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Thread: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

  1. #46
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    Quote Originally Posted by kalawai View Post
    I throughly enjoyed this thread... The passion in opinions on how the hobby has changed by pocketbook. After buying a big aquarium at a very good price I’m having to try and clean the hard water grime and old nasty gravel it had in it, time and patience has come into play. It’ll be awhile before I’m thinking to get any livestock.
    In the nineties when Zebra Plecos weren’t as expensive as they are now... I had a small colony and they did produce young and sold them to local shops and fellow aquarist. I never really made much money on them...just went back to aquarium supplies. I made the decision to sell off my colony...Boy, what stupid thing to do.
    At the time, I didn’t see what would happen as these fish became harder to acquire as they became illegal to collect. I never should have done that...live and learn.
    soak towels in vinegar and lay over the hard water residue, let it soak for a while, and it should wipe off.

  2. #47
    Registered Member kalawai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    Thank you... I’ll try that.

  3. #48
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    Quote Originally Posted by ssevasta View Post
    I think several posters here seem to have the assumption that I don’t understand market dynamics, this is not the case. All I am trying to say is that it’s unfortunate that cost has become a prohibitive bar to entry for a lot of people. In my personal opinion, that isn’t good for any particular species that we raise. The $60,000 Koi or $10,000 show winning Discus aren’t great examples because they don’t represent average fish or the cost of an average fish within their species market. Like anything else that takes a lot of time and dedication people like to feel that they accomplished something and it appears that certain people seem to get more of a rise from it when they can say well my fish cost “$$$” insert high figure. Not to mention if greed had nothing to do with it then the fish on aquabid’s prices would be much closer to what a hobbyist breeder would charge for an F1 or F2 juvenile.
    Its good to see that you are trying to be part of the solution, rather than just whining about the problem.

    Was the same case with Discus (amongst other fish) in my country, but then local hobbyist & a few fish sellers started breeding them and the costs came down. Guess once you start breeding the plecos and then others use your juveniles & do the same, the prices of those exotic Plecos will also drop.

  4. #49
    Registered Member ssevasta's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    Just a breif update on my zebra pleco project. I was able to find an amazing deal on some adult zebras locally within thirty minutes drive from my house. Sadly a fellow hobbyist got cancer and had to sell off his fish so he offered to sell me his three adult zebras for $340. He suspected that all three of them are females. I’m going to be taking some pictures of them later today using my DSLR, the battery was dead and I had to charge it overnight because it had been collecting dust for the past few years. Another hobbyist contacting me by email and had offered to sell me some of his 4 year old male zebras for $200 each, so I after I confirm that these are females im going to buy two males next week. I’m going to send out above and below high resolution pictures to Jeremy Basch, Eric Bodrock, and Chris Leighton to get confirmation on the sexes for the three adults I bought. I’ll update the thread with some pictures later tonight.

  5. #50
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    cool

  6. #51
    Registered Member ssevasta's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    I made three separate Flickr albums and each album has pictures of that individual zebra pleco. I know that these guys are in pretty rough shape but they were rescues and I’m hoping that they’ll bounce back and put on some weight with a regimen of a good variety of fresh food and super clean water. I’m sure their fins will heal up in time too.

    https://flickr.com/photos/156986294@...57690057411512
    https://flickr.com/photos/156986294@...57690057423882
    https://flickr.com/photos/156986294@...57692196353194
    Last edited by ssevasta; 02-02-2018 at 03:31 PM.

  7. #52
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    good luck, you intend to breed right?

  8. #53
    Registered Member ssevasta's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    After I rehabilitate and recondition these guys I would hope they breed for me in the future. I have an order of some additional caves arriving next week and I’m also ordering a few pieces of cypress Driftwood to add to my tank. I think I’m probably still going to purchase the additional two adult males next week as well. Once I get the the extra males that will bring my total to five adults and hopefully that’ll be enough to establish a small breeding group.

  9. #54
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    best of luck

    i'm not a big fan of plecs, but these are nice, so if you get a spawn....remember your friends on SD : )

  10. #55
    Registered Member ssevasta's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fish priced into oblivion and out of the hobby

    I’ll be sure to let my friends here on SD be the first to know when I have any signs of breeding activity. Today I received another group of four adult males that range in age from 4-8 years old. The original owner was a hobbyist breeder in Boston who recently had a baby and had to sell off his breeding group. When he contacted me via email he offered to sell me the four males for $200 each plus $40 for overnight USPS delivery with a live arrival guarantee. This brings my group upto 7 adults with 2 females and 5 males. It could be 3 females because one of the suspected males has traits of both sexes but regardless it’s a good ratio for starting a breeding group based on what experts have told me. Altogether I spent $1,180 for the 7 adults including shipping. The biggest takeaway that I’ve learned from this experience is that if you’re willing to take the time to post ads on sites like planetcatfish.com, zebrapleco.com, plecoplanet.com, and here on SD that eventually people will contact you with offers. It’s really just a matter of sorting thru all the offers to make sure you get the best deal possible and don’t get scammed either in the process. Based on what many people think the going market rate of $350+ for a mature adult fish is, I saved over $1,300 on my group. If you hunt for the best deal and stay patient your experience should be similar or better than mine. Happy hunting guys.

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