Bostave - Unofficially yes in many people's minds, but officially it was to address a perceived biosecurity threat. There's a strong argument that suggests the measures taken are a huge over reaction.
Paul I'm not having a go at you but I think it's a shame and a sign of a poor situation when people getting stuck into the cichlid hobby select fish based on the saleability and profit potential of selling juveniles. It just doesn't seem like a hobby but a business decision. If that's the motivation then I think those people are best advised to get a second job rather than breed cichlids.
Prior to the "glory days" of being able to breed 100s of a certain type of fish and move them on at a price that covered costs and put some coin in your pocket, hobbyists used to trade freely with each other if they bred fish. The Mecca I remember was when you could give 10 or so fish to a mate that you bred because they liked them and then a few months later you'd get a call from them asking if you wanted 10 or so fish that they'd bred. From time to time something really special turned up at an lfs or over east and a few mates would chip in and get them here, spread a couple colonies around and one or two would have luck, start breeding and get that species established here. I remember hongi costing a few people hundreds of dollars for a small colony. It was disappointing for some not to be able to keep selling fry for $50 plus but it's an unrealistic expectation and if you manage to find yourself in that situation, sooner or later someone will want a piece of that profit so it can't last forever.
10-15 years ago, making money wasn't factored into the decision making process of whether you get a certain type of fish or not and the hobby was full of passionate, excited people. From my perspective, I've seen that attitude change in regards to keeping cichlids in Perth and a thriving hobby start slowly die off over time with too many profiteers and a lot of newbies being turned off by that and taking up different hobbies. I think buccal is right that you need a couple of stalwarts to ensure some species are not lost when the hobby goes cold (it goes hot and cold all the time) but if everyone's making decisions on keeping fish based on what money they stand to make, then the hobby will never pick up again and everyone loses.
Personally, I expect my hobby to cost me money and if I'm able to recover a bit of that cost then I consider that a bonus. I'm not sure but I think I might be the odd man out having that attitude - basing that on discussions on this forum over the past 3 or 4 years.
lol, funnily enough I agree every single bit.
One even more horrible thing you left out,,, price of electricity, my god, it's magnified the problem by 7x and that's fairly accurate I'd say.
But back to the profit or breaking even so it's not costing, (stalwarts) yes, but large numbers must be sustained with the states ability to buy to keep the turnover,,, because when little profit is made, the bad times shadow the good times,,,, turn up the number production, then the good times start to shadow the bad times.
These are obvservational bussiness techniques I'm using here which are usually used for bussiness issues situations.
But knowledge of sciences directly through hands on and plenty early days of failure has earned me knowledge from a different direction than what most others see it as.
This hobby often becomes one dimensional, meaning, some people tend to think if someone mentions profiting from fish, that they have no passion.
I'm a full time carpenter working for multiple builders and I'm 41 and and been doing it solidly since I left school at year 12.
I love to try and make as much profit from my fish as possible in hope to cover the bad times.
I also find it very hard to believe anyone out there has the strength in passion like I do.
But I'm more interested in the husbandry and economics sides of things,,,, most importantly sustainability, with no short term shot gun decisions for instant signs of improvement, as those instant signs are always short lived.
Well thought out long term strategy is what's needed.
Edited by Buccal, 15 October 2016 - 11:56 AM.