100% Certified Cyanide Free Reef Fish for Sale.

[chandigz]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Do they sell to the public?

Not to public, check with lfs to see if they deal with coast mountain. They should be able to let you know what certified stock is available.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by chandigz

Not to public, check with lfs to see if they deal with coast mountain. They should be able to let you know what certified stock is available.

Thanks, I will do that for sure. I think my new LFS will be whichever one is willing to deal with them.

[chandigz]

some shops also import from MAC certified wholesalers out of the US (theres lots in LA) The only thing is that there is a limited number of species that MAC certifies.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

So there is a MAC certified importer here in Richmond (suburb of Vancouver for those of you who are from other provinces) but I have no idea yet where he sends his fish...I have emailed asking for a retailer.

I would assume he distributes them throughout Canada but I have yet to find a retailer here in town that does buy MAC certified fish I am guessing they cost a bit more and most LFS are not willing/caring enough to spend the money. I would love to be able to walk into the shops and see MAC certified tanks. I can understand not devoting an entire store to them but a few tanks would be nice.

Heres an interesting question then...

Forget price for now. If you had the choice to buy MAC fish (humanely caught with certification) but had to limit the species you kept OR buy any species usually available but were taking a chance the fish may be inhumanely caught, which would you buy?

For me its an easy decision. I would have no problem limiting what species I kept if I knew it was for the good of the fish/ocean.

[justinl]

im with you on this one as well. some species just don't belong in the hobby. simple as that, live with it.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by justinl

im with you on this one as well. some species just don't belong in the hobby. simple as that, live with it.

Oh I can live with it

The problem is, people want what they want and we live in a society where we get what we want.

After reading the MAC site, I have to say I am very disappointed that more retailers are not willing to bring in MAC fish. Its a great program and you would think in a country like Canada, it would be used much more.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Oh and for those of you saying certified cyanide free fish are not possible, read the site.

http://www.aquariumcouncil.org/index.html

No its not perfect but its a start and a pretty darn good chance these fish have never come in contact with cyanide or any inhumane collecting. They are tracked the entire way.

[chandigz]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

So there is a MAC certified importer here in Richmond (suburb of Vancouver for those of you who are from other provinces) but I have no idea yet where he sends his fish...I have emailed asking for a retailer.

I would assume he distributes them throughout Canada but I have yet to find a retailer here in town that does buy MAC certified fish I am guessing they cost a bit more and most LFS are not willing/caring enough to spend the money. I would love to be able to walk into the shops and see MAC certified tanks. I can understand not devoting an entire store to them but a few tanks would be nice.

Heres an interesting question then...

Forget price for now. If you had the choice to buy MAC fish (humanely caught with certification) but had to limit the species you kept OR buy any species usually available but were taking a chance the fish may be inhumanely caught, which would you buy?

For me its an easy decision. I would have no problem limiting what species I kept if I knew it was for the good of the fish/ocean.

The thing is stores can't market fish as MAC Certified unless they are certified themselves. Our local store has brought in (for stock) and will special order MAC fish. Many stores have looked into the certification, but found the whole thing was a little hokey, costly(for smaller stores or a few tanks), and to much of a hassel(constant endless paperwork). MAC has a good thing going but they need to streamline the whole process along the whole supply line. I know of several exporters that have given up on MAC due to inconsistancies in their policies and process. They still maintain MAC's values and hope to re-establish certification once MAC gets their act together.

[midgetwaiter]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

I would assume he distributes them throughout Canada but I have yet to find a retailer here in town that does buy MAC certified fish I am guessing they cost a bit more and most LFS are not willing/caring enough to spend the money. I would love to be able to walk into the shops and see MAC certified tanks. I can understand not devoting an entire store to them but a few tanks would be nice.

Heres an interesting question then...

Forget price for now. If you had the choice to buy MAC fish (humanely caught with certification) but had to limit the species you kept OR buy any species usually available but were taking a chance the fish may be inhumanely caught, which would you buy?

I've brought in lots of MAC certified fish over the years working in different shops. I've seen lists from the wholesaler you guys are talking about, they don't usually cost a lot more but there isn't a very large selection of species. I've marked the fish I've brought in as MAC certified, nobody seemed to care. I tend to agree as I didn't see much of a difference in quality.

Once you look into it further MAC is pretty much a joke anyway. They sure spent a lot of money but they haven't accomplished much more than distributing paperwork.

[ProReef]

We buy all of our fish exclusively from a MAC certified wholesaler. And yes, there is a huge price difference between transhipped fish and our particular wholesaler. We make very little on fish because we are competing with stores that buy from transships, but we are extremely satisfied with the quality.

I'm planning on starting a thread regarding our fish supplier, the quality, my experience in the industry, and our acclimation methods when we've gathered more detailed information. But in the meantime, here's some email correspondance between us and our supplier that you may find interesting:

From: Sales@ProgressiveReef.com [mailto:sales@progressivereef.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 11:30 AM
To: Eric
Subject: fish quality



Hey Eric,



I'd like some information to tell to my customers regarding the quality of our fish. Could you think me up some nice things to say about you guys?


-------------------------------------------------

From: Eric
To: Sales@ProgressiveReef.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 12:35 PM
Subject: RE: fish quality



Happy to



You can start by saying that our fish are acclimated using the best electronic controlled ph system available. We also medicate and quarantine our fish during the acclimation process. Then, we aggressively feed our fish the day after arrival and on a day-to-day basis using our own live brine shrimp that is hatched and enriched right here at SDC.



We also feed daily, a plethora of foods all targeting each specific specie to ensure the healthiest quality of fish possible.



How’s that?



Eric


---------------------------------

From: Sales@ProgressiveReef.com [mailto:sales@progressivereef.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 12:43 PM
To: Eric
Subject: Re: fish quality



That's good, but details are better. What separates you from other wholesalers? How confident are you that your collectors aren't using cyanide? I noticed some markings on your boxes that I thought indicated you guys were concerned with sustainable collection practices...etc. Give me your best sales pitch, as much info as possible.


----------------------------


Well….those things I mentioned ARE what separate us from the other wholesalers. The other wholesalers don’t raise their own foods, or feed the fish like we do. They don’t acclimate their fish and quarantine them like we do. We are Mac Certified…not sure that means much….but most other wholesalers are not.



We can’t guarantee that our fish are not collected from the philipines or bali without drugs, but we can tell you that we use only the best suppliers that consistently ship fish to us with less than 5% mortality. We have visited our suppliers (others don’t do that) to make sure their facilities are clean and disease free….



We have participated in a three year study with Oregon State University and did a thorough study on shipping diseases, when no other company was interested. We sampled hundreds of fish during the study, and then traveled to Bali with the scientists from the University to further and complete the study.



Anything else specific you can think of?



Eric