wood is here

ok guys so brought back a bunch of wood, so take a look and let me know if your interested. iv posted the pics in my album and there are more coming . heres the link http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/album.php?albumid=168 the smaller pieces are already soaking and i sprayed the bigger pieces off after i photographed everything.

 

I'm interested in this piece please

 

dolphin, troyfish might be interested in this if he doesnt want it you can take it. he asked me for a specific shape and this is the closest i could get though i asked my brother to get some promising looking stumps dug up for me. this piece came out of the kloof so i suspect it already has most of the tannins leached out. if it wasnt so big i would have kept it for my betta setup.

 

Nice pieces there windfire. When I saw that piece I got a chuckle when I thought what everyonr will be thinking " tree, tree , tree "

 

i know vis i was thinking tree tree tree when i saw it and it really is a nice piece if it fit in my betta setup it wouldnt be here lol. dolphin im sorry but troyfish has decided to take it, i'll post the new wood pics as soon as my bro gets home which is supose to be on sunday. maybe theres something in that lot you'll like. id like to point out that all the pieces were caried down mountains on various hikes in one of those felt type bags, thank goodness my boyfriend is helpful lol.

 

I am interested in these two Pieces

 

windfire whereabouts are you i can come round 2moro

 

What are you asking for the wood?
looking at a few smaller pieces as well. I am going up to JHB tomorrow so maybe I can collect if that is ok with you.

 

Gareth would you do 200 for the big piece and 50 for the other? the smaller piece is already soaking. not a prob i can pm you directions and we can sort out times and so on. oscar you can swing round as well if you want, if its too far i could take additional pics of the pieces you really like.

 

Wildfire how much of an issue would it be to get some to ctn? Definitely interested

 

Hi Guys,

Henk has asked me to comment on this thread, but before I comment I want to state that this does not mean that I necessarily agree with his opinion.

Firstly, let me say that I do not want to fuel this thread and that I think it can be resolved in an amicable way, because in principle I think we are all agreed about the issues that are being debated here. What has happened here is that a number of issues have become mixed and this is complicating matters.

The issues are:

1. Can persons advertise on TASA.
2. What are the laws and regulations regarding anything with regard to SA Nature Conservation.
3. What are the laws and regulations specifically with regard to wood collection.

Issue 1: Can persons advertise on TASA.

Answer: Yes, I think they should be allowed to do so. I do so with fishes that I breed and with food that I sell. Perhaps we should define somewhere what may be sold and then we don't run into issues once persons want to sell something, or is this defined somewhere, mods?

Issue 2: What are the laws and regulations regarding anything with regard to SA Nature Conservation.

Answer: TASA has decided on a route that it will support Nature Conservation authorities in trying to abide by laws and regulations. Having said this, TASA cannot go and check every law and regulation every time such as issue arises and we should also not even try to go and dig up every law and regulation, remember every province has different regulations. We should also not want to argue about this as in this thread, this is just simply not constructive. I think that the mods should just simply delete any threads where they think this may be an issue (and by saying this, I am not protesting specifically against this thread, mods you decide), and we as the users of this forum, must just simply accept that. It will stop these unnecessary arguments.

Issue 3: What are the laws and regulations specifically with regard to wood collection.

These laws and regulations are most probably quite clearly defined because of the collection of firewood and the collection of these logs would be subject to those regulations. As far as I know (in other words in my opinion, and please correct me if I am wrong), you can collect firewood on your own property for personal use, but when it comes to selling it, you have to abide by regulations. In all provinces, you are not allowed to harvest (either pick up or cut down the trees) wood for resale without a permit.

Having said this, in South Africa, who is going to regulate this? Nature Conservation authorities are stretched to the limit, they are underfunded and they are not popular (perlemoen and crayfish regulations come to mind). We should not make their lives more difficult, remember SA is as pretty as it is, primarily because of its beautiful nature and biodiversity. If you were to want to start a large wood business you would attract attention and then you would need permits. In the bushveld areas you would definitely not be permitted to chop down your natural trees on your property (I am quite sure that this is in this case). So, with regard to the few logs that are on offer here, this is not a big issue and we should not be burdening the authorities with this. If this wood sale were to expand however, then this does become an issue.

