inflation on livestock prices

[geaux xman]

I've only been in the hobby for about a couple of years. While I dont keep corals, I've noticed fish prices has steadily gone up. I understand price increases is required as business cost increases. I just find it interesting and dont mind paying a little extra to help keep some of these business running.

Just last yr, achilles was selling for $150 at my LFS. Now he sells it for 190.

Occasionally I will see a thread where someone would say Clarion angels was only a few hundred bucks back in the hay day.

Good thing I'm not killing fish in fast fashion like when I first started. QT-QT-QT.

Anything you guys noticed or bought cheap and now its gone up?

[secrest]

I've been wondering the same thing lately. I got back into the hobby a few months ago after taking a break for a couple years. Back then a purple tang was about 60-70 bucks, now the prices have doubled. Not sure what causes this to happen.

[fishyfish22]

ive only been in the hobby for a little over a year, but i've noticed the prices growing. you'd think that with more fish breeding in captivity and being more available, the prices would go down.

[muteturkey]

There has been talk about extreme limitations of harvesting fish from Hawaii lately. I don't know if it has been made into a law yet but since populations of various fish have been on a decrease around there they were planning on limiting to help repopulate fish. I know many species of tangs are harvested there, especially yellow.

[albano]

Red Sea fish are definitely higher, because there are less shipments available...
but not everything is up...for example...in the early 70's a flame angel was $50...which was actually MUCH higher than the $50 in 'todays' dollars!

In this area of 'metro' NY, in a 30 mile radius, flame angels can be bought RETAIL for ~$28, up to well over $100 :eek: ...just a matter of where you want to shop!

[snorvich]

When an increased money supply chases a fixed amount of goods and services, prices rise.

[geaux xman]

I bought 5 lemonpeels from LA about 6 weeks ago for $30 lg size. Was looking at them today and now its $35. No biggie, would buy again. Quality fish, 14day guarantee.. can't top that.

[AJReefKeeper]

There are a lot of factors that can cause prices to rise, so I won't address those.

I just wanted to offer my perspective as well. I started my first salt water aquarium around 1993. I had lion fish, tangs, trigger fish, eels, angels, puffers, and others over the years. I then got into keeping reef tanks around 1994. Corals, inverts, and fish were all fairly reasonably priced from what I remember. I don't remember there being too many "boutique" or "designer" corals like I see today. Zoas on rocks were simply bought and sold as polyp rock. Today, I see all kinds of fancy names for different color zoas and polyps that command astronomical prices.

Thank goodness I found a pretty good LFS who sells livestock at reasonable prices. I just don't choose to buy the 3/4" coral frags I see for $100+, no matter how rare they may be. $100+ for "designer" clownfish...I will pass.

[greech]

My LFS has been struggling to find wholesale corals at reasonable prices. They have been searching for alternate suppliers and recently went as far as having some livestock transshipped to avoid the wholesale markup. From speaking to them, it appears to be a combination of increased cost for lot fees and some bad weather in some areas which has limited supply. Seems to be lots of Indonesian corals on the market though.

[jasonrstewart79]

I've completely stopped purchasing from lfs in our area... doing all my livestock purchases via trades with fellow reefers. Makes the whole thing much more affordable

[geaux xman]

how about for liverock? was it much cheaper years ago? i see my LFS charing an arm and a leg for it.

[Crusty Old Shellback]

It's all gone up. And some of it we have ourselves to blame.

One being the inflated priced, fancy named corals. Why? We did it to ourselves. What I used to trade or give away would make some of you cry since you paid over $100 for it. Since when does a Zoa rock with 100 poylops that used to sell for $40 bucks now become a small frag of 5 poylops that sell for $40 a poylop? It's the same Zoa. Funny part is, the wholesalers l sell the 100 poylop rock for the same price, no matter what the color of Zoa is on it. WE/LFS have done it to ourselves.

I've notced lately that yes, fish prices as well have gone up. $300 for a Naso tang? I usd to get them for a whole lot less than that. Majestic Angels, $200? Why? I know importing cost and such have gone up but not by that much. And why are some fish in the thousands? I know it didn't take that much extra effort to catch one compared to a $30 dollar fish.

If you willing to pay the high prices, then they will stay at that level.

[A sea K]

I lost most of my fish in an incident back in November and stepped away for a bit all the while leaving my system run basically unattended till I either got back interest or tore the thing down. Fast forward to several weeks ago and I have decided to ramp back up, boy did I get a shock when I started looking into what current prices are on fish.
Someone here mention Majestic and Flame angel prices. I lost one of each and a Potters as well, needless to say due mainly to the cost I probably wont be replacing any of those. I have always wanted a Purple tang but given the ridiculous cost associated with them it will most likely get a pass as well.

[MrTuskfish]

ive only been in the hobby for a little over a year, but i've noticed the prices growing. you'd think that with more fish breeding in captivity and being more available, the prices would go down.

Captive-bred fish are such a tiny portion of the fish sold that I doubt there's any effect at all. I think its still actually cheaper to collect almost all fish than to breed them in the U.S. Damsels breed easily in captivity, but nobody does it for profit. An Indonesian diver may only get a nickle for a clownfish. The real money in captive bred fish seems to be in the designer morphs; Picasso clowns, et al.
Fuel prices have really helped drive up fish prices too...buts its still mostly supply & demand.

[ABlueReef]

I use to own a lfs and have gotten out due to family addtions and the high cost that I could not control (Rent, Import fees, freight fees from transhipping, and freight fees from in state transport). Fees always go up and never comes down (freight and cities)even if gas prices are lower now and unfortunately gets passed on to the customers. Most stores will try to mark up double for more expensive livestock and triple for less expensive ones. If a lfs is trying to sell a achilles tang for $180, they are probably only make about $80 on that fish and if one dies in their care before its sold, they just lost money.

