why do they have to ban this fish!!!!

The problem is that because of the demand in the pet trade, they became endangered and were put on the CITES list. This did a lot to stem the wild harvest. Now, however, the vast majority of aros sold in the pet trade are bred on CITES certified fish farms. From what I understand, the US just hasn't taken the time to verify that these fish come from certified farms, and so will not make it legal to import them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_arowana#Conservation_status
 
gagaliya said:
so the fish was banned because it is endangered and they dont want to encourage the locals to overfish for profit? somehow i dont think that's working at all.

The fish was lidted as appendix one in the first CITES convention in 1974. The American Lacey Act (which pre-dates CITES by about 70 years) prohibits importation and possession of highly endangered species. The Asian arowanas in the trade are bred on fish-farms for colour/pattern/etc, and are produced by the thousands. The problem for the US comes in the fact that CITES designation is based on wild populations, not captive-produced ones, so until someone reclaims some wild habitat and helps repopulate it, or until an amendment is made to the Lacey Act, the fish will remain banned in the USA.

A note on the Asian aros (prices based on 6"-12" juveniles, adults are 2-5 times as much, depending on how well their colour and body-shape develop)....

B-Grade greens (wild-type colouration) and yellow tails sell for as little as $500 each

A-Grade chili-reds, red-tail golds, and other mid-range colours sell for about $1200-$3000

AA-Grade and AAA-Grade sapphire blues, gold-heads, etc sell for about $3500-$7500 each

AA-Grade and AAA-Grade violet fusions, blue-base blood reds, and other top colours start at about $9000 and can sell for $50,000 or more.
 
Toirtis said:
The fish was lidted as appendix one in the first CITES convention in 1974. The American Lacey Act (which pre-dates CITES by about 70 years) prohibits importation and possession of highly endangered species. The Asian arowanas in the trade are bred on fish-farms for colour/pattern/etc, and are produced by the thousands. The problem for the US comes in the fact that CITES designation is based on wild populations, not captive-produced ones, so until someone reclaims some wild habitat and helps repopulate it, or until an amendment is made to the Lacey Act, the fish will remain banned in the USA.

A note on the Asian aros (prices based on 6"-12" juveniles, adults are 2-5 times as much, depending on how well their colour and body-shape develop)....

B-Grade greens (wild-type colouration) and yellow tails sell for as little as $500 each

A-Grade chili-reds, red-tail golds, and other mid-range colours sell for about $1200-$3000

AA-Grade and AAA-Grade sapphire blues, gold-heads, etc sell for about $3500-$7500 each

AA-Grade and AAA-Grade violet fusions, blue-base blood reds, and other top colours start at about $9000 and can sell for $50,000 or more.


assume those prices are for adults, how much are red juvies go for? I was in china and saw those beauties in person, they were going for considerable less(although i am not experienced to tell quality) but some nice red ones were going for 7000rmb which is about $1000 usd.
 
gagaliya said:
assume those prices are for adults, how much are red juvies go for?

No, as stated in my post, those prices are for 6"-12" juveniles. As well, fish sold here have the added costs of CITES permits (import and export), import taxes, and priority air overseas shipping. What is more, prices have increased in recent years since the Australian, UK, and Taiwan markets opened up, increasing demand.
 
Toirtis said:
No, as stated in my post, those prices are for 6"-12" juveniles. As well, fish sold here have the added costs of CITES permits (import and export), import taxes, and priority air overseas shipping. What is more, prices have increased in recent years since the Australian, UK, and Taiwan markets opened up, increasing demand.

but how can you tell when they are juvies? i was under the impression you cant really know if it's a chili red vs some other red arrowanna when they are young, it's only when the fish matures that you will know by their coloration.
 
To add onto what was stated, they will remain illegal in the US because its based on their numbers in the wild, unfortunately for Americans, there have been no studies done to determine the actual number of wild asian arowanas, so until then, they will remain on the endangered species list, which means no legal importation into the US.
Glad i live in Canada :P
 
i think that they should start breeding them comercialy for release into the wild and the aquarium trade(perhaps a split, like 50/50, or 75 to the wild, 25 to the trade???).

many species can be saved by captive breeding, and some are being captive bred and released. kind of giving back to the environment
 
Asian arowana is one of my dream fish. I'll get one right after I get a sea dragon (i.e. fork over ~$5,000 for a permit, then another ~$5,000 for the actual fish).


*sigh*
 
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