It is very possible to organise trips into remote areas of Oz but if it is
Aboriginal Land there will be some red tape dealing with the various Land
Councils. It is also possible to spend a small fortune, travel for days
and finally get to a place and the local traditional owner changes his mind
about letting you take some fish. This has happened to me and some
others.
I think if you go into Arnhem land or some similar Aboriginal Reserve and
you are prepared for the occasional disappointment and have alternative
places to visit then trips are not wasted completely. I know of about 4
locations where there are Melanotaenia trifasciata that have not been put in
an aquarium to my knowledge.
There are still new fish to be found and range extensions of known species
out there waiting for the daring dip netter. Big Barras need to be careful
because they are the number one tucker for big crocs. The fishing safari
business could be a good place to start looking for guides with contact into
the areas you want to visit. Cattle Stations are usually OK with visitors
provided they don't have to rescue you. A chap here recently had to write
a letter taking responsibility for his own actions then fax it to the owner
of a Station as part of the conditions of entry to look for geckoes in their
rocky escarpment country. Some cattle stations have accommodation
facilities to take paying guests. Two unfortunate people perished here
recently after a vehicle breakdown in the desert. They failed to let
anyone know they were travelling so no one was looking for them when they
were overdue.
It is still not too late to jump on a plane and come to the ANGFA Convention
in Melbourne next weekend where we can talk more about getting into some new
country for some fishy exploring. The details of the Convention are on the
ANGFA web site www.angfa.org.au
Cheers
Dave
On 17/04/05 2:49, "Christophe Mailliet" <christophe.mailliet at web.de> wrote:
>
> Hi Tom, hi all others,
>
> Always nice to see that there are other enthusiastic people coming up!
>
> Now, on the idea of eco-trips to places like Madagascar and Oz / PNG - that
> would definitely be something to follow up on. I think many people on this
> list have contacts to people in those places, so it is probably not as remote
> as one might think. I for one know about someone who is trying to set up a
> little fish business in Papua (former Irian jaya) who would only be too
> willing to embark upon such a thing. Possibly some Madagascar connection as
> well.
>
> But what do you people in Australia think?
>
> Cheers
>
> Christophe
>
> r_m_l at yahoogroups.com schrieb am 16.04.05 07:56:51:
>
>
> You're welcome, Tom. Being one of the "Big Barras" here, I like to swim
> around and make sure all is well in the ol' pond. ;-) Besides, all
> these little males swimming about thither and yon need to be kept in line...
> or at least mindful of where to keep watch. ;-P I do what I can with
> them.
>
> As far as your eco-tourism fish trip idea, well, I did have a chance to go
> to Peru with a group of fish-freaks, through a company that takes crews of
> us types down to collect fish and learn about the rivers and forest down
> there. They mostly do special trips, sometimes organizing them with only
> fish hobbyists, and also some that go with only reptile or herp people, or
> plant, or bird people. It was a truly amazing experience, and since it was a
> boat full of like-minded hobbyists, it made the experience even more
> memorable. That we all were hard core partyers was just a bonus. ;-) No
> fish convention attached tho -- boy THAT would have been something, huh?
> :-)
>
> I would absolutely love to see something like that come about in conjunction
> with the ANGFA convention, and I would think that taking many of the species
> home would be do-able since many are already exported from Oz to the USA and
> other countries on a regular basis. This would (as with Peru) probably be
> best done through a licensed exporter, but I believe ANGFA has at least one
> or two of those "in house." A nice bonus with the Peru trip was that when we
> took our wild-caught fish to the exporter to get our paperwork and to have
> them packed for shipping, we were also allowed to fill any gaps in our boxes
> with fish we could purchase from the exporter's facility that day. Since I
> didn't catch many Otocinclus I just added a dozen in (at about 30 cents
> each) to my box. There were also discus and things that came from areas we
> didn't collect. Most of us took advantage of this, and the exporter made a
> little cash for his efforts (he also charged for the paperwork). A win-win
> situation as we saw it. :-) A good selling point hopefully if ANGFA ever
> decided to try something like this.
>
> Julie <><
> "The Big Barra"
>
>
>> From: "Tom Ray" <t_a_ray_cissp at yahoo.com>
>> Reply-To: r_m_l at yahoogroups.com
>> To: r_m_l at yahoogroups.com
>> Subject: [RML] Re: blue-eyes eggs available?
>> Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 19:24:13 -0000
>>
>>
>> 1st, Julie: Thank YOU for your "attention getter" msg.
>>
>> And, to those that have responded so far by email or newsgrp msg:
>> Thank you TOO! You may be feeding a habit-forming obsession!! You
>> cannot know how much I appreciate your responses. PLEASE KEEP THEM
>> COMING!!!
