Mike has some sick fish. I plan on doing an order from him in the summer, I may open it up to the rest of canada if there is enough interest.
From what I know about this is that for a couple months quotas are given out to a limited few businesses. There is a new ban on plecos, that will put a lot of exporters out of business, so in compensation they are letting a few of these rays to be caught and sold so that these businesses will go out with money in their pockets.
99 % of the rays have been already been spoken for by asian importers, and the other 1% is split between the North America and Europe. Since Mike has a large breeding operation, I assume the small amount of rays he will get are going to be for sale. He will most likely keep them because they are new blood and it's a great way to revamp the genetics of captive black rays. Although he might sell a few, you never know.
Honestly I wouldn't even bother with them. Leopoldi and henlei are hardy fish, but for that price it would be better to buy them cb. Mike always has captive bred leopoldi, for a wicked price, like $1400 a piece. There is much less of a risk of something happening. They may be a tad bigger for the price you are getting, but these rays grow extra fast when taken care of properly, so it's not that big of a deal.
People have a misconception about these rays, thinking that they are rare. It's not the truth, there are so many black rays out there, just most of them are being bred by asian companies and they charge wayyyy tooo much. Also the price stays high because there is huge demand for the rays and no other way to get them. They may be rare in Canada, but only because most people are too cheap to spend a couple of grand on a ray haha.
Anyways, this should be interesting, all the rays are spoken for. I just wonder if Oliver Lucanus got any?
JMorash
