How much is Yellow tang in your lfs?

[Brucealmighty]

My 2 Yellow's cost £40 each 5 and a half years ago I don't want to know how much they are now but think they're going for about double the price nowadays for same size 1-1.5 inches

 

[MJY]

T

actually we rarely get any shipments from the red sea. the following are the countries we get shipments from the most: Indonesia, Philippine, Kenya, Srilanka. only three times from the states during the last three years and one from the Mauritius. I have no record of any shipments from the redsea (I can guarantee you that we get non).

Thank-you for the insight. Good to know! You're lucky that your country still allows you to import from other countries.

 

[A Young Reefer]

T


Thank-you for the insight. Good to know! You're lucky that your country still allows you to import from other countries.

Anytime, on the other hand I think that you are the ones lucky for having the great barrier reef. My dream is to one day visit and scuba dive there.

 

[Coralsdaily]

It's very possible, not everything in Australia is expensive though, like Aussie fish and coral. Mostly seems to be imported stuff. I do know since the pandemic the cost of shipping has gone up hugely if you can even get shipping without it being cancelled by statedaddy as we call him lol, surprisingly WA also is the only state as far as I am aware, were invertebrates are also illegal to ship. So we pay through the roof for shrimp and nems. Lucky we have a few breeders, but they make a killing lol. we also have laws that prohibited any shipping of captive bred fish unless its specifically bred within Aus hence the higher price tag on imports. But we are blessed we still have lots of diversity and beautiful specimens on our own shores including our own WA reefs not just QLD. But according to my local coral collector they have changed laws and I think you have to purchase territory not just hold a licence. So it is getting harder to meet demands of this ever growing hobby. But I guess we also have to understand we are taking living creatures away from there habitats and be thankful we can keep these creatures in our homes

Thanks for sharing, this is very interesting. The policy writers in the US is also brewing some changes regarding animal trades and cross state border transportation that has instigated heated debate in the pet and aquarium community. Your situation in WA may be an interesting use case of how the policies can use some more polishing to provide savings and convenience for everyday folks while preventing certain interest groups from abuse and capitalize on loopholes

 

[Coralsdaily]

However, it’s still VERY high in price, if the goal is to stop the income of the wild animals then it’s failing terribly.
If the goal is to just get some CB fish in but still have the majority being wild then it’s really working with these prices.

I agree the pricetag for captive bred animals are not good incentive for most average hobbyists. Can only hope the price can come down overtime when breeders evolve to better technology and provide higher yield at lower cost

 

[Coralsdaily]

It has gotten better for them in the last few years on the equipment side since so many manufacturers have gone to MAP pricing. Paying the same at the lfs as online. Also you will now have to pay sales tax either way. On the fish/coral side, unless you are in Cali you are having to pay extra shipping costs to get things. Plus shipping has really gone up over the last year and a half. I'm good friends with someone that is on the wholesale side for fish and he said their shipping cost was 5x more now than a year and a half ago. Still there are a lot that do have crazy high prices for what seems no reason.

Yes I have heard of the shipping hike, and I think retailers (both online and offline) gave to adjust the pricing to help cover the shipping cost

 

[Coralsdaily]

Here in Australia "if" you can find one, they will be a wild collected specimen and cost between $1,000 - $1,500

Curious how many people actually invest that kind of money on yt there? And how does it stack up vs other fish? How much do purple or gem tang cost in AU?

 

[Coralsdaily]

Well, I was looking for a yellow and was about to give up. No where in Northern Indiana could I find one . So I started looking at purple tangs a small purple going for 180 was on my way to get one and stopped by a new lfs the guy just got a wild back from a customer who was moving. So I asked the wife yellow or purple. The answer had to be yellow. So 300 for a 3 inch wild. He and my fox face are best of buds.

If you are in NI, you may try to go to Gingerbreadcorals in Naperville, they have biota yt for $150, its worth your time and gas money they have very good price on almost all livestock

 

[Coralsdaily]

I laugh at this, the LFS or online vendors wants big money because of the supply and demand mumbo jumbo.
God forbid the livestock dies in their care due to power outage, disease, or whatever the case may be.
Instead of selling at a lower cost, now they lose all that money because of greed.