>>
>> So far I've heard so far on Pseudomugils...
>>
>> -> to ask where the P. tenellus were (stock were collected) from
>> (originally), but also expect them to color up with age and comfort
>> level in my tank.
>>
>> -> to look and wait for P. paskai on Aquabid/from Hawai'i.
>> -- "Mach's da man" (or may be so, if I may use a phrase from my
>> days living in Hawai'i) - expert, breeder, "go to" person, etc. -
>> for breeder stocks of signifers (more than 1 var.), cyanodorsalis,
>> and furcatus?
>> -- Dave and Robyn may be a similar, well-connected "point" for
>> wild / breeder stocks of tenellus? BTW, Thanks for the pointer to
>> ANGFA. I'd already visited but did not see anything about
>> Pseudomugils on the ANGFA website, but did on the RSG one linked
>> from there. I also found the "home of the Rainbow" website linked
>> from this newsgrp REALLY helpful. Thanks! And, as for attending the
>> convention, nice idea... you got me thinking... Please see some of
>> my thoughts below at end of this msg.
>>
>> -> don't expect to obtain (muchless keep) Kiungas or mellus. Boohoo!
>>
>> -> connieae and paludicola stocks may or may not be available
>> somewhere still TBD.
>>
>> I've not heard / seen anything so far about P. majusculus. Alas,
>> alack! I hope to hear / see something.
>>
>> As for Bedotia & Rheocles... THANK YOU Christophe! I am REALLY
>> liking your illustrated article that you sent me. And, I'm already
>> keen on to AOA.
>>
>> Trip Idea/Thoughts... Finally, I am wondering (and maybe this is a
>> new / different thread): do / have any of the societies already /are
>> there any... coordinated eco-tours that include the conventions and
>> biotope exploration, fish collection, importation (at the end of the
>> trip), etc.? I could see myself saving up and going on a
>> Pseudomugil one (or even longer trip say for a Madagascar one) next
>> year, etc..
>>
>> I also could see them to be kind of like what "summer archeology
>> digs" have done for that interest sector. My aunt and uncle have
>> been on many of some Colorado society's travel/exploratory tours
>> over the years, even leading some them. And, my sister went on
>> Central Am. butterfly biotope(?) and "photo safari" eco-tour with a
>> butterfly society out of Saint Louis (evnthough she lives in
>> Kentucky) a couple of years back. Do you think this idea "would
>> have legs," as they say?
>>
>> Let's keep my 1st thread going though. Please don't err in my
>> wandering wondering.
>>
>> --TommyBoy
>>
>> --- In r_m_l at yahoogroups.com, "Tom Ray" <t_a_ray_cissp at y...> wrote:
>>>
>>> 1st: I'm still a newbie so please bear with me. I've learned
>> gleaned
>>> a lot from the threads of thi newsgroup so far. Enough to finally
>> buy
>>> & try my luck with several different kinds of rainbows.
>>>
>>> 2nd: I just bought (at my LFS) a P. signfer trio & P. furcatus
>> trio.
>>> I think they are quite beautiful and different from each other! I
>>> also saw, but did not buy, P. tenellus. The ones in the LFS were
>> just
>>> silvery without any color (unlike the pictures in books & on-line
>> with
>>> their black & yellow coloring & their white dots). I now have
>>> questions the LFS could not answer. Some include...
>>> - Will the P. tenellus "color up" like other non-P. rainbows seem
>> to
>>> be doing with age? What is the typical availability of full-color
>> P.
>>> tenellus?
>>> - Are there specific color var. &/or is the locations of origin
>>> important for the coloring of P. tenellus? And for other
>> Pseudomugils
>>> (other than P. signifer, for which the answer appears to
>> be "yes")?
>>> <=Kind of like /similar to Nothos (Killies). Where can you find
>> this
>>> kind of info?
>>> - What's the typical availability, in the US/Northwest of
>> colorful: P.
>>> paskai, P. cyanodorsalis, Kiunga ballachi(sp?), P. connieae, P.
>>> majusculus, P. mellis? Are any of these Pseudomugils (especially
>> the
>>> P. mellis & Kiunga) actually even available by eggs or fry in the
>> USA
>>> for non-breeders?
>>> - Where can I find out more (especially info, not just pictures)
>> about
>>> Pseudomugils? I am obsessed & think I would like to be hooked.
>>>
>>> 3rd: Similarly, where can I find out more - both pictures and
>> info -
>>> about Rheocles (like R. alaotrensis) and Bedotia (other than B.
>>> geayi)?
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> --TommyBoy
>>
>>
>>
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