Growing Trend.....Growing Deception.

[Modo]

With the growing trend of educated and ecologically minded hobbyist, so is the demand for farm raised, tank raised, aquacultured livestock. It seems that with this growing demand that a growing number of online stores and local retailors are marketing their beautiful animals as such.

I am not in the business or do I know the relationship between the LFS/OLS and the wholesaler. But, I would like to believe that there is someone in the industry who knows the truth as to who actually supplies aquacultured animals and who supplies wild caught or both. I mean anyone can take a wax pencil and scroll "aquacultured" on a tank charge more and ease an aquarists mind to boot. But the question lies...how do we know?

Is it possible that a list can be comprised of wholesalers that supply such animals? Then a reefer could do a simple Q&A with the retailor? Or does it go beyond this and is a more complex issue? Does anyone really know where these organisms are coming from.......well, we know Fiji, right?

Please note that I am not beating my chest and denouncing wild caught animals. I am really just wanted to be purchasing and paying for what I am told I am getting. This mainly stems from the post about Advertising I answered earlier.

Thanks for any answers,
Kurt

 

[naesco]

I think your concern and idea is a good one. Perhaps Mary's organization can deal with this.

 

[MaryHM]

You will know for a fact if you are receiving an aquacultured frag from Solomons or Fiji because of the base. Solomons have a round, white base about the size of a half dollar. Fiji has a larger "golf tee" shaped base that is purpleish in color (kind of like live rock). Otherwise, it's a crap shoot. The aquacultured corals I receive from the Marshalls are either loose or attached to coral rubble. There are a ton of "chop shops" out there that buy large wild colonies, frag them out into 3 dozen pieces, and call it aquacultured. So basically, unless it has the Solomon or Fiji type base there is no way you can be 100% positive that it is truly aquacultured.

 

[Modo]

Mary-
Excuse me for my ignorance, but I find this side of the hobby interesting and have a couple of more questions.

About the plugs you described above. Are these shapes uniform like this because of certain regulations in these regions? Or is there just one main supplier from these locales?

Also, how many suppliers and wholesalers are there out there? Is it a countless amount of importers or just a small few that mainly the industry here relies on?

Sorry if these questions seem probing. I am just trying to grasp the supply chain of an industry that I am at the end of and pour countless hours of learning and money into.

Thanks for you replies so far,
Kurt

 

[Anonymous]

No it's because the base idea was taught by likely one person and it's design and use has spread. Usually they are just concrete and aragonite plugs.

For captive bred fish you have two major sources in the United States. Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums (ORA) which is the commercial front for the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. As I understand it, ORA basically gets grants for experimentation for breeding different species via HBOI and this is why you see animals such as Golden Travally's being offered for sale in an industry where there basically is no demand. ORA IMO offered the healthiest captive bred animals there is. The other source for captive bred and captive reared animals is C-Quest in Puerto Rico, originally setup and operated by Bill Addison and Joyce Wilkerson.

Obtaining farmed clams and SPS is a bit of a challenge but if you look hard you can get the stuff our of the Marshall Islands and other places. ORA is now getting into farmed clams and SPS as well which will be nice.

For captive bred corals however the main source at least for me is local hobbyiests. Purchasing animals locally grown because there just hasn't been anyone (commercially) out there to get captive bred soft corals and lps from luckily we have people like Greg Hiller in the hobby who produce an impressive amount of colonies each year.

If you want to help the best you can do is pressure your LFS to forego wild animals which are readily available captive bred, and to get them to buy corals from you and your friends in the hobby. The wild fish they do bring in, tell them about certified net caught fish and tell them to seek out these animals. More and more are available each month and these animals are incredibly healthy.

 

[MaryHM]

Here are some answers, Modo:

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

About the plugs you described above. Are these shapes uniform like this because of certain regulations in these regions? Or is there just one main supplier from these locales?

The Solomons and Fiji each have one exporter that deals with aquacultured corals, so the plugs I described are the ones that those exporters use. There are no regulations.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

Also, how many suppliers and wholesalers are there out there? Is it a countless amount of importers or just a small few that mainly the industry here relies on?

For aquacultured animals, MickAv8r pretty much hit the nail on the head. There are lots and lots of exporters, importers, and wholesalers (from bad "bath tub" operations to multi-million dollar facilities). Most deal with at least a few aquacultured animals. Only ORA and C-quest deal strictly with these types of animals, and both are US based operations. The problem with doing "aquaculture only" operations overseas is the freight. You have to do x-amount of freight (anywhere from 500kg to 3000kg) to get a decent price break from the airlines. No aquaculture facilites that I am aware of are large enough to produce 500kg of animals on a regular basis without having to supplement with wild caught. For example, our Fiji distributor is going to begin aquaculture toward the end of this year. However, we have to do 3000kg out of Fiji to get the freight rates down to a reasonable level. That means we MUST supplement the aquacultured animals with live rock, fish, and wild caught corals. Maybe one day aquacultured animals will be "in demand" by hobbyists and that will help to make overseas operations more lucrative. Until then however, it is still necessary to supplement with wild caught.

 

[Modo]

Thanks for the replies guys!! Great information. Exactly what I was wondering about.

 

[Bill2]

Would also like to add Marine Center in England does most of captive bred/raised in Europe I believe.

 

[Modo]

I'm assuming that this UK based operation has no affiliation with the DFW based Marine Center what so ever. Am I too far off?

 

[Reefan99]

Guys, there is a great new source for aquacultured livestock. Too bad we can't mention names here, but one of the largest online companies regularly offers cultured corals, clams and even awesome 100% man-made live rock.

This same OLS now imports and offers a line of cultured fish previously unseen in the industry. Everything from tangs, triggers, damsels, puffers, snappers...even butterflies!! This is a new technology set up down in Tahiti where they net larval fish and then tank raise them in captivity. I have bought these TR fish and they are incredible! Hardy, bright color, and best of all readily accepting pellet and flake food.

Cultured animals are the wave of the future and this OLS is really on the forefront of bringing TR animals to the industry. I wish I could give out their name because I feel strongly about this subject and encourage everyone I can to actively support companies who bring these products to us. If you are interested in finding out who they are email me at [email protected].

 

[naesco]

Reefan99
Chucker can confirm the following:
It is my understanding that it is OK to mention that a LFS or OLS has provided good service or product but it is not OK to let the world know about the bad guys as reefs.org does not want to risk lawsuits which is understandable.
If I am wrong, I would ask reefs.org to consider amending its policy to allow for the naming of suppliers of aquacultured critters and rock.
In this way reefs.org is is taking a positive step forward in supporting environmentally friendly supply.