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N. rachovii and collecting wild Nothos
Dale Deck wrote:
>
>Thanks for the history of the N. rachovii Brian. At present
>I have the DKG strain. Where did this strain originate, or
>is this a aquarium strain.
>
I am not sure if you are referring here to the "regular" N. rachovii
or the KNP population. As I mentioned in my earlier contribution to
the discussion on N. rachovii the KNP "strain" presently in the DKG
originates from fish and eggs that I took to the DKG convention in
1994, and that stock goes back to the original collection made by
Vermaak in 1984.
The "DKG" strain of the regular N. rachovii is an aquarium strain
although I suspect that in recent years a few hobbyists may have
crossed it with the N. rachovii "Beira '91" population.
cgraseck at ludl_com wrote:
>Collecting wild Notos.
>
>Does any one have any info on collecting in South Africa.
>Is this permissible. I realize this is a little bit of an off the
>wall question but one of my best friends comes from Cape
>Town and I may be going there either this Christmas or next.
>December is summer time in Cape Town so that may also
>be the dry season. This will probably require considerable
>research but if anyone has any ideas on where I should start
>please let me know.
There are a number of points you should be aware of:
1. Nothos that occur in South Africa (N. rachovii and N. orthonotus)
are on the "Red Book List" for that country so you are definitely not
allowed to collect them without a permit. In fact, hobbyists resident
in South Africa are not even supposed to have them in their
fish-rooms.
2. Unless you can provide very good scientific justification for
collecting Nothos in South Africa, your chances of being granted a
permit are nil. The permit aspect is something not to be taken too
lightly because the various Parks Boards and Nature Conservation
departments in South Africa are much more organised in this respect
than are other African countries. Incidentally, permits are also
required to be able to take or send live fish out of the country.
3. N. rachovii (the KNP Black population) is known only from the
Kruger National Park (KNP) and a permit to collect there would simply
not be granted. Quite apart from the fact that in the game park, for
reasons of personal safety, you are not even allowed out of your
vehicle (except in secured areas and rest camps), illegal collecting
of wildlife of any sort (including fish) would be regarded by the
authorities as poaching, an activity that can have extremely serious
consequences if one is caught. This is the reason I mentioned that if
anyone has this population of N. rachovii then they should look after
it because it may never again be introduced into the hobby and I
happen to know that the only known habitat in the KNP is in a very
precarious condition.
4. Usually, December is the dry season of the year in those areas
where Nothos occur.
5. Cape Town is a considerable distance from those areas where Nothos
occur in South Africa.
__________________________________________________
Brian R. Watters
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2, Canada
Ph: (306) 584-9161 (home); (306) 585-4663 (work)
Fax: (306) 585-5433
E-mail: bwatters at sk_sympatico.ca