Prince
The ONE who is The ONE
Has anybody noticed an increase in fish prices due to the cold weather that hit Florida?
Has anybody notcied an increase in fish prices
Billy Rocket
Members
No
minifoot77
Members
nope i buy local 
cca meetings and such...
cca meetings and such...
danger_chicken
Swim Fishy Swim!
it'll probabaly take a few weeks for the stock to cycle through the stores.
dogofwar
CCA Members
50% off africans at tropical fish world this weekend.
So no
So no
DiscusnAfricans
Past President
It may be a while before the farms will be able to ship fish. They will probably have to grow out any survivors to ensure proper stocking to maintian active colonies. I am curious how long it will take before the supply is abundant again and how much prices may rise.
On a side note as mentioned by Matt; Is anyone planning on going to TFW saturday morning for the sale?
On a side note as mentioned by Matt; Is anyone planning on going to TFW saturday morning for the sale?
jonclark96
Past CCA President
Is it Africans or New World this weekend?
iamzrad
Members
^Both!
SubMariner
Master Jedi & Past VP
I recently found out that some of the African Cichlids being sold to our local fish stores are bred in The Czech Republic and shipped over here and sold out of a Van. :wacko::unsure:
FYI, these Cichlids are juiced with steroids to enhance their color and make them look extraordinary. Now, I will not mention the names of the LFS's that participate, but I heard the prices are quite reasonable and the fish already come with full color. I have actually seen a half inch blue Ali fully blown with color. So I really don't think the Florida prices are going to affect us quite yet.
Interesting...
RM
:wacko::unsure:FYI, these Cichlids are juiced with steroids to enhance their color and make them look extraordinary. Now, I will not mention the names of the LFS's that participate, but I heard the prices are quite reasonable and the fish already come with full color. I have actually seen a half inch blue Ali fully blown with color. So I really don't think the Florida prices are going to affect us quite yet.
Interesting...
RM
lonlangione
Members
Richard that is true. There is a guy that drives around to shops and sells fish from his van. Not all of the fish are from the Czech Republic. Alot of the fish sold in shops in "our area" are coming out on the far east. When I was bringing fish in from a transhipper, Taiwan had a great african cichlid list. 4" - 5" frontosa landed for $8.00ea. Trop. moorii kipili 4" fish $10.00ea Neolamp trets 3 1/2" for $2.00ea stuartgranti peacocks 3 1/2" for $1.75ea red zebras 3" - 4" for $1.25ea
I would estimate that 50%+ fish sold in our area are coming from the far east. Also, some of the farms in florida import species from the far east as tiny fish and then grow them up in florida.
Lonny
I would estimate that 50%+ fish sold in our area are coming from the far east. Also, some of the farms in florida import species from the far east as tiny fish and then grow them up in florida.
Lonny
UNCLERUCKUS
"THE ALL POWERFUL Q !!
A VERY INTERESTING READ GUYS.
DiscusnAfricans
Past President
Depends on how you define works.
fischfan13
Banned
A Florida newspaper has reported that the number of fish being sold in this country from Asia is about 65%.
A couple of points:
Lonnie, I guess I wouldn't use the word "great" to describe the list unless I was talking about the sheer number of Africans that have been coming out of Asia. IMO (Read: MY opinion) the Africans coming out of Asia are junk, sometimes being prepped for this country artificially.
Lfs need our support, but sorry I will not support any that buy their Africans from Asia.
All of us have the means to buy fish from some great sponsors that this site and other sites have. We also have the means to buy some absolutely beautiful fish that each one of us are breeding.
