Apolemichthys Kingi's!!!

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Before purchasing these fish from South Africa, I think we need to be responsible and consider how they made it to market. More important who is profiting from their collection. Two weeks ago Leopard cats sharks became available. This species is endemic to South Africa with a very small, protected range. I made some calls to find out how could it be that these were available and wanted to know if they were captive bred. The rumors were extremly concerning. I am not sure if these other rare arrivals share the same route out of SA . Like purchasing illicit drugs or arms, you may wish consider Who you are supporting.
 
alprazo said:
Before purchasing these fish from South Africa, I think we need to be responsible and consider how they made it to market. More important who is profiting from their collection. Two weeks ago Leopard cats sharks became available. This species is endemic to South Africa with a very small, protected range. I made some calls to find out how could it be that these were available and wanted to know if they were captive bred. The rumors were extremly concerning. I am not sure if these other rare arrivals share the same route out of SA . Like purchasing illicit drugs or arms, you may wish consider Who you are supporting.
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I couldn't agree with you more. Being that two were purchased and the fact he said he didn't pay near the asking price of the last ones that were available I would venture to say they were collected illegally
 
ThRoewer said:
Well, that's kind of my situation too (originally from Germany) and I really can't find any advantage in the convoluted mess of units from the antiquity (quite literally) they so cling to here in the US. I kind of refuse to adapt to a system the rest of the world has deemed to be obsolete and dumped well over a hundred years ago. Especially Fahrenheit is a unit of little to no practical value, neither in science nor daily life.

BTW, any idea where these fish were caught? I kind of always want to know that for my fish.
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You Back the heck away from my imperial measurements :blown:

On topic, congrats on the fish!

Can't say they are ones that I would ever spring for. IDK, but it seems rare angels don't seem to do it for me haha.
 
It is illegal to export fish from South Africa at the moment as no commercial permits have yet to be granted.

There is therefore no way these fish make it to these countries legally

This I a really sad sight to see for a South African as myself.

(if they do come from South Africa)
 
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They are also found in Mozambique and Madagascar. Given the fact that there should have opened a collection site in Madagascar last year or latest this year I would think they came from there.

It seems to be rather a deep water fish than a rare fish in its distribution range.
 
Sharks are much easier. The pyjama and leopard catsharks just became available for the first time. Both are restricted to SA. Old reports of strays in Madagascar are unconfirmed.
When a half dozen of each species shows up on stock lists, collection of the random stray is no longer probable. Is it coincidence that rare fish from the same locale are showing up at the same time? I truly don't know. Just putting it out there.
 
How do you know the ones in Madagascar were strays? The waters around that island are poorly explored and for sure not beyond scuba range. All the reports I could find about these state that they are deep water fish like the Bandit angelfish from Hawaii
 
I don't know for sure, but the sharks are endemic to 60F water. The reports, which are old and sometimes described as erroneous, come from 80 degree waters.
 
yeah, I am not getting involved with these sa kingiis, too many headaches...lol, but, things change and these fish are found in other locations, that are legal, and the collecting process will be killer, the future is looking very good...
 
There are a bunch of Pseduanthias connelli that have been trickling into the hobby too. These are certainly from ZA and definitely sold illegally. Doesn't surprise me at all that Eric Cohen at SDC would deal with such shady fish, he didn't mind getting his hands dirty with smuggled Clarions.

ThRoewer said:
They are also found in Mozambique and Madagascar. Given the fact that there should have opened a collection site in Madagascar last year or latest this year I would think they came from there.

It seems to be rather a deep water fish than a rare fish in its distribution range.
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Not really a very deep water angel. You can find them in 30' of water on Aliwal Shoal and Praia do Tofo. They are relatively uncommon in their range.
 
Very rare fish indeed. i know of one in a home aquarium in South Africa. guys here are really serious about the illigal export of this fish.
 
Dmorty217 said:
It was larger, closer to 4" or so. This was back in February when they first started showing up. That was what Eric was "asking" but no one was ever going to pay that. This one was available back in January and could fetch a high price
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I miss spoke on this. It was offered up by Scott, not Eric and for not quite as much as I said. Eric did leave SDC last year and sold his stake to his brother. They didn't actually even have the fish, it was in Japan but I would imagine that it was legally collected. There are reports of Kingii coming out of Madagascar (via local divers there)
 
kingiis are not rare in the wild, just ultra protected by sa laws...they typically go to hk and are sold thru there...legal ones are coming, with juivs seen at 10 m....lol, good things coming!
 
humaguy said:
kingiis are not rare in the wild, just ultra protected by sa laws...they typically go to hk and are sold thru there...legal ones are coming, with juivs seen at 10 m....lol, good things coming!
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You know more than most when it comes to this I have no doubt!
 
The fish life of Madagascar is very poorly known when it comes to the aquarium hobby. Certain illustrious species like the Madagascar flasher wrasse beckon to us from behind the third world curtain, but a new discovery in this part of the Indian Ocean could incentivize marine fish collectors to get us more Malagasy reef fish.

We received a video clip of a tiger angelfish from Golden Coast Fisheries purporting to be from the ‘Indian Ocean side’ of Madagascar. What this Apolemichthys kingi is doing far from its known range of Southern Mozambique to South Africa is anyone’s guess. We trimmed the video to highlight the exciting angelfish discovery but other parts also show gem tangs in abundance, plenty of yellow slingjaw wrasses, and what appears to be a Malagasy variant of Pseudanthias bimaculatus.

Geographically speaking, it is altogether plausible that the natural range of the tiger angelfish is much larger than anyone ever knew. Madagascar is notoriously poorly studied, especially underwater due to the lack of a comprehensive diving industry in this country.


from Jake A
 
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