Uhh...what happened to Saltwater fish prices?

[sweeper7]

So I have been away from this hobby for about 8 years now and looking to get back into it slowly.

I have noticed a few things such as the price of fish and corals have almost TRIPLED?!?!? WTF happened?

A simple Flame Angel went from like $55 to $140? A Yellow Tang is now like $500???? This thing was like $35!

 

[Reefing102]

A lot can be attributed to supply chain (higher shipping, less collecting during Covid, etc) and inflation but Yellow tangs, more generalized, Hawaiian fish, are incredibly expensive as there is a current ban on most fish collection from Hawaii. There are apparently legal channels people can go through and yellow tangs can be collected from other places (not just Hawaii) but they’re significantly rarer. You can get captive bred yellow tangs from Biota for about $150ish (haven’t checked current prices)

One price you may have seen drop (still high but from what I remember significantly lower) is gem tangs.

 

[sweeper7]

Why is there a ban? This is ridiculous. Who pays $450 for a fish that was $40 just 5 years ago.

I don't see as many tanks or FS items on the forums anymore so makes me think this hobby is taking a massive hit due to increase in prices.

 

[kharmaguru]

Why is there a ban? This is ridiculous. Who pays $450 for a fish that was $40 just 5 years ago.

Because you can't stop the commercial fishing industry that does all the damage, so instead stop the aquarium industry that does comparitively none and call it a victory so your concerned constituents will shut up and vote for you next cycle.

 

[Reefing102]

Because you can't stop the commercial fishing industry that does all the damage, so instead stop the aquarium industry that does comparitively none and call it a victory so your concerned constituents will shut up and vote for you next cycle.

Pretty much^^^

There’s been other bans too, was one in indo(got lifted due to I think economic impact of the ban). I think there’s been others on a country by country basis. I know most live rock out of the pacific except Australia, is either banned or extremely limited in collection.

 

[gratefulbean]

Like everything it's a one-two of supply chain and inflation

 

[Axel33]

Apparently the ban has been lifted for yellow tang but will still take a while cuz of other restrictions from what I herd.

 

[Reefing102]

Apparently the ban has been lifted for yellow tang but will still take a while cuz of other restrictions from what I herd.

Do you have more information on this? The last I heard, the injunction remains in place until further order from the court.

 

[PhilBobb]

Did anyone see Live Aquaria charging $100 for a trio of Damsel fish. Those fish cost like $8 a piece at PetCo

 

[VWD]

Times and prices have changed. I understand some of it like with the yellow tangs. They were a super popular fish and sold for practically nothing. So they got over fished and Hawaii put the ban in place. Plus other places have banned certain imports. So naturally prices go up. One of the good thing that come about over the years is captive bred fish and the number of species being bred growing all the time.

 

[shred5]

Times and prices have changed. I understand some of it like with the yellow tangs. They were a super popular fish and sold for practically nothing. So they got over fished and Hawaii put the ban in place. Plus other places have banned certain imports. So naturally prices go up. One of the good thing that come about over the years is captive bred fish and the number of species being bred growing all the time.

Yellow tangs were not overfished the populations actually went up. There are studies on them just look them up.

So I have been away from this hobby for about 8 years now and looking to get back into it slowly.

I have noticed a few things such as the price of fish and corals have almost TRIPLED?!?!? WTF happened?

A simple Flame Angel went from like $55 to $140? A Yellow Tang is now like $500???? This thing was like $35!

Hawaii shut down which was a huge source of fish for the U.SA. allot of tangs and wrasses came from there.
Since there are a ton of flights from here to there it was a cheap source of fish. Now we have to get more fish from farther and more third world countries. This also has led to more unhealthy fish and more losses.


As far as corals there are more and more shut downs and tighter restrictions. Fiji is pretty much gone for the USA.
Indo was completely shut down for a while and is somewhat back.
Now shipping cost have rose over the years and supply chain issues which affect both Fish and Coral.


I do not think the hobby has contracted much but I do think there is a pullback starting. It has got too expensive for some.
I think forums are getting used less with FB but RC in particular is just slow because it lost allot of members to other sites.
There seems to be a little uptick lately but more needs to be done to bring them back.