High dollar fish owners

michealprater · Oct 27, 2023

I know most people wont want to share answers to some of my questions, and thats understandable, but maybe a few of you will. I see people with fish that go for over $1000. What do you do for a living? Are these purchases nerve racking for you? What fish do you have and how much did they cost? What precautions did you take?

This is just my curiosity getting the best of me, and questions I have always wondered in my head... so I said "screw it, I'll just ask, maybe someone will answer them!"

blaxsun · Oct 27, 2023

Waaaay too expensive for my taste...

rhitee93 · Oct 27, 2023

I'm a noob at reef tanks, but have many other collecting type of hobbies. I've lost track of the number of times that I've gotten into a new interest and thought "There is no way I would ever want or be able to spend $XX on that". But a few a years later...

It's weird. A combination of having a little bit of disposable income, and time in a hobby somehow make those large purchases more palatable. You do get desensitized to the price after a while. I'm not wealthy, but live comfortably. I know a lot of people with less income that have made major "Crown Jewel" purchases for their collections that I wouldn't want or be able to do.

bakbay · Oct 27, 2023

It’s an “investment” so the ROI is higher by percentage increase. Besides, it’s rare — not everyone has it! At least that’s what I told my wife. lol

michealprater · Oct 27, 2023

rhitee93 said:
I'm a noob at reef tanks, but have many other collecting type of hobbies. I've lost track of the number of times that I've gotten into a new interest and thought "There is no way I would ever want or be able to spend $XX on that". But a few a years later...

It's weird. A combination of having a little bit of disposable income, and time in a hobby somehow make those large purchases more palatable. You do get desensitized to the price after a while. I'm not wealthy, but live comfortably. I know a lot of people with less income that have made major "Crown Jewel" purchases for their collections that I wouldn't want or be able to do.

Do you own any "collector" species?

Narideth · Oct 27, 2023

rhitee93 said:
It's weird. A combination of having a little bit of disposable income, and time in a hobby somehow make those large purchases more palatable. You do get desensitized to the price after a while. I'm not wealthy, but live comfortably. I know a lot of people with less income that have made major "Crown Jewel" purchases for their collections that I wouldn't want or be able to do.

Desensitization to cost is a big factor in my opinion. For me, it started with buying higher cost bettas back in the day. I was like... wow $20 is a lot for a betta. Then they got fancier and fancier and I became 'comfortable' with the understanding that fish cost more than $5-$10 bucks each.

My first pair of clowns the LFS gave me a great deal on a pair for $30 - and one is a regular beautiful ocellaris while the other is a black and white. Then I was like... ok my next tank, -really- fancy clowns. My next pair was $160.

The last fancy clown I bought was $100 on its own, and it's like... that's still a big number but it's 'normal' now. I got a fantastic deal on a large black widow anemone for $130 and I barely blinked at the cost. I save up, I look around, it makes the search and procurement of that perfect thing pretty enjoyable to me. It still makes me wince a little to drop just $100+ on a fish, but it's 'the one' and I've already spent waaaay more on corals anyway. I know this topic was for -big- spenders, but I can pretend!

michealprater · Oct 27, 2023

bakbay said:
It’s an “investment” so the ROI is higher by percentage increase. Besides, it’s rare — not everyone has it! At least that’s what I told my wife. lol

LOL, investment would imply you will be selling it for a profit. I can see this with coral, not so much with fish. Although, I do have a potters angel that eats everything I throw in the tank and I have had it for a long time. Then they banned collection in Hawaii, and I guess you could say its a collector fish. I have seen them go for upwards of $700, but I think I paid $100 for it a few years ago LOL.

michealprater · Oct 27, 2023

Narideth said:
Desensitization to cost is a big factor in my opinion. For me, it started with buying higher cost bettas back in the day. I was like... wow $20 is a lot for a betta. Then they got fancier and fancier and I became 'comfortable' with the understanding that fish cost more than $5-$10 bucks each.

My first pair of clowns the LFS gave me a great deal on a pair for $30 - and one is a regular beautiful ocellaris while the other is a black and white. Then I was like... ok my next tank, -really- fancy clowns. My next pair was $160.

The last fancy clown I bought was $100 on its own, and it's like... that's still a big number but it's 'normal' now. I got a fantastic deal on a large black widow anemone for $130 and I barely blinked at the cost. I save up, I look around, it makes the search and procurement of that perfect thing pretty enjoyable to me. It still makes me wince a little to drop just $100+ on a fish, but it's 'the one' and I've already spent waaaay more on corals anyway.

One time I bought a tank that had a black widow in it and I just thought it was a rose. It split 11 times. I traded all 11 splits one time and got enough coral to fill my tank. It was crazy LOL.

rhitee93 · Oct 27, 2023

michealprater said:
Do you own any "collector" species?

No. As I said, I'm new to reefing, and, like you, I look at a $1k fish and think "That's crazy".

However, I thought the same thing about high end fountain pens when I started. Twenty years later I started rotating $1k pens through my daily usage. The same thing happened with antique clocks, guns and cars. As much as I don't think I'll ever buy really expensive fish, I'm kind of worried I might end up there