Thank god I got out, its only going to got more expensive, even with my friends in Hawaii sending me stuff. The freight alone is over $150 for a box weighing about 50lbs.

[ReefUrchin]

Basic greed. The housing bubble hasnt really taught anybody anything.

[Allmost]

as more and more ppl join the hobby, prices go up ... that only makes sense as Steve said.

FWIW, prices in USA are going up, but not in Canada ... we havent had the reefing bloom that US had over the last maybe 5 years.

[alton]

Supply and demand, it is the American Way. In the late 90's/early 2000 - $10 clown triggers, I paid $80 for a 10" blueface angel. At the same time I paid $500 for a compact fluorescent light fixture. Aquariums have stayed abut the same price, most of our electronics are made in china so that is why they are cheaper. The funny thing is with all the $100 corals out there I still make great money selling mushrooms? Oh yea in 2000 I saw a juvenile chevron tang for the first time $220 at my local lfs, purple tangs $250

[bongarone]

I for one, am not totally opposed to the higher prices (within reason). Forces people to think twice before keeping (killing) a bunch of animals they can't afford.

That said, you can still get fish for the same price they were back in the mid 90s. They're just 1/4-1/2 the size now. Again, not a big deal for those willing to properly care for the animals.

As for the "designer corals", I will never understand that. The first time I stumbled across sexycorals.com, I thought it was a joke site.

[albano]

I've been buying saltwater fish since 1973...
I really don't think fish prices are that much higher, if at all, adjusted for inflation.

here is a post today by a local vendor (I did not post the name, so as not the upset anyone)

This is what we have in stock right now

Anthias
Square Anthias Male $25
Square Anthias Female $15
Lyretail Anthias Male $20
Lyretail Anthias Female $14
Bartlett Anthias $30
Tricolor Anthias $30
Dispar Anthias $10

Angel
Queen Angel juvi $65
Queen Angel adult $95
French Angel juvi $65
French Angel adult $100
Regal Angel Red Sea $135
Regal Angel Bali $65
Bicolor Angel $18
Blueface Angel juvi $65
Blueface Angel lg $95
Blueface Angel xlg $150
Flagfin Angel $40
Chrysurus Angel juvi $85
Chrysurus Angel adult $325
Emperor Angel juvi sm $35
Emperor Angel adult $95
Koran Angel $25
Elibi Angel sm/lg $20/$28
Herald Angel $18
Keyhole angel $18

Blenny
Algae Blenny $14
Orangespotted Blenny $35
Bicolor Blenny $18
Starry Blenny $30

Butterfly
Longnose Butterfly $22
Copperband Butterfly $25
Heniochous md/lg/xlg $28/$35/$75
Falcula Butterfly md $35
4spot Butterfly lg $75
Auriga Butterfly sm $25
Morish Idol md $35

Cardinal
Orange Striped Cardinal $10
Bangaii Cardinal $10

Clownfish
Occealaris $10
Tomato Clown $16
Saddleback Clown $18
Clarki Clown $12
Maroon clown $20
Snowflake Clown $35
B&W Percula $22

Damsel
Garbaldi Damsel juvi $85
Domino Damsel $3
Yellowtail Damsel $3
4 stripe Damsel $3
Blue Devil Damsel $3
Allen Damsel $5
Velvet Damsel $7
Sergaent Major $3

Eel
Black Ribbon Eel $55
Snowflake Eeel $18
Chainlink Eel $25

Goby
Bullet Goby sm/md $15/$20
Dracula Goby $90
Diamond Goby lg $28
Valencia Goby $18
Yellow Clown Goby $10
Engineer Goby $8
Yellow Watchmen Goby $10
Pinkspotted Goby $25
Yahsa Goby $40
Bluespotted Watchmen $25
Hecto Goby $10
Zebra Goby $12
Red Firefish $10
Purple Firefish $15
Scissortail Dartfish $10
Redstripe Tilefish $40

Trigger
Niger trigger sm/md $10/$18
Picasso Trigger tiny/sm $15/$20
Bluethroat Trigger md/xlg female $30/$85
Bluethroat Trigger md male $45
Clown Trigger tiny $65

Puffer
Dogface Puffer sm/md $24/$30
Porcupine Puffer sm/ lg $24/$35
Bluespotted Puffer $25
Tobin Puffer $25
Golden Puffer $160

Tangs
Unicorn Tang md $55
Orange Shoulder Tang juvi/adult $25/$45
Kole Tang $35
Convict Tang $25
Yellow Tang sm/md $25/35
Atlantic Blue Tang $25
Hippo Tang tiny/md/lg $22/$45/$75
Clown Tang md/xlg $55/$140
Achilles Tang md $135
Vlamingi Tang sm/md/xlg $25/$45/$85
Powder Blue Tang md/lg $65/$85
Powder Brown Tang $35
Purple Tang $95
Pallani Tang $30
Naso Tang sm/lg $25/$65
Sohal Tang $120

Wrasse
2spot Corris Wrasse adult $50
Chistletooth Wrasse $35
Slingjaw Wrasse $30
Jensen Wrasse $28
Fromosa Wrasse adult $45
Carpenter Wrasse $25
Pink Margin Wrasse male $75
Swissgurard Basslet $75
Bannana Wrasse $50
Lunar Wrasse $25

[lovelyepona]

Here those B&W Percs are 100 a piece.

I've been out of saltwater basically for the last three+ years.
I paid $13 for a scooter blenny then, LR cost me 6 a lb.
It also depends on where you buy and who you buy from.
When I was a member of DFWMAS I went to Florida and bought a bunch of LR, some fish, sponges, a few pistol shrimp, and other various stuff from TBS. We got good deals because I bought in bulk. I also got to hand pick my rock.