Outrageously Priced Fish

dylana407 · Mar 2, 2019

The bicolor looks like it has mange. I would buy it for $10.

cancun · Mar 2, 2019

My dream fish is a Clarion Angel....but I would never pay 5k or more for one. For a Clarion I would pay max 500.00.....but I don't ever think I will see one for anywhere close to that!

mattzang · Mar 2, 2019

for example:

pretty sure that guy doesn't blink an eye dropping several thousand on fish. that tank probably costs more than my house

JasonK84 · Mar 2, 2019

The word that came to mind when I saw the “ultra” bicolor angel on DD yesterday was MANGE!!

I was expecting to see a sell price for a “blemished” fish and wondered why they used that fish for the cover photo. Then found it and the $1300 price tag. The wife and I discussed it at dinner last night while eating BBQ.

Steve Elb · Mar 2, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
I really can’t talk. Last year I bought a decently bred, AKC “english cream” golden retriever. I could have probably gotten a golden, golden retriever with similar quality breeding for about $300-400 less. But, I definitely paid for the “white” because I liked the look of the dog, and it was just a little bit different. Same with the silver labs that are so popular now, it’s just a genetic mutation in a chocolate colored lab... but they will sell for a couple hundred more than the chocolate and yellow labs from the same litter!

The market sets the price, and people will ask for what they know people will pay. Doesn’t mean they aren’t worth it to the people who are willing to pay it.

I think my handsome white pooch was worth every penny [emoji12]

He's very cute! I have 2 yellows and a chocolate lab. The important thing with retrievers is to make sure their joints are certified OFA. Great dogs! I've had them for most of my life

crusso1993 · Mar 2, 2019

I started a thread very similar to this thread a number of weeks ago. It helped open my eyes to different ideas and motivations regarding the purchase of fish in this hobby. Not good or bad but different. I still would not pay $6,200 for the fish below but, if money were not a concern, I would not have any problem dropping a lot more for a Peppermint Angel.

Waters · Mar 2, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
I really can’t talk. Last year I bought a decently bred, AKC “english cream” golden retriever. I could have probably gotten a golden, golden retriever with similar quality breeding for about $300-400 less. But, I definitely paid for the “white” because I liked the look of the dog, and it was just a little bit different. Same with the silver labs that are so popular now, it’s just a genetic mutation in a chocolate colored lab... but they will sell for a couple hundred more than the chocolate and yellow labs from the same litter!

The market sets the price, and people will ask for what they know people will pay. Doesn’t mean they aren’t worth it to the people who are willing to pay it.

I think my handsome white pooch was worth every penny [emoji12]

I am not sure I would compare a dog to a fish though.......Your dog will be with you for a long time......although it would be nice if the fish was as well, you could be one power outage away from throwing $1000 down the drain. I have spent lots of money on pure bred cats and dogs....sometimes paying more for better coloring. I would never drop that kind of money on a fish though. Beautiful dog by the way

JasPR · Mar 2, 2019

These are all ways of God telling you that you have too much money! It is true that a sucker is born every minute ( and natural prey for conmen) and there is no law that regulates impulse buying/compulsive disorders nor should there be. So if you have the 'jack' " have at it!". As I said, con artists certainly abound in fish hobbies ( you should see the koi hobby!). What does upset me is to see 30 year old guys with kids at home eating pizza again, while the dude maxes a credit card bill on such purchases... That is sad

ngoodermuth · Mar 2, 2019

Waters said:
I am not sure I would compare a dog to a fish though.......Your dog will be with you for a long time......although it would be nice if the fish was as well, you could be one power outage away from throwing $1000 down the drain. I have spent lots of money on pure bred cats and dogs....sometimes paying more for better coloring. I would never drop that kind of money on a fish though. Beautiful dog by the way

Some fish can live longer than most dogs! I've seen accounts of clowns living 20-30 years! Of course, I've spent most of my money on wrasses, which are some of the most short-lived fish in the hobby...oops. I've never spent more than $200ish on a fish though, just not in my budget. Plus, I'm not willing to accept the risk of taking the loss for more than that. I'm pretty confident in my QT skills, but I still have losses from time to time just like everyone else. And, most of the big money fish have restrictions on the guarantees.

