Random Observation On Uk-us...

[Rambo]

does anyone else notice just how much more expensive things are in the UK?

its like swapping $ signs for £ signs, and in the case of some fish, most notably flame angels, the UK price is almost twice as high!


and even with shipping costs etc, it doesn't cost much more to fly from a pacific island to the UK than to America, and loss rates are unlikely to be particularly different, assuming, say, a TMC approach is followed.


as i only have access to TMC stock, i was wondering if this is the same UK wide, and how it compares to the US.

an average range of prices at my LFS is below:


Flame angel £75 so about $130
Green Chromis £4 so 'bout $7
Copperband £25 so around $40
small red mushroom rock £25
small brain coral £35-50 so $60-90
Coral Beauty £30 so around $50
Fireball angel £25 so $40
tank bred occelaris clown £9 so $16
yellow tank £30 so $50

Live rock £12.50/kilo, so about $22



any comments anyone?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yep that price looks about right for my local stores. I can get LR for £10.50 per KG but its nothing particularly special. The other thing is that I find it really difficult to find anywhere to actually buy stuff from (locally, not online). Not sure if this is local to just me or the UK in general but its a PITA when you just want a couple of coral frags and either have to drive for hours to the closest decent supplier or order it online.

 

[Rambo]

ye, im lucky to live within 5 mins of a massive maidenhead, and they'll get me anything i want from TMC chorleywood, but lookin around elsewhere, they all seem to be miles from any major settlement

 

[andywg]

You have to factor in local economic conditions. Things cost more in the UK, but the cost of living is higher and so are wages. The US looks cheap because you are looking at it with UK earning potential behind you. Try close to halving your wages and seeing just how great the prices are.

Also, it has been written that the UK pays more for LR, but tends to have a shorter ocean to lfs time and as such gets better quality live rock.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

an average range of prices at my LFS is below:


Flame angel £75 so about $130
Green Chromis £4 so 'bout $7
Copperband £25 so around $40
small red mushroom rock £25
small brain coral £35-50 so $60-90
Coral Beauty £30 so around $50
Fireball angel £25 so $40
tank bred occelaris clown £9 so $16
yellow tank £30 so $50

Live rock £12.50/kilo, so about $22



any comments anyone?

Those prices suck ass

ill give you the same exact prices from my lfs

Flame angel $30
Green Chromis $2
Copperband $20
small red mushroom rock $10
small brain coral $25
Coral Beauty $20
tank bred occelaris clown $7
yellow tang $20

Live rock $4.99/lb


Ive heard that uk live rock is way better than US live rock though because we have laws on that stuff. What is minimum wage in UK though? Around my area in San Francisco it is 9.36, but people usually get paid 10.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

National Minimum wage for people over 22 is £5.52 which at the current exchange rate is $10.92

 

[littleme1969]

There is a huge differance of that there is no doubt, but minimum wage in the US sucks! compared to the UK. If you shop aroung here in the uk you can get stuff cheaper. I got 20kg of good quality live rock from e.bay for £144 delivered but in general you can get it under 10kg if you shop around. Fish again I buy all my stuff online as I dont have any marine shops for 50 miles . Mine come from HERE The quality is second to non , the price is about the best around and if you have a query they are always happy to chat to you to give good advise. They also have a good variety in both marine and tropical fish and also have started doing corals. Which I had some in my last batch of stock and the size and quality again where excellent for the price. With a 5 day garantee on everything you cant expect better than that.
I would if I had the chance though buy locally, mainly so I could see the fish & corals etc , but if the price was more than 20% more than I can get online I would stick to online even after shipping costs.
The reality is we live on a small island where pretty much 80% of everything we use/buy is shipped in. Also the cost of living compared to other countries is also very high so all of that has to be taken in to account.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

National Minimum wage for people over 22 is £5.52 which at the current exchange rate is $10.92

National here is 5.82 i believe I guess the prices arent that much different after all if you are living off of minimum wage.

 

[Adrinal]

Flame angel $70
Green Chromis £4 so 'bout $9
Copperband 3" $70
small red mushroom rock 3" $50
small brain coral $60-90
Coral Beauty $50
Fireball angel ?
tank bred occelaris clown $25
yellow tank 3" $50

Live rock fresh ~$5 US Pound, $12 US cured (and everything inbetween)

LA isn't the real world. Here you go with normal inland USA prices. You will notices some of Rambos money translations came spot on.

 

[SkiFletch]

Wow, Minimum wage over there is the equivalent of $10/hour! Damn...


Prices from my LFS (small town east coast)

Flame angel $60
Green Chromis $10
Copperband 3" $50
small red mushroom rock 3" $30
small brain coral $40
Coral Beauty $28
Fireball angel ?
tank bred occelaris clown $15
yellow tang 3" $40


Then again, you can end up paying your first born son for the high-end items:

Mystery Wrasse $175
Flame Wrasse $200
Watermelon Echinophyllia $150 (dime sized fragment)
Australian Acanthastrea ($20-$200 per polyp)

 

[n3ont3tra]

Wow.

My LFS:

Flame angel (3") $120
Green Chromis $15
Copperband $50
small red mushroom rock 3" $70
Coral Beauty $70
tank bred occelaris clown $25
yellow tang 3" $50
niger triggerfish 4" $80
volitans lionfihs 6' $150
and last but not least
'honeycomb moray eel' full grown (huge) $5,000
That thing is a beast, it practically jumps out of the tank when they feed it

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Ski, are you talking about australian acans or indo? At my lfs, you can get 3 hawaiian flame wrasses for about 400 i believe. Fish seem pretty expensive where you guys live. With 5k, you can get a dragon eel.

 

[andywg]

'honeycomb moray eel' full grown (huge) $5,000
That thing is a beast, it practically jumps out of the tank when they feed it

Fully grown? I'd love to see one of those. 10 feet of moray thicker than your thigh. An lfs near here used to have one around 6 feet and that was hefty.

 

[SkiFletch]

Ski, are you talking about australian acans or indo? At my lfs, you can get 3 hawaiian flame wrasses for about 400 i believe. Fish seem pretty expensive where you guys live. With 5k, you can get a dragon eel.

Aussie acans

 

[dilbert]

While it doesn't make sense to get livestock shipped from the US you can order flake food or water tests that don't weigh much but prices are the same in $$ as here in ££.

It's only to find a company that ships to the UK and with low shipping costs and you'll have to know or to learn on which items you have to pay import duty as those UK officers charge a "flat" rate of £ 8 even if the import duty is only £ 4.