Once in a Lifetime Experience!!!

Dragon lord: It is possible you may have had them in your store. Supposedly, they have been discovered 2 years ago. They never had any other name at that point however. As far as i understand it, before this season, they were only shipped a few at a time. This season, they are shipping alot more. 50 in los angeles, some to the east coast, and a few to Canada. How many they shipped out of Thailand is anyones guess and these guys are wild and newly discovered, so there cant be many. I paid 14.99 each of them. In canada, somoeone is selling them at a LFS for 9.00 dollars each. In the east coast they go for 35.00 each. So the true "amount" they are worth is anyones guess after all the hype is gone.

Carp Guy:

The sidthimunkis botia sounds like a GREAT loach. Supposedly, unlike most loaches, they swim in the upper middle of your tank. Also, they swim both during the day and night. So viewing them would be easy. Both my Yoyo's and the "angelicus" loach do come out during the day. the sidthimunkis is out all the time.
AS for the exporting of Loaches from Thailand and surrounding areas. For the Angelicus and Im sure of the others, wintertime is the time they export them. During this time, the waters are low and so catching them is easy. My angelicus was shipped to the warehouse in early febuary. I bought them at a LFS that deals with the warehouse on march 23. Keep in mind though most LFS only try to carry sellable fish with lots of color. Most of their customers are not interested in how rare it is or what type it is. they only care about the price and coloration (so the LFS tells me). All I know is the warehouse sold out Immediatly to the LFS. My LFS bought 10 I think and they still have plenty of loaches left. Not many people will pay 14.99 for these guys, while a clown loach (more colorfull) goes for alot less. Perhaps you can special order them? My 60 gallon tank is full now so I cant get anymore.
People reading this forum and research on their fish are not common. Otherwise, many fish the LFS sell, wont be sellable (Pacus). The LFS will make more $$$ on the common fish then the not so common. I dont like this, but its the truth. Try to special order them. perhaps you can do that?
 
I'm glad to see that B. sidthimunki is still sometimes available, because I'd heard that it was commercially extinct (not exactly the same as biologically extinct but not a wholesome situation). It's been a couple of years at least since I saw it at any LFS.

What I'd read on the web about "Sid the Monkey" was that new dams for hydropower in Thailand, combined with pollution and overfishing, had reduced natural breeding stocks of these fish dangerously low. The Botia all seem to travel upstream to breed, when they are finally sexually mature. The new dam or dams were cutting these off from breeding locales.

Burma and North Thailand are commercially unexplored areas for tropical/subtropical fish.
 
Burma is now known as Myanmar. I know that in 2000 there were fighting going on by local militias for mining rights I think? As of now, I cant find any info on any dangerous situations there right now. This would open collecting these fish easier. Its a shame about the destruction of these rivers by the dams and pollution. Its also a shame to lose of these nice loaches. Im sure there are many more undiscovered species in Myanmar.
The situation does not look good for any loaches in this area of the world. The country is Over-populated and extremely poor with Aids Rampant. At one point, the country was actually in transition from being a socialist country (and in 1988 democracy was starting), but the attempts failed by the controlling Militia party.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bm.html

I fear their governement could care less about the fish. The citizens need to oust their current leadership and try again with the democratic process. At some point, through education and improvement in their ecomony, their country can become a nice place to live. By then though, the Loaches future looks bleak. Especially since breeding them captive is so hard to to do and wild caught are the only ways to get them.

Its a shame though that the money That I paid (14.95) is mostly going through the ladder (exporters, wholesalers, LFS) and only a few cents are going to the poeple that actually catch them (the ones that truly need the money). If only they had the ability to use the internet, education and other sources to directly sell the fish to the local LFS or wholesellers, more money can go to them. But isnt that the truth for pretty much anything?
 
Burma is Myanmar --as Germany is Deutschland. "Holland" isn't "The Netherlands." It's Nederland.

The Thai don't call their country "Thailand." The Egyptians don't call their country "Egypt."

The Japanese call their country "Nippon," don't they...

Myanmar schmyanmar... more owlish "correctness."

My heart goes out to the passive, obedient fatalistic Burmese people... or are they now to be called Myanmartians?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom