It certainly comes as no surprise to me :)
>It is hard to understand why anyone would want to take the risk of
>introducing diseases dangerous to the whole aquaculture and aquarium
>industries when the fish involved are unlikely to ever be able to be bred
>here. The space needed to raise and breed tropical giants like the
>Osteoglossids (Arrowanas and Arapaimas), catfish like Pseudoplatystomas and
>Cichlids such as Boulengerochromis is not easy to disguise .
snip
I guess what is and what is not smuggled lies in the eye of the beholder.
Surely these same smugglers would frown at the illegal introduction of New
Guinea Rainbowfish and yet welcome the odd Arrowana...Or perhaps they could
care less either way!
I seriously doubt whether diseases enter into their argument as many a
Rainbowfish enthusiast would argue that bows from NG do not bring in
unwelcome diseases.
I think we should be very careful about throwing stones at any particular
hobbyist (unless of course one can profess to be squeaky clean) <g>
Cheers
Merlin
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merlin at orac.net.au
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