The status of Polypterus downunder: questions

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Varanus1

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 7, 2011
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Australia
Hello fellow bichir fans :) I have a few questions for you:

I understand that in the US, Europe, Asia etc Polypterus species are quite cheap and easy to come by - under the $100 mark at least for common species. However, here in Australia since the ban on importation of all Polys, their price is quite restrictive - approx $750 - $1200 for the larger species (Ornates, Endlicheri etc) and approx $400 for senegalus. Furthermore, very few if any individuals here are breeding them, so the situation seems unlikely to change any time soon. My questions are:

Would you still keep your polys (and in the numbers several members are lucky enough to have!) if they all were within this price range?
And how successful have keepers been overseas with breeding them in standard tank sizes? Ie would your standard 6 footer be sufficient for say one pair of ornates to successfully/reliably spawn?
I love these fish, but the price here is somewhat prohibitive:( Especially if one wanted to start up a small group and allow natural pairing!

Looking forward to responses, and I am so jealous of the wonderful and readily available variety of Polypterus available to non-Aussies! Curse these import laws!

Regards,
Trent.
 
$400 for a senegal? You're kidding right?
If it was a platinum senegal, i'll understand. But 400??? WTF???
I got a CB senegal 4" at $2

Yah and curse those laws! I cant own a piranha in singapore :headbang2
 
I would own none. lol the highest i've gone was $39 for a delhezi and i'm about to get a retro that will probably run me about 70, and even then i'm doubting myself on that. I love bichirs, but there are more fish out there and if they were 400 bucks, i'd go back to native tanks in a heart beat haha
 
Simple solution: Move to NZ!
We cannot get the lower jaw species but we get ok prices for a few upper jawed.
P.Delhezi = $84
P.Ornate = $98
P.Senegalus = $40-50
P.Palmas (RARE) = $100+ I think

They are my favourite fish, but I wouldn't pay $750 for one in Aussie.
 
Thanks for the replies guys,

Spiritofthesoul: Haha I'm not kidding, that's the scary thing! And that sucks about the piranha if you're a fan of them; we have the same situation for those fish here too.

NCStateFisher: Would be great to even have those SPECIES available at all here; a friend of mine is lucky enough to have what appears to be the only weeksii in the country:eek: At this point, she considers the fish priceless!

Fraser: Thanks for the info there, so close yet so far! Do they still allow imports of the upper jaw Polys into NZ then? I wouldn't be able to move however; I love my reptile collection far too much;)

The replies have been great; certainly seems to be a unanimous decision so far lol...
 
yeah, the upper jaw species are imported all the time (only the ones mentioned though), we do get all the aro species also except for the African an quite a few other cool fish, I guess you could say we have a better status of the hobby here than in oz, but you guys do have the occaisional gar or rtc - although they run for a lot.

To keep reptiles in oz do you need a licence or something?
 
OMG thats very expensive, lucky i didnt move to OZ as i wud not have any of my ploys then.

Win the lotto and buy all the polys in OZ.
 
I wouldn't have any at that price either. Theyre cool, but think of all the things that kind of money could buy...even the other varieties of fish!
 
Hey everyone,

Thank you for the replies, much appreciated. This is a great forum and I'm glad to have come across it!

Well, considering all input so far, I probably won't be keeping/attempting to breed Polys...much to my dismay:( I absolutely LOVE the look and appearance of them, but simply can't coerce myself to fork out those kind of dollars (especially since my absolute favourite species, Endlicheri, are at the very top of the price range and bottom of avaiability). It's made worse by the limited success breeding bichirs in Aus - perhaps I should guide a couple of the keepers to this forum for advice:D

For Fraser: Yes, most reptiles do require a license to keep here, but we do have a wide variety (of natives only) to choose from - In Victoria it can be anything from geckos and pythons, to taipans and crocodiles!

And Uting, if by BTS you're referring to Blue Tongue Skinks; then yes they're quite common - great little lizards for sure.
 
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