Fair Price For 200-250 Cardinal Tetras?

[Blur.fx]

I wish there was a better forum for my question but there doesn't seem to be...

How much should I expect to pay for 200 to 250 Cardinals from my LFS? In the past they have sold me 50 Otocinclus species for $1.00 a piece.

I filled my 240 gallon (8' x 2' x 2') tank a week ago and am counting down to adding some fish eventually, but in the meantime I'm just tweaking the noisy return pump and noisy overflow...

[RyanH]

If you can get them to sell you Cardinals for a buck apiece, that would be very reasonable IMO.

[JasonBR]

Blur, expect to pay $1.99 each for them...Although I have seen them as high as $3.49 each...I would say approx. $500.00 for 250 of them...MAKE SURE YOU GET A HEALTHY BATCH!...HEALTHY ONES are very difficult to find.

Jason

[Willie]

You can assume that they're getting cardinals for $0.75 each. Then ask yourself what is a reasonable profit for them. They're laying the money out. They're taking the exposure for DOAs. I'd think that if they made $100, the store owner would do it for you. If you think about what's fair for the LFS, you'll come up with a reasonable price.

When you get the cardinals, don't just throw them into the big tank. Put them into a 55 or 40 for conditioning. That means start with absolutely clean warm water, RO would be beneficial, use a powerhead for vigorous aeration, and feed with bbs for a week. They're starved and they've been in horrific conditions for 5 - 6 weeks. Give them a chance to survive. Most LFS never feed their cardinals. IME, its not disease but starvation that causes high losses.

Willie

[Blur.fx]

Yeah I was thinking I should jump on it if I'm told $1.00 a piece. Is there a season on them, or are they pretty much a year round commodity being close to the equator? I'd think there'd be a breeding season.

Obviously I'm a couple months off but curiousity is killing me. ;)

[Blur.fx]

Thanks for the info, Willie. They'd have to spend some time in my quarantine setup, which is two 29 gallon acrylic tanks with a third made into a wet/dry filter. I should be able to easily change 100% of the volume daily with RO water.

I'm assuming bbs is baby brine shrimp?

[Willie]

Yes, feed baby brine shrimp.

I've done exactly the same thing you do. I brought in 125 cardinals for my 75 gal discus tank. They went into a 55 to fatten up for a week. I was able to arrange with an importer (who's now out of business). They come in boxes of 600. The importer took the rest of them to LFS for distribution the following day.

He was amazed when I paid him. Every LFS reported 100% loss for his cardinals and he got stiffed. I lost a single fish.

Willie

[Blur.fx]

Thanks for sharing your experience, I appreciate the knowledge!

I'll be sure to have some bbs on hand on delivery day. :)

[RandalB]

Jumbo Cardinals wholesale for $0.06-$0.10 each. Figure shipping, fees, etc $0.35-0.50 each for shop cost.

HTH,
RandalB

[Mr. Limpet]

Jumbo Cardinals are probably the best bet for limiting losses, but they have aready spent half of their life up getting Jumbo. The smaller you can get them the longer they will last, but the trade off is the smaller ones are much more delicate. Just thought that I would throw that in.
I haven't had Cardinals in years, but they are still one my favorites.
Good Luck, Paul.

[RandalB]

Find a shop that deals with Seagrest farms in FL, They sell the US Tank raised ones..

$0.67 each wholesale but worth it...

RandalB

[Dave C]

Oliver @ Belowwater sells them for $0.60 Cdn (about $0.50 U.S.) and $0.50 Cdn if you take a full box (about 500-600 Cardinals). You can email him at oliver@belowwater.com. He doesn't like to ship such small orders but will do it if he has other shipments that he has to go to the airport for.

[Jason]

I'm waiting to try the new cardinal strain, golden platinum or something, $10usd a piece...ouch

[RandalB]

Segrest also has the Gold Cardinals, $1.00 each at wholesale...

RandalB

[Jason]

Hi Randal,

thats really cheap! do you have any contact info for them? I've wanted these babies for a long time!

[RandalB]

Sorry Jason,
They are a wholesale (Only sell to retail locations..) fish farm in Gibsontown Florida. They have a store locator on their website, I just threw that price out so you don't get hosed by the LFS if you want to have them order you some...

www.segrestfarms.com (http://www.segrestfarms.com/)


RandalB
RandalB

[Jason]

Hi Randal,

Thanks I gave them a call, they did'nt have what I was looking for, they import a natural ocuring type, I'm after the tank-bred ones.

[JeffreyRichard]

Willie is right on ... most importers don't fee the fish and it is weakness or starvation that does in most cardinals. A friend of mine imports and has had tremendous success with Cardinals ... he keeps them for several weeks and pumps them full of live baby brine shrimp, and the get's them to eat flake/frozen.