What I want to state is that all fishkeepers should be aware of the fact that most of the wood sold in the petshops at the moment is Mopani wood from Namibia. It is collected from Mopani veld which burns every couple of years and leaves these gnarled stumps just under the soil surface. After the fire the trees regrow from these stumps. Very few trees actually regrow from seed and then only very slowly. Farmers go and collect these stumps, clean them by sandblasting and sell them to the trade in VAST amounts (I do not know if permits are required from the Nam authorities). These stumps are anything from 100 to 400 years old, I would estimate. Is this justifiable? Perhaps we should first ask if this sustainable and it obviously is NOT. So, do we as aquarists support this? Well most of us do have these logs in our aquarium, so we are, although we might not want to admit it. They are also exported in vast quantities to overseas countries. So aquarists are supporting that areas are being denuded of Mopani. Mopani veld covers vast areas, so you may say this is OK. I don't know because local areas are denuded and are more likely to become eroded.

The firewood that is sold from Namibia is also not sustainable. The kameeldoring takes hundreds of years to grow to produce those stumps you are burning for your braai. I am not referring to the alien Prosopis bush that is used for charcoal manufacture. In SA authorities are concerned about this, but trade with Namibia is fragile and they do not want to ban it as a result. In SA much of the firewood that is sold is alien (blue gum, black wattle and rooikrans) and YOU DO NOT NEED A PERMIT TO CHOP OFF ALIENS. So the locals are allowed to sell this stuff next to the road, no problem, but not indigenous wood.

Having said all this, you as an aquarist can decide if you want to buy this driftwood from any source, or whether you will go for a walk along a river or on the beach when next on holiday and collect your own two or three stumps and come to your own decision whether your aquarium is a threat to our nature. You decide!

What I would like to ask you guys, is if we can please discuss nice fishy and plant issues instead of these arguments please, they are not constructive. I have stated my case and will not fuel the argument after this again (please excuse the pun).

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Right.

You have all had your say.
You will notice that 75% of the posts have been deleted.

We as the moderators have decided amongst ourselves to let this thread continue, regardless of certain people's views or points of view. I have personally been in contact with Windfire, who has aknowledged her mistake, she apologized to myself and the moderators, and we as the moderatoring team are going to allow this thread to continue for a period of 5 weeks. (Unless windfire requests us to close it sooner).

Let me also be the first one to say that the way some of you guys conducted your posting in this thread was pathetic, uncalled for, and absolutely attrocious!! Someone put it so aptly.. creating a storm in a tea-cup.

Please note that from now on, if anyone has a problem with a thread, they are to (1) PM the author of the thread, and (2) click the "report abuse" icon. This is the red and white triangle you see on the posts, with the "!" mark in it. This send all moderators a message. If you do not give a comprehensive reason as to why you reported the post, we will not know why you are reporting it.
No public reporting in the forum will be tolerated any further. I do not care who you are, or how much power and information you think you may have. There is a way to deal with issues.

Thank you.

Ashley

 

Hi Zoom,

My post is now out of place and you should feel free to delete it as well.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Professor,
For those of us who have followed this thread, I feel that your post is still informative and sheds light on some of the facts. Thanks for sharing with us outside of your "Ask the Professor" threads, and clarifying some interesting facts.

Lovely wood, Windfire, pity that the "tree" one is taken!!

Oh, and Zoom... +1

 

milsky im not sure i would think it would depend on they weight of the piece your interested in yeah? which pieces are you looking at?

 

i havent been on the forum since last night so didnt see any posts after my question, so again i ask, windfire, do you by chance know if this is hardwood or not?

 

Sorry Ferryman. I took that question off. It was all jumbled in the mess. My mistake. Widnfire did reply... she said she didn't know.

 

Hey,

where can I view these and maybe take some?

Regards

 

the pics are in my album private ryan. if you want to view them in person then please pm me and i can give you my address and we can sort out a time and day

 

Thanks, are you in Pretoria?