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Fish collecting trip

M Hughes

New Member
Messages
13
Location
Missouri
Hi all,

I have some questions about fish collecting trips in the Amazon, as a friend and I are planning one in 2020 or 2021. I'd love to hear back from those of you who have experience.

  1. Would you recommend a fish-collecting tour through a private company, or do you prefer to do each part of the experience (vehicle travel, boat travel, meals, accommodations, etc.) separately?
  2. What's the best way to ensure that your fish arrive home safely? Do you take them to a licensed exporter in the area and have them handle quarantine and shipping?
  3. In regards to travel cost, Iquitos looks like the best option for a starting point. Any other recommendations? (I've been to Manaus before, but flights there are about twice as much - I'm in the midwestern U.S.)
  4. This may be a bit vague, but do some groups of fishes handle collection and shipping better than others?
  5. As far as hardiness through the whole process, how would you rate knifefishes, pike characins, apistos, smaller loricariids (Loricaria, Rineloricaria, etc.), tetras of various genera, pencilfish and splash tetras, cories, etc.? Any come to mind that ship well that I didn't mention?
  6. What is the best way to acclimate wild Amazonian fishes to my local water parameters (7.5-8.0 pH, 300-400 ppm TDS) while quarantining to prevent losses?
  7. Any other tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We plan on building some new tanks specifically for these fishes before the trip, but want to start getting a feel for the process before designing the tanks.

Thanks in advance!
Michael H.
 

themountain

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
172
Location
Mallorca/Spain
1. Company
2. The company will take care of this
3. Iquitos is awesome and reasonable priced
4. Usually Apistos are hardy when it comes to transport....scalares are not !
5. from good to complicated : Pikes+Apistos, Tetras, Loricaria, Knifefish
6. First get a reverse osmotic water system , then mix your water gradually to what you have to use.
7. Lots of roots and leaf litter and sand is a good start...plants are not very common in these waters...maybe big echinodorus and water lillies.
 
Last edited:

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,201
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Hi all,

I have some questions about fish collecting trips in the Amazon, as a friend and I are planning one in 2020 or 2021. I'd love to hear back from those of you who have experience.

  1. Would you recommend a fish-collecting tour through a private company, or do you prefer to do each part of the experience (vehicle travel, boat travel, meals, accommodations, etc.) separately?


  1. If it is your first trip and do not have anyone with you that has done this before then go with a private company. Just do not expect to go to out-of-the-way locations that potentially have new/rare fish. I was so lucky to be invited to go with TomC who has extensive experience. He knew experienced native collectors/guides. They were able to provide local logistics. Not only were we able to go where we wanted to go, live/eat with local collectors' families and discover/collect new/rare species.

    [*]What's the best way to ensure that your fish arrive home safely? Do you take them to a licensed exporter in the area and have them handle quarantine and shipping?

    Definitely arrange this prior to leaving! If you arrange this with an transshipper who works with a local exporter, you are well ahead of the game.

    [*]In regards to travel cost, Iquitos looks like the best option for a starting point. Any other recommendations? (I've been to Manaus before, but flights there are about twice as much - I'm in the midwestern U.S.)

    Did you know that COPA airlines has a direct flight between Denver and Iquitos (or did last year). I had to fly from Denver to LA to Lima (about 12 hours), then stay over in Lima and get a commuter flight to Iquitos the next day. In Iquitos Tom & I stayed at Hotel Maranon. Its clientele is mostly business people from Lima and other parts of Latin America. It is modern, centrally located to different restaurants (free breakfast at hotel), laundry, plaza, and easy walking distance from the Amazon overview. It is also less expensive than those that cater mostly to tourists. Only downside is that their English is limited. How is your Spanish?

    [*]This may be a bit vague, but do some groups of fishes handle collection and shipping better than others?

