Below is news I am getting reports on in the fish industry in Florida at the moment.For those on the East Coast as well as throughout the country,very large amounts of our fish are brought in from the wild and sent to farmers/breeders in Florida.They then disperse them out across the country and raise breed them etc b4 they can get to us.I had a large order being flown in to Florida for me from Brazil through my one supplier and the entire shipment was DOA do to the weather.This is no joke,this was just reported to me and I am now speechless.Please read below:
We have fielded calls for 24 hours from farmers from all over the state. The news is not good and losses may be greater than ever. We are going on the 11th day of temperatures below 60 degrees and the effects are showing. We believe the South American Cichlid supply is totally gone. Some farmers are concerned that they may not have breeders to restock. We are working with them all on sharing stock with each other after the cold is gone. This product will not be re-planted until the last cold so we are looking at late summer before we have steady supplies of Convicts, Firemouth, Jacks, Jewels, Salvini, etc.
Tetras will also be short in the coming months. The advantage here is that these can be spawned and restocked immediately and there is quite a bit of supply inside. The items that were hurt include anything that was thought to be cold tolerant and left uncovered. (Black Tetra, GTO, Black Phantom, Lemon, Red Eye, etc). Although there are heavy losses, we should have adequate numbers for at least the next 60 days. Other tetras such as Serpae, L/F Serpae, Black Neon, Scissortail, etc. are covered and we will not know the extent of the damage for a few more days but there are losses. Several farmers do have fish ready to sale.
Barbs - It is still too early to get a good picture on barbs. Tiger Barbs are covered and no one is touching them until the weekend. Many farmers see dead fish but are hoping for the best. Rosy Barbs and L/F Rosy made it through on our farmers uncovered. We think we will be ok with most of the rosy varieties after the water warms. Gold Barbs are still a question although our primary suppliers have good numbers inside.
Angels - Too early to tell. Our primary vendors operation is inside and should be ok long term. We will know more next week.
Plecos - Losses are more severe in the interior sections of the state.. Again, we will know more when it warms up and we pump the first pond.
Feeder Guppies - Probably a complete wipeout.
Danios - No major losses at this point although they are not available due to pond temps. If it was not in the building, they are not trapping until the weekend. Unless they break down when the water warms, we should be back to normal on these by the end of next week.
Gouramis - They are running short this week because no one has brought any in this week. Even the fish we are getting here are having cold water issues. Kissers will be short. I will know more on the Blues, Golds, Opalines, etc. in the coming weeks.
Africans Fish raised in doors are fine. Were meeting with the other African cichlid farmers today.
Glofish - No major issues as of yesterday except we have probably lost all fry that was one month of age or younger. The older fish seem to be doing fine.
In all, it is still too early to determine the extent of the damage, but it already is shaping up to be severe. The industry leaders are already speaking with the state and Federal agencies about assistance for farmers.
We have fielded calls for 24 hours from farmers from all over the state. The news is not good and losses may be greater than ever. We are going on the 11th day of temperatures below 60 degrees and the effects are showing. We believe the South American Cichlid supply is totally gone. Some farmers are concerned that they may not have breeders to restock. We are working with them all on sharing stock with each other after the cold is gone. This product will not be re-planted until the last cold so we are looking at late summer before we have steady supplies of Convicts, Firemouth, Jacks, Jewels, Salvini, etc.
Tetras will also be short in the coming months. The advantage here is that these can be spawned and restocked immediately and there is quite a bit of supply inside. The items that were hurt include anything that was thought to be cold tolerant and left uncovered. (Black Tetra, GTO, Black Phantom, Lemon, Red Eye, etc). Although there are heavy losses, we should have adequate numbers for at least the next 60 days. Other tetras such as Serpae, L/F Serpae, Black Neon, Scissortail, etc. are covered and we will not know the extent of the damage for a few more days but there are losses. Several farmers do have fish ready to sale.
Barbs - It is still too early to get a good picture on barbs. Tiger Barbs are covered and no one is touching them until the weekend. Many farmers see dead fish but are hoping for the best. Rosy Barbs and L/F Rosy made it through on our farmers uncovered. We think we will be ok with most of the rosy varieties after the water warms. Gold Barbs are still a question although our primary suppliers have good numbers inside.
Angels - Too early to tell. Our primary vendors operation is inside and should be ok long term. We will know more next week.
Plecos - Losses are more severe in the interior sections of the state.. Again, we will know more when it warms up and we pump the first pond.
Feeder Guppies - Probably a complete wipeout.
Danios - No major losses at this point although they are not available due to pond temps. If it was not in the building, they are not trapping until the weekend. Unless they break down when the water warms, we should be back to normal on these by the end of next week.
Gouramis - They are running short this week because no one has brought any in this week. Even the fish we are getting here are having cold water issues. Kissers will be short. I will know more on the Blues, Golds, Opalines, etc. in the coming weeks.
Africans Fish raised in doors are fine. Were meeting with the other African cichlid farmers today.
Glofish - No major issues as of yesterday except we have probably lost all fry that was one month of age or younger. The older fish seem to be doing fine.
In all, it is still too early to determine the extent of the damage, but it already is shaping up to be severe. The industry leaders are already speaking with the state and Federal agencies about assistance for farmers.
