Fish prices at LFS are weird to me.

[inachu]

I would think a baby fish would be worth more than an adult any day as you can keep a baby/immature fish a lot longer than an adult.

So a baby purple tang is $29.00 but as an adult it is $179.00

real crazy!

[crvz]

But often the juveniles don't make it to adulthood... and many fish will easily outlive a system even as adults. But if you could pick up that baby purple tang and ship it to me, I've been looking for one!

[Gold Stripe]

Babies die off. Mature fish are obviously hardier because they have made it this far. Also, people are impatient. They dont want to wait on a small fish to grow, they want a showpiece now so they are willing to pay more for it. Same reason large corals go for more than frags. People dont want to wait, they want it NOW!

[Tswifty]

Juevenilles are harder to care for, have a lower survival rate, and often times have not developed their full coloration yet.

[agreeive?fish]

What people WILL pay for the fish is what determines the cost of a fish... personally i prefer to buy teenagers as the kidos have a lower survival rate than the teens and the adults have had time to get accustom to the wild adult diet and often times wont adjust to captive diets ( this is just my opinion based upon my suceeses/failures)

[CoralCaps]

Pretty much what everyone else said. I've seen stores with baby Blue Hippos barely bigger than a 50 cent piece for $30. By the time you get one that will make it, could have bought a 3" one for $100.

I wouldn't buy a nearly full grown tang from a LFS or a baby, just doesn't seem like the really big and really small ones accept captive diets as readily as the middle sized ones. Maybe that's just my experience, I don't know. Never had an issue with 2-3" tangs.

[BurntOutReefer]

hey inachu...too make you happy...if you want, i'll sell you a baby purple for $179.00

[inachu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13092588#post13092588 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BurntOutReefer
hey inachu...too make you happy...if you want, i'll sell you a baby purple for $179.00


LOL yeah riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.


But the way everyone explained it so yeah it makes sense now.

[Apercula]

Freight is a huge factor in fish pricing, if you can get 12 small fish in the same box that only holds 4 large fish the shipping price per fish is much less for the small fish.

[jkdsr78]

I guess it depends on where you live. I lived in Louisiana before I moved to Alabama, and the LFS sold adult purple tangs for $75.