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All
those documents are needed (in Italy) to get through customs duties
which includes a CITES declaration (got after checking in at the
airport) for your fish meaning that they are "free for
trade" worldwide and a further vet check (health precautions)
upon entering their final destination. Enough is enough now; let's
go back to fish. On the day of departure fish should be packed as
follows:
Bagged
in variable number (according to both bag size and their own
size) in plastic bags filled to one third with clean fresh water and
the rest with PURE oxygen (this is extremely
important in order to provide them
with as much oxygen as possible for the whole trip). Please bear in
mind that the trip home could last 36 or even 48 hours). Resist the
desire to overstock. You will only increase the chances of getting
no fish at all.
Add
Methylene Blue to the water (it disinfects minor wounds and
scratches that may occur during the trip) and a tranquilizer (dosage
is according to fish size, sorry no suggestion. The only point I am
sure about is that you should not add it in bags containing fry …)
Put
bags in the boxes and be sure to use a real
thermal insulation. Our flight connection was scheduled at London
airport early in an October morning and a few hours of waiting (7!!)
was part of the plan. You don't have to be a genius to know it's
gonna be cold in wharehouses where these boxes are kept. Close all
boxes as firmly as you can.
Air
carrier will stick on boxes the classic "idiot" labels:
"Live animal"; "Please rush"; "Keep
warm" and all the alike. Don't be Happy, Worry !! Nobody will
care about them. Period! So you should be very careful when packing
them and only count on the provisions you will take. Then you can
fly back home happily.
And
finally you (and your cichlids) got back home. Quarantine tanks
to hold the new specimens must be ready and correctly cycled.
Therefore, this must be done before your departure for the Lake and
should include enough room to house the number and size of the fish
you are expecting to come back with. BEWARE! Room is never enough!
For this trip (1999) I got about 280 liters (about 74 US gals) of
extra water prepared and cycled and I still found myself in
"cycled water shortage".
First
thing to do is unpack fishes, period! Once you have taken care
of them and put them in their tanks you'll have plenty of time to
say "hello!" to everyone. Open bags gently pouring the
WHOLE stuff (I mean fishes with their own water) in plastic buckets
(the more the better) and gently stirr it to increase oxigen level,
then add - slowly -
fresh, clean water (as if you're transferring fishes got at lfs in
the tank). This can be a long job but, please
be gentle and hurry at the same
time. Now the sad part of the story:
remove dead specimens (expect to find some!) and watch the others
very closely : they should regain, almost immediately, their normal
swimming position if they had lost it.
Right
now you are ready to move the fish to their quarantine tank(s).
Please note: a quarantine tank must be bare, which means: water of
the best possible quality, suitable (in chemistry, temp, and so on)
for your new pets, correctly filtered and heated with just a thin
sand layer at bottom. Clay pots will work as hiding places but, if
possible, avoid them. For malawians refer to the table
of water chemistry, which I got by
myself while at Lake Malawi). Put fish in tanks following the known
"general rules": all specimens of the same size should be
kept together, and you should not mix M'bunas and Utakas (every
clever cichlid keeper should know what I'm talking about …). It is
better to have one more quarantine tank to be on the safe side.
Once
fish is in their tank leave them in peace (no lights!) carefully
checking them to detect any abnormal behavior, swimming position,
breathing and so on. As a matter of fact those fishes are
ill (from an aquarist's point of
view). In wild, it's pretty normal to see them scratching against
rocks and so on … Those parasites are much more potent (really!)
than those that can develop in a tank and that's why they need to be
kept separate, in the beginning ...
Now
let's review how to work with them (please note: the day after
arrival feeding begins again, but really
sparingly!) At least that has been my
experience. I have followed the same procedures once in 1997 when I
returned from the Tanzanian coast of Lake Malawi and this year
(1999) once back from the southern part of the same Lake. In detail: |