Just my 2 cents

What I am really curious is how much do fish cost frlm the catchers at their origin, and how much fluff all the middlemen and transportation companies inflate the eventual cost, its not the lfs along, its the entire supply chain. Now if everyone can buy straght from a catcher (in a dream world) I am sure all fish will cost 5% of their eventual pricetag at retail

 

[Jerrym21]

in my area of NJ, $250-275 for small. $475+ for med-large

 

[Rmckoy]

My lfs is selling a group of three 3” wild yellows for $1600. They’ve had them for almost a year now…

Great to see package deals .
but what’s going to happen when someone does eventually buy all 3 and put them in to their tank .

there will only be 1 …..
why a lfs would try selling 3 tangs together?

 

[Coralsdaily]

It that case boy has petco lost alot of money. Every time I go in there 3 or 4 fish dead lying on the bottom of there tanks . Yes, that makes me want to buy from them!

Imo this is where corporate culture and poor leadership shows- companies like petco would rather save on human resource by hiring people who know nothing of the hobby at minimum wage to work part time, covering the cashier and the grooming then rush over to bag fish… then lose out on dying fish in the store that completely negates the savings from having to hire people with knowledge and experience to properly care for them

 

[Rmckoy]

I was talking to a co-worker/fellow reefer about this. I remember yellow tangs & Nasos being 25 bucks, the previous scopas tang I had was maybe 10-15 bucks, 12 years ago! Sigh....

29.99 for a large yellow .
I remember losing my mind when someone tried selling his large naso with streamers for $100
Now …… that same fish he could easily get 3x possibly 5x

 

[Andresnyc93]

Biota captive bred ones go for $200 the cheapest by me

 

[Coralsdaily]

Here in the UAE the average hobbyist won’t pay the crazy usual prices people pay in other countries. of course there are always collectors and exceptions to the rule. for example the craziest euphyllia here is a gold torch you will pay about 95 bucks per head anything more than that is a scam. also when I say gold torch I mean any torch that has gold, we don't have the crazy ultra holy grail dragon soul torch naming system over here. You might think that we don't have variety or coral strains over here I can guarantee you that we have everything from xenia to acros (mainly wild caught acros) and NPS. However here I would like to see more acropora varieties but again the reason I think we don't have many of these because if the fish store is gonna buy a 1 inch frag for 400 usd from a vendor in the states then risking it dying through shipping to the other half of the world and the expenses of aqua culturing it then to find out that only a very small minority is willing to pay that price.

I will definitely write more about what the hobby looks like over here in the future.

Also reason why livestock tends to be cheaper is because stores tend to buy directly from the source instead from a wholesaler or a third party.

Your location explains just about everything, since UAE is right at the doorstep where purple tangs are caught! But yes I hear your about corals. I do follow a few hobbyists from the AE and hopefully they will grow enough frags that eventually offer them privately to allow more competitive pricing on sticks

 

[Coralsdaily]

actually we rarely get any shipments from the red sea. the following are the countries we get shipments from the most: Indonesia, Philippine, Kenya, Srilanka. only three times from the states during the last three years and one from the Mauritius. I have no record of any shipments from the redsea (I can guarantee you that we get non).

Very curious as to why that is… also curious are there any reef life in the gulf near AE?

 

[Rmckoy]

Damsels were throw away fish , hardy and used for sacrifice fish while cycling .
same as clownfish , black mollies .
those days are long gone .
Even corals …
I remember buying large colonies for a fraction of what a small frag cost now .

 

[glency]

$149.

 

[Coralsdaily]

Great to see package deals .
but what’s going to happen when someone does eventually buy all 3 and put them in to their tank .

there will only be 1 …..
why a lfs would try selling 3 tangs together?

Maybe three friend can buy and split?, regardless, 1600 for trio is a rip off any day

 

[Coralsdaily]

Damsels were throw away fish , hardy and used for sacrifice fish while cycling .
same as clownfish , black mollies .
those days are long gone .
Even corals …
I remember buying large colonies for a fraction of what a small frag cost now .

I used to work in LFS and I remember the days people come in to get damsels as food for their lions or frogfish…