PlanetCatfish.com

The list is long so make an offer! I already have p. armatulus and a. nauticus, as well as o. eigenmanni and a. pectinifrons. Any other true dora that won't exceed 10" is on the menu. Hildadoras, undescribed species, but no smooth doras, please. Let's keep it rough!

Okay. do I have to go to South America myself? Don't South American people have computers? What are you doing? Catch me some doradids, people.

Hello! Easy money knocking on your door.

I can't say I've seen anything other than what you already have.

Yeah, but people live near them. I live near sculpins, sunfish and more. There are probably madtoms around here. If somebody wanted them, I'd make sure it was legal and get them. We're worldwide. This is a hobbyists dream. The kind of amazing connections we could make are almost endless. If somebody lives near peru, etc., what's stopping them from hopping on a bicycle, tossing a few doradids into a box and making money?

I think the real problem here is twofold:
1. We don't actually have a large number of members in South America.
2. Exporting fish is not just a case of bagging up the fish and posting them at the post-office [assuming you actually want them to arrive in good health, at least].

I had a look at a exporters list from Colombia that I receive now and again, and it's got
AGAMYXIS ALBOMACULATUS - PECTINIFRONS
AMBLYDORAS NAUTICUS
PLATYDORAS COSTATUS

These are not expensive, but that's all there is on the list. I haven't looked back to see if there has been others on the list in the past, but from memory, there are not that many on the list.

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Mats

knifegill wrote:If somebody lives near peru, etc., what's stopping them from hopping on a bicycle, tossing a few doradids into a box and making money?

Not knowing much about it myself, I'd imagine the problems involve collecting permits, export permits, packing, shipping, and customs, not to mention the mail system in these countries is not very well-developed. There is a large investment of time and money for someone who is not making a business out of it.

Good reasons, I'm sure. They just sound like excuses to me right now.

Businesses will only catch and export fishes that will sell.

Unfortunately, brown catfish that hide all the time are of very low profitability, especially when there are more attractive alternatives for the average fishkeeper.

My advice is to find an LFS that has a very good relationship with their suppliers, and then persuade them to persuade the exporters to get some interesting doradids in. They will certainly be able to supply them, it's just a question of getting the message down the chain, and encouraging people to bother making that effort for very little reward.

Of course, you also could actively seek out rare fish dealers. There are several in the United States that traffic in South American fish, and sometimes receive single specimens from their exporters. The key is patience, establishing a good relationship with those dealers, and a willingness to pay premium price when an item you seek arrives. Unbelievable as it may sound, unique fish species have a market, and you will have competition.

In lieu of that, you can contact importing wholesalers directly and explain your situation to them. It is possible they could refer you to a local purchasing store that may be able to order those oddballs from them, for you (if you can get the wholesalers to answer your phone calls!).

All good suggestions. There are certainly some Wholesalers and "self-importing shops" that continually get hold of unusual fish. This ranges from "we sorted through the 400 shipment of species X and found 12 of species Y" (e.g. O. eigenmanni with P. armatulus), as well as having "better than average connections with the exporters in South America".

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Mats