Price that LFS buy fish at

abcdefghi

abcdefghi

AC Members
Jun 6, 2007
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I was not sure whether to put this here, since it is a general question, or in the Pleco's sub forum, or even in the General Chit Chat sub forum, but figured I would try here first.

My BN pleco's have laid eggs now for I believe the 3rd time, so far I have managed to get 2 fry out of the first 2 batches of eggs (I had neons in the tank who quite happily ate the wrigglers as soon as they saw fresh egg swimming around). Now that I have moved the neons out, I am expecting a larger survival rate.

I went into an LFS yesterday to ask if they were interested in fry, and how much they would pay. They offered me 75c per fish, is this the typical rate? or is that very low? I know I could sell them privately for more, but to be honest I don't know that I want to go down that road. I want to simply take an entire batch of fry when they are ready, to the LFS, and be done. Rather than run the risk of not finding anyone to buy, and me ending up overrun with BN fry.

Also, what size do LFS typically take the fry? the guy indicated with his hands what I would imagine to be close to 2", which seems pretty large for a fish that maxes out around 4.5".

Thanks.
 
Most Mom and Pop shops might be the ones willing to buy from hobbyists and breeders but not the chain stores! On average they might pay 1/4 of their selling price, and the offer might be in trade only at that! Remember they are in it purely for profit! So they are going to go as low as possible!
 
The going wholesale price for bristlenose plecos is about $.65 for a regular size (about 2") fish. But that doesn't include shipping so the offer for $.75 is pretty much right. Remember that stores don't sell tiny fry (few people want to buy a tiny fry when they can buy a 2" fish for the same price) and they don't have the ability to devote time to growing them up (it costs them money to do this which they will not likely make back).

Andy
 
That seems a little low to me, but maybe not for that size fish. When I worked at an LFS, the markup from wholesale to retail was 3x for fish and 2x for plants. So if we had plecos we were selling for $9, the wholesale price would have been $3. What are they selling similarly-sized BN for at the shop?
 
When you have them ready to sale try your local paper or craigslist. I bought
some guppies, from the newspaper,
they are big, healthy and beautiful at a reasonable price.
I really enjoyed buying from the seller. They are nice people, they had pretty tanks and I know their water is similar to mine. They got the price they wanted and I got some beauties, not the near dead you get at the lfs.
 
Thanks for the replies so far, very helpful. I think I had been figuring about $1 per fish, so 75c was not far off what I was expecting. More I just wanted to know if that was low or not, next time I am in there I will see what they sell BN's for. I am also going to try 1 or 2 other shops that are fairly close by.

What is a tiny bit annoying, is that I have no idea if they are common BN's or Dwarf Hauco Mayo (L279) BN's. I got them from a breeder who had them listed as Hauco Mayo, but have no way to prove otherwise (tried planetcatfish already), and can find very little info on the web.
 
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This is why when I was breeding fish I was selling them through AC rather than to a local shop. I would get more for them and the buyers would generally pay less, and I had a little more confidence that the people buying the fish had some knowledge and at least the inclination to do some research on the forum if necessary.
 
Sploke said:
This is why when I was breeding fish I was selling them through AC rather than to a local shop. I would get more for them and the buyers would generally pay less, and I had a little more confidence that the people buying the fish had some knowledge and at least the inclination to do some research on the forum if necessary.
Click to expand...

:iagree:
 
It really differs from LFS to LFS. I have one here who will pay you next to nothing for some fish (and only in store credit) and tons for another. Most stores who have a somewhat caring owner do not want smaller fish, 1.5 to 2" seems to be what I see as the smallest they will accept. Reasons being have already been stated, you must include health of the fish too. Sometimes sick fry don't die right away. I would suggest taking some there, but keeping enough (to grow out/trade in for more later maybe) and also try to sell them on craigslist or on an online forum. Whichever route you take, good luck to you!
 
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