New Country "OMAN" opens up for the first time and begins USA Imports...

[livinlifeinBKK]

Of course it benefits the people of Oman and everyone involved. Any country that operates ornamental trade brings benefits not only to locals who are employed, but to the packaging companies (boxes, bags, rubberbands, oxygen supply, water purification company, freight agents, airlines etc...) This company is 100% owned by Oman natives...no American influence at all other than little old me who is trying to help them in the struggles that all new business's face. Maybe this is a breath of fresh air and we can rejoice that the Chinese haven't taken over yet

I'm really glad to hear that!

 

[californiarob]

was told my video link is not working, a R2R thingy... here is a pic of day 1 circa 1/5/2022. Terrible pic as its a screenshot from video and nems not open.

 

[Eric Cohen]

was told my video link is not working, a R2R thingy... here is a pic of day 1 circa 1/5/2022. Terrible pic as its a screenshot from video and nems not open.

Nice pic and appreciate you sharing. What’s the story here with your fish?

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

W00pwoop! Great stuff. Thanks for sharing

 

[Tmrvstyle]

I would imagine that this is bad news for the coral reefs and ecosystems in Oman, as it opens them up to be exploited for sale. Any measures to ensure sustainability? Such as aquaculture of these species.

Often money drives a conservative effort, killing the local ecosystem by construction, pollution and even using reef for concrete filler has happened in the past in areas with beautiful reef. The fact is, without money, nobody cares to protect anything and aquarium collection is often very minor in comparison.

For example Hawaii, you cannot collect reef fish alive, but spearfishing for Achilles Tangs and eating a many of them is fine.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Often money drives a conservative effort, killing the local ecosystem by construction, pollution and even using reef for concrete filler has happened in the past in areas with beautiful reef. The fact is, without money, nobody cares to protect anything and aquarium collection is often very minor in comparison.

For example Hawaii, you cannot collect reef fish alive, but spearfishing for Achilles Tangs and eating a many of them is fine.

again, oman is economically stable. money and regulations are there.

 

[Jassar]

Whoops! I guess that I need to retake geography. I was thinking of Yemen. I always get those two mixed up.

It's easy to mix them up so no worries

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Great article, Eric! This is all very exciting! I already want to get one of those flame tail blennies! Ha!

 

[Eric Cohen]

Often money drives a conservative effort, killing the local ecosystem by construction, pollution and even using reef for concrete filler has happened in the past in areas with beautiful reef. The fact is, without money, nobody cares to protect anything and aquarium collection is often very minor in comparison.

For example Hawaii, you cannot collect reef fish alive, but spearfishing for Achilles Tangs and eating a many of them is fine.

“FO EAT”! That always killed me seeing big reef fish on ice at the market.

It's easy to mix them up so no worries

it’s an interesting region….purple tang and Sohal tang are always associated with “Red Sea” fish so it’s easy to confuse. It’s not like we travel to this region often

 

[Eric Cohen]

Great article, Eric! This is all very exciting! I already want to get one of those flame tail blennies! Ha!

Thanks Daniel....appreciate that! Im glad we are having a good conversation.....really cool.

 

[Reefing102]

Looks pretty cool but might be smart to export a decent amount first (by decent amount I mean more than 1 or 2 pairs not decimate the ecosystem) so that there’s more bloodlines to breed rather than the clowns brothers sisters uncle joe to cause deformities, but that’s just me

 

[Eric Cohen]

Looks pretty cool but might be smart to export a decent amount first (by decent amount I mean more than 1 or 2 pairs not decimate the ecosystem) so that there’s more bloodlines to breed rather than the clowns brothers sisters uncle joe to cause deformities, but that’s just me

I feel ya but “the truth” is that the suppliers want to control the supply and protect their market. It’s a battle between economics and conservatism.

 

[Reefing102]

Next thing coming up….Sultan of The Seas Torch $1,500 per head

 

[Vinen]

I finally got off my butt and registered here. I've had the pleasure of obtaining one of the "Flametail" or "Oman" blennies this month. Great fish with a personality that meets or exceeds what I've seen from Midas blennies (still not as good as Starry Blennies).

Looking forward to the approach being taken here around Clowns.

 

[Prolephant]

In an industry that is always looking over it's shoulder, its refreshing news when we hear about new locations opening up and beginning to supply livestock to an evolving trade. Even more exciting when it's a country that has never before exported to the ornamental aquarium trade and we start to see for the first time ever fish that have long evaded us all....not only that, but the coral reefs in Oman are some of the most rich and beautiful in all the world shelling out vibrant colors in their fish we only could have imagined possible.

I've decided to write this article myself, and share it with you all in a candid and transparent format. I don't have a background in journalism, photography or high-stakes quid pro quo tactics.....just a life long history of being around this wonderful hobby and business.

It was a few months ago, I first heard that there was a new butterfly buzzing around Hong Kong. A photo was sent to my by my brother Scott asking me if I knew anything about it....which I didn't. Not often does a fish get passed me, and this one was pretty unique and definitely spiked my interest. Further investigation, I reached out to my friend and colleague of over 30 years Barnett Shutman of RVS Fish World who quickly told me I was late to the game, and these fish had been flooding the market in Asia for months now. Barnett may have been exaggerating just a little...as not as many butterflies had actually been exported, but the race to get the fish on American soil was on.