Many Florida fish farms have lost anywhere from 70-90% of their stock. We can only speculate when, how long and IF this will drive up prices at our lfs. Some Florida fish farms have reverted to buy new stock from Asia, and maybe this will not drive up prices as much.
lonlangione
Members
Bill,
I agree with you about purchasing fish from local breeders etc. Not all of the fish from Asia are "juiced". Actually the first juiced fish I saw was 25 years ago at Healthy Pet's in Brooklyn NY. The owner was really excited when I got there about the new shipment of africans he got in. I went with him to the cichlid section and I was shocked at what I saw. Hap venustus and other haps with adult coloration at 1 1/2". He then took me to his office and showed me a 4oz can of fishfood that he wanted $50.00 for. He said I had to feed this food to the fish so they wouldn't lose their color. I knew then what was up. I told him I wasn't interested in the fish. I asked where the fish were coming from and he told me a breeder in Florida. That was 25 years ago.
When I listed the fish available in the previous post I only listed listed 3 fish from the list. Here is a quick run down of the fish on their list this week. These are fish out of Taiwan. There are other lists from other countries as well. Zebras - Red - OB - White - Red Top - Cobalts - Albino - Red Top Cobalts - other PS types - acci - kennyi - bumble bee - gresheki - Labidochromis: yellow labs - exasperatus - Haps and types: fenestratus - chrysonotus - milomo - electric blue - obliquidens - moorii - compressiceps reg and albino - borleyi Ophthalmotilapia nasutus ndole bay - ventrallis Peacocks: nyassa reg and albino - stuartgranti - hansbaenschi Others: auratus - blue socoloffi albino socoloffi - johanni - electric johanni - fuelleborni blue - orange top - ob - trewavase rustys - Now for the Tangs: Petro trewavasae - Tropheus moorii bulu point - ikols - red belt - yellow belt - kipili - blunthead - llangi - bemba Tropheus duboisi Neolamprologus trets - yellow trets - caudopunctatus - leleupi - pulcher - daffodilCypho frontosa - sambia - Cyprichromis leptostoma - Lampro brichari - cylindraceus - Cyathopharynx furcifer - Paracyprichromis nigripinnis Julidochromis 8 species / locations South / Central Cichlidsas well. And this is this weeks list. Most fish are available fro 1 1/2" to adults. I have seen some of these fish and they look great. If you purchased any of the listed species of fish from a shop or a supplier, how do you know where they originated from. All of the wholesalers / shops / importers guard their suppliers names with great tenacity. My original point was that the supply of fish should not be a real problem since the asian countries supply so many fish to this country. Now if the asian suppliers take advantage of the Florida situation and raise their prices that is another story. I'm not making light of the devastation in Florida. I have friends down their that are being affected by what is happening. One friend owns a coral frag business. He moved most of his stuff indoors but now they are having a problem with sinkholes, more than usual. Seems the fruit and vegetable farmers spray water on their crops to put a "protective" coating of ice on the crops. This is running people wells dry and causing huge sinkholes. My friend had a 20' sinkhole open up 200 yards from his house.
Link to article about the sinkholes. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/22/plant-city-sinkhole-watering-issues-wont-be-resolv/
So we are having a relatively great winter here in our area......
Lonny
I agree with you about purchasing fish from local breeders etc. Not all of the fish from Asia are "juiced". Actually the first juiced fish I saw was 25 years ago at Healthy Pet's in Brooklyn NY. The owner was really excited when I got there about the new shipment of africans he got in. I went with him to the cichlid section and I was shocked at what I saw. Hap venustus and other haps with adult coloration at 1 1/2". He then took me to his office and showed me a 4oz can of fishfood that he wanted $50.00 for. He said I had to feed this food to the fish so they wouldn't lose their color. I knew then what was up. I told him I wasn't interested in the fish. I asked where the fish were coming from and he told me a breeder in Florida. That was 25 years ago.
