Not with us at the moment...but always on our minds...

[Tannin Aquatics]

As a lifelong hobbyist, I've spent a lot of time reading about, researching, observing, and collecting tropical fishes- just like most of you. And, in all of those years of researching, I couldn't help but wonder about some of "those" fishes- you know, the ones that are found in scientific studies and papers- fishes that seem to be ridiculously abundant in their natural habitats, yet never even show up as a blip on the radar for the hobby. (click to read more)

 

[dogofwar]

I spent a good portion of my youth leafing through Axelrod's Atlas of Tropical Fish and imagining the rare and obscure in one of my tanks! I remember getting the ACA Trading Post (in paper form) and going to the index of "The Atlas" or my other books to try and find the fish I didn't know.

And, of course, marveling at the oddball contaminant in a tank of my LFS (when there were LFS).

Reality is that a single seine-pull in South America can bring in dozens of species that - for whatever reasons - aren't in the hobby.

I think the ubiquity of truly rare fish from Internet sellers (and in fish club circles, in our monthly auctions for literally pennies) has made us take the rare for granted. Combine this with the way that the ubiquity of information from the Internet and you've got lots of fishkeepers who really don't know what's common and what's unusual.

There are fewer exporters in South America than in the past...and we've seen some pretty awesome hobby/online sellers stop operations because the demand just isn't there for stuff that you can't just get from farms / marts.

Matt

 

[dogofwar]

I spent a good portion of my youth leafing through Axelrod's Atlas of Tropical Fish and imagining the rare and obscure in one of my tanks! I remember getting the ACA Trading Post (in paper form) and going to the index of "The Atlas" or my other books to try and find the fish I didn't know.

And, of course, marveling at the oddball contaminant in a tank of my LFS (when there were LFS).

Reality is that a single seine-pull in South America can bring in dozens of species that - for whatever reasons - aren't in the hobby.

I think the ubiquity of truly rare fish from Internet sellers (and in fish club circles, in our monthly auctions for literally pennies) has made us take the rare for granted. Combine this with the way that the ubiquity of information from the Internet and you've got lots of fishkeepers who really don't know what's common and what's unusual.

There are fewer exporters in South America than in the past...and we've seen some pretty awesome hobby/online sellers stop operations because the demand just isn't there for stuff that you can't just get from farms / marts.

Matt

 

[Tannin Aquatics]

I spent a good portion of my youth leafing through Axelrod's Atlas of Tropical Fish and imagining the rare and obscure in one of my tanks! I remember getting the ACA Trading Post (in paper form) and going to the index of "The Atlas" or my other books to try and find the fish I didn't know.

And, of course, marveling at the oddball contaminant in a tank of my LFS (when there were LFS).

Reality is that a single seine-pull in South America can bring in dozens of species that - for whatever reasons - aren't in the hobby.

I think the ubiquity of truly rare fish from Internet sellers (and in fish club circles, in our monthly auctions for literally pennies) has made us take the rare for granted. Combine this with the way that the ubiquity of information from the Internet and you've got lots of fishkeepers who really don't know what's common and what's unusual.

There are fewer exporters in South America than in the past...and we've seen some pretty awesome hobby/online sellers stop operations because the demand just isn't there for stuff that you can't just get from farms / marts.

Matt

Awesome points, Matt. And I think it is exciting to see some of those oddities slip through into the market now more than ever. It's that "hmm, what's that?" in the "any fish in this tank $3.00" tank at my LFS that keeps me looking!