Loaches apart from Clowns and Yoyos in Sydney, Australia?

[ey]

Hi,

I was just wondering if there were other loach members here that are also from Australia (particularly Sydney) that know of some good aquariums to go to find other loaches?

In the past 18 months, I have been calling up aquariums (about 40 LFS) throughout most of Sydney and visiting them only to find that they only have clown and yoyo loaches for sale.

I have only seen Sids (Dwarf loaches) sold at one or two aquariums, but were quite pricey IMO at 2 for AUD$35 given that they were just under 1" (juveniles). I also stumbled across some Rostrata's and Kubotai's at a LFS in Carlingford, but they were being sold for $20 and $25 each respectively. That was a over a year ago, I went back to that same LFS a month later and they had closed down. Ever since I have not seen Rostrata's, Kubotai's, Striata's or Dario's.

Is this because there are certain restrictions on what loaches can or cannot be imported into Aus for sale? I did a search on "Australia" for old threads and it appears that Clowns, Yoyos and Sids are really the main loaches sold in other the States of Aust.

Just wondering if anyone from Sydney or Australia knows of any place I can find other loaches, even Dwarf (Sids).

Many thanks,
ey

[Graeme McKellar]

Hi ey, Got your PM but thought answering on the Forum was best.
We sure get a "rough deal" from The Government over which Loaches that can be imported into Australia as they see them as a threat to our rivers and native aquatic life if released. Cichlid and Catfish get a much better deal from the Government and Importers as you would know from just looking at what is available in LFS's. I can not see why they allow in Yo-Yo's but dont allow Striata, Dario or Histronica. I see fish like Large Mouth Bass, Eartheaters and Koi Carp as more of a threat than our Beloved Botia yet they are freely available. Our larger importers like Aquarium Industries and Bayfish are not interested in importing anything but Clowns, YoYo's and Khuli's - I visited Bayfish in Brisbane recently and the Loach Selection was very poor but all other species were well represented Our only hope lies with the smaller importers like Aquariumwarehouse who imported Kubotai 18 months ago ( I paid $40 each but price is irrelevent if you want them)
I got some Rostrata in February from Exotic Fish Connections in Rocklea for $15 so maybe you could contact the owner Kevin Tan and ask were he got them from. He could probably give you some contacts in Sydney to try. I will PM you his number. Kevin would be the second best Fishshop Owner in the world - just below Emma (and Steve).
I am always on the lookout for these harder-to-get Botia and if I find any will post it on the Forum.
Cheers Graeme.

[Botia Robert]

What Graeme said.

I am also very frustrated about this. Insert Rant here!

Is there anything we can do to change this?

[Graeme McKellar]

Hi Ey, I just noticed that Livefish.com.au has 3cm Sid's for $12.87 (31% off). I have never used them and have heard good and bad reports about them. They also list 15cm Clowns at $131.99 but have sold out of 20cm Clowns they had for $302.47. It makes the 15cm clowns I am getting privately for $40 each seem very cheap. Cheers Graeme.

[ey]

Hi ey, Got your PM but thought answering on the Forum was best.
We sure get a "rough deal" from The Government over which Loaches that can be imported into Australia as they see them as a threat to our rivers and native aquatic life if released. Cichlid and Catfish get a much better deal from the Government and Importers as you would know from just looking at what is available in LFS's. I can not see why they allow in Yo-Yo's but dont allow Striata, Dario or Histronica. I see fish like Large Mouth Bass, Eartheaters and Koi Carp as more of a threat than our Beloved Botia yet they are freely available. Our larger importers like Aquarium Industries and Bayfish are not interested in importing anything but Clowns, YoYo's and Khuli's - I visited Bayfish in Brisbane recently and the Loach Selection was very poor but all other species were well represented Our only hope lies with the smaller importers like Aquariumwarehouse who imported Kubotai 18 months ago ( I paid $40 each but price is irrelevent if you want them)
I got some Rostrata in February from Exotic Fish Connections in Rocklea for $15 so maybe you could contact the owner Kevin Tan and ask were he got them from. He could probably give you some contacts in Sydney to try. I will PM you his number. Kevin would be the second best Fishshop Owner in the world - just below Emma (and Steve).
I am always on the lookout for these harder-to-get Botia and if I find any will post it on the Forum.
Cheers Graeme.

Thanks for the reply and info Graeme! I will get in contact with Kevin later this week and ask him if he knows of any places I can find these other loaches in Sydney.