Fish prices! Yikes!

[cediss]

Yeah, I have made the mistake of buying too small of fish. Had a whole school of green chromis that I had to keep retrieving from skimmer until they bit the dust!

It's hard for me to find time to go to the fish club meeting, I keep intending to go but someting always comes up. The only time I get to meet other reefers is at swaps and that is something that sometimes feels like a feeding frenzy. But your right, I have met some reefers who are more generous. I'm patient as you have to be to have any lasting power in this hobby. Frankysreef, let me know if you need me to come by and prune some space for your fish. I'll hall away the scraps LOL

 

[Frankysreef]

With my new business I havent had time to go to the meetings either... With the new baby and the dog, the wife wont let people come over to buy frags

I have to settle for swaps, but the new propogation tank is set up so I am growing out some frags now..

 

[crsandoval]

Frank,

Sorry to hear about your loss. That Blue Tang was big and beautiful. I wish that I had one for you to have. To bad to hear that the Mrs. is putting the stop to visits, I was going to PM you to get some more frags.

 

[818]

You are all shopping at the wrong LFS.

The one I go to.

Clowns (common maroon, occ, percs etc)- 14.99 and under. Rare Onyx/SI/TR black Saddleback clowns are 19-24
Yellow Tangs/blue tangs (2-4 inches)- 19.99
yellow polyps/red- 14.99 (5x4 piece)
All damsels are 3 bux
All kinds of tangs for 19.99
Clown/vlamingi/purple/ 49 bux.
Clown triggers are 29 bux
Flam angels are 40 bux

ad the list goes on...

dry goods really suck around here though....Thats the only stuff I buy from RC or online, eBay etc. 29.99 for a small phosban powder I can get on ebay for 14 bux shipped.

U all need to come down to the valley and stop whining

 

[818]

Petco is off the chizane!!!!!

JN Reef told u so And is he still alive and healthy?? 2ble told u so.

 

[chaffey]

ELECTRIC Cost....also not all live stocks they buy from wholesaler live so they have to charge you for the duying one too.

What I was told that LFS don\'t make money off livestocks but they make all they money on equipment. Online store make ton of cash on livestocks but not on equipment.

 

[818]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8160733#post8160733 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chaffey


What I was told that LFS don\'t make money off livestocks

Whoever told you that isnt your friend.

 

[saurus]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8160950#post8160950 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by My F1sh R D34D!
Whoever told you that isnt your friend.

Amen brotha!!

Worse than jewelry.

Clint

 

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8160733#post8160733 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chaffey


What I was told that LFS don\'t make money off livestocks but they make all they money on equipment. Online store make ton of cash on livestocks but not on equipment.

When LFSs buy damsels for less than a quarter each and then sell them to you for four bucks each I think you can call that "making a little bit of money." I was under the impression that both online vendors and LFSs buy their livestock from wholesalers and can basically charge the same amount.

 

[chaffey]

I don\'t know where you get your information on \"less than a quater for a damsel.\"

I will leave it at that.

 

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8162212#post8162212 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chaffey
I don\'t know where you get your information on \"less than a quater for a damsel.\"

...one of many LFS employees in my area. I'm sure there are some stores who buy them for more than that (maybe 50 cents?) but if one store can get them that cheap then so can others.

 

[xtm]

my "benchmark" is how much they sell the damnsels for. If I see $3.99 I'm out. I know the store is cheap when they price the damnsels at $2.99 ea.. but that's just me

 

[cediss]

I hear ya Frank! I'm just had my first child last year.

I doubt that LFS are paying less than a buck for damsels. I worked in the trade for 11 years and most tetras cost more than a quarter wholesale. Damsels were between .85 and 1.50 each. In my experience, most LFS double the wholesale cost. With loss, electricity, and other overhead, that is fair. It's those who more than double their markup that are greedy in my opinion.
Paying more is inevitable when gas and electricity as well as demand go up. You have to shop around to see what other stores are charging. Because most stores have 100% markup, you can get a sense of what you should expect to pay for say a yellow tang. $20 bucks is about average lately. What's just as important is to buy from LFS that maintains healthy specimens. Some stores should not ever be purchased from no matter what the cost, when you see fish dead in the tanks, scraping off the substrate, skeletons showing, colors faded and parasites all over their scales. I see this all the time at some stores.
It can be extracost and effort, but the LFS can do better to select his/her fish from the wholesalers and to properly care for stock to get them in optimal health. Just as hobbiest have a responsibility to husbandry, so do the LFS owners.

 

[Frankysreef]

Check out raskal's new store that opened in HB.. Killer prices on livestock...

I might start going to him exclusively... I would have gone to see HUGO more.. but stanton is just too far to me.

 

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8171204#post8171204 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Frankysreef
Check out raskal's new store that opened in HB.. Killer prices on livestock...

I might start going to him exclusively... I would have gone to see HUGO more.. but stanton is just too far to me.

Got a link?

 

[Frankysreef]

adams and brookhurst, next to stater bros.

 

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8171571#post8171571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Frankysreef
adams and brookhurst, next to stater bros.

Thanks.
What's it called?

 

[cediss]

Thanks Frank. Where is Hugo's store? I'll have to check out both. Hugo is closer to me, so I'll start there!

 

[SuperNerd]

Man...wish you woulda said it was Ocean Reef under new management. Would have saved me a trip...
In any event he says he'll "beat any price out there." I'm not so sure that the good deals apply to the dry goods though.

 

[GTR]

You can't even drive to the airport and pickup your shipment for 25¢ per fish let alone get air freight for that.
Please stand outside your local LFS and ponder the expence involved in keeping it open and then consider what the owner needs to take out of the business to live in something less than poverty.
$2,000 power bills are not unusual and I think some stores would welcome a bill that size.
I don't know why I bother trying to make some people understand what it takes to keep a LFS viable. It's really no different if it's a LFS, fast food joint or a rubber store.

SteveU