When I listed the fish available in the previous post I only listed listed 3 fish from the list. Here is a quick run down of the fish on their list this week. These are fish out of Taiwan. There are other lists from other countries as well. Zebras - Red - OB - White - Red Top - Cobalts - Albino - Red Top Cobalts - other PS types - acci - kennyi - bumble bee - gresheki - Labidochromis: yellow labs - exasperatus - Haps and types: fenestratus - chrysonotus - milomo - electric blue - obliquidens - moorii - compressiceps reg and albino - borleyi Ophthalmotilapia nasutus ndole bay - ventrallis Peacocks: nyassa reg and albino - stuartgranti - hansbaenschi Others: auratus - blue socoloffi albino socoloffi - johanni - electric johanni - fuelleborni blue - orange top - ob - trewavase rustys - Now for the Tangs: Petro trewavasae - Tropheus moorii bulu point - ikols - red belt - yellow belt - kipili - blunthead - llangi - bemba Tropheus duboisi Neolamprologus trets - yellow trets - caudopunctatus - leleupi - pulcher - daffodilCypho frontosa - sambia - Cyprichromis leptostoma - Lampro brichari - cylindraceus - Cyathopharynx furcifer - Paracyprichromis nigripinnis Julidochromis 8 species / locations South / Central Cichlidsas well. And this is this weeks list. Most fish are available fro 1 1/2" to adults. I have seen some of these fish and they look great. If you purchased any of the listed species of fish from a shop or a supplier, how do you know where they originated from. All of the wholesalers / shops / importers guard their suppliers names with great tenacity. My original point was that the supply of fish should not be a real problem since the asian countries supply so many fish to this country. Now if the asian suppliers take advantage of the Florida situation and raise their prices that is another story. I'm not making light of the devastation in Florida. I have friends down their that are being affected by what is happening. One friend owns a coral frag business. He moved most of his stuff indoors but now they are having a problem with sinkholes, more than usual. Seems the fruit and vegetable farmers spray water on their crops to put a "protective" coating of ice on the crops. This is running people wells dry and causing huge sinkholes. My friend had a 20' sinkhole open up 200 yards from his house.
Link to article about the sinkholes. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/22/plant-city-sinkhole-watering-issues-wont-be-resolv/
So we are having a relatively great winter here in our area......
Lonny
Andrewtfw
Global Moderators
If it is a secret as to who the suppliers for the area stores are, the secret is not kept between stores. Almost every lfs in the area deals with the "guys in the van". The reason has far less to do with cost for the store as it does with quantity and availability.
Some of the fish from this seller are only accessible through transhipping. In that case, the lfs pays for freight and heat pack charges, plus has a minimum quantity of each type of fish that is too large to merit purchasing (what average sized lfs store could sell 75 jueta gars?).
The overall quality of the non-hormoned/juiced fish seems comparible to the other large-scale commercial vendors, regardless of whether or not they are inside the US.
Honesty on the part of the LFS to inform their customers that the peacocks from this seller are hormoned would depend on the store.
Some of the fish from this seller are only accessible through transhipping. In that case, the lfs pays for freight and heat pack charges, plus has a minimum quantity of each type of fish that is too large to merit purchasing (what average sized lfs store could sell 75 jueta gars?).
The overall quality of the non-hormoned/juiced fish seems comparible to the other large-scale commercial vendors, regardless of whether or not they are inside the US.
Honesty on the part of the LFS to inform their customers that the peacocks from this seller are hormoned would depend on the store.
lonlangione
Members
Andrew,
He does provide a great service for shops. The shop I worked in in York three years ago used to get elephant nose, black ghost knives etc. from him. The prices were great and the quality was good as well. I was always under the impression he was of Russian decent. Nice guy.
When your store get fish in from other suppliers, do you cut the names off the box?
Lonny
He does provide a great service for shops. The shop I worked in in York three years ago used to get elephant nose, black ghost knives etc. from him. The prices were great and the quality was good as well. I was always under the impression he was of Russian decent. Nice guy.
When your store get fish in from other suppliers, do you cut the names off the box?
Lonny
SubMariner
Master Jedi & Past VP
Good topic. Thanx Lonny for your insight on the Biz of juiced fish from Asia and Europe.