xroads wrote:He starts the waiting list when the eggs hatch. He only raises a batch every few months or so to keep up the impression that they are hard to come by & spawn every few months.
Xroads, just for the record, after seeing these responses I'm pretty sure we are probably talking about completely different situations, and different stores. The store i just cited does not raise up batches of Black Ocellaris. So, is there a third store in the Chicago area that's selling Black Ocellaris at $120 a shot right now?
You also have me wondering - it sounds like you're describing Rod Buehler @ Rod's Reef, and I'll have to come to his defense
if that's the case because it would mean you have your fish confused (for the record I've never been to Rod's shop..I need to get out there sometime). Rod raises and is known for Onyx Perculas, which are completely different than Black Ocellaris although some people get them confused. Onyx Perculas are currently rarer than Black Ocellaris. Onyx Perculas DO tend to sell for around $75 as 1-1.5"
CB fish, and yes, they easily can go for $200 a pair on up into the thousands. Average online price in the Jan '09 survey was $64.99, but the truth is that half the time, you simply cannot find Onyx Percs at all. There is always SOMEONE that has Black Ocellaris.
The thing about the breeder not producing every spawn...well that's just SMART. OVERPRODUCTION is a very real problem in fish breeding...the last thing you want to do is to produce to much and then flood the market. That's one reason I haven't bothered to rear another batch of my own Onyx Percs in about a year now...
I will also say this - Black Ocellaris ARE hard to spawn for many people. My pair spawns only infrequently (every few months), has only a couple hundred eggs at most, and has yet to let a nest run to term. Meanwhile I got my spawning regular Ocellaris for $50, and they now spawn every 10 days laying down nests approaching 1000 eggs. So yes, there are difficulties with Black Ocellaris...they are much more rare than a regular ocellaris, so they DO deserve a higher price than a regular ocellaris - as per the January clownfish survey, the average online retail price is $42.63.
This LFS is the same one that sells a single stalk of common zenia for $50. B&W clowns for $125. The discussion was what is hurting the LFS's & this is an issue I see with this one.
A stalk of Xenia is actually a very different matter...remember Xenia doesn't ship well. While "advanced hobbyists" often consider Xenia to be a plague and a pest, novices love the stuff. And while it grows easily, most "advanced hobbyists" make the mistake of GIVING IT AWAY. Meanwhile, due to the problems with shipping, cultured Xenia continues to fetch a fair price - $30-$40 on LiveAquaria.com. So is $50 at the
LFS really an unfair price when we're talking $30-40 for the same thing online? Knowing that hobbyists are giving the stuff away vs. even trying to cultivate relationships with shops who might buy the stuff has really screwed up the market for it. In other words, here's a case of HOBBYISTS UNDERPRICING something and again, shooting themselves in the foot! But, this was a thread about LFSs...
