I think I saw a thread asking this a while ago. And I get asked this question almost every time a customer sees our gem tangs. Having dealt directly with the supplier and those in the chain of custody through which gem tangs go through, I am in a position to give true insights as to why it costs so much, and hopefully clear the air for many that are simply baffled by these prices.
The high price of a fish is brought on by the tangible effort and risks it takes to collect (depth) and/or transport (location) the fish to the trade. This applies to all saltwater fish species collected in the wild. In the case of gem tang it is mostly location.
If you don't already know, gem tangs are collected in Mauritius only. If you look it up on the map, it is practically in the middle of nowhere. The closest lands to it are Reunion, Madagascar, Mayotte, Comoros, and Seychelles - and they are all islands!
Here's the map that shows the location of Mauritius:
Mauritius is actually a world-class destination island. Looking at the map makes you wonder how you would even get there. For a long time airport authorities tried to establish the island's exclusivity by allowing only Air Mauritius and established national carriers such as like British Airways and Air France, which restricted access and kept ticket prices exaggeratedly high. In recent years that policy has loosened up a bit but the effect lingers. I do not know how much a plane ticket costs but it is definitely not like flying to Indonesia.
So let's imagine having to fly from Mauritius to LAX. You are already getting an idea of where this is going. And of course, flying only one fish half-way around the world makes no sense. For what we're paying on freight, we need to order a few boxes of fish to make this trip worthwhile. And this is required by all exporters simply because they rely on volume to make their margin. Those in the freight business know how much freight can cost. We are basically shipping water, and freight is charged by weight. See where this is going?
By the time the boxes arrive at LAX, everyone that has anything to do with the shipment will need to be compensated, from the diver, driver, packer, airport freight workers, etc. Not to mention fuel (expensive) for the boat to go out to collect, and equipments etc. And it has not even gotten to the store yet. And the wholesaler will have to make money (surprise) and they also have to account for any losses occurred after a 20+ hour flight. Guarantee policy on a import shipment is not like your P.O.T.O. Conditioned policy. I'll just leave it at that.
Then finally, a reputable retailer would have to condition the fish, take on more risks and incur more expenses before the customer even lays eye on it. After all is said and done, you're looking at a price the reflects the amount of tangible effort it took to bring this gem tang safely from the ocean to our aquarium, while compensating everyone that participated in that effort.
To put this in perspective, in Europe, the gem tang costs about 1/3 as much and a yellow tang is priced like a purple tang in Europe.
Final note - whenever someone says a fish is "rare", it does not mean it's rare in the wild. If it was I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be allowed to collect it. There are no rare fish in the hobby. We just have fish that take a lot of effort to make available to the hobby.
I hope this helped answer any question people have about the high prices of our fish. Now someone please explain to me why the bounce mushroom costs more than a gem tang. Is it from Mars?
Kenny
The high price of a fish is brought on by the tangible effort and risks it takes to collect (depth) and/or transport (location) the fish to the trade. This applies to all saltwater fish species collected in the wild. In the case of gem tang it is mostly location.
If you don't already know, gem tangs are collected in Mauritius only. If you look it up on the map, it is practically in the middle of nowhere. The closest lands to it are Reunion, Madagascar, Mayotte, Comoros, and Seychelles - and they are all islands!
Here's the map that shows the location of Mauritius:
Mauritius is actually a world-class destination island. Looking at the map makes you wonder how you would even get there. For a long time airport authorities tried to establish the island's exclusivity by allowing only Air Mauritius and established national carriers such as like British Airways and Air France, which restricted access and kept ticket prices exaggeratedly high. In recent years that policy has loosened up a bit but the effect lingers. I do not know how much a plane ticket costs but it is definitely not like flying to Indonesia.
So let's imagine having to fly from Mauritius to LAX. You are already getting an idea of where this is going. And of course, flying only one fish half-way around the world makes no sense. For what we're paying on freight, we need to order a few boxes of fish to make this trip worthwhile. And this is required by all exporters simply because they rely on volume to make their margin. Those in the freight business know how much freight can cost. We are basically shipping water, and freight is charged by weight. See where this is going?
By the time the boxes arrive at LAX, everyone that has anything to do with the shipment will need to be compensated, from the diver, driver, packer, airport freight workers, etc. Not to mention fuel (expensive) for the boat to go out to collect, and equipments etc. And it has not even gotten to the store yet. And the wholesaler will have to make money (surprise) and they also have to account for any losses occurred after a 20+ hour flight. Guarantee policy on a import shipment is not like your P.O.T.O. Conditioned policy. I'll just leave it at that.
Then finally, a reputable retailer would have to condition the fish, take on more risks and incur more expenses before the customer even lays eye on it. After all is said and done, you're looking at a price the reflects the amount of tangible effort it took to bring this gem tang safely from the ocean to our aquarium, while compensating everyone that participated in that effort.
To put this in perspective, in Europe, the gem tang costs about 1/3 as much and a yellow tang is priced like a purple tang in Europe.
Final note - whenever someone says a fish is "rare", it does not mean it's rare in the wild. If it was I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be allowed to collect it. There are no rare fish in the hobby. We just have fish that take a lot of effort to make available to the hobby.
I hope this helped answer any question people have about the high prices of our fish. Now someone please explain to me why the bounce mushroom costs more than a gem tang. Is it from Mars?
Kenny
