Cichla Sao Francisco

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but at the same time you cannot dispel the possibility. The people in China have huge buying powers. All the local homes here are bought up by the Chinese with cash. Maybe that wasn't the best comparison, but you get what I mean right? Now days, most people google up a picture and for fish that is certainly the case. Want me to open my old Axelrod atlas? They have 5 pictures of different fish all labeled as cichla occelaris and orinocensis.

So I saw this fruit, java apple in Taiwan, and now I see it in the US, could the ones in US be different or fake? or could they be the same? I saw this peacock bass online in the phillipines, and I see it in my tank, can it be the same? Maybe not., who knows

Haha, just jking man. "why so serious?" I can't say I agree with u 100%, but I see ur point. I still think Vendors are most of the time the person a hobbist trust the most to provide accurate info. If we just look at a pic to ID anyone can do that. U guys are suppose to be the Jedi Masters. I ID bichirs all the time for others on many forums but nv pbass because they r so damn hard to ID when Juvi. I thought there would be more to it. That said, I'm over this and dun really care anymore haha.:ROFL:

I think at the end of the day u r still cool man. I invaded this thread to defend my country and I'm suprised no one kicked me out yet.:ROFL:
 
Hi guys. Im back. Everyone, hello. I guess i have explaining to do right? I started all these... Ill do my best... Like i said im the minority here and i just wanna expose this guy for not being perfectly honest with some mfkers. Coz im sure alot here will never believe me. Ever. So since you guys believe wes so much. Let his quotes during the past conversations do the talking.

"Darboy's fish that he got 5 pcs wild from Brazil? If he knows so much about the international trade of fish, he should first know that they are illegal to export unless captive bred. also you never export just 5 fish...that never happens."

"Also I did not know that you can smuggle 5 peacock bass out of a country. They should have smuggled fogo instead, those are rarer I think"

First ill just defend the stuff thats not that important. Well i posted before that our sao frans here are five that just came in right. Well i guess i didnt have to say that those sao frans were not the only fish we got from south america on that shipment. Yes it is possible to get just five specimens of sao frans. Why do you think it cant be done when you always have your limited uber rare fish?

"Cranoglanis bouderius 12" I only have 3, pictured on my blog, eating shrimp already $200.00 each, shipping alone was expensive, these are probably the only ones in the US., prove me wrong"

"silurus glanis, show specimen Albino wels only 3 pcs. $300.00 each. about 13-14" already, thick!!!"

"Hoplias curupira 3-4" babies, first time this small $200.00 rare size, only 2 available."

"Chitala oranata true red eye albino only 2 available 5" and 6" eating smelt $120.00"

"Rita rita "albino" red eye from India 1.75" only 2 pieces available $125.00 each"


Im not done ayt im just gettin started
 
Hi guys,

Just from an importer's perspective I feel for Wes in his position and think we all need to calm down a little bit...from reading this thread it has gone too far over one type of fish and its prob the first in the US no matter CB or WC.

I don't know Wes personally but I have been impressed with past rare stock he has brought in.

As an importer all we try to do is bring in the rare/exotic fish for the hobbyists and collectors. Our costs and risks are reflected in the pricing, there are minimum orders, import fees, DOAs, etc that can increase the cost of the fish exponentially. We also have to rely on information given by our suppliers...as we aren't catching the fish that we are selling.

My wild caught Brazil pbass stock are from Colombia, after being smuggled across the border to the city of Leticia. I do not get species names, I get collection locations only. We all know how hard it is to identify a juvie pbass, therefore I only sell as collection point not species, with photos provided of the fish. The customers can review the pictures and make an educated decision to buy or not. It took me over a year to gain the trust of my Colombian supplier to even be offered these fish, they are actually on the BANNED list in Colombia due to a trade treaty with Brazil. They have to be listed as different fish on the export documents in order to get thru their inspections.

I've been asked by my own suppliers to verify species of fish for them. It is not always a cut/dry process dealing with fish. It can be a lot of guess work and self research to identify what's in the box vs what was in the list I ordered from.

I don't think Wes intended to deceive anyone and he has offered to exchange/refund any customers not happy with these fish. That's the best we can do from our positions to make right if there was a mistake, a lot of suppliers wouldn't even offer to do that.

Btw, all this talk about WC being shipped out of Brazil to Asia or Europe...that ended about a month ago when the entire staff of IBAMA was fired in Brazil for corruption and bribery. What officials were being bribed to look the other way by a few suppliers in order to ship out wild fish are no longer there. There is real jail time now associated with exporting illegal fish so I have a feeling any new claims about receiving fish from Brazil (except legal farmed) wil be false for a while. Not saying it won't ever happen, there will always be someone willing to take the buck, just that is may be a while.
 
cheers to you man. I do joke, sometimes too much actually. I see you are very level headed person. Yes, I am suppose to be the expert, but I don't like to come off like an expert. I think that species are not concrete, almost nothing is. If I don't know what they are, I'll call it "sp" sp., an abbreviation for species used in place of a specific epithet in a species name.

