# Lucky Aquarium faces charges in U.S. for smuggling illegal species of fish



## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1219013--markham-fish-store-owner-faces-charges-in-u-s-for-smuggling-illegal-species-of-fish

"About a month ago, after a years-long investigation into the smuggling of endangered and illegal fish from the GTA into the United States, Lucky Aquarium owner Jim Ip, 49, was arrested for allegedly organizing the motel pickup and a string of other meetings that saw invasive and endangered species knowingly smuggled across the border."


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

If you have seen the devastation that snakeheads do to local lakes etc then you would agree that something has to be done to stop these nasty fish and others like them from coming in and out of the country!

Why does anyone need such a fish?? I honestly don't understand this...I watch the Monster Fish series all the time and from some of the fish I have seen that are living and thriving in some of the World's rivers and lakes it makes you want to not even dip your feet in the water, nevermind swim in it


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

bettaforu said:


> If you have seen the devastation that snakeheads do to local lakes etc then you would agree that something has to be done to stop these nasty fish and others like them from coming in and out of the country!
> 
> Why does anyone need such a fish?? I honestly don't understand this...I watch the Monster Fish series all the time and from some of the fish I have seen that are living and thriving in some of the World's rivers and lakes it makes you want to not even dip your feet in the water, nevermind swim in it


The problem with this blanket statement is that not all snakeheads are large vicious predators and the ban has prevented aquarists from keeping the smaller more interesting species without first applying for a HARD to get permit.


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

The government agents are just exaggerating, and trying to scare the public, there are some species that stay small and colorful 


Channa bleheri, aka rainbow snakehead, max out around 8", very colorful and can only survive in the tropic 

Channa stewardi, aka golden snakehead, max out around 8", a golden version of rainbow snakehead 

Channa maculata, aka blotched snakehead, max out around 8", similar looking to argus (Northern snakehead)

Channa gachu, aka dwarf snakehead, max out around 8", a cheap subsitute of rainbow snakehead

Channa pleurophthalma, aka ocellated snakehead, max out around 16"ish, similar looking to marulius as juvenile

Channa barca (my personal favorite), aka barca snakehead, max out around 36", the most colorful and the most rarest snakehead in the world



* You should've seen the devastation that **** sapiens do to the 3rd rocks from the star "Sun", then you would agree that something has to be done to stop these creatures from traveling around the world and kill off everything!

Make sense?


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## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

Just saw the article in the star... Will never shop at Lucky's again. Snakeheads aside, this guys a sleazebucket, and deserves every charge thrown at him. he's facing numerous charges from all over. Giving the rest of us Hobbyists a bad name...

All this will do is make it harder for anyone to get a permit to keep the smaller species of Snakeheads. I have to admit i find the fish very interesting. I've had a black wolf fish in the past, and it was an awesome pet. It came in a shipment to a pet store i was working at and I was told it would be destroyed. So I took it home and had it for quite some time before it outgrew my tank and I had to find it a new home. 

This might also result in longer waits for any wild caught shipments, say from Africa for inspections, and quite possibly lead to higher rates of D.O.A's... I cant say for certain, but acts like this will have reprocussions on the rest of the hobbyists over time.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

regardless of what anyone thinks and feels about this hobby, Illegal is still illegal and I also will never shop at Lucky again.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Oh, they didn't catch him with any turtles? Guess he lucked out this time.


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## Fishyfishyfishy (Mar 3, 2008)

altcharacter said:


> regardless of what anyone thinks and feels about this hobby, Illegal is still illegal and I also will never shop at Lucky again.


I won't shop there not because they did illegal business, but they are a$$holes and they are evil. I see them ripping off and giving wrong info to new hobbyist to make them buy unnecessary stuff.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Too many threads about this topic. Closing this one please go to the other if you want to continue with this topic.
http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35775
Thanks,

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