(deep instrumental music)
- What's up fish tank people?
Dustin's Fishtanks bringin' it to you.
Talking about the red arowana.
How's everybody doin'?
I hope you're doing well.
So in last Sunday's video, I discussed how certain fish
and plants are either illegal
or invasive in the United States.
Your all's comments in that video were absolutely fantastic
and I hope I can get some great comments from you all
in the comments of today's video
when I talk about just one of the fish
from last Sunday's video.
That one and only fish is the red arowana.
The image you see is the thumbnail of this video
was borrowed with permission from our friends
at the fish gallery down in Houston.
They have a bunch of epic pet stores
that I hope to go down to one day.
This image was posted up on my Instagram page
and the comments in the comments section
of the Instagram post were absolutely fantastic.
Including, one of the most fabulous stoner comments
I've ever heard in my entire life
which I will reveal at the end of this video.
And if you're not following us on Instagram
go ahead and follow us at DustinsFishTanks on Instagram.
My man Andrew behind the camera has done a fantastic job
of putting a bunch of great content up there as well as
your fish tanks and images that you send to us
e-mail editor@dustinsfishtanks.com
to be featured on there.
I love seeing your all's tanks.
So, for today's video I wanna dig a little bit deeper
into the red arowana and why it is illegal.
I am fortunate enough to be in the biz
and know knowledgeable people in the biz
who can give me some super information
straight from the source.
Later on in this video,
I will share an absolutely fantastic conversation
that I had with our friend Dave
down at Segrest.
You might remember Dave, he did the check import unboxing.
Dave is actually the import buyer from Segrest Farms
and is the guy to talk to regarding bringing fish
into the United States.
But more on him in a minute.
But first, let's take a quick step back
and talk about why the red arowana
is even worth talking about in the first place.
Let there be no doubt, let there be no question
the arowana itself has an absolute wonderful allure
as any fish.
The Asian arowana, also known as the dragon fish
is believed by the Chinese to bring good luck and prosperity
due to its red color and coin-like scales.
It's upturned mouth is sweet
and it's coiling attack style is fantastic.
And yes, I have sat in a room with blazed college frat guys
and watched a silver arowana
eat a mouse on multiple occasions.
And if you've ever kept an arowana of any kind,
any of the species in that genus, please drop me a comment.
I personally have never kept an arowana
but I do have a 350 gallon aquarium
in that garage right there
that might make a great centerpiece fish in greenhouse 2.0.
So the silvers get too big, the jardiniis get too mean
but the reds are just right.
Staying small, getting about two to three feet long.
Frankly, a two or three foot long red arowana
would look pretty killer in the 350
as the main fish that greets you
when you're walking into greenhouse 2.0.
Oh by the way, I'm still in a wonderful holding pattern
with the state of Kentucky's planning and zoning
trying to get my six hydrants
and two inch water main approved.
Patience baby, patience.
Yes, Dusty has his sights on an arowana.
Okay, I want to take a quick step back
and clarify something that I kinda mistakenly did
in last Sunday's video.
I lumped the red arowana in a video with both
the illegal and invasive fish, okay.
The red arowana is illegal in the United States
but it is certainly, in my humble opinion,
not gonna be an invasive species, okay.
I don't believe arowanas of any kind
are gonna be taking over any waterways in the United States.
In Florida, where invasive species run rampant.
However, thanks to some of your wonderful comments
on that video on Sunday.
And I hope you can give me some comments
on how you feel about this topic,
I actually watched a video about the Asian carp
and how close that invasive species
is getting into my beloved Great Lakes.
Please folks, click the link in the comments below
and watch the video that Vice put out
about the Asian carp and how it's slowly
working its way towards the Great Lakes.
That my friend is a serious concern
and you will be getting the Dustin version
of the Asian carp problem here in a video coming up.
With that said, you should never release your unwanted fish
of any kind from your aquarium into a natural body of water.
And you can click the links around here
and see how some of the fish
with some of the worst lives ever end up in zoos.
Now let's talk about my conversation with Dave
down at Segrest about the red arowana
and why it's not allowed in the United States
and with some of the problems with that.
So yesterday, I got a call back from a man,
Dave down at Segrest.
I wanna give a little back story on Dave at Segrest
cus I think it's important to know
both what Segrest is doing
and what Dave is doing for this great hobby.
If you're not familiar Segrest,
where the heck have you been?
Segrest Farms brings in over a million fish a week.
A million fish a week Segrest brings in.
Dave is the head of importing at Segrest Farms, okay.
Let me talk a step back
and tell you a little bit more about Dave.
I met Dave at about a 22 fish unboxing
with fish imported from the Czech Republic.