I'm happy that most of us can all come to a full circle and sing "we are the world" and enjoy the hobby. Also I am a true hobbyist, people us to be mad at me for not willing to sell my fish, and I had to eventually sell my shop due to the reason. I like fish more than anything. I sleep eat and drink, fish. I've also been dealing fish for the past 15 years already, but I am still a pupil of life and always learning.


Haha, just jking man. "why so serious?" I can't say I agree with u 100%, but I see ur point. I still think Vendors are most of the time the person a hobbist trust the most to provide accurate info. If we just look at a pic to ID anyone can do that. U guys are suppose to be the Jedi Masters. I ID bichirs all the time for others on many forums but nv pbass because they r so damn hard to ID when Juvi. I thought there would be more to it. That said, I'm over this and dun really care anymore haha.:ROFL:

I think at the end of the day u r still cool man. I invaded this thread to defend my country and I'm suprised no one kicked me out yet.:ROFL:
 
Hi guys,

Just from an importer's perspective I feel for Wes in his position and think we all need to calm down a little bit...from reading this thread it has gone too far over one type of fish and its prob the first in the US no matter CB or WC.

I don't know Wes personally but I have been impressed with past rare stock he has brought in.

As an importer all we try to do is bring in the rare/exotic fish for the hobbyists and collectors. Our costs and risks are reflected in the pricing, there are minimum orders, import fees, DOAs, etc that can increase the cost of the fish exponentially. We also have to rely on information given by our suppliers...as we aren't catching the fish that we are selling.

My wild caught Brazil pbass stock are from Colombia, after being smuggled across the border to the city of Leticia. I do not get species names, I get collection locations only. We all know how hard it is to identify a juvie pbass, therefore I only sell as collection point not species, with photos provided of the fish. The customers can review the pictures and make an educated decision to buy or not. It took me over a year to gain the trust of my Colombian supplier to even be offered these fish, they are actually on the BANNED list in Colombia due to a trade treaty with Brazil. They have to be listed as different fish on the export documents in order to get thru their inspections.

I've been asked by my own suppliers to verify species of fish for them. It is not always a cut/dry process dealing with fish. It can be a lot of guess work and self research to identify what's in the box vs what was in the list I ordered from.

I don't think Wes intended to deceive anyone and he has offered to exchange/refund any customers not happy with these fish. That's the best we can do from our positions to make right if there was a mistake, a lot of suppliers wouldn't even offer to do that.

Btw, all this talk about WC being shipped out of Brazil to Asia or Europe...that ended about a month ago when the entire staff of IBAMA was fired in Brazil for corruption and bribery. What officials were being bribed to look the other way by a few suppliers in order to ship out wild fish are no longer there. There is real jail time now associated with exporting illegal fish so I have a feeling any new claims about receiving fish from Brazil (except legal farmed) wil be false for a while. Not saying it won't ever happen, there will always be someone willing to take the buck, just that is may be a while.
Good for you Very stand up in My book!!!;)
 
Btw, all this talk about WC being shipped out of Brazil to Asia or Europe...that ended about a month ago when the entire staff of IBAMA was fired in Brazil for corruption and bribery. What officials were being bribed to look the other way by a few suppliers in order to ship out wild fish are no longer there. There is real jail time now associated with exporting illegal fish so I have a feeling any new claims about receiving fish from Brazil (except legal farmed) wil be false for a while. Not saying it won't ever happen, there will always be someone willing to take the buck, just that is may be a while.

There u have it, now no one gets wc fishes. Happy times. Good thing my tank is overloaded and I can't add anymore fishes..... Oh wait, I got another 3 fish coming anyway...... Damn.
 
"I cannot say for certain what the origin is for these fish, I just go by what is invoiced, since I am told these have never been exported I will take their word for it."

So what did it say in the invoice? Sao fran. Kel quitis? I mean did you follow the invoice or did you get the sao fran name coz you saw my fish and decided it looked the same? You are very difficult to understand.

"I added "sao francisco" after cichla sp. because I saw your fish and thought they were the same, so for people to reference. and even commented on your thread and thought that we all agreed that these were a new item"
"Yes. That is why I sold them as Sao Francisco. I actually commented on your photo 2 wks ago saying that your fish looked a bit like kelberi x piquiti. But you didn't reply. Them I commented under saying that I had the same fish and you smiled back."

That was actually a wink not a smile coz i knew already what you were up to. :)

These are quotes from wes as well during a recent conversation with chizzle please check chizzles posted yahoo mail pages.... And the phone conversation.....
This is what wes said when chizzle asked where the azuls come from he asked also for pics... And again their conversation on the phone...

