KathyL
New Member
What Matt said.
Several years ago, I acquired some wild caught mandarins in an attempt to breed them. A few did not survive, but most did quite well with the small tanks and low flow and food of all sorts squirted into jars in a low flow part of any tank I put them in. None of the tanks was a reef tank, or had any kind of high flow in it. I had one pair that would belly up to a sponge filter in the QT to devour whatever I put there for them. I never fed more than twice a day, and they all got plump. Some pairs appeared to spawn, but I never got any eggs, and I eventually became distracted by a new job, and ended up selling the fat mandarins.
I think that these fish are some of the most spectacularly patterned fish in the sea, and why their great appeal does not command a higher price than other fish is beyond my understanding. When ugly white splashed clownfish freaks command $100+ prices, presumably because of their "rarity", and they are not so rare now that everyone is breeding them, why are these most psychedelic beauties priced so low?
You might reply, "It's the market, Kathy", and as long as there is no differentiation made evident between captive bred and wild caught, and that differentiation is not repeated by every salesperson in every LFS whenever a mandarin is purchased, consumers will go for the lowest price item. Consumers will vote with their wallets, based on what they see with their eyes, particularly if they do not have any information to make an informed choice.
And while the salesperson is reciting the differentiation, how about describing for the newbie what this fish needs to survive, how to feed it, what to feed it, and how many times daily to feed it?
Why don't sales persons do this? Many times its because they are minimum wage workers who don't know themselves how to keep these fish alive. If the stores would pay more for more highly qualified workers, things might change. But then, the prices of everything would go up. Customers will decide to go to a cheaper store. Some stores will close. And that is the market as we know it. We are racing to the bottom, and the closer it gets, the faster we go.
My friend bought a yellow tang from a cheap store because it was cheap. Of course its a very pretty fish. The tang didn't eat. It became skeletal and weak. Because I am friends with a not so cheap store, I asked for advice. I was given some unbaked nori and some other liquified macro algae food that is popular with all fishes. Sure enough, the tang ate these and looked better. Ultimately, it did not survive because over the holidays, it did not get fed several times a day (this was an office tank). It is just stupid that this fish had to die. Had it been sold by a knowledgeable person, it probably would not have sold. Did my friend get his money's worth? Of course not. Would he have gotten better advice and either bought a healthier fish or not bought a tang at all had he gone to the not so cheap store? Almost certainly. Its a case of "knowing the price of everything, and the value of nothing." This is where the captive bred market is going.
Do people know that it takes a minimum of 4 months to bring a captive bred clownfish to market? This is with intensive feeding, water changes and electricity costs to keep that water clean and warm, and lit well enough so the fish can eat and sleep. For mandarins, it is much much longer. 9 months to a year if I recall correctly. And yet, no one seems to think that the breeder should get paid. I include in this group breeders themselves. Routinely I've come across breeders who think it is fine to sell the fish they've raised for months at much below market price, or for store credit, because they regard their labor and expenses as hobby stuff, and they've never figured out their costs, much less made a business plan. Why the work of the captive breeder, who does all the magic in this process, always have to be the loser when it comes to the market?
I'll end my rant here. Because I don't have a point. There is no controling the market, and it is what it is. I wish it were different, but its not, and that's that.
Several years ago, I acquired some wild caught mandarins in an attempt to breed them. A few did not survive, but most did quite well with the small tanks and low flow and food of all sorts squirted into jars in a low flow part of any tank I put them in. None of the tanks was a reef tank, or had any kind of high flow in it. I had one pair that would belly up to a sponge filter in the QT to devour whatever I put there for them. I never fed more than twice a day, and they all got plump. Some pairs appeared to spawn, but I never got any eggs, and I eventually became distracted by a new job, and ended up selling the fat mandarins.
I think that these fish are some of the most spectacularly patterned fish in the sea, and why their great appeal does not command a higher price than other fish is beyond my understanding. When ugly white splashed clownfish freaks command $100+ prices, presumably because of their "rarity", and they are not so rare now that everyone is breeding them, why are these most psychedelic beauties priced so low?
You might reply, "It's the market, Kathy", and as long as there is no differentiation made evident between captive bred and wild caught, and that differentiation is not repeated by every salesperson in every LFS whenever a mandarin is purchased, consumers will go for the lowest price item. Consumers will vote with their wallets, based on what they see with their eyes, particularly if they do not have any information to make an informed choice.
And while the salesperson is reciting the differentiation, how about describing for the newbie what this fish needs to survive, how to feed it, what to feed it, and how many times daily to feed it?
Why don't sales persons do this? Many times its because they are minimum wage workers who don't know themselves how to keep these fish alive. If the stores would pay more for more highly qualified workers, things might change. But then, the prices of everything would go up. Customers will decide to go to a cheaper store. Some stores will close. And that is the market as we know it. We are racing to the bottom, and the closer it gets, the faster we go.
My friend bought a yellow tang from a cheap store because it was cheap. Of course its a very pretty fish. The tang didn't eat. It became skeletal and weak. Because I am friends with a not so cheap store, I asked for advice. I was given some unbaked nori and some other liquified macro algae food that is popular with all fishes. Sure enough, the tang ate these and looked better. Ultimately, it did not survive because over the holidays, it did not get fed several times a day (this was an office tank). It is just stupid that this fish had to die. Had it been sold by a knowledgeable person, it probably would not have sold. Did my friend get his money's worth? Of course not. Would he have gotten better advice and either bought a healthier fish or not bought a tang at all had he gone to the not so cheap store? Almost certainly. Its a case of "knowing the price of everything, and the value of nothing." This is where the captive bred market is going.
Do people know that it takes a minimum of 4 months to bring a captive bred clownfish to market? This is with intensive feeding, water changes and electricity costs to keep that water clean and warm, and lit well enough so the fish can eat and sleep. For mandarins, it is much much longer. 9 months to a year if I recall correctly. And yet, no one seems to think that the breeder should get paid. I include in this group breeders themselves. Routinely I've come across breeders who think it is fine to sell the fish they've raised for months at much below market price, or for store credit, because they regard their labor and expenses as hobby stuff, and they've never figured out their costs, much less made a business plan. Why the work of the captive breeder, who does all the magic in this process, always have to be the loser when it comes to the market?
I'll end my rant here. Because I don't have a point. There is no controling the market, and it is what it is. I wish it were different, but its not, and that's that.
