As many people know, Hurricane Milton devastated the area of Florida where many of our fish farms and wholesalers are located. This is especially awful as it came so soon after Helene.
Florida's aquaculture industry took serious blows during these two storm events. The counties impacted by Hurricane Milton represent about 80% of Florida's ornamental aquarium fish production.
Fish farms have to deal with the same issues that we aquarists deal with during a huge storm -- prolonged power outages prevent pumps, aerators, and other equipment from working. These severe storms also blocked access to sites, and in many cases, flooded production ponds (indoors and out), which literally washed away stock. Some farms reported that their hundreds of individual farms, separating different strains and species, became one big pond, eventually overflowing.
Buildings at farmers and wholesale facilities were destroyed, with lost roofs, damaged equipment, and more.
Florida fish farmers produce the vast majority of aquarium fish sold in the United States aquarium hobby, with estimates ranging from 80-95% of the aquarium fish sold in the US coming from Florida farms.
Several of the largest wholesalers of aquarium fish were hit by Milton (as well as other recent storms), including Segrest Farms, which is probably the largest supplier of fish in the US, and a great sponsor of the hobby, including our local clubs. And while the industry itself was hit, employees have also taken personal losses, with damages to their own homes, and are now facing an uncertain future.
For the most part, here at Batfish, we've stopped selling aquarium fish, mostly focusing on maintenance and aquarium sales, except for an occasional sale for special occasions. The terrible circumstances in Florida have forced us to dust off our "presale" lists and work with several of our Florida suppliers to bring you a huge selection of Florida fish. These are all fish from our Florida based suppliers, most of them from farms. We've lowered the prices on them, and are offering an additional 10% off all listed prices for members of local aquarium clubs. The Florida wholesalers and farmers need our help, support, and our business. Let's give it to them.
Now for the business stuff:
The following is a [b] PRE ORDER LIST [/b]. Orders must be placed by no later than 4 PM on the 30th of October. Orders must be paid in advance via PayPal to BatfishAquatics@gmail.com. No late orders will be accepted, no unpaid orders will be fulfilled. Fish will be available to pickup Friday 1 November, or Saturday 2 November in Silver Spring, MD 20904 (about 2 miles from where CCA usually meets). If you need other arrangements, contact me (BY E-MAIL) to make them ahead of time, and we can probably work something out. Do not e-mail at 3:07 on the 30th.
Fish are not currently on hand. Please do not e-mail me asking for a picture of a particular fish. I cannot accommodate requests for "one with a lot of red," or "two males and a female," or anything like that. You get whatcha get, kay?
Orders MUST be made by e-mail. I do not get on the forums often enough to read and respond to messages here. Please also put your order in the comments of the PayPal field. If you randomly just send me money without any explanation, I will assume it is for pizza, and I will enjoy your pizza.
We're doing this order to support the Florida farmers and wholesalers, so I've lifted all minimums on it, but please don't be that guy who orders one each of twelve $2 fish.
What's the address for picking up the fish? Thx!