Live Stream #3 from Into the Amazon – Brazil 2018 is now on our YouTube channel!
Live from an aquarium fish export facility in Belem, Brazil! This is the first export facility we visited during Into The Amazon – Brazil 2018 and we weren’t exactly sure what to expect. Would the facilities be clean? Modern? Would the employees and owners be welcoming and would they speak any English? We were pleasantly surprised on all counts.
Cameras packed, we hopped into an Uber. It was finally see some aquarium fish! The address we gave the Uber driver was incorrect so he brought us to the wrong place! We had the phone number of the exporter but since there hadn’t been time to get a local SIM card for my phone yet, we had to have the Uber driver call them for us. He got the correct address and a fair price was negotiated to get us to the new address, 15 minutes away.
This being our first time traveling around the city of Belem and not knowing any better, we opened the doors to get out of the car. Our driver motioned that we should NOT get out, we needed to stay in the car while he called them and they opened the door for us. Apparently it isn’t safe to just wait in the streets in Belem, especially not with the camera gear we had with us. He made the call and they came to the door and let us in.
Walking into the facility a wave of sticky, thick, humid air hit us as we looked around with wide eyes. Rows upon rows of bins and tanks, wall to wall, filled with wild caught fish, ready to be ordered and shipped across the world.
We were welcomed warmly by the owners and employees. Luckily they spoke a little English and we were able to communicate with a some help from Google Translate. We started by walking around and just looking at everything they had in stock. The tubs and tanks were filled with plecos, knifefish, discus, cichlids and more.
Our first impressions were positive, the aquarium fish looked healthy, fins were in good shape and the water was clean. We started pointing out fish we were particularly interested in and they took them out so we could see better. One young employee was clearly very proud to be the one handling the fish and showing them off to us.
Moving into the next room we saw it was lined with huge holding tubs containing the larger sized plecos. They took us around the room, showing off their stock of monster aquarium fish. We were like kids in a candy shop. They had L27 of several varieties, L25, L14, L96, L185, L160 and a variety of others.
L 25 7 Pointer Scarlets 
L14 Sao Felix Sunshine 
L96 
L27 
L24 Red Fin Cactus
After seeing pretty much every tank and tub in the facility it was time to head to the air conditioned office for some business discussion and to learn more about how they operate. Google Translate came in quite useful for some of the more in depth discussion. They were happy to share intricacies of their company and how their processes work. This was a first glimpse into the behind the scenes world of an aquarium fish export facility. The conversation was fascinating and we soaked in as much information as they had to share.
It was amazing how open and willing they were to answer any questions we could think of. We hadn’t expected such a warm and inviting welcoming and hoped it would be a theme throughout the rest of our journey.
After five hours of discussion, observation and having lunch with them it was time to leave. We had gotten to watch the employees do water changes, learned about how they treated their water and started to wrap our heads around the complex chain of events that needs to take place to get those fish from the river to their facility. It was decided that our goal for this trip would be to follow that chain of events from start to finish. From the fishermen to our facility in the USA.
It’s easy to talk nonchalantly about this chain of events, as if we all know and understand it. Clearly this is what needs to happen to get the aquarium fish from the river to our facility in the USA. However, it would be an entirely different thing to see it with our own eyes. How are the aquarium fish collected? How are they handled and cared for as they make their way across the vast remoteness of Brazil, to the exporter? How does the exporter handle and care for them to prepare them for their international journey? Who are the people along the way? Do they really care about the fish or is it simply a means of income?
This first export facility was a launching off point for the rest of our trip. We left having this small glimpse into what was to come in the following 26 days and we were electrified at the thought of it!
Join us for the rest of the journey as we find out the answers to each of those questions. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel so you don’t miss the Official YouTube Series: Into The Amazon – Brazil 2018 when it premieres in January! Keep an eye on our Facebook page for tidbits and teasers as the series nears it’s premiere date.
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