100% Certified Cyanide Free Reef Fish for Sale.

[naesco]

I voted yes because one cannot support the cyanide trade.

Here is how the cyanide trade works.
They squirt cyanide into the reef and 50% of the fish die and the rest are stunned.
By the time the fish reach the shore another 50% die.
A large % of the rest die in the holding tank at the source, the transit to the exporter, the exporters facility, the transit to us, the wholesalers tank, the transit to the LFS and the LFS tanks.
The ones that survive this end up in our tanks.
Like many of you have experienced, the fish appears healthy enough but with months dies of no apparent reason.

In the meantime the reef that has been squirted with cyanide dies together with all the critter that live therein.

The reality is that most of the cost to us of the fish is airfreight so paying double is not necessary. But if the fisher is paid double he most certainly wont use cyanide.

With respect, the posts that say their is not guarantee are not facing the issue

If we just refused to buy the fish species (like mandarins and cryptic wrasses, one half the problem goes away).

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by naesco

I voted yes because one cannot support the cyanide trade.

Here is how the cyanide trade works.
They squirt cyanide into the reef and 50% of the fish die and the rest are stunned.
By the time the fish reach the shore another 50% die.
A large % of the rest die in the holding tank at the source, the transit to the exporter, the exporters facility, the transit to us, the wholesalers tank, the transit to the LFS and the LFS tanks.
The ones that survive this end up in our tanks.
Like many of you have experienced, the fish appears healthy enough but with months dies of no apparent reason.

In the meantime the reef that has been squirted with cyanide dies together with all the critter that live therein.

The reality is that most of the cost to us of the fish is airfreight so paying double is not necessary. But if the fisher is paid double he most certainly wont use cyanide.

With respect, the posts that say their is not guarantee are not facing the issue

If we just refused to buy the fish species (like mandarins and cryptic wrasses, one half the problem goes away).

I agree 100% but people want what they want. Its easier for most people to not think about it. I think I hear this the most..."it was already in the store and if I didn't buy it someone else would have". I have to admit that I had that kind of an attitude until I saw the effects first hand earlier this year. When we stumbled upon dozens of dead, poisoned fish in the Philippines that one morning, I have never looked at the hobby the same. Kind of like how they sometimes show kids in school accident pictures caused by drunk driving or what a smokers lung looks like.

Having said that, I still bought a Copperband a month or so ago (promised I would only try one more time) So I am being fairly hypocritical. To be honest I justified it by telling myself they were the best batch I had ever seen and did not look cyanide caught. I know better though, CCB from the Philippines are pretty much a guarantee to be cyanide caught.

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by naesco

With respect, the posts that say their is not guarantee are not facing the issue

If we just refused to buy the fish species (like mandarins and cryptic wrasses, one half the problem goes away).

I'm not sure if I'm one that you mean but I did say something like that .. but you may be misinterpreting what I meant. I said that the idea of certification sounds neat but if it's self-imposed by the industry then it has less teeth to it. Ie., as far as I know, I already buy fish that I believe to be non-cyanide caught. I have to take the word of the person who sells me the fish, who has to take the word of the person who imported it, who has to take the word of the exporter .. etc. .. How do we really know? Even if there's a piece of paper that says "we promise we didn't" how can I really know?

But the flip side is .. what fish is guaranteed never caught with cyanide? If I refuse to buy a fish that "might" have been caught with cyanide, .. what's left? .. Is the solution that if I want a fish, I have to travel to Fiji with my fishing rod and take back only what I've caught myself?

Why is there even cyanide so easily accessible? What is its commercial value? Isn't this the stuff movie spies keep in their teeth in case they get caught? Why wouldn't something like that be heavily regulated if not outright banned?