Discordipinna griessingeri (Flaming Prawn Goby) acclimating at a retailer. Credit: Austin Lefevre
It’s a fish eat fish world out there. Wild fishes face daunting lives in nature; everything in the ocean either wants to eat you or outcompete you for territory or mates. Collection for the aquarium is only the beginning of a hectic and stressful time in their lives. Once collected they’re held in a facility and purged (allowed time to expel waste) for a period of time prior to shipping. Then they’re bagged, boxed and shipped off to wholesaler’s around the world. Ripped from boxes and exposed to bright light after hours of travel in complete darkness, they’re acclimated to holding tanks at wholesalers. Fishes are then offered various foods and sold to retailers around the wholesalers’ country. Most wholesaler’s have to move these fishes out within a week to remain profitable. Once purchased by a retailer fishes are once again bagged, boxed, and shipped to their new temporary home. Boxes are opened, bright lights are glaring, and a fish must start to think, ‘what in the hell is going on here!’. As with wholesalers, most retailers have to move a fish within a week in order to stay profitable. Remember that fish food, saltwater, and employees all cost money that adds to the final price. If a retailer’s main concern is to offer the most affordable prices in the area, a week is even a long time to hold onto a fish. Unfortunately for the average hobbyist, this leaves them with huge risk factors to deal with: Is this fish eating well? Does it have parasites, bacterial or fungal infections?
Conditioned Holacanthus clarionensis in retail display at MACNA 2014 in Denver. Credit: Austin Lefevre
One statistic that’s always stuck with me is “Internal worm infections are found in approximately 70 to 85% of tropical marine fish imported from the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Australia, and the Red Sea.” (Bassleer, Gerald. Diseases in Marine Aquarium Fishes, page 74. 2004). Now how many average hobbyists are ready to treat for such things? Even know what to look for? An internal parasite takes a trained eye to spot symptoms, or you end up with a story that reads something like, “My fish was eating great but not gaining weight, then just up and died for no reason. I’m never buying a fish from XYZ again!… More:
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