Ethical/Responsible Wholesalers

D

dloehrs

New member
Hey All,
I recently had the opportunity to get in on some wholesale purchasing with a friend through Exotic Reef Imports. http://www.exoticreefimports.com Does anyone have information on where and how these guys get their fish and corals? They have nothing on their website that mentions their ethical responsibilities to reef preservation and I am becoming more and more aware of the destruction of reefs for our hobby.
I have been trying to find information on aquaculturing and mariculturing. I have found a few places that do it but their stock is very limited, especially fish.
So, in short, I need recommendations on responsible aquaculturists, responsible importers and importers to stay away from.
Thanks
 
You won't find that info readily available from most wholesalers. However, I have dealt with ERI in the past, and always found their fish and inverts to arrive in excellent shape with high rates of survival.
 
One of our LFS orders from ERI & fish have always been in good shape upon arrival.

No one is going to tell you what suppliers they buy from overseas, it's how they keep an edge on the competition.
 
Most people wouldn't be happy to see the losses that happen in order to get the fish into the stores. Between divers/collectors, sellers, importers/wholesalers, retailers.... a fish goes through a LOT before getting to a store where you buy it.

The reason you won't find many long 'captive bred' or aquacultured stock lists is because not many species of marine fish can be captive bred in mass quantities that is cost effective vs just collecting them.

When I find a quality diver/collector or importer, I cling to them like crazy.
 
Zoodiver said:
When I find a quality diver/collector or importer, I cling to them like crazy.
Click to expand...

Mind sharing that knowledge? I'm going to try and get everything for my new tank as captive raised except for the six line wrasse which I don't think can be. Other then that everything on my list will be captive bred.

Also on Exotic Reef aren't they the guy's the have been featured on a few episodes of Tanked? I think they fly out there to pick some stuff every now and then so you can see how they go fondle their fish. Rest of the place looks like a fairly good outfit at least what's seen on the show. I don't know if I'd like someone coming in and picking out fish by picking them up out of the water lol but to each their own.
 
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Ztrain said:
Mind sharing that knowledge? I'm going to try and get everything for my new tank as captive raised except for the six line wrasse which I don't think can be. Other then that everything on my list will be captive bred.

Also on Exotic Reef aren't they the guy's the have been featured on a few episodes of Tanked? I think they fly out there to pick some stuff every now and then so you can see how they go fondle their fish. Rest of the place looks like a fairly good outfit at least what's seen on the show. I don't know if I'd like someone coming in and picking out fish by picking them up out of the water lol but to each their own.
Click to expand...
Yes but they switched to seadwellling creature last season
 
Fish Biscuit said:
One of our LFS orders from ERI & fish have always been in good shape upon arrival.

No one is going to tell you what suppliers they buy from overseas, it's how they keep an edge on the competition.
Click to expand...

Quality Marine will... but only because its their own short chain supply.
 
Most big companies (ATM, Living Color etc...) buy from multiple vendors. They only show you part of the process on the TV shows.
 
Also keep in mind, most wholesalers will only sell to properly licensed businesses...and many will only sell to verifiable brick and mortar stores. All also have minimum order requirements, the smallest I've known (outside of having a personal connection) is $500 per order...
 
Zoodiver said:
Most big companies (ATM, Living Color etc...) buy from multiple vendors. They only show you part of the process on the TV shows.
Click to expand...

correct, but only 2 are part of the show... that was my only point.

Many wholesalers use the same exporters as the other wholesalers. I worked that side of the industry for many years. QM has a lot of exclusives though, more so then the rest.
 
Luiz Rocha said:
I find that frustrating. Do you think this is something that we, as a community, should start asking for?
Click to expand...

Can't hurt, and might help by exerting some consumer pressure. Some (not many) wholesalers do mention where their fish come from, so exerting pressure on the LFS for that info could put some pressure on the LFS to do business with wholesalers that do divulge that info. IMO, back when I was in the trade, that sort of info was a selling point in my choosing wholesalers ;)
 
billsreef said:
Can't hurt, and might help by exerting some consumer pressure. Some (not many) wholesalers do mention where their fish come from, so exerting pressure on the LFS for that info could put some pressure on the LFS to do business with wholesalers that do divulge that info. IMO, back when I was in the trade, that sort of info was a selling point in my choosing wholesalers ;)
Click to expand...

Nice. Along those lines, check this paper that just came out about anemonefish collecting in Indonesia:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569114002269

I had no idea this many were still collected from the wild... Why aren't captive bred ones replacing those? Still more expensive?
 
Thanks for the article. The abstract is quite interesting, I'll definitely read the whole paper later...when I've had more coffee :D

As for wild clowns vs. captive bred, yeah, still a price difference. Also still a limited number of suppliers, though growing. Most of the growth is in the "high end" morphs...aka culls for those of us purists that like wild types ;) Price wise on common ocellaris, your looking at wild caught being half the price of captive bred, with the wild caught being typically the only version available from the wholesaler one is buying the rest of their fish from. Add in, at least for one supplier, captive bred suppliers having minimum order quantities that are often higher than some LFS want to be stocking at.
 
I would much rather spend twice as much to get something captive bred than purchasing something wild caught. I also wouldn't mind spending more on my fish if they (the collectors & importers) would use the money to increase the survival rate of the fish.

My Banggai Cardinals and both of my clowns are captive bred. My 2-Spot Tang was not, but I didn't have a choice.
 
One should also consider that buying wild caught specimens can also help save reefs.
Things like that are never black and white.
 
billsreef said:
Can't hurt, and might help by exerting some consumer pressure. Some (not many) wholesalers do mention where their fish come from, so exerting pressure on the LFS for that info could put some pressure on the LFS to do business with wholesalers that do divulge that info. IMO, back when I was in the trade, that sort of info was a selling point in my choosing wholesalers ;)
Click to expand...

Most lists I've seen in recent times have country of origin. When I was in that side of the trade, my lists for sure denoted it.
 
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