple deductive reasoning.
If Hypancistrus do not appear on the fish allowed to be traded then no Hypancistrus may be collected and sold. Many people, at many levels, facilitate the smuggling of ornamental fish which are "protected".

Sorry for my ignorance but is there any threat of L-183 being affected by this dam?

No, man, you and your L183 are in no danger of being cut off. It is those who want Brazilian Hypancistrus species who are most affected because so many of the most desired species occur only in the Rio Xingu. Many are being bred in captivity but not enough to meet the demand. Other species of Hypancistrus are fairly easily bred and in quantities to match the demand.
This is far down stream from the Rio Negro and maybe this hydro project is supposed to be among the top 5 largest of it's kind, the Rio Negro is about as large, by volume, as the upper Amazon. Of course, L183 are found in tributaries which are smaller and clearer but at least from more than one spot. Fish like them will be around in the wild for the foreseeable future. Your tank raised L183 will be better acclimated to aquarium life than their parents and free of the ubiquitous parasites found among most wild fish. This makes them more useful to others because they have more going for them than the wild caught fish.