"It wouldnt be too much, but theyre in a bottom holding tank. So its hard to take pics...... These are all shipped originally out of brazil. Sao francisco region is what im told, like the previous batches."
On the phone
"Chee: Are the Azuls Wild Caught?
Wes: Yes"

Okay wait. So you are saying that your sao fran sp name came from me right? But your azuls were labelled sao francisco too? And you mentioned previous batches? You had some alleged azuls from sao francisco too? Wow small world huh? Im not gonna divulge with the wild caught cb debate anymore. A man who lies has a lot of stories and sooner or later pieces wont fit. Make an excuse out and the story gets longer. My inside info is out already, im sorry if i may have hurt some parties. I told everyone that i heard someone from the u.s. was gonna pass kelquitis up as wc. Then these happened and some piquitis are also ordered by wes that was originally from brazil, sao francisco area, then since my sao frans looked like these fish, wes named them sao frans.

"*that you're going to expose me, like I'm an international scam artist. Geeze. Even if I did mislead people, by making my new cichla sp. sound more exciting, I'm definitly not the first out of the thousands that do that, and I did not say they were wild, again!*"

Yes you did mislead people sir, way to do the "coz everybody's doin it" excuse. yes you made a new cichla sound more exciting. But ever consider hurting your good paying customers? By telling stuff that are not true? Im sure alot of your customers love you, its evident here. So ill use myself as the example. If i were a customer who was mislead. I would not be happy.

"nice discussion going on here, cheers to all who keep bass and try to find the truth.*"
Oh thanks wes for believing in what im doing. :)


The issue here is not the cb wc war, not the country war, its about the misinformation and dishonesty. Nid and everyone who want to talk about my sao fran being the same species as the kelquiti, lets go talk about it! Lets open a thread about it and ill get all my pic progressions and talk about possible theories! Im really up to that! Im not lying about anything when i say that i believe my supplier to the point where i help out some sometime when some fish arrive. No fish arrived from asia at that time, i can read and i can see... Yes darboy can read where packages come from. Thats all i know bros. Could they be asian bred and shipped to south america? Its still possible! Call me a liar its okay, i will respect that. Show me proof? Look at my quotes everything ive said my whole time in mfk. You will never see anything irregular that would make anyone think im dishonest. Anyway yeah im done with this. If you guys still do not believe me. Good for you :) for those who does, good for you too :) You can continue bashing now :) nid! Ill open a thread tomorrow. Lets talk about the kelquitis and sao frans. If you need pics, close up pics, whatever, ill provide it. Ill get a kelquiti tomorrow and record its progress as well. Anyway asian time to sleep! Happy fish keeping everyone! Wes, sorry for fighting for the others. Sorry for all the hoopla this topic has created in our cichla forum. Everybody be safe!
 
As a vendors on MFK ourselves, I cannot even begin to explain how much money, trouble, red tape, ect ect we have to go through to bring in some of the fish we do. Mike and I have went through hell to bring in wild caught polys for the hobby and make them available to everyone at the lowest cost possible. I have done business with Wes before and will vouch for him as well. When vendors like him are run out on suspicions and hearsay, it will be a huge loss for the hobby. This is also the reason we have decided not to deal with pbass as a vendor as well. Even though we go through tons of crap to bring in what we think would be awesome desired fish, honestly you just into dead ends a lot of the times when offered to the public. I really hope people take a minute and think before tossing the first stone.
 
Yes it is possible to get just five specimens of sao frans. Why do you think it cant be done when you always have your limited uber rare fish?

"Cranoglanis bouderius 12" I only have 3, pictured on my blog, eating shrimp already $200.00 each, shipping alone was expensive, these are probably the only ones in the US., prove me wrong"

"silurus glanis, show specimen Albino wels only 3 pcs. $300.00 each. about 13-14" already, thick!!!"

"Hoplias curupira 3-4" babies, first time this small $200.00 rare size, only 2 available."

"Chitala oranata true red eye albino only 2 available 5" and 6" eating smelt $120.00"

"Rita rita "albino" red eye from India 1.75" only 2 pieces available $125.00 each"


Im not done ayt im just gettin started
You just getting start, and you already head into dead end. Do you realize the difference between "probably the only one in the US, first time this small, etc..." to "the five that made it out to the country, or to the hobby?" You made a very big statement for something that you've "heard," something you couldn't even ID, asking help from others, whom couldn't even ID them in the end :screwy:

hi guys, this is one of five sao frans that made it out to the country, or to the hobby ive heard. please pray for this fish to be beautiful when it grows as this is the most expensive fish i've ever purchased..so far hehe. funny also that all five fishes are just a couple of blocks away from each other. would also like to thank our badass importer for hooking us up with these guys! on to the next rare find bro!
and also big thanks boosten and hayn for helpin' out. appreciate it!
 
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