Is this the state of captive bred marine fish?

Hemmdog

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Some of these hippies are super into captive bred, literally won’t stock their tank with anything other than captive bred, so I’m guessing those types of people.

There’s a fair number of millennial hippies that are into reefing, it’s quite peculiar.
 

Silver14SS

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Some of these hippies are super into captive bred, literally won’t stock their tank with anything other than captive bred, so I’m guessing those types of people.

There’s a fair number of millennial hippies that are into reefing, it’s quite peculiar.

Hey, I ain’t no hippie! :)
I didn’t want to deal with pests, disease, and at this point it’s a challenge to myself to only add captive bred animals. My captive bred fish were cheap though.

Biota yellow tangs are $99, I tried finding other places that sell their purple tang but it looks like it’s new? Maybe the price will come down significantly once more are around.
 

Mastiffsrule

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pharazon

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I love posts where someone asks “who would ever spend $_____ on _____ ?!”

Obviously someone would and does, or companies making and selling those products wouldn’t exist.

That being said, exclusivity and supply are a huge factor here. Captive bred purple tangs are a very new development. There’s not going to be very many available until they refine the process, I’m sure. My bet is the first few fish will be purchased by people who value the exclusivity and novelty of having some of the worlds first captive bred of that particular species.

Us less financially endowed hippies will just wait until they’re cheaper, and purchase certified pre-owned / lightly used ones in the meantime.

Y’all do realize that aquaculture and captive breeding are both hugely vital to the future of this hobby we love so much, right..?
 

jsvand5

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That price is just because of the novelty of it being the first one offered on DD. Not sure if they have been offered elsewhere yet. Soon enough they’ll probably settle into the $250-$300 range.

The hobby is definitely changing though. We are in a time where people pay hundreds for half inch nubs of some SPS and over sometimes over a thousand for a few heads of a torch coral. On a side note, I just got an SPS package from Copps today. He still sends big frags like back in the day.

I’d rather overpay for a captive bred animal that has taken years of work to produce than a coral that was just chopped to pieces.
 
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Hypnotoad

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I feel like this is classic early adopter stuff. I remember walking around a Circuit City in 2004 wondering what kind of rich idiot would spend 13 grand on a giant rear projection 720 HDTV. Well, enough rich idiots did buy those things to pay for the r&d and make it possible for me to get a pretty stinkin' nice 55" TV for $500 last year.

No doubt a significant amount of labor goes into figuring out how to breed a marine fish for the first time. As more people figure stuff out and more farms open, we'll see more variety and more affordable pries. Owning one of the first captive bred purple tangs is probably worth $800 to someone.

You also don't need to be a "millennial hippy" to recognize that captive breeding is going to play an important role in the future of this hobby. Collecting wild animals from stressed ecosystems isn't going to get any cheaper or easier to navigate politically.

Edit: some redundancy from posts above in here because some other posters were replying at the same time as me.
 

ReeferReefer

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Some of these hippies are super into captive bred, literally won’t stock their tank with anything other than captive bred, so I’m guessing those types of people.

There’s a fair number of millennial hippies that are into reefing, it’s quite peculiar.
It's odd for part of a generation to enjoy reef keeping?
 

ZipAdeeZoa

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Some of these hippies are super into captive bred, literally won’t stock their tank with anything other than captive bred, so I’m guessing those types of people.

There’s a fair number of millennial hippies that are into reefing, it’s quite peculiar.
I mean if you turn up the blues on a nice reef tank you could go on one gnarly neon trip;Hilarious

I think the science, challenges and sustainability of any captive bred marine fish is both awesome and fascinating. I'm not saying I agree with the price but like others have said it will drop in time as more people unlock the secrets to recreating the life of the blue world. I would be curious about how long they've been working on this and what kind of resources were needed to recreate (what I believe to be) pelagic spawning. I saw a video of convict tangs (I think) spawning in mass and remember thinking how difficult that would be to replicate in a tank:confused:

Maybe thats just me and my avocado toast though...;Hilarious
 
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lakai

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You guys convinced me to buy this purple tang. $800 is a small price to pay to flex on everyone. I'll make that money back by fragging it out. I'm going to put "Owner of the first captive bred $800 purple tang in the world" on my tinder profile. Man this is gonna give me so much clout. /s

In all seriousness $800 purple tangs just says how unsustainable a business captive breeding will be. We've all done our share of paying stupid amounts for things but I'm not even going to pretend any of us are gonna do that on this one. I love this hobby.
 

Hemmdog

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It's odd for part of a generation to enjoy reef keeping?
No, but it’s odd for people that are against collecting wild caught fish to get into a hobby that offers mainly wild caught fish except a few species. Then proceed to stand of their soap box and preach how good of a person they are for having only captive bred fish. It brings an elitist mentality to the table that does not need to be there. I agree captive bred fish are the future of this hobby. I just don’t like the elitist mentality that comes with it from the early adopters. If the fish were the same price, same coloration, I would buy captive bred 100% of the time.
 

JoshH

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In all seriousness $800 purple tangs just says how unsustainable a business captive breeding will be.

I don't think it really reflects on the business model as a whole. I mean I don't see ORA closing up shop any time soon. This is an unfortunate side effect of being some of the first available specimens of a particular fish bred in captivity. Obviously companies invest a reasonable amount of time and money attempting to recreate the correct environment for these fish to breed and let's be honest, it's not a guarantee that they will even be able to do it. And when they do, they ideally would like to get as much of that overhead back as soon as they can. So they can move on to the next specimen.

I'm certain with time they will drop in price as I'm sure these companies know they won't be able to hold that price for very long. Heck maybe it wasn't there intended price even in the short term and they are just trying to see what people would be willing to pay.
 
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lakai

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I don't think it really reflects on the business model as a whole. I mean I don't see ORA closing up shop any time soon. This is an unfortunate side effect of being some of the first available specimens of a particular fish bred in captivity. Obviously companies invest a reasonable amount of time and money attempting to recreate the correct environment for these fish to breed and let's be honest, it's not a guarantee that they will even be able to do it.

I'm certain with time they will drop in price as I'm sure these companies know they won't be able to hold that prices for very long. Heck maybe it wasn't there intended price even in the short term and they are just trying to see what people would be willing to pay.

I get it. I know purple tangs haven't been captive bred until now. I know that its extremely difficult. I recall attempts to breed Hippo tangs in captivity something crazy like 1 out of 7,000 will survive past 3 months. I know I'm using a extreme example but I wonder what the survival rate of species that are easier to breed in captivity is. I'm also interested in why aquaculture of fish that are not rare, in threat of extinction not under threat of a export ban is "the future" considering captive bred fish that are sold currently are in all those categories.
 
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