Most of us here know that Wes at Rare Fish recently imported some very rare Dorado. I'm hoping we can use this thread to keep tabs on progress of these fish.
I know there's a bunch of skeptical people out there, so what better way to get this out in the open then a thread discussing these Dorado.
Here's how it starts...... (a post from Wes)
This is what I received from an Argentinian exporter:
Im Agustin and im the exporter of the salminus that you are showing. Im on a trip now, but if you want to ask me anything about that, feel free to do it.
There are at least 4 salminus species here and in brasil, and in both countries the wild fish is banned or quoted for export. The fish from brasil are almost all captive bred and usually they export Salminus cf hilarii, a more slender fish from high parana basin and pantanal, also it grows less than the S. brasilensis/maxillosus (i and some researchers here still think that here in argentina we have another specie). Anyway, we have a little quota for wild fish, for that the fish is expensive and you will see in the size of 30 cm and up that the fish will start to show the big head, the strong yellow colour and with good conditions they develope quite well in captivity...About the pictures that you mention from fishing magazines or sites, fish from areas with strong current and a lot of food available (populations near river dams or populations from mountain rivers that are used from another species to breed) growth very big and tall, much more than the ones of the big rivers (same drainages)
These are even sold in Japan as the Argentina dorado, whether they're very different or a little different, they cost Wes a bunch to get them.
There was immediate debate about these being the same Dorado we've seen in the trade for years.
Not sure how many acquired this fish from Wes, I'm not sure how many he brought in, not sure how many sold. I figured the best way is to just start a thread and hope the people that got their hands on these things frequent this section of the forum and offer updates on theirs.
To me this is very exciting, as I've raised Dorado for years, small groups, big groups, but none made it to real monster status. The largest mine have ever made it was almost a foot and a half. At that size there was some gold, but nothing like the fishing pics you see on the web. I've asked before about multiple species, as there's things you see when you have a fish in your tank that raises questions about whether or not they are indeed what they are being sold as, but usually get the same response, there's only 1 Salminus Maxillosus.
I just got into predatory toothy fish at the end of the first Goliath Tigers making their way into the trade over here. Was pretty bummed about missing the heart of the huge debate. Was very exciting to see Armatus make their way into the trade, as well as Aimara. This should be no different, as best of my knowledge nobody has imported Argentine Dorado up here to the states before.
Hopefully with enough participation this can turn into information that can be used for later clarification of Dorado by one of our forum mods here......
IF you have pics of ANY kind of Dorado when small please post them so we can compare...... And IF you did get one from Wes PLEASE chime in....
This should be very interesting.......
I know there's a bunch of skeptical people out there, so what better way to get this out in the open then a thread discussing these Dorado.
Here's how it starts...... (a post from Wes)
This is what I received from an Argentinian exporter:
Im Agustin and im the exporter of the salminus that you are showing. Im on a trip now, but if you want to ask me anything about that, feel free to do it.
There are at least 4 salminus species here and in brasil, and in both countries the wild fish is banned or quoted for export. The fish from brasil are almost all captive bred and usually they export Salminus cf hilarii, a more slender fish from high parana basin and pantanal, also it grows less than the S. brasilensis/maxillosus (i and some researchers here still think that here in argentina we have another specie). Anyway, we have a little quota for wild fish, for that the fish is expensive and you will see in the size of 30 cm and up that the fish will start to show the big head, the strong yellow colour and with good conditions they develope quite well in captivity...About the pictures that you mention from fishing magazines or sites, fish from areas with strong current and a lot of food available (populations near river dams or populations from mountain rivers that are used from another species to breed) growth very big and tall, much more than the ones of the big rivers (same drainages)
These are even sold in Japan as the Argentina dorado, whether they're very different or a little different, they cost Wes a bunch to get them.
There was immediate debate about these being the same Dorado we've seen in the trade for years.
Not sure how many acquired this fish from Wes, I'm not sure how many he brought in, not sure how many sold. I figured the best way is to just start a thread and hope the people that got their hands on these things frequent this section of the forum and offer updates on theirs.
To me this is very exciting, as I've raised Dorado for years, small groups, big groups, but none made it to real monster status. The largest mine have ever made it was almost a foot and a half. At that size there was some gold, but nothing like the fishing pics you see on the web. I've asked before about multiple species, as there's things you see when you have a fish in your tank that raises questions about whether or not they are indeed what they are being sold as, but usually get the same response, there's only 1 Salminus Maxillosus.
I just got into predatory toothy fish at the end of the first Goliath Tigers making their way into the trade over here. Was pretty bummed about missing the heart of the huge debate. Was very exciting to see Armatus make their way into the trade, as well as Aimara. This should be no different, as best of my knowledge nobody has imported Argentine Dorado up here to the states before.
Hopefully with enough participation this can turn into information that can be used for later clarification of Dorado by one of our forum mods here......
IF you have pics of ANY kind of Dorado when small please post them so we can compare...... And IF you did get one from Wes PLEASE chime in....
This should be very interesting.......
I understand about the Tigers, they sure seem to be quite the craze these days...... I know I thought about some Tatf, but have always fancied Vittatus, between that and and these things on the list my destiny was clear. 
