In what could be a unique achievement in the state and the country, Luis D’Cruz has successfully
attempted captive breeding of fresh water stingrays. A passion for the popular
Salcete boy, Café explores his collection that have for years, left visitors
awestruck
Karsten Miranda
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If you’re from the south, chances are you know who Luis Joaquim
D’Cruz is. And if you know Luis, then you have probably heard about his love
and passion for exotic ornamental fish.
Professionally from the computers industry, Luis is a pet lover
and a vivid hobbyist who has always reared fishes and birds since childhood.
“Pets being my passion, I have dedicated my youth to the upkeep
and breeding of good quality birds and exotic fishes,” says Luis, while showing
his collection at his home in Per- Seraulim.
“From a very young age of just 8 years, I was in love with birds
and fishes. The passion for pets, especially for birds and fishes, pushed me to
the limits which made me shut my flourishing business and pursue my childhood
passion to a full time business model. I, being a unique person got interested
in unique and exotic fishes. I chose the king of the aquarium, the discus…” adds
Luis, while talking about his interesting journey.
Today he is the exclusive dealer for IP Discus, Malaysia, for
the state of Goa.
In the year 2014, a new craze caught my eye – the fresh water
stingray. True to his nature, he knew he had to add this to his collection and
he went on to acquire eight pieces of the stingray at a whopping price. “Though
there was very less literature and information known at that point of time in
India, I still took up keeping stingrays as a challenge,” quips Luis.
And recently, his hard work and patience was rewarded when one
of the stingrays gave birth to 3 lovely cute pups.
This brings us to his rare achievement.
“As far as my knowledge goes, and as per mentioned by the
stalwarts of the ornamental fish industry, I would be the first to successfully
attempt and succeed in captive breeding of fresh water stingrays in India,”
states Luis.
When asked to elaborate as to why this has only happened now in
India and if it was a case of needing the right conditions and settings for the
breeding to happen.
“As far as I can say, the awareness for stingray is yet to be
created. It would roughly be around 5-5.5 years that the stingray was
introduced to the Indian hobbyist. Since I consider myself a bit more
enthusiastic than the others in the trader/hobby I took it up as a challenge to
learn the behaviour of this species and try to breed them. The result is in
front of you, 3 little lovely and healthy pups,” adds Luis.
Currently, aquaculture is prevalent in South East Asian Countries
mainly like Hongkong, Thailand and Malaysia.
Speaking about his future plans given this achievement, Luis
pointed out that he is in the process of making a proposal which would be
forwarded to the Fisheries Ministry, to promote this as an occupation. “It
could potentially create job opportunities for our youth. The government has
reserved grants which can be utilized for such projects,” adds Luis.
While his sole focus is on stingrays and setting up a
professional stingray breeding facility in the future, there is a lot more that
has generated a buzz among the Goan audience and tourists alike.
Along with IP Discus and Stingrays, he has a few exotic and wild
caught species from the Amazon and he is currently venturing to breed them as
well.
What adds warmth to his small and niche set up is that it is
located in a home setting, which is handled by Luis and his wife Victoria. It’s
has slowly evolved into a family business now and it has all the ingredients
such as hard work, patience and persistence for it to scale up higher.
In
a state of hobbyist and breeders from the aquaculture, Luis has put Goa on the
world map and that can already be seen with the kind of feedback and praise his
collection and recent achievements have achieved from the Goan community.
