Fish To Expensive?

[MojoDex]

today i went to a shop called pier aquatics in wigan and they had asian upside down catfish mystus leucophasis a catfish i have always loved and have owned several of, im aware these are quite a hard to come by fish but the most i ever had to pay for one was £20 which i did not object to

anyway when i asked the price of the catfish i got told £65! my jaw nearly hit the bloody floor yes they are a nice fish yes they can be quite hard to come by but 65 bloody quid seems way to exsesive for my liking for a fish i know ive had 4 of and never paid more than £20 for! needless to say i didnt buy thr fish!!!!

so the question is do we pay to much for fish and do lfs' mark up fish as they know someone will pay the price?

 

[mlawson]

Some people will pay huge sums of money for the fish they want. You just have to find places were they can be found cheap, although size and quality are important factors which add to the cost. from what I've heard Pier Aquatics is meant to be a good store.

 

[chilledtim]

Id probably £15 max for a single fish but i reserve the right to go mental for an exceptional fish (im a koi lover, or large perfect condition, jaguar catfish, rare oddball or other fish i have soft spots for) i would probablt go £50+ that would be a once ver couple of years purchess tho. Normally £15 max

The difference between the same fish in different shops is huge sometime, £5 in one shop £15 in another

 

[luque]

i'm sure that lfs will sell a rarer fish or one they don't stock as much alot higher in price than its worth yer

 

[MojoDex]

yea pier is a good shop one of the best ive ever been to infact but i resent paying £65 for a fish that to be fair didnt even look in top condition!

id pay that for something i could concider harder to get than a catfish a stingray for example or a rare arowana but not a fish that i know i can get for £20 else where

 

[WILDER]

Most I paid for a fish is £7.50 each for my corys.

 

[fubarmick]

ive noticed this also, the price's seem to be going up to marine fish prices very fast!!!!!!

but it's like everything, people will be priced outta it and have to go back to goldfish lol

 

[mnbyiuopre]

The most I've ever paid for a fish would probably be around $4 each for some swordtails. (Pretty expensive but in my area all fish are)

 

[kribensis12]

Dont buy it. I can get asian upside down catfish for 5 dollars at petsmart.

 

[Inside Info]

How big was the fish? Was it a bit larger than the ones you had paid £20.00 for? This Mystus species is notorius for squabbling as they get larger. Consequently, slightly larger fish are shipped individually packed, so there are far fewer per box than smaller ones making the freight charge per fish significantly higher than smaller individuals which may be packed together in one bag. Small specimens ae mostly farm bred now, so their price has dropped, however, larger fish are still generally wild caught so the price will be higher. Or..maybe it was a fish brought in by a customer. If the customer returning the fish was a regular customer, the shop may have given him/her a good part ex deal. Pier isn't known for high prices so I feel sure the price asked was reasonable for the fish.

 

[MojoDex]

nah it was about the same size somewhere in the 4-5 inch region probly big enough to no like company but still im sorry 65 quid is rediculous and sorry i completley dissagree £65 is outrageous for that fish i dont care where its come from!!

like i said ive had them far cheaper from other shops, my eyes lit up when i saw the catfish they soon turned off when i was told the price! pier do deal in alot of oddball and rare catfish however i think someone there thinks this catfish is far more rare than it actually is

dont get me wrong im not having a go purley about pier but this is the over priced fish that has tipped me over the edge today every shop does it to some degree in my eyes

 

[SuperColey1]

Theres about 10 in P@H in Lincoln South £7.99 each or £64 if you end up having to buy 8 and hope one will survive.

 

[Inside Info]

Hmmm, 4-5" is quite big for this fish, but even so, on hindsight, maybe £65.00 is a bit OTT. Usually see them about £6.00 - £10.00 for 5-7cm fish. SuperColey's price is about average I think. As I mentioned, farm bred now, so not as rare as they once were.

 

[my fat fish]

the upside down catfist at my lfs are about £4 small tho about 1.5" long

 

[MegTheFish]

Dont buy it. I can get asian upside down catfish for 5 dollars at petsmart.

I think your getting mixed up, there are two types of "upside down" cats. The more commonly found ones (Synodontis nigriventris) are the smaller guys, maxing out at only 4" (http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/catfish1/p/upsidedowncat.htm) , and then there are the ASIAN upside down catfish (Mystus leucophasis), which is the catfish the OP is talking about, they grow way larger and are aggressive : http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...p?species_id=21
That is why there is such a big difference in price, you can find Synodontis Nigriventris at pretty much any fishstore, even Walmart, and I've seen them as cheap as $5 but no more then $10. While on the other hand the Mystus Leucophasis I am assuming are a bit harder to find (I have never seen them), and are obvouisly a bit more pricey.