Is my LFS Crazy?

[techigirl78]

I have been considering a mantis species only tank for awhile now. When I was at the LFS a few days ago I saw one for sale labeled as a Yellow Mantis Shrimp. To my surprise, it was $80! This arose my curiousity. I tried finding more info and this is the only good hit I got: http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/faq.htm#faq16.

Assuming it is a yellow P. ciliata, do you think $80 seems correct? This LFS is usually a little on the high side, so do you think that $60 is a good price?

 

[Sloth]

If they want to charge you $80 for it, they should be able to offer a better description than "yellow mantis shrimp".

If it is a "rare" shrimp, and they know it, then it will probably cost a lot. But if it is a "common" shrimp, and they know it, they might be taking you for a ride.

Why not hold out for someone who removes one from their tank?

 

[brekurboy1]

how big is the shrimp?

 

[dwarfatize]

I got my cilita for $20. I wouldn't pay much more than that.

 

[techigirl78]

I think the LFS is just crazy, more so then all of the other ones I hear about and go to in my area. They charge ridiculous prices for everything. I called and the person who I talked to couldn't really give me much information or another person to talk to about it. I will just wait to see if I get one by luck or keep an eye out for people looking to get rid of hitchhikers

The good thing is that they give 25% credit on livestock you bring in and with what they charge this usually means a good price for things.

 

[Gonodactylus]

This seems quite expensive for a Pseudosquilla ciliata. While they show up only occasionally in the trade, they are not rare and usually sell for $15-20. The species is common in the Indo-Pacific (including Hawaii) and in Florida and the Caribbean. This species lives in a great diversity of habitats. I have found them in intertidal sea grass beds, on coral reef flats, in rubble beds down to 100 feet and even on open muddy sand flats at 130 feet. They typically live in simple u=shaped burrows, often under the edge of a rock, but forage actively during the day away from their burrows. It is during these excursions that collectors often find them. I often find them out and about in partially exposed grass flats when the water is only a few inches deep. They zip about looking for easy prey on the incoming tide before the water is deep enough for larger predatory fish to come onto the grass flats.

The yellow color is typically seen more in the Indo-Pacifc populations. The color of P. ciliata depends at least to some extent on the environment in which they are living and often the yellow color will change in a reef aquarium after one or two molts.