Hi all.
Having travelled to Hamburg for the last meeting, my vote would be to hold it there again for at least one more time.
It was obvious that Germany is the centre for Parosphromenus breeding and availability, and easy to get to from many other countries.
To answer Bills questions about returning to the UK with fish from the meeting, I can only tell you of John and myselfs experience.
As well as meeting and learning from far more experienced and knowledgeable paro keepers, we wanted to bring as many species as possible back to the UK. There are two ways for us to get to Hamburg. We could drive and get the ferry, or we could fly direct.
We initially looked at the ferry, as this would have enabled us to bring back as many fish as we liked, packaged correctly and with little chance of being stopped at customs. The cost however, was very high. £250+ for the return crossing, plus fuel and possibly overnight accommodation as well . With this cost plus the length of the drive, we ruled this out quickly.
There are only two airlines that will transport live fish into the UK from Germany, BA and lufthansa. Both of these only fly into Heathrow, a long drive again for us, butwe could have done it. However the cost to do this legally with relevant paperwork was more expensive than the entire cost of the ferry option. Again, not an option.
We decided to fly and risk bringing back the fish in our hold luggage and hope they wouldn’t get detected at customs. We packed the fish into a small insulated picnic box, and packed this into a small suitcase. Because of the strict rules about carrying liquids on aircraft now, we were extremely worried about them being detected and confiscated. After a very nervous flight and trip through customs, we did manage to get them through .
This would be one of the major problems with holding a meeting in the UK. If our German breeders wanted to bring in fish for distributing, then they would have to go through all of this. Then afterward, everyone taking fish back out of the UK would have to go through the same thing as well . As you can see, its not easy or cheap, and the risk of fish being detected and confiscated on flights is high.
I