Considering I am rather new to be back in the Livestock business after a 6 year hiatus, I wasn't too surprised I had been missing out.....but that wasn't the whole story. This butterfly in particular is not only rare, but endemic to mainly one location in the world...OMAN! This fish is rightfully called an Oman Butterfly (Chaetodon dialeucos), and I quickly found an article about the fish in reefs.com written back on Feb 17, 2018 by Richard Aspinall. Here's a link to that article https://reefs.com/chaetodon-dialeucos-oman-butterflyfish-wild/

Attached are a couple of photos of the first Oman butterfly imported into the USA on March 8th, 2022.

A little more research on the world wide web and some social media, I found the new supplier in Oman and sent off my message hoping for a quick reply. Lucky for me, the owner of the company just happens to know a very dear customer of mine who lives in Abu Dhabi which is a neighboring Country to Oman. This friend of mine and long time customer, gave the Oman supplier the thumbs up to work with me and that I would be a good contact to help this new exporting company navigate through the Aquarium Industry. A relationship was formed, and I set out on a mission, determined to be the first one to ever import livestock from Oman!

I have to comment about what I knew about Oman up to this point. My friend Samer from Abu Dhabi has been around the aquarium industry for some time, and I have exported fish to him, and some of his friends in Dubai for many years. He and I instantly hit it off as not only business acquaintances, but the best of friends. Living in two completely different cultures and sides of the world, we had so much in common...not just the ocean. Horses, motorcycles, diving, spearfishing and so much more....this guy Samer is a true outdoorsman and he became a friend I would do anything for. Since Oman is just a short drive for him, his weekends often would be spent with his son and friends towing their boat over to Oman for a quick dive trip, spearing more fish that you could possibly need for one family. Ice chests full each day, the videos he would share with me of his excursions where nothing less than incredible. So having seen all these photos and videos of Oman reefs, I knew instantly that the treasures Oman has to offer would be worth while of the time and effort I was about to embark on.

My first call to confirm we could successfully and legally import into Los Angeles was to US Fish and Wildlife. The agent I got on the phone wasn't high ranking and quickly gave me the thumbs up, without really doing much research on his side. Although I had my first "yes", I wasn't convinced. My next call was to my import broker who told me who to contact in US Customs. I made my 3rd call, and was told to speak to another department to verify, because Oman was not coming up as a country that the USA had put sanctions on....so, so far so good right? I made one more call to a very specific department of the government who controls sanctions and terrorist activities.....I had to leave a voice message, but two days later I got a phone call back, which I missed....but a voice mail was left, and it was all green lights. We had no obstructions in the way and we could move forward and set up the shipment....I was so excited, and nervous at the same time, because when you have played this game as long as I have, nothing is for sure until the fish leave the dock at LAX airport.

Finally after over two months of investigation and back and forth, the first shipment was booked, and 3 weeks later, confirmed by Qantas airways....yes 3 weeks later!!!! Normally this is a one week process, but nothing is easy first time around and 26 boxes were headed to LAX. The trip is 55 hours.....so much had been discussed about packing techniques and water quality duties etc.....sterile water was prepared for packing, and the fish were on the way.

Another surprise from Oman is another endemic fish that is only found in this region. And a good one too....a clownfish!!!! Never before bred, or seen in the trade, Amphiprion omanensis was on the way to the USA! To be honest, I wasn't really that excited about this clownfish when I first saw photos of it....another Clarki I thought, and not much sex appeal really....but you know what they say.....Beauty is in the eye of beholder, and I started to receive emails from customers really wanting this fish. Of course breeders from near and far wanted their chance at this fish...it's always nice to be the first at something....and a few people wanted their chance.

When I received my documents for the shipment, I was saddened to see that I was only receiving two clownfish, and both Xtra-Large! WAAAAAAAAAAA! I was not a happy camper. Of course I wanted a pair. I remember comparing two extra large clownfish to a new pair of shoes that were both for the left foot. What was going to do with two giant clownfish??? The shipment arrived, and I sorted through all the boxes looking for the butterfly and clownfish....The butterfly were easy to find as they were in an over-sized box clearly marked, but the clownfish were not as easy to find. To make matters worse, two boxes were mislabeled with the same box number, so we had to open every box and of course as fate would have it, the last box we looked in had the two clownfish. I was sad to see that one of them was laying on the bottom of the bag not looking so hot at all. We raced to get them into acclimation and ultimately we did lose one of the two clownfish, about 5 days later. It just didn't want to come around....

After about 3 days in the QT tank, the clown that was looking good, started to really color up and win my heart. What a gorgeous clownfish indeed, and one of true significance. Check out these pics.

The yellow/orange color in it's fins do not do this gorgeous clownfish justice, but you can start to see the color and get an idea.

