PacificEastAquaculture Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Sometimes as hobbyists we don't always know where the animals in your tank originate from. For the last 4 years we have been the exclusive importers of clams and fish from some of the remote islands of French Polynesia. Dr. Mac traveled there to set up our collection station along with our partner in Tahiti. We collect clams and fish from the remote Austral Islands where many of the smaller islands we collect from are uninhibited and the populations of a Maxima clams are the largest in the world with hundreds of millions of them! Dr. Mac set up our station and the protocols for hand collection of fish without any drugs and a multi step process for treating them and quarantine so that they are all eating and healthy before they are exported to us in the US. We bring shipments in once or twice a month and sell to all the wholesalers and many retail stores as well as on our site.Check out our selection of French Polynesian Fish and Clams!Fishhttp://www.pacificeastaquaculture.com/prodList.asp?idcategory=5&pMaxItemsPerPage=1000Clamshttp://www.pacificeastaquaculture.com/prodList.asp?idcategory=3&pMaxItemsPerPage=1000The Remote Austral Island Chain in French PolynesiaMost of the islands are atolls, a central island surrounded by a lagoon and the reef, most clams are found inside the lagoon within a depth of 1-4 feet.Reef areas outside the lagoon and inner reef in the islands where we collect are predominantly rocky out croppings with very few corals and some clams. The waters are crystal clear and pristine!There are so many clams, hundreds of millions of Maximas, that the smaller islands are literally composed of clam shells!Of the hundreds of millions, only a few are considered ultra quality, we import about 10,000 annuallyAbout one in every 10,000 is the rare Chimera clam, locally called the two-faced clam.When we first set up our collection station we also began culturing clams, we now export mostly cultured clams, a two to three inch cultured clam takes about 4 years to produceWe also collect lots of fish, all of these are quite plentiful in the French Polynesia waters. Rarely we find beauties like this very rarely seen in captivity male Atavai Wrasse. Most "rare" items in the hobby are not actually rare in the wild, just found only in very remote areas or where collection is very difficult.In the more remote Australs, small Black Tangs are relatively plentiful, problem is these islands are not easy to get to, collecting the fish, holding them, and getting them back to our main station for processing in Tahiti is difficult. Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Hey this is a really cool post. i envy your job(s). These places look like heaven! Link to comment
PacificEastAquaculture Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Collecting in the remote islands of French Polynesia is a lot of fun but there a lot of dangerous things to look out for. Long Spine Urchins are everywhere. A poke from one of these would be painful but infection from an open wound in these waters could be really dangerous.Stone fish are everywhere and are masters of camouflage! Stone fish are the most venomous fish in the world. One stick from a stone fish spine could be deadly. Stone fish sit and wait on the sand or rocks for prey to come by. When collecting in shallow waters one must always be extremely cautious.Lots of sharks!!!HUGE eels!And of course Dr. Mac's favorite "friend" he found in his shower while in French Polynesia-GIANT CENTIPEDES:) Link to comment
BattleAthletics Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 That chimera, how much do they usually go for? Link to comment
GHill762 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 And of course Dr. Mac's favorite "friend" he found in his shower while in French Polynesia-GIANT CENTIPEDES:) Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 You guys have awrsome jobs! Link to comment
PacificEastAquaculture Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Haha! You guys have awrsome jobs! All of us enjoy our jobs! Link to comment
PacificEastAquaculture Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Some other beautiful fish that we can collect in French PolynesiaEmperor Angel Polynesian White Tail TangFlame Angel PairsRegal AngelAchilles TangScott's Fairy WrasseRARE Female Atavai WrasseBlue Spotted Wrasseand many many more! Email Alyssa at alyssa@pacificeastaquaculture.com if you are interested in any of our French Polynesian fish. She can update you when we have what you are looking for available. Check out the fish we have posted now as well. Our French Polynesian fish are very popular and sell out quickly when we have them in stock!Fishhttp://www.pacificeastaquaculture.com/prodList.asp?idcategory=5&pMaxItemsPerPage=1000 Link to comment
CoralGardensAquaculture Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 You guys are quite literally living the dream!! Very cool . Thanks for sharing!! Link to comment
Halo_003 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I was all for moving there. Then you made the post with all the really bad things.... Not feeling as compelled anymore. Really great pictures though, are those fish what you expect to stock for the most part? Link to comment
PacificEastAquaculture Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 I was all for moving there. Then you made the post with all the really bad things.... Not feeling as compelled anymore. Really great pictures though, are those fish what you expect to stock for the most part? They are not bad things, just animals to be cautious and aware of. We stock these fish on a regular basis. We have been in French Polynesia collecting and culturing for over 4 years now. We sell the majority of our stock from there to the wholesalers in the United States along with other countries such as Europe and we offer our Polynesian stock on our website as well. Our clam and fish from French Polynesia are extremely popular and sell out fast when we have them posted. Any of the fish listed in this thread along with many others are fish we regularly get in stock. If you are interested in anything specifically or would like me to update you when we have something available just send me over an email at alyssa@pacificeastaquaculture.com. Thank you for the response and reading our threads! -Alyssa One unique way of holding clams before being exported to the United States. Another Chimera clam (on the left) we collected a while back. Very beautiful! Shortly before the expected ship date we bring the clams to our holding area so they are right there and ready to be packed up. Check out our selection of clams we have posted. Our clams sell out fast! http://www.pacificeastaquaculture.com/prodList.asp?idcategory=3&pMaxItemsPerPage=1000 Link to comment
patback Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Do you keep those chimeras or sell them. Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Superior clams from a superior supplier. Link to comment
PacificEastAquaculture Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 Do you keep those chimeras or sell them. We sell them. They are not common to come by. Whenever we have had one available in the past it sells right away. I have no idea when we will have another one available. If you are interested in one you can send me an email and next time we have one available I can update you. My email is alyssa@pacificeastaquaculture.com. Thank you for the reply and viewing our threads! -Alyssa Superior clams from a superior supplier. Thank you! Link to comment
kraig949 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 If I can live on the island I will work for free. Link to comment
Tamberav Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 What a perfect life! It's cool to see where my clam came from, thanks for sharing! Link to comment
PacificEastAquaculture Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 French Polynesia also has a lot of really beautiful corals that we have begun culturing at our station in Tahiti. It will be sometime before we are able to export cultured corals from our collection station but it is definitely something we are extremely excited about!!! No corals have ever been exported from French Polynesia in the past. A lot of the corals seen there will be new to the hobby in regards to color morphs. Tahitian Sunset AcroporaIntense Bright Purple MontiporaPocillopora AcroporaPink and yellow PavonaBright Neon Rim FungiaAcroporaOrange MontiporaFrench Polynesia also has tons of different Acanthastrea echinatas.Cool Montipora Combos Link to comment
Lowkeycoral Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 This is very dope. Thanks for sharing these! Keep us updated this thread is very interesting. Link to comment
PacificEastAquaculture Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 Tahitian PalysPocilloporaPlate CoralMushroom Link to comment
Halo_003 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Beautiful pictures. Really love seeing these. Do those clowns all live That close together? Link to comment
Jeradmccarty Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 This is one of the coolest posts on this site for real Link to comment
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