I recently got the Aqualog book and want some new plecos now. The problem is that they are rarely available at my LFS and when I do find them they are very expensive. I want a 6 inch Scarlet, Goldie, maybe a Green Phantom and a Red Cactus or something like this for my 120 gallon tank. I will likely end up buying them from TFD or another seller and pay the shipping because I will never find them locally at a price I can afford. I know that many have to be wild collected and this and transport must drive the price up. The common ones can be had cheaply at larger sizes. People need to get busy and start breeding the Goldie's and others so the prices will come down.
Why do fancy plecos cost so much?
- Thread starter Crustman
- Start date
The problem is you are looking at an expensive fish in general. Now the breeding of exotics is not going to drop their price much if at all. The cost of breeding, and raising most exotics is very expensive. Commons and BNs are quite easy to breed, breed in large numbers, are very hardy, and are quite undemanding in water parameters. Many exotics need specific parameters to induce breeding. There are many breeders attempting to breed many of the plecos, however the cost is very high. There are a few breeders very local to me that are attempting to breed scarlets and goldies. I have been trying for quite a while to get L200s to breed, but breeding these exotics can take many years to get them to the right size, and having the right parameters. If you want to order plecos, I'd recommend Blue at www.exoticfinds.net who is one of our community sellers. I have personally ordered from him several times, and have been 100% satisfied with the fish I received.
To do it on a large scale like the breeding of commons just isn't done. Although most can produce a reasonable number in one batch, you are still limited to the amount of times per year. If anything prices would go up for a while for captive bred, they are generally healthier, and won't have the problems associated with wildcaught. It's not just the case of shipping... they are in demand...
Yeah, these guys are tempting.
I think i will have to drop 30bucks to get a gold nugget in a bit =p.
The most expensive one my store carrys right now, is a blue phantom that we think turns out to be a green phantom, going for 70bucks. All our others like the queens, royals, nuggets, snowballs, ect rage from 30-40.
I think i will have to drop 30bucks to get a gold nugget in a bit =p.
The most expensive one my store carrys right now, is a blue phantom that we think turns out to be a green phantom, going for 70bucks. All our others like the queens, royals, nuggets, snowballs, ect rage from 30-40.
Thanks for all the good info. I will use some of the sellers on the forum and likely Aquabid to get the ones I want. I want the temps to warm up some before I request a shipment for a NE seller.