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I see the zoo is building a new reef exhibit. Anyone know who is doing their aquatics now? I have an 18-20 in Tridacna gigas that I would love to donate to a zoo or aquarium. I have plenty of room for it, so I don't want to be treated like they are doing me a favor. Given that they are CITES protected and not imported at all anymore, I think it's just the opposite. It would make a great zoo exhibit animal.

 

 

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I'll reach out and see if I can find out who's doing it. I know they have to go through a lot of different channels to get things (even donated) so it may take a while. Andy might be able to throw a hand in here as well.

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I am working with Sally on this. She is over the Aquatics building and has the new 300g reef exhibit. I installed lights on it the other day with the Aquarist Holly.

 

Donations are extremely hard to accept for them due to rules and regulations and paperwork.

 

She is going to try to attend our swap again this year.

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No need to feel like they are doing you a favor. You just have to understand that they get calls all the time for donations of all manner of animals and equipment. Each donation received requires paperwork and all too often it's a while in the making. All livestock must follow exacting procedures and all of the paperwork must be in order or they could endanger their funding and accreditation. It's a lot more complicated than just making a call and dropping stuff off.

 

The stuff I could tell you.........LOL!

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I've donated to them before - The emperor angel and chrysurus angels they used to have in the big display were from my tank. I don't see either anymore, so I am guessing they managed to kill them. I also found a juvenile Napoleon wrasse (the ones that grow to 6-7ft long) that was misidentified as a slipngjaw wrasse and gave that to them. They lost that too, which is really sad.

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They have changed a lot of people in the last year or so and the new folks are following the rules to the letter.......I'm just giving you the info that I have.

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I would love to see a picture of your clam!

Dude.....lol. Thats the 2nd one today.

My friend is putting anthiases into my tank while he figures out his bio load situation. He has 1 male and 3 females. He mistyped a text to someone else saying "as long as we do all the females at the same time things will be ok"

I can only imagine.

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John, IZS has implemented a new regulation that they will not take anything that was plucked from the wild unless it is surplussed by another AZA institution... so unless your T. gigas are indeed farmed, you may have an even more difficult time getting them to say yes.

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John, IZS has implemented a new regulation that they will not take anything that was plucked from the wild unless it is surplussed by another AZA institution... so unless your T. gigas are indeed farmed, you may have an even more difficult time getting them to say yes.

 

This is correct. According to the conversation the other day that I had with Sally, they can only purchase captive raised/bred livestock or procure livestock from other AZA accredited institutions who "surplus" the livestock out.....

 

Currently the zoo is struggling to find a good clean-up crew for the new reef. They can't just order in snails and hermits from most vendors because almost all of those are wild-caught. Other zoos don't usually "surplus" these animals out..... So, now it becomes an exercise in searching for sources from which they can purchase under these strict guidelines.

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Not trying to shoot the messenger here, but sometimes rules that sound good on paper have unintended consequences. What about the fish they feed the Dolphins, penguin, etc.. Those were plucked from the wild before they were frozen? Why do their lives matter any less than a hermit crab or a snail?

 

 

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I agree but they didn't call me and ask for my opinion, I think it has a lot more to do with the ethics and preventing the facility from sourcing stuff from questionable companies with no regard to health, sustainability and regulations.

 

The perfect example is Cairns Marine out of Australia.....they provide larger specimens (and smaller ones too) to zoos, public aquariums and private collectors all over the globe. They are arguably one of the most well known collectors and they have a tremendous respect for what they do and their ethics are some of the highest in the industry......but because of the decisions at the Indy Zoo they are not an approved source of livestock.

 

IMHO, while the idea of "Only captive bred and surplus" sounds good on paper....it just doesn't seem practical in the real world......yet.

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Sorry, was not implying that you had any say in the decision. Oh well, guess I will just keep it. It was a farmed one, but I have no way of proving that now.

 

 

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No, no offense taken. I completely and totally agree with you on this being a poorly thought out decision but in the end.....you and I are not the experts. :)

 

HAHAHAHA So, you need to post a picture so that we can all see what the hubub was about.

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I took a behind the scene tour and it looked like a garage sale of old tanks exploded and they all landed there. Everywhere I looked there were stacks of donated stuff. Pretty cool. There skimmer was even bigger than Dustin's....lol!

 

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