The Future of the hobby in NZ?

[reef]

here are sub committees to deal with both fish and plants and they are dealing with government agencies all the time.

With respect , i have not seen anything FNZAS has done to add fish, Warren Stillwill was the only one that actually did something 3-5 years ago.

I still have his submission and still waiting for some of the fish to be added.

Has anyone followed it up?

when did you attand an AGM/Conference?

I have sent a number of PMs a few years ago prior to the AGM as i was concerned that we need someone like a society to take charge and get involved as importers can only do so much, and you need more voices otherwise MAF do not do much as they always hear from teh same 3-4 people.

Like i said it is better to get a few importers to coordinate submissions to add fish , however the Hobby needs a group to assist in completing most of the work going forward.

[David R]

Here is something that is being worked on by MAF.

*flow chart*

Now this is something promising, about the next best thing to a generic dispensation for low-risk genera. There are many genera on the list that that only have 1-2 species allowed, this would make it easy to get many more added even if they are not 100% accurate. Eg; if we didn't update the genus "Cichlasoma" we could import nearly any cichlid from Central America, unfortunately they have all been split now, and there are still many in the "ex-Cichlasoma" basket waiting for a definite classification.

[reef]

The flow chart has been kicking around for 2 years.

Just reminded MAF about it as the last person that was working on it left.

The flow chart is a start and needs some changes as ERMA needs to approve the fish first, so a group of fish should be submitted.

Would be a good idea to get a group who have skills in research and submissions to head such project.

[David R]

Would be a good idea to get a group who have skills in research and submissions to head such project.

Thats the big problem really, finding the material with the right information needed. Hopefully if the changes you talk about happen we should be able to get a lot more added without too much trouble, but I won't hold my breath...

[reef]

There is plenty of information.

Big issue is putting it down on paper and continually following up with MAF.

[livingart]

if we didn't update the genus "Cichlasoma" we could import nearly any cichlid from Central America, unfortunately they have all been split now, and there are still many in the "ex-Cichlasoma" basket waiting for a definite classification.

and while scientists are undecided about where a certain fish belongs

how can maf say yes or no

[David R]

If that were the case we'd never get anything as names are constantly being reviewed, the genus it is eventually lumped/split into doesn't change the risk it poses...

[Jennifer]

We have new people in executive office and appointed committees and they are working hard to answer some of these questions but over the past few years a small number of dedicated people have been left to do all the work themselves with an apathetic response from members and lack of commitment from people who are not members. FNZAS executives and committee appointees aren't paid positions. We are volunteers who work on these issues in our spare time and hitting a brick wall of apathy from members is incredibly disheartening. If you want to influence the public voice of the FNZAS, get involved so you can vote on who gets appointed to executive offices and committees. If you want to keep interest in an important issue then keep the ball rolling with continued support and enthusiasm so the representatives know what the members want and can recruit sufficient help and expertise when needed.

I have very little tolerance for complaining and I am absolutely not interested in dwelling on the past, that will get us nowhere. Let's keep talking about where we can go from here - that is how we can make a difference now. If you have information that will help, then get involved so that we can improve our collective knowledge and influence.

[Barrie]

there are 2 people here in this post that would be a great asset to the FNZAS and to become involved with these committees.

Can I beg both David and Reef to join and help drive this area?

By pushing under the FNZAS banner you have the weight of the total membership which must be a big help

[livingart]

again jennifer

[smidey]

i'm curious to know what happens once several people have spent countless hours & possibly a large amount of money getting new fish onto the list. will this magically make the importers bring them in?

[Barrie]

i'm curious to know what happens once several people have spent countless hours & possibly a large amount of money getting new fish onto the list. will this magically make the importers bring them in?

No

It them means that it comes down to economics for the importer

If its a really ugly fish like a fighter or something ( ) there will be a limited market for it

What it means is that they would be available to be imported provided the importer can get access to them and its worth their while

[smidey]

that was more of a rhetorical question

it comes down to the $ up front for something out of the norm to entice the importer to seek it then it comes down to whether the they can source it.

[Barrie]

that was more of a rhetorical question

it comes down to the $ up front for something out of the norm to entice the importer to seek it then it comes down to whether the they can source it.

I guessed that but thought I should answer anyway just incase others thought all you had to do was get it on the list.

We have all ages in here

[Navarre]

Smidey that can work the other way as well

I know of some fish that were to be destroyed until it was stated in several texts that ALL Aulanocara where once classified as Nyassae hence theroetically all Aulanocara could be imported ...as was proven in several texts and the fish came in and out of q still swimming

[hovmoller]

So what does FNZAS and it's administrators/moderators etc. think about adding a members fish section as discussed earlier in this thread?

For the purpose creating a database where one can find out who has what and where and who is breeding etc. Entirely voluntary of course so people can still keep their little secrets hidden.

[Barrie]

personally, I think what we have now is almost what your suggesting

[phoenix44]

I think he means a database like the 'my cats' section that planetcatfish.com has.

I have found it very useful on there.

[Barrie]

25 specie of Killis to update every week?

can you really see me doing that?

[hovmoller]

Up to you Barrie , you can just put a number to the species you keep and want people to know about.. then at least we can see that you have them and some of them plenty of. Or maybe no amount.. so we can just see that you have and breed them.

I mean a section under my profile where I can select from a drop down list of species and click eg. Corydoras sterbai and then type 7 for the amount I have and then maybe tick a box beside it if I am breeding this species.

Then if I ever needed some new friends for my sterbai I could go into the main register and click on sterbai and then I get a list of who has them and who is breeding them and then I could contact those people (if they have allowed people to do so perhaps).

It would give a really good picture of which species we are "running low on" here in NZ but of course it would only represent the species people have volunteered to enter.. would not show many of the fancy things people want to keep a secret.

[phoenix44]

There is an annual database of voluntary breeding registrations available to FNZAS financial members.

It includes a list of members, what they have bred and if they are re-breeds.

Also quite useful. Are you able to access user profiles on the site?

[Stella]

how useful are actual numbers?

To get around Barrie's problem there could be boxes thus:

Species

Number (few/some/many)

Breeding (yes/no/used to/impossible)

Simple = easy = actually happens

Other alternatives could be:

Breeding (seriously/hobby/if the fish want to)

And possibly length of time you have kept the fish for (months/year/years).

But see the rule on Simple.

Of course none of these should be required fields.

[oscnz]

I agree that some sort of system on this site would be a great help to me and no doubt plenty of outhers out there

[diver21]

what stella suggested, have the species as their latin names and have a txt box next to the entry so you can add what variant if aplicable

eg:

Xiphophorus hellerii koi

Poecilia reticulata albino

[oscnz]

But the latin names would only be of use to the people who know what type of fish they are, like if you ask me what any of the name of the fish in my tank are i would just look at you like this :-? and I have 50 odd fish