This fish here was quickly sold to a hobbyist named James......(I'll hold the last name). Others were holding off for the next shipment and hoping for pairs to come in. Of course I was excited to re-order, and get the second shipment going, and asked the supplier to collect 12 pairs for the next shipment. These aren't cheap fish retailing at $799 each....I thought that was a fair price to put on them. We are paying a premium and I actually have heard stories about some of these fish having been offered before for $4000.00! Not sure if that was a black market price or luckily found in other regions....but I am a man of fairness, and I wasn't about to take advantage of what was the first of many to come....so the pricing was set at what I thought was a fair price for everyone.

Fast forward two weeks, and another shipment was sent from Oman to one of my good friends in Europe, landing some clownfish into the Netherlands and into the capable hands of Dejong Waterlife. If you don't know of Dejong, they are a premier wholesaler in Europe and have been around for over 50 years, more recently becoming famous for finding a rare royal gramma in Cuba now known as the "Dejongi basslet" or Cuban Basslett. Dejong opened a collecting station in Cuba a few years ago, and unfortunately, the USA does not allow imports in the USA from Cuba, so we haven't been so lucky to receive fish from there yet.

Now as some of you may have seen, last week an article was written by Reefbuilders one and only Jake Adams about Dejong receiving these clownfish and into a breeding program for the first time. The article was short and sweet, and really doesn't tell the whole story about the big picture, and getting us all here in the USA something to get excited about, and now having access to all these great fish coming in from Oman. Purple tangs that are so deep purple and orange colored fins, they clearly stand out from other countries who also supply purple tangs.

Aside from the fish we commonly know from this region, Purple Tangs, Sohal Tangs, Arabian Butterfly, etc....we will start to see some very cool fish being added into the short list of popular fish.....one of which I am very excited to see and hopefully will come in the next shipment which is a flame tail blenny as shown here from the supplier:

I showed this photo to Jake Adams about a week before he posted a photo of it on Reefbuilders, and wrote another story about these exciting fish from Oman, or at least I think he mentioned something about them arriving here soon to the USA. I wasn't really to sure about this fish, and it's "reef-safe" nature, but Jake was quick to give it a "hell-yes" and compared it to a Midas blenny.....and I am cool with that! Im sure this photo doesn't do the fish justice either...but Im working with what I got.

As the story continues to unfold, I would just like to add, that I am currently in charge of USA sales, and helping the supplier navigate it's way through the challenges any new supplier faces.

I have successfully convinced the supplier in Oman, to take a conservation approach to the Oman Clownfish, and we are currently putting together a breeding program proposal to present to the Oman government, and hope to successfully breed these beautiful clowns in their home country. In the wake of the Dejong article in Reefbuilders, and the many discussions that quickly followed with the supplier, it was decided by the owner of the exporting company that all future exports of the clownfish will be stopped, and a proper breeding program put into place. I had some very productive conversations with Matt Pedersen of Reef to Rainforest Media (home of Coral Magazine and Amazonas Magazine), who I highly respect as a writer, fish breeder and person, has truly helped me with some very constructive ideas to stop any over fishing of these clownfish, and has really been a solid source for me to help guide the exporting company as well and get us on the right track, doing the right things, and most importantly, protecting the resource and putting together a proper management plan into place. So many thanks go out to Matt....thanks so much! Please look out for more collaborations between myself, Oman and Matt.

So this is my first crack at telling the story.....I hope you all enjoyed it, and find it as interesting as I do.

Feel free to follow me on the social media platforms Instagram and Facebook and even Tik Tok where we just hit over 100K views on one of our fishy video posts! I have two different sites running right now... 1. Amongthereef.com and 2. Tankstop.com

Among The Reef is a high-end fish supplier at the retail level. We hold and condition all our fish a minimum of 30 days and make sure all our disease and parasite free....it's a real pleasure working with all these great fish and building new relationships with hobbyists around the Country.

Tankstop.com is a new online resource for livestock and supplies with a huge selection of everything. Hobbyists can order livestock from Tankstop.com and pass it over to Among The Reef for a full conditioning before the fish is shipped. This has been a powerful message to me that the outpouring of support for this type of service is overwhelming and we are quickly becoming a fish hospital treatment center. It's an honor to work with some amazing species most recently we just successfully released a huge batch of Choati Wrasse that we conditioned over 4 weeks and every single one arrived in great condition to the customers. We are also working with large groups of Lennardi wrasses, and have the last of a great batch of juvenile captive bred Interruptus angels....many almost finished with conditioning and ready to be sold.

Connecting with you all is my greatest passion. Please feel free to ask questions and engage in the discussion. Let's keep the hobby a fun place to be in, and keep raising that bar!

Thanks all.....hit me up!

Eric

This thread is for the general discussion of the Article New Country "OMAN" opens up for the first time and begins USA Imports...THE TRUTH!. Please add to the discussion here.

How can i get in touch with you ? I am staying in Muscat, Oman.

 

[Eric Cohen]

How can i get in touch with you ? I am staying in Muscat, Oman.

I’m happy to put you in touch with them and have you report back what you find. I’ll Dm you the contact.