FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Okay, we finally got some pandas in at work. I was happy about that- "Sweet, fully-grown pandas, we finally got some panda cories!" Then, I looked at the price tag. $13.00 per fish!?!? Is it just me, or is that kind of crazy for these little guys? They are healthy and in good condition, and scarce in my area (I think), but I wouldn't want to pay seventy or eighty dollars for a shoal of cories. Seriously, our rarer cories are a lot cheaper than these pandas. Has anyone else encountered pandas that are more expensive?

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

$13 actually isn't a bad price for full-grown, 3.5-4.5cm panda corys. At my LFS, we charge $5 for pandas that are not even an inch long.

Adult pandas are much hardier than the babies that are normally available, and there are also less of them in the wild than small ones. That translates into a higher price for a potential buyer, but in my opinion, that is still a pretty good price.

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

hmm, thats about £6.50 a fish. My LFS pays £4 a fish for my babies and sells tem for about £6+ a fish. Sounds about right to me, esp if they are local bred.

-------------------------------------------------
I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

<---Doesn't see why this is in RR but...

At my LFS the pandas that come in usually are sold for $7.50 or 2/14 I think. And they're usually pretty small. I'm not sure why they cost so much, b/c they aren't exactly uncommon...I find that the chains usually sell them for cheaper for some reason. *shrugs* Eventually my boss gets frusturated and puts them on *SPECIAL* and they go for like $5.99 instead.



[hr width='40%'][font color="#000080"]"I know that you are something special, To you I'd be always faithful
I want to be what you always needed, Then I hope you'll see the heart in me"[/font]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

They sell for aroung $4.49 each around here, but I have seen them as much as $9.99 depending on availability and the store.

---

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

3 dollars for 1/2"~full grown adults here...there's no real correlation between size and price. Then again, the store does get supplied by about 3 local breeders (including yours truly).

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 05-Mar-2005 21:37

I paid seven dollars a piece for tiny little pandas. And that was at my preferred LFS, which is usually high-priced. However, I've only seen them once before in the area, and I sometimes visit this store once or twice a week.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Here in my area in oz- between $12 - 16 depends on size.
They are not common in my area. More like a special request to get them in. ***Tiger

I paid $16.85 for my trilineatus and caudimaculatus.
The bronce corys and peppers corys here are between $4.95 -$9.95

Geez... I didn't think it was that bad. I guess the next question is: Why are they so danged expensive? They aren't hard to come across, is the demand that high?

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Where I live, one dealer charges £8 each. Which at current exchange rates is around $15 a pop. So a shoal of 8 like mine will set you back a fair amount. Which explains why I got mine piecemeal!

Mind you, it means that should the day come when I have 25 juveniles to offload in one batch, I'll make quite a killing. Because I get half the retail price for them. 25 Pandas x £4 each = £100 in my bank account. Ker-ching. Trouble is it takes 5 months minimum to raise them to the point where they're saleable, because if you try relocating them before that time, losses are horrific. Even then, most breeders prefer to hang on till they're 6 or 7 months old, so that they're definitely tough enough to withstand the transfer. Which all adds to the price. As does the sometimes perilous delicacy of the fry during the first 21 days of raising them.

Plus, demand among aquarists in the know is sky high. They are a supremely popular species. Although where I live, they are less expensive than sterbai, which can fetch a whopping £12 each. Which means they are as expensive as Cyrpichromis leptosoma Rift Lake Cichlids. Yeep.

As an example of the kind of price scales in operation, I've seen elegans sell at £3 each, guapore at £7 each, and - this was a BIG surprise - barbatus sell for a lowly £6 each. Any species that requires a special order carries a premium.



Last edited by Calilasseia at 06-Mar-2005 13:22

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002