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You
must then reach the surface and put them in the (previously
prepared) floating bags, firmly close them and leave them floating.
Once you're tired or fishes are enough you get all the floating bags
and you are done, ready for dinner! It is a really tiresome business
but it works perfectly, believe me!
Specimens
offered by kids (directly at the camp every evening):
That's the oddest part of the game. Every evening, kids from the
surrounding villages came to the camp to offer (alive) leftovers of
the fishing that took place in the morning. This leads to a funny
situation: It is clear to all that fishes breath in water (using
their gills) so one evening a boy offered us some cichlids dipped in
a tea pot (only their gills and tails) with their bodies shaking and
waving in the air! Those fishes were - of course - badly damaged by
the hot sun, eventhough still alive. Once we refused them they
switched from possibly cichlids to chakulachromis (see above)
usefull for dinner (where they would be of best service !) Fish
trading was performed by staff members to assure equal
"prices" (ridicolously cheap) to everybody.
Fishes
caught by fishermen - this is the "dark side of the
moon". I've always looked (or forced to look!) at fishermen
"on duty" at the camp, while "at work" I could
only see them far away (they were using different boats). The only
thing that I've learned is that for fishes caught in deep water
(five/six meters can be deep enough!) the problem is to avoid too
fast decreases of environmental (underwater) pressure when raising
them to surface which will result in swimm bladder and other, hardly
recoverable, damages. Thus "upside-down" barrels floating
in the deep (partially filled with air to allow them to maintain the
right position) and hooked to bottom by anchors are in use. Every
day those barrels are moved, a little, closer to surface (say one or
two meters a day) … The result is that some fishes can need up to
a week (or more) to reach surface. This had happened to my
Pseudotropheus elongatus "Luhuchi Rock"
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Pseudotropheus
tropheops - "Red Cheecks"
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Always,
no matter what you're facing, remember to take care of your fishes:
keep them in the shadow, change water (even three times a day - or
even more often), feed them sparingly, get them used to the
"canned" food you commonly use in your tanks back home,
watch out for the need to use some "chemicals" …
Condidering the general environment in which you're living it's a
demanding task (luckily you get a helping hand from the members of
the group) … but this is also part of the game. Never forget it!
Of course since electricity was not available at all, no air pumps
of way kind were in use, just buckets and "strenght" !
Finally lets have a quick review to legal matters (these
considerations refer to requirements to which you have to comply
when bringing fishes in Italy, elsewhere the situation could be
different in many ways):
First,
and most important point, no cichlid in Lake Malawi is enlisted, at
any level, in CITES (to the best of my knowledge, please double
check it to see if something has changed to avoid REAL TROUBLES!),
You
need a "Vet declaration" for fishes stating that your
fishes are free of disease, refer to Your local correspondent to get
this document,
Pay
export taxes due and all other fees (it is not that much and you'll
be asked for the receipt, among others, by the Air Company and the
Freight Forwarder),
Then
apply to an international forwarder to send fishes home. Again refer
to Your local correspondent for a suggestion. (PLS NOTE: You have to
pack correctly your new pets to avoid damages during the trip. It is
sad to say but normally you should expect losses and give them a
LONG quarantine period once at home!).
When
getting fishes at their final destination (your hometown airport)
apply in time to local offices (Vet, Cites section if any is
present, and customs) to undertake the requested procedures. Expect
this story to be quite LONG!!! Once you've fulfilled all of your
duties finally collect your box(es), hurry back home and enjoy your
specimens!
FINAL
NOTE: As a rule of our trip (we had been clearly informed about that
well before departure!) we were only allowed to bring back one box
per person, which if correctly "filled" can even overstock
a 300 lt tank, but other organizations could have different rules.
You can fill it at your leisure but avoid large specimens that will
hardly resist the increasing lack of oxygen in the bag during
flight, and resist the idea to overfill it, even this is not very
easy (it's gonna be a loooooong trip …) Generally speaking: the
more the boxes the more likely it is to be asked, upon arrival, what
are you going to do with those fishes, if you can offer them proper
living conditions and so on and, finally, but equally important,
custom duties will be more expensive. The same is true for all other
bills you will be called to pay.
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Aulonocara
stuargranti - "N'gara"
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