20,000$ in 4 fish

From what I understand $30K was the asking price and actual sale price was lower, but that is still a LOT of money.

IME markup at LFS's tends to be between 100%-200%. This may sound like a lot but say a store buys 10 fish for $6 and sells them for $18 that's $120 "profit" but once you start factoring the expenses they have like rent, staff and electricity the margins get a lot small. This doesn't even take into account losses from shipping which for the most part the retailer has to eat.

i agree i worked at a lfs here in boulder for a few years. they marked their fish up 300%. it sounds riciculous, but how much does a beer from a brewery cost? they can charge what they want. somewhere around 4-5 dollars is pretty standard. the actually cost that goes into brewing one beer with all brewers salaries, ingredients, and anything else is around 30 cents a beer thats about 1500% mark up. most fish stores owners do not make a ton of money. a fish this rare deserves a hefty price tag and there is one to go with it. just wish i had 20k to put into my tank, or actually just get an entirely new setup, ahhhh wouldnt it be nice!:rolleyes:
 
I can tell by watching those Gem Tangs that they are quite sad and used to being in the open ocean. Tank raised fish are such a better choice than wild caught. Watching the video of them makes me sad.
 
I can tell by watching those Gem Tangs that they are quite sad and used to being in the open ocean. Tank raised fish are such a better choice than wild caught. Watching the video of them makes me sad.

I agree, but the reality is the majority of our fish are not tank raised. Only a small percentage is.
 
That is not the case with fresh water, that is one of the most significant ethical differences between fresh and salt. When you go into a LFS and look at the fresh water animals most are tank raised, When you look at the salt water most are ripped right out of the ocean.
 
If I had the money I would buy them in a heart beat. If you have that kind of money hopefully you already give much more then 20k to charity... Tax day and karma might be really bad if you don't.

If a diver catches one of these rare fish that fetches a fortune is that not a bonus for everybody involved? It's nice for the little guys to get a bonus every now and again.
 
From what I understand $30K was the asking price and actual sale price was lower, but that is still a LOT of money.

IME markup at LFS's tends to be between 100%-200%. This may sound like a lot but say a store buys 10 fish for $6 and sells them for $18 that's $120 "profit" but once you start factoring the expenses they have like rent, staff and electricity the margins get a lot small. This doesn't even take into account losses from shipping which for the most part the retailer has to eat.

that is nuts! do those fishies provide income??!
 
The Gems are cool but I think black tangs take the cake at 1/4 the price. Even if I had the money my family would check me into the nut farm . :crazy1:
 
There are probably thousands, if not millions of these guys in the oceans. There are very, very few marine fish that have small populations (the original Bangai cardinal being one, right now I think there are more tank-raised Bangais than wild ones).

The reason why they are expensive is because they are in very isolated locations, so it requires that people plan and execute entire (very expensive) expeditions to go collect them.
 
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