You can click the links around here and see long fin neons
as just one of the many fish
including a bunch of crazy Apistos.
That link will be around here somewhere
you can check that out.
Dave actually left a well paying job in sales with Segrest
to move into the import side
cus he wanted to have a greater impact on the hobby.
Did I mention I like Dave?
Dave is a good dude.
I got my notes from Dave right here
cus I don't want to misquote my man.
So here's the deal.
The formosus arowana is a CITES 1,
is a CITES appendix 1 fish, okay.
CITES is a worldwide organization
unlike U.S. Fish and Wildlife which is obviously U.S.
CITES is a worldwide organization,
appendix 1 means they are the most endangered fish
and you cannot get them for like a zoo.
Just to put some perspective
on how the CITES appendixes work
an appendix 1 fish is an endangered fish.
You can't get it even if you're a zoo.
It's just not allowed to go around.
A CITES appendix 3 fish would be a fish that's not
endangered in the wild but is still highly regulated.
A motoro stingray would be a good example of this.
You would have to get a permit
to go and export a hundred motoro stingrays.
I wanna make a quick note about permits.
I know what it's like to get permits
to bring plants in the United States.
I can't imagine what it's like
to get a motoro stingray permit in Columbia.
I'm having a hard time in the U.S.
I can't imagine what it's like to get a permit
to export a hundred motoro stingrays outta Columbia.
Can you imagine how many people you gotta pay off?
So that's kind of a rough idea of how the CITES works.
Now, here's the rub that gets me
and I'd love your feedback in the comments
on how this is goin' down, okay.
We've established the red arowana is an endangered species
in the wild, okay.
In the wild, the red arowana is an endangered species.
And Dave pointed out,
and he was brilliant when he said this he goes
you know the red arowana is endangered in the wild
but it's endangered in the wild
not from being over collected
and put into the aquarium hobby.
It's endangered in the wild because like most fish
that are endangered in the wild
it's endangered in the wild because of habitat destruction.
You could see a similar thing going on with Bucephalandra.
There's no question that the plant Bucephalandra
is being over collected.
However, it is habitat destruction with
I believe it's peanut oil that is actually killing
where the Bucephalandra comes more than the collection.
It still shjouldn't be wildly collected
but nevertheless Bucephalandra's habitat
is being destroyed as well.
Same thing with the red arowana.
The wild arowana is endangered
because of habitat destruction.
Now, here comes the funky part.
The fish is endangered in the wild
but the wild caught specimen
are not desired in the aquarium hobby.
Why is this?
A wild caught red arowana, if you are a red arowana
and you live in the wild and you are bright red
you are a target.
So natural selection is gonna take its place
because you are a big red fish.
They're also the top of the food chain, okay.
But regardless, if a predator were to see a red arowana
versus a more natural colored arowana,
the red arowana has less of a shot.
Okay, so here's the rub here's the interesting part for me
and I'd love to get your comments
on this in the comment section.
Obviously, I would assume we're all in agreement
that it would not be a good idea to allow the collection
of wild red arowana out of the wild
and importing them all over.
I think we're all in agreement on that.
However, here's the interesting part,
these fish, the red arowana have been kept in captivity
and bred in captivity to have a better red color
and are actually a more desirable fish
than their wild caught counterparts, okay.
So they've been breeding these fish
and breeding these fish or whatever.
And they're making a super red arowana.
The price has come down on this fish
and people in the hobby, myself included, would want
a red arowana that's been bred in captivity.
It's probably heartier, probably adapts to better food,
it's just gonna be a better fish and a better colored fish
and I'd like to get your opinion on this,
should those captive bred red arowana
be allowed to be imported into the United States?
Obviously, our neighbors to the north
and my Canadian beefcake brother Joey
has a couple of the red arowanas.
But, they're not legalized here in the United States yet
and the U.S. could make money
on the importation of this fish.
So I'd love to get your feedback on this.
Well how do you feel about the red arowana
not being legalized in the United States.
Maybe you keep arowanas right now and you love em'.
Maybe you've kept arowanas in the past
and you've got some experience
you could drop in the comments.
Or maybe, you just wanna tell me
how you would keep an arowana.
And a conclusion of this video I'd like to point out
the most stoner comment I've ever heard in my entire life.
I read this on Instagram go follow us Dustin's Fishtanks
at DustinsFishtanks on Instagram and it goes like this,
I was discussing the thought
of keeping an arowana in greenhouse 2.0
and someone so brilliantly lifted their head
above a bong and said this
and I quote: "Dustin man, you ever heard of aquaponics? Bro,
"if you did aquaponics,
"bro you could have an arowana growin' mariajuana."
Hit the like button, subscribe, and share button everybody
and tank on, lata!