    Yes, some fish are more sensitive to shipping than others. Once Tom collected some beautiful metallic canary yellow tetras we wanted to take back. Our local collector said they do not survive shipping. He was right. None survived a 1 hour walk from the collecting site to our boat - even with partial water changes at every stream we crossed. Trust your collectors. The good news is that apistos are tough and ship well.

    [*]As far as hardiness through the whole process, how would you rate knifefishes, pike characins, apistos, smaller loricariids (Loricaria, Rineloricaria, etc.), tetras of various genera, pencilfish and splash tetras, cories, etc.? Any come to mind that ship well that I didn't mention?

    Trust your local collector and exporter on this. There are many amazing fish we never see in our tanks because they do not ship well.

    [*]What is the best way to acclimate wild Amazonian fishes to my local water parameters (7.5-8.0 pH, 300-400 ppm TDS) while quarantining to prevent losses?

    I agree with the above. Prepare tanks BEFORE you leave with water similar to what the fish live in. Most transshippers take care of licenses, inspections, etc, but do not do anything to the fish.

    [*]Any other tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We plan on building some new tanks specifically for these fishes before the trip, but want to start getting a feel for the process before designing the tanks.
Ideally long, wide and not very deep.
 
Last edited:

Ttw

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
219
Location
Goodyear, Az. USA
For your first trip definitely a company. They can take care of things you never even thought about.
Do not try to bring your fish home with you. Possible in the past but now very problematic no matter what the regulations on importing fish for your private use are. Depends entirely on the customs and agricultural officers and their attitude at the time.
Iquitos is a great starting place. Lots to see in the city and lots of fish exporters. Puerto Maldonado in southern Peru offers a different collecting experience and some fish not often seen. I have also collected in Costa Rica, Bolivia, Venezuela (not possible now) and Brazil. All offer great collecting but these places usually need to be done privately.
As the others have said, prepare for your new fish before you go on your trip.
 

M Hughes

New Member
Messages
13
Location
Missouri
Thanks for your responses, I really appreciate it. Gives me a lot to work with and consider before going.

With the state of international travel now due to COVID, this will probably shape up to be a 2021 trip - which will give us more time to prepare tanks, logistics, etc.

Can anyone recommend a company in the Iquitos area that you've worked with?

Tom - My Spanish is terrible. I did pick up a little Portuguese in Brazil, but I'm very rusty. Since the trip is a little ways out, I'd like to learn enough Spanish beforehand to get by. (I appreciate the hotel suggestion as well!)

To understand correctly, the transhipper is who the fish are shipped to in the US, and from whom I will receive the shipment?

In regards to the yellow tetras, I have had similar experience working with brook silversides (Labidesthes sicculus) in the Mississippi River. It seems if you even just look at them the wrong way they die.
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
*correction, 2022

I was going to say, though vaccinations are probably starting in some western countries this month, until the problem is solved worldwide the whole of 2021 will have passed.

If you already can speak some Portugese, Spanish should not be a big problem. If you have any knowledge of French or Italian that will help learning, too. A lot of word stems are almost identical and many grammatical forms are parallel with only some sound shifts. You know these parallels and shifts and you will likely get by pretty well. Still, a course might be worth while, you obviously have the time to do one until you can go on the trip.
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,201
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
A transshipper is the 'go between' person. They receive your fish from the exporter and ship them directly to you. They should have all the licenses and paperwork done (for a fee of course) for import and then ship them directly to you. Depending on the circumstances some transshippers will do water changes, but many just ship immediately.
 

M Hughes

New Member
Messages
13
Location
Missouri
A transshipper is the 'go between' person. They receive your fish from the exporter and ship them directly to you. They should have all the licenses and paperwork done (for a fee of course) for import and then ship them directly to you. Depending on the circumstances some transshippers will do water changes, but many just ship immediately.
How do you go about finding a transshipper? I imagine there are transshippers located in major hubs like Miami, L.A., New York?
 

themountain

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
172
Location
Mallorca/Spain
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