# What is it about "Rare" fish?



## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

I was pondering this today. What is it about someone posting a for sale stating that the fish they are selling is rare?

Does someone saying the fish is "rare" or "not often seen in the hobby" make that fish more valuable?

Why?
Status?
ego of the owner?

Maybe that fish isn't often seen in the hobby because the fish in question is just not that great?

Why isn't the fish often seen in the hobby is my question?

Also why is it that a fish or a shrimp more valuable than another one?

Is it not all hype?

I see ad's that have these incredibly expensive fish and they are posted forever and no one is interested in paying Big$ for the type of fish.

I think like anything, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it not a penny more.

What do you think??


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## RoryM (May 7, 2010)

I only pay big money for something that I ACTUALLY want and not what someone else thinks is rare or the new "it" thing.


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

From my point of view, rare is something you cannot come by everyday. For example a fish that is almost extinct in the wild and not many hobbist have it.

Then if someone wants one, what are the chances to find one. But at this moment, the price is created based on the demand and supply formula.

Sometimes. there are also the prices for "rare" fish that basically are artifically inflated for the unexperienced fish lover. They fall for the bait and pay a large amount of money thinking that got a deal just to find out that the fish they got it quite common and sold at 1/10 of the price.

For example, look at this post: http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22395 . Brent, and please, this is not againt you, might have sold a beautiful L155 Adonis for let's say $35. The customer likes the adonis and thinks the price is great for such a nice and rare pleco but the store next by has it for half the price.

And sometimes rare is something that someone just managed to create, like a new fish (like my Blue Parrot platy) and guess how many people will have it in the next let's say 2 years? Not that many. If you want one, you pay a hefty amount for that person's time and money.

So i will finish my verbal diahreea and use my 2 cents to get myself another coffee. Boring to work on Sundays.


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## Lee_D (Jun 11, 2010)

I noticed back at the burlington auction there was a sword plant (can't remember what type) that had "Rare" written on the label. It went fairly well in the auction. That afternoon I was browsing in a Big Als and they had a dozen of them. Cheaper. I guess there is more than one way to dress up a sword plant...

Lee


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

IMO it's all hype majority of the time. Like the shrimp selling for $2000+ is a joke all hype and they are bred in the hundreds if not thousands and they get people by saying it's a higher quality shrimp lol
Another is the Asian arowanas. Yes in the wild they are rare but again bred in the thousands on many different farms and they get people with the quality thing. 

To me rare is a fish you know is not available at the drop of a hat. Good example is the Tetraodon pustulatus. I've been wanting one for years and the last time they were in at Olivers they were sold out in minutes. The time frame between the two imports I know of was about 5+ years and it's been a couple since and they have not showed up yet. 

Hype sells!


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## Gibbus (Mar 29, 2010)

Most rare fish in the hobby are rare due to government restrictions or locations that they are collected. I have coming in next week H.multidens cichlid from the Congo. It takes a week to get to the collecting site and a week back with the fish. For T.pustulatus is rare due to the collection point which is the dangerous area of the Congo. The other puffer that is rarer then is pustulatus is the Stanely Pool puffer or T.dubolisi puffer.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Gibbus said:


> Most rare fish in the hobby are rare due to government restrictions or locations that they are collected. I have coming in next week H.multidens cichlid from the Congo. It takes a week to get to the collecting site and a week back with the fish. For T.pustulatus is rare due to the collection point which is the dangerous area of the Congo. The other puffer that is rarer then is pustulatus is the Stanely Pool puffer or T.dubolisi puffer.


Tetraodon duboisi is definatley rare but I would not go as far as to say rarer then the Tetraodon pustulatus. Both are rare puffers but I've seen the reticulated offered for sale more often by vendors in the states and a few here over the years. Only people I seen selling real cross rivers is Oliver or Toyin ( who's located in the states ) from Rehoboth.


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## Gibbus (Mar 29, 2010)

I have talked to a friend of mine that lives in the Congo and the Dubolesi puffer is rarer then the cross river puffer. The cross river is the nicest of them all. I was lucky to pick one up a year ago.


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

There are no definite answers to rare fish. It is just an eye of the beholder, something you consider rare, it doesn't mean it is rare to other people.

Let's take Jackson and Gibbus as example, they said a dubolesi puffer is a rare fish, because they like it and they can't get one. 

To me, it's like a mbu puffer and I wouldn't even pay a dime for one, because I don't like puffer.


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## Gibbus (Mar 29, 2010)

Bigfishy

Great point.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Gibbus said:


> I have talked to a friend of mine that lives in the Congo and the Dubolesi puffer is rarer then the cross river puffer. The cross river is the nicest of them all. I was lucky to pick one up a year ago.


Says your friend who lives in the Congo lol

Let's see some pics of you cross river. I'm just excited to se one owned by a Canadian. Did you buy it from Oliver?


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

bigfishy said:


> There are no definite answers to rare fish. It is just an eye of the beholder, something you consider rare, it doesn't mean it is rare to other people.


Yes and no  Usually that's the case - it's in the eye of the beholder.

But often what dictates the rarity is indeed the access to the fish/specimen - many fish/specimens simply aren't collected easily (live at extreme depths, extremely limited distributions, areas that aren't collected usually), and so they're rare and demand a higher price.

Good thing a lot of pretty common fish are just as pretty


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

I found a link about how cichlids are caught and bred in Africa and then shipped around the world by one of the largest breeder there. I laughed to myself because most of these "Wild Caught" fish that people import are not really wild caught at all. Well originally they are wild caught, then brought to the facility and then bred on site in ponds and tanks. It has to do with conservation along with breeding the best (most colourful) of all the fish they get in from the lake.

Watch this http://en.aquanet.tv/Video/208-mire...urundi-and-tanganyican-legend-pierre-brichard

Then realize most of you are being duped into thinking you're getting wild caught.

Oh by the way, I have some wild caught blood parrot cichlid they are very RARE


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## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

i think the best way to sum it up is the snakehead, in ontario these guys would be considered rare due to the all the red tape and licencing needed to keep one yet you can buy them for food across the U.S and basicly everywere in asia. It all comes down to how badly you want it and what who ever your buying it from had to do to get it.


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## Gibbus (Mar 29, 2010)

Most african cichlids are bred in captivity. There is a select ones that are wild caught like H.multidens.


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## Gibbus (Mar 29, 2010)

Snakeheads are illegel in the USA


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

mrobson said:


> i think the best way to sum it up is the snakehead, in ontario these guys would be considered rare due to the all the red tape and licencing needed to keep one yet you can buy them for food across the U.S and basicly everywere in asia. It all comes down to how badly you want it and what who ever your buying it from had to do to get it.


If you look hard enough majority of LFS over in the east end sell snake heads. They don't care about the laws here.


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## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

just looked into snakeheads looks like a federal ban was imposed in 2004 in the U.S unless your have a permit for scientific study. Ontario followed suit not long after they were discovered in waters around N.Y state  stupid irresponsible owners ruining it for the rest of us.


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

Fish rare in the hobby can also just be undesirable. I've always been interested in lepidophages but due to their undesirable behaviour they're uncommon in the hobby regardless of their natural abundance.


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