Zebra Plecs L046

[rocknurworld2006]

I dont understand why these still sell for £100 each a baby , they use to be cheaper a couple of years ago, yet there more widely avaialble now due to lots of people breeding them now and there more expensive.

 

[amy1994]

I dont understand why these still sell for £100 each a baby , they use to be cheaper a couple of years ago, yet there more widely avaialble now due to lots of people breeding them now and there more expensive.

I'd love a couple, but like you say it's just so expensive...
I've never really seen 1 in person either, so maybe not many people near my area have them
To be honest i've seen people selling them for more than that on the internet

 

[Squidward]

My local branch of MA gets them from time to time. Usually around £150 each. Might be worth getting a few and trying to breed them!

 

[moochy13]

my mate recently looked into breeding them, and while doing so found out some of the mark up levels. an independant shop was offerin 75 quid a fish to him as a breeder, and as mentioned these can be seen for 150 quid in shops. after finding out this info he decided not to bother with breeding, and instead brought one, but knowing the mark up now, he got himself a decent deal. it was less than 2 inches long, and its been seen a combined total of less than a minute since he got it 3 weeks ago.

i can think of better ways to spend my money.

 

[The.FL.Keys]

My somewhat recent visit to San Diego, California in early 2010 had the L046 at the cost of $450 (Pet Kingdom). I'm glad they are becoming more obtainable. Indeed, one of the most striking plecs!

 

[redbug]

I had one around 15 years ago and only cost me $40 US i thought it had died and had been eaten
then about 8 months later i was cleaning my tank and there it was
they are awesome looking fish but for the prices now and never seeing them I'll pass

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Be patient, the Brazilian government is taking every possible action they can to make the species become extinct except in tanks. Zebra plecos are only found in the big bend of the Rio Xingu. Brazil is going ahead with plans to dam the Xingu which will result in many species in the big bend going the way of the DoDo.

I have been breeding these fish since early 2006 and have never been able to meet the demand. If the fish were so readily available you should be able to find somebody who could sell you a few hundred babies almost any time you wanted. Well OK maybe you can readily locate somebody who can sell you 50 babies. I mean if they are so common you should be able to find somebody who could sell you 25 babies any time............

A really big spawn for a zebra pleco is anything over 15 and 20 or more is rarer than a sunny day in the UK They are seasonal spawners, so they go for about 7 months on and then 5 months off. Sometime they just stop for extended periods.

Until you actually see a larger zebra in person it is hard to understand just how striking a simple black and white fish can actually look.

 

[Plecostomos Fan]

I dont understand why these still sell for £100 each a baby , they use to be cheaper a couple of years ago, yet there more widely avaialble now due to lots of people breeding them now and there more expensive.

I was talking to a specialist only yesterday about these fish and he said here in the UK they are now selling for 200 pounds.

 

[Mikaila31]

They are expensive because we have to breed them now, which is not very easy. Instead of stealing them out of the wild like we use to....

 

[rocknurworld2006]

what i dont get though is insted of becoming cheaper they are becoming dearer but there getting more widely available

 

[TwoTankAmin]

They are not getting more widely available

It is illegal to export them from Brazil.
+They take several years to reach breeding age.
+They have small spawns.
+They are about to become extinct in the wild.
+Breeding stock is expensive to assemble.
+A lot of folks have difficulty getting them to spawn.
= They are harder to find and more expensive.

 

[Plecostomos Fan]

They are not getting more widely available

It is illegal to export them from Brazil.
+They take several years to reach breeding age.
+They have small spawns.
+They are about to become extinct in the wild.
+Breeding stock is expensive to assemble.
+A lot of folks have difficulty getting them to spawn.
= They are harder to find and more expensive.

Now i see why they are fetching up to 200 quid argueably the most beautiful of pleco's.

 

[vickers]

They are not getting more widely available

It is illegal to export them from Brazil.
+They take several years to reach breeding age.
+They have small spawns.
+They are about to become extinct in the wild.
+Breeding stock is expensive to assemble.
+A lot of folks have difficulty getting them to spawn.
= They are harder to find and more expensive.

Couldnt of put it better my self i am in the process of getting a group of these i am mad on Hyphans lol

 

[redbug]

They are not getting more widely available

It is illegal to export them from Brazil.
+They take several years to reach breeding age.
+They have small spawns.
+They are about to become extinct in the wild.
+Breeding stock is expensive to assemble.
+A lot of folks have difficulty getting them to spawn.
= They are harder to find and more expensive.

If I am correct it also takes them quite a long time to reach a size that they can survive shipping.
They are an amazing looking fish I would love to get a group of them but can't get the cash together at this point

 

[TwoTankAmin]

My rule of thumb for selling my fry has always been that the fish must be a minimum of 1.25 inch TL and at least 6 months old. However, I normally try to go well beyond these minimums. In all the years of shipping these fish I have only lost one in transit and it was a death most likely due to an injury I caused during netting.