Why is it more?

[Dalmatia]

So the earth is around 75% saltwater of its surface area, maybe wrong but close to it?!
Why is our hobby so expensive, shouldn't a lizard or a frog cost more,,,, mud more than live rock??

 

[tyler1503]

I think it may be because of the collectors initially. They have to go into the most dangerous and unpredictable environment on the planet, I imagine they would get paid well for doing so, they can't just set a fish trap and come back tomorrow to see if they caught anything. So the price would already be quite high. Then each specimen goes to the collectors holding facility, a plane, a wholesaler, another plane, a retailer and probably several other people before it gets to us and each step of the way the people involved add a % to the price to make their profit. Plus I imagine less than half of what they catch actually survives before it gets to us hobbiests. All that and more would drive the prices up. I won't even go into the old beaten to death topics of Photoshop and fancy names driving up prices.
Just my theory :)

 

[Dalmatia]

Well it's a start, your theory is good. Still, aquatics company will pay 2-3 dollars for a hippo tang and sell it from $50 and up? Still I think this hobey is way over priced.
Than again it should be! I can't even go fishing a anymore cause I feel for the fish

 

[Finnaddict]

Most LFS sell their livestock for double of what they pay. This is done to make up for losses. Why some mark it up 5 times what they pay is beyond me. Could be location. I see corals at the wholesaler for X amount, then see frags going for double what they paid for the whole colony. Kind sad but what you gonna do.

 

[cmantis]

Most of the cost is shipping.

 

[reefwiser]

How hard is it to catch a fish in your tank. Now do that 25 to 300 feet down with a strong current. Then get the fish back to shore. Keep it alive pack it and ship it to the first distributor. Then to another collection point then to a US distributor. Now let's hope the fish is still alive. The fish is then sent to your local LFS.
That is a lot of handling and cost passed on. We can hope that captive raise fish will some day help lower the price but saltwater fish have special needs for raising the young which causes their cost to be higher at present than wild caught fish. I can remember as a kid freshwater being all wild caught. But that was 50 years ago an saltwater might take 50 years to get the fish as cheap as freshwater fish today.

 

[Dalmatia]

Agreed

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

So the earth is around 75% saltwater of its surface area, maybe wrong but close to it?!
Why is our hobby so expensive, shouldn't a lizard or a frog cost more,,,, mud more than live rock??

Coral reefs cover <1% of the earth, <2% of the ocean bottom. And those are liberal percentages for most sources.

 

[Thales]

This hobby is incredibly cheap, especially if you consider the links chain of custody. Collecting is not easy at all, yet the collectors often get pennies per fish. Things cost what they cost because that is what the market will pay - the silly high priced corals are high priced largely because of perceived value.. I have argued in the past that animals in our hobby should be more expensive, or that there should be a 5 dollar surcharge on every sale to help deal with things like the current ESA listing.

Here is an article that seems relevant.

Reefs Magazine - Why Point-of-Origin Matters

 

[Bad Company]

Marine animals are cheap! You can buy a fish that was collected 10,000 miles away, kept alive for a week(s), and shipped to your house for $100! This $100 amounts to what, 4-6 hours worth of labor for most people? That is incredibly cheap! You want cheaper? You need t be closer the source.

 

[Reef Pets]

The world might be 75% saltwater but a tiny tiny fraction of that 75% is inhabited by reefs and fish that we keep in out tanks. In reality probably far less than 1% of the water mass is inhabited by reef creatures that we collect. With those percentages, I feel the hobby is cheap.

 

[tyler1503]

What I don't understand is why it's so expensive here in Australia. I also read Egypt also has very limited livestock.
I've seen threads here on r2r where people can't decide between a purple firefish and a helfrichi firefish. Here in Aus that's deciding between a $50 fish and a $250 fish. I was recently told mandarins can cost less than $20 in the the US, here in Aus they're about $50 and a good deal is $40. I also read that damsels can be $3 fish. There are no $3 fish here in aus, unless you want a goldfish or feeder barbs. You won't walk out of an LFS with a marine fish that costs less than about $15 and that's a blue green chromis or damsel.
I understand that its cheaper in the US because it's a huge hobby over there, so there's a lot of competition, but you'd think in Australia it would be cheap too because of the collection points on the GBR.
You guys are not only in a different country to us, your also on a different land mass, continent and hemisphere. You'd think aussie livestock in the US would cost more than it does in NSW.
I won't even go into hardware costs.

 

[Dalmatia]

What I don't understand is why it's so expensive here in Australia. I also read Egypt also has very limited livestock.
I've seen threads here on r2r where people can't decide between a purple firefish and a helfrichi firefish. Here in Aus that's deciding between a $50 fish and a $250 fish. I was recently told mandarins can cost less than $20 in the the US, here in Aus they're about $50 and a good deal is $40. I also read that damsels can be $3 fish. There are no $3 fish here in aus, unless you want a goldfish or feeder barbs. You won't walk out of an LFS with a marine fish that costs less than about $15 and that's a blue green chromis or damsel.
I understand that its cheaper in the US because it's a huge hobby over there, so there's a lot of competition, but you'd think in Australia it would be cheap too because of the collection points on the GBR.
You guys are not only in a different country to us, your also on a different land mass, continent and hemisphere. You'd think aussie livestock in the US would cost more than it does in NSW.
I won't even go into hardware costs.

Good point?!?!
I also heard that a blood shrimp will cost you guys around $200ea? Is that true???

 

[tyler1503]

Good point?!?!
I also heard that a blood shrimp will cost you guys around $200ea? Is that true???

I've never seen one for sale so I couldn't tell you lol. I imagine so though. My LFS told me the only cheap shrimp he could get me were marble shrimp at $15ea and the other species on his fish list are about $150+, but I don't know what else was on the list.