Importing freshwater fish from overseas

[Geofrog]

Does anyone have any experience or information about importing freshwater fish from overseas. I will be returning to Canada from Vietnam in about 6 months and would like to bring back my fish. I have an arowana, and four pigeon blood discus.

Thanks in advance.

[Veng68]

If it's an asian arrowana you can forget it unless you have the proper CITES papers.

The Discus should be ok but probably not as a carry on. You will probably have to ship them in the cargo hold and you would probably need insulation and heat packs.

Cheers,
Vic

[Wingin It]

i have imported several fish from Thailand b4, never had any troubles though because Arros are probably on the watch list, you'll have to have proper documentation otherwise customs will nail you. They'll ask you a bunch of questions if they suspect you to buy and sell these fish, then of course if you "pass" inspection they'll clear your cargo of fish.

[Geofrog]

Thanks for the info. Now I just need to get the proper CITES paper for the Arowana.

Can anyone tell me the species of arowana. Image is attached.

[Wingin It]

Are you buying this fish privately or through a commercial seller?? 'cause they should be giving you all the info.

[Veng68]

Originally Posted by Geofrog

Thanks for the info. Now I just need to get the proper CITES paper for the Arowana.

Can anyone tell me the species of arowana. Image is attached.

That is a silver arowana.......... they are not on the CITES watch list. But you better have the scientific name for it and maybe a printout with a picture like this wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_arowana

If it's an asian arowna (like this) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_arowana then you need to get a CITES Permit from the seller.

Cheers,
Vic

[ElGuappo]

i thawt all arrowanas were sold with chips in them for insurance of proper collection and sales of this species?

[Geofrog]

There are really no commercial sellers in Vietnam. I have only found 1 commercial retailer, and they only carry saltwater stuff. All the stores are really just mom and pop type places where they really don't have the kind of knowledge to identify species. I got this bad boy when he was just a small fry, from the lfs breeding tank. So the only way to get paperwork would be to go through Vietnamese government channels, which takes a fair bit of time. I may just have to leave him behind with somwe loving family.
Thanks for all the help.