Aquarium selling banned fish busted

It is against the law to sell the black ruby barb, a native fish

By Risidra Mendis

Acting on a tip off, the Flying Squad of the Department of Wildlife and Conservation (DWC) recently raided an aquarium in Nawala. Officer in Charge of the Flying Squad/Assistant Director DWC Upali Padmasiri found around 10 pairs of black ruby barbs being kept for sale at this aquarium.

This fish species was taken into the custody of the DWC on October 14 and the aquarium owner was produced in courts and fined Rs 15,000 on October 15.
Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Padmasiri said it is illegal to sell black ruby barbs, as they are endemic to Sri Lanka.

“We went on the pretext of buying these fish,” Padmasiri said. “We bought the fish from the aquarium and then took the owner into custody and produced him in courts. We handed over the black ruby barbs to the National Zoological Gardens after they were used as evidence in courts.  The black ruby barb is most often exported by fish breeders under the pretence that it is a tiger barb. These fish breeders sell the damaged fish in the country and illegally export the good healthy fish.”

He added that some people don’t know the difference between the black ruby barb and the Tiger barb.

“The Tiger barb has five black stripes across its body, while the black ruby barb has only three black stripes across its body,” Padmasiri said. “Even though the country earns foreign exchange through the export of these fish, our priority is to first take precautionary measures to protect the remaining numbers of black ruby barbs in the country.”

Meanwhile, aquarium officials allege that due to the negligence of the wildlife officials most of the black ruby barbs taken from the aquarium died before they were produced in courts. “The wildlife officials put these fish in chlorinated water and most of them died,” an aquarium official said.
In response to this allegation Padmasiri said that none of the fish died as they were supplied with the required oxygen and water conditions after they were taken from the aquarium.

“We didn’t know that we couldn’t sell black ruby barbs,” the aquarium official said. “We bought these fish from a supplier because we thought we could sell them. The Wildlife officials told us that it is illegal to sell or breed black ruby barbs. If it is illegal to sell these fish then why are the authorities allowing them to be exported?”