But, if someone else has the means and thinks they can be relatively successful... by all means. I'll live vicariously through the pictures they post up here, hopefully

Ryan Depoister · Mar 2, 2019

I think best one so far..

jsvand5 · Mar 3, 2019

crusso1993 said:
I still would not pay $6,200 for the fish below but, if money were not a concern, I would not have any problem dropping a lot more for a Peppermint Angel.

Unfortunately, regardless of how much money you have, the peppermint seems to be extremely difficult to keep alive.

jsvand5 · Mar 3, 2019

Ryan Depoister said:
I think best one so far..

That one I actually don’t think is an out of line price. Getting a black tip from the ocean to your door alive is not an easy or cheap process.

jsvand5 · Mar 3, 2019

Waters said:
I am not sure I would compare a dog to a fish though.......Your dog will be with you for a long time......although it would be nice if the fish was as well, you could be one power outage away from throwing $1000 down the drain. I have spent lots of money on pure bred cats and dogs....sometimes paying more for better coloring. I would never drop that kind of money on a fish though. Beautiful dog by the way

I get what you are saying, but I would bet most people that can pay these types of prices for fish don’t worry at all about power outages because they likely have whole home generators or some other type of backup power .

mattzang · Mar 3, 2019

jsvand5 said:
That one I actually don’t think is an out of line price. Getting a black tip from the ocean to your door alive is not an easy or cheap process.

i'd venture to guess that if you have the proper setup for a blacktip shark, the 3k on the actual animal is a drop in the bucket compared to whatever else you gotta do for it

plus that one pleases me because i'd feel really bad if every petco had a 4" baby blacktip in their tanks

Hemmdog · Mar 3, 2019

JasPR said:
These are all ways of God telling you that you have too much money! It is true that a sucker is born every minute ( and natural prey for conmen) and there is no law that regulates impulse buying/compulsive disorders nor should there be. So if you have the 'jack' " have at it!". As I said, con artists certainly abound in fish hobbies ( you should see the koi hobby!). What does upset me is to see 30 year old guys with kids at home eating pizza again, while the dude maxes a credit card bill on such purchases... That is sad

I love pizza

cancun · Mar 3, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
Some fish can live longer than most dogs! I've seen accounts of clowns living 20-30 years! Of course, I've spent most of my money on wrasses, which are some of the most short-lived fish in the hobby...oops. I've never spent more than $200ish on a fish though, just not in my budget. Plus, I'm not willing to accept the risk of taking the loss for more than that. I'm pretty confident in my QT skills, but I still have losses from time to time just like everyone else. And, most of the big money fish have restrictions on the guarantees.

But, if someone else has the means and thinks they can be relatively successful... by all means. I'll live vicariously through the pictures they post up here, hopefully

Yea but you can't snuggle up on the couch and hug your fish like you can your dog...lol...here is my pure bred German Shepherd....he will be two yrs old next week. Got him from a breeder when he was 8 weeks old....it wasn't cheap but for the unconditional love of a dog... worth every penny! [emoji16]. The first one is Thor in front of my old tank before my recent tank upgrade.

Jesterrace · Mar 3, 2019

Hemmdog said:
That’s rookie numbers Jester, come on !

After some careful thought and consideration, I passed your comments on to my Blue Star Leopard Wrasse to get it's feedback. . . .it just Yawned at me.

Jesterrace · Mar 3, 2019

joec said:
This is one heck of a bargain:

https://www.liveaquaria.com/divers-den/product/447650/bali-aquarich-captive-bred-clarion-angelfish

It sounds crazy to call a $5K fish a bargain (particularly one that isn't considered reef safe), but considering what it is and how much they normally go for, I have to agree that's good for anyone who wants a Clarion.

ngoodermuth · Mar 3, 2019

@cancun I agree, I’m definitely a bit more attached to my dogs than my fish. I have three....and a horse. I love all of my pets... they make life brighter.

Waters · Mar 3, 2019

jsvand5 said:
I get what you are saying, but I would bet most people that can pay these types of prices for fish don’t worry at all about power outages because they likely have whole home generators or some other type of backup power .

I just used power outage as an example......generally speaking, it is much easier to lose a fish than a dog....but I understand your point