In my opinion a distribution based on contact persons who arrange an exchange of fish doesn’t work.
I can only speak about my own experience here at the Paro project and in other aquaristic forums. I tried to get paros via the distribution contact here in this project. I don’t want to insult those persons who are willing to make efforts to help other fish enthusiasts get the species they want. I appreciate their dedication – but I think they are as overloaded with this task as I would be myself.
My experience is that you have to wait very long until you even get an answer to your request. Several times it took weeks until I got response. Then you get maybe one email-address or phone number – without any hint about the species the contact person keeps and is maybe willing to sell. If this doesn’t lead to an exchange of fish – you recoil from starting the same procedure again to maybe get another breeder’s address.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want to offend the (different) persons who were kind enough to assume this task. But I think this distribution method doesn’t work. It doesn’t work in Germany – and it will certainly not work transnational.
I suggest to create a “Fish exchange” topic in this forum in each geographical category. This topic should only be visible for registered members of the project – after the log-in. Here everybody who seeks or offers paros can post his offer/request. According to my experience it works very well to surmount transport difficulties once you have personal contact.
This forum topic would allow every paro project member to search for the species he wants or to offer those he can give away himself. No work for anyone else to do – just those persons who are personally interested. And an exclusion of every Tom, Dick and Harry who is not interested enough to join the project as an official member.
I definitely can’t see any advantage in interposing a contact person. I plead for direct contact between those who are personally concerned – and no additional work for a third party who neither knows one of the prospects nor is involved personally.