Natives- Pricing and Availability

[cichlidan]

Hi all

I am dragging out the fish tank once again after being overseas for a very long time and I am looking at moving into some natives this time around.

I am after some advice as to roughly how much a juvenile mangrove jack and a juvenile saratoga would/should set me back. One LFS quoted $110 on a juvey MJ and said I would need to wait at least another month until they come into season because they are all wild caught- is that correct??

Anyway I was just wondering if this price is a fair one. Have a feeling they jack (haha jack-get it- ) the price up when u start making special requests beyond what they are stocking.

SO in summary Im after

1. Price on Juvey MJ
2. Price on Juvey Saratoga
3. Where I can get these from in Sydney (North region but willing to travel if necessary)

Thanks alot

Dan

[novafishy]

Hey Dan,

What sort of Saratoga are you after? There are 2 types - Leichardti and Jardini. I personally like the latter as they look nicer. Jardinis I have noticed are also slightly more expensive than its brother. You're looking at about $70-80 for Jardinis, which will be much more plentiful towards the end of the year. Knock off about $10-20 for the Leichardti.

Sorry, but I don't know jack about MJ's

[Ducksta]

Yes they are all wild caught.

$110 seems very reasonable to me, they range up to about $160 for a 6-7cm model IME.

A toga will be slightly cheaper.

Putting them in a tank together is likely to end up a WWF cage of death match.

[cichlidan]

Thanks

I was aware of the two types of saratoga but havent decided which one to go for yet as opinion seems to vary as to which is the more aggressive of the two.

Thanks for the advice ducksta. I have no idea about these fish as I have always kept cichlids although I know the Jacks are renown for their aggressive strikes when fishing for em. So is it at all possible to mix a jack with a toga? I was thinking maybe because the MJ hangs down the bottom and the toga at the top that it would be alright, especially with a half a dozen rainbows as dither fish. Am I being delusional here??

The tank is not huge its 250litres 3ft by 1.5ft by 2ft. I know these fish get big, especially the toga but I will either get rid of them or get a bigger tank when the time comes.

Advice much appreciated!!

Thanks guys

[Rumpig]

Gidday,

I'd say that the tank you are planning on putting these fish in is to small for either of them, alright for a while but both fish get big and need a fair bit of space.

I had a small MJ in a 4x1.5x1.5 which killed everything I had in there with him, including an archer that was about triple his size.

Rainbows are just feeders to jacks regardless of the size!

And you'll be looking at about the $110+ mark for a jack

Cheers

Mick

[littleV]

mate try that fish shop at manly they have a wicked range of natives

[petshopdude]

i have a feeling you will be feeding your jack a niced juicy toga, i wouldn't put the two together in a 6ft tank let alone a three, the only other fish i have seen with jacks are americans and mean ones, festea, green terrors, convicts, however i have seen toga with a number of native fish of same size, price wise jacks over $100, togas really go down when breeding season is at its peak, and make surfe you have lids for your toga, avoids heartbreak and a damged wallet:)

[genetik_defekt]

I bought my, saratoga about this time a few years back i ended up buying two to start of with really small from rockdale at $50 each probs about 5cm in lenth but feed em up and they grow really quickly oh and one per tank this time of year is good to buy em small as they're cheap!!

[Rumpig]

I saw a nice MJ at Auburn the other week for $300

Also saw a hell of a lot of jacks, fingermark, archers, bows, threadfins, cattys, gudgeons, mouth almightys, etc, etc in the middle of town in Townsville last week

It is really amazing watching these fish in their natural habitat*.

Cheers

Mick

*The boulders in a retaining wall isn't exactly a natural habitat I know but it's still good to watch