Alan Posted February 11, 2004 Share Posted February 11, 2004 There is not a lot of sense complaining about the price of Pl****s in the LFS as the price depends on what sort of a breeding season the guys farming these fish have in any particular year. Untill the last month or so it has been pretty cool for Summer here in S.E. Qld and there has not been a lot of spawning activity. In fact there are NO common pl****s available at the moment. Even all last year's stocks are sold out. There are still a few Gold Pl****s from last year available but they are in the 8, 10, 12, & 15 cm SL range and consequenty a bit on the exy side. (what do you expect for 1 year old + fish). The same with Sailfin pl****s, only 8 & 10 cm fish from last season on the market atm. It was a poor season for G joselinaianus (Gold spot Sailfins) last year and the price went to twice what it has been in previous years. Some still available. There is no point comparing prices here with prices O/Seas as Pl****s cannot be imported and we are reliant on local producers. For example Zebra plecos are 1/10 the price O/seas or even NewZeaLand for that matter, to what we pay here IF and WHEN they are available. Alan. PS. There are some extremely tiny pl****s just hit the retail market here in the last week for just under $10, but they are so small that they are only just free swimming and IMO not eating yet . Buy at your own peril. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilsta Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 Oh i see but why do they expect such a high price for them? and why isnt that they cant import them, they seem to import nearly everything else. plus your telling me that plecos are seasonal breeding fish and that is why they are so hard to find and hard to come by in local fish stores... i just think thats its a joke. does this mean that we sell local fish such as salmontail catfish at such an expensive price over in the states i dont think so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 Hate to tell you, but salmontails in the USA are about US$30 for a 4"!! (Source: another US board I read and contribute to). Regrettably AQIS (or whatever they call themselves this week) makes decisions for reasons best known to themselves about what we can and can't have and we can't do a darned thing about it. One of their biggest reasons for making some choices is that some people manage to release exotica into our waterways and cause all sorts of grief. Think of it this way - Oscars aren't native to Florida but they are now a popular game fish there. Snakeheads aren't native to Washington State, but now they are causing troubles there. I'm sure there are similarly horrendous examples in Australia. Why do conmmercial breeders charge so much? Easy! They plan on a revenue amount from a given livestock for a given year, plus x% growth to accomodate other cost-of-goods-sold (COGS) and expense categories increasing each year. If their asset fails to produce their estimate, the per unit cost of the produce (offspring in this case) has to be increased in order to ensure the sustainability of the business. If you want to be really ill, an industry insider told me plecos have a cost to the retailer of about $25 (ex freight which is amortised over the whole shipment, so probably really eqautes to $0.50 per unit of livestock in a standard order for an average 'fish only' shop). Now think about the sale price per unit... Profit in business is a necessity to stay in business and have reasonable reward for the effort of opening and running the business. Alan: Thanks for the info about why the price is exorbitant at the moment. Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted February 12, 2004 Author Share Posted February 12, 2004 First and foremost Pl****s have not been on the legal or allowable import list for over 20 years. Prior to that there was no restrictions on them. Theoreticaly there have been no imports of bristlenose, common Pl****s, Gibbies , royals, sturisoma, or what ever Loricaridae (with a couple of exceptions) since the the Biodiversity act sched 6 was introduced. Secondly, Pl****s are bred in large outdoor earth ponds and it is not only temperature that governs whether they spawn or not. There are a lot of variables as in any farming venture whether it is cabbages, oranges or fish . Thirdly, yes they are seasonal breeders, even in the wild. Even the Pl****s that are caught in the wild and exported from South America to Europe and the U.S. are seasonal. Then you have to understand marketing etc. A breeder may only get $5 for a fish that has taken six months to grow, but will be five times that price or more by the time it gets to the LFS. For example, I sell my bristlenose to the distributors at $1 ea for 3 cm SL fish (or 4 and a bit cm TL) How often do you see BN at that size in the LFS under $5 ???? If you want a cheap small common Pl***o at a reasonable price, then wait a few months till this season's crop is harvested. Then, if it has been a good year, you may get a bargain. Alan. PS You want to buy a Saratoga in Tokyo?? Better have a thousand dollars US in your pocket or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevkoi Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 Oh, schedule 6 is such a bitch ain't it? The allowable import list is really quite a joke. The allowable import list is 2pages of an A4 sheet of paper..... Most LFS carry 'non allowable import' fish anyway thanks to various local breeders. (Bristlenose are not allowable imports, electric yellows are not legal imports, frontosa are not importable....) None of the loricaridae are on the import list and as it's been said b4, don't compare prices of plecos here to anywhere else in the world. We have the MOST expensive plecos anywhere in the world I believe, thanks to AQIS. In Asia, the gibbi, L1 or gold pleco go for about $0.50 for a 6cm fish and available all year round.... and not seasonal. So if you want them cheap, maybe move over there. ..... then u can have plecos galore! zebras for $35, panaques for $15... u name it. Also, if you like to keep Australian natives, u might also consider moving to Asia as well..... Saratoga jardini at 10cm, farmed and bred over there go for $15 (Here u're expected to pay $100+ for them at the same size!), various australian rainbows such as M.trifaciata "Wonga Creek" going for $3.50 for a 6cm fish........ It almost sucks keeping fish in Australia all thanks to Quarantine laws. Native fish cannot be imported either. .... in short, Australian natives that the States gets for instance usually doesn't come from Australia. They are bred overseas, most likely in Asia where labour is cheap, land and water are plentiful. The only aquarium fish that I believe Australia farms to export are the Australian lungfish, but that's only because they are CITES protected and require a microchip and certificate to be sold/traded. ... but what do we do? The harder it is to find the fish, the more expensive it is, the more ppl want them. Guilty as charged... kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonBayern Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 Thankx for all that I keep all this in mind.... Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 I agree so much on pricing... Some of my mates live in Jahor Bahru in Malaysia and fish prices for really exotic stuff, let alone the 'usual' stuff are so cheap it's not funny. Prices are often in the AUD$0.xx range for the good stuff in regular Malawis and Tangs, let alone any tank busters or funny stuff. Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest big bad burundi Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 From what ive heard they have been a little scarce simply because of the drought conditions we have had here in last couple years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barra Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 wow thanks guys, this has been a really good read thanks for sharing this information. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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