Average cost of importing wild fish? - (With easy to read chart!)

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I think your under estimating how cheap most "sellers" actually import fish for. Most fish are marked up 2-3x their cost to consumers.

Which is fine, demand=supply.

I would also argue your equation is specific to cichlids, not sure if you mentioned that or not.

With all of that said, there are plenty of reputable vendors that sell quality true WC fish for less that what your equation formulates to.
 
So you're saying that the fish are collected in Nicaragua....sent from Nicaragua to somewhere else "down there"...and then exported to Florida for sale?

Matt


Cichlid Connection said:
I don't give out sourses bud! Really? And they weren't shipped from nic they were collected in nic ! Lol I don't care where they got them from down there as long as they look like they do !! I see u are calling me a lier and it really chaps myass ! Let me ask u where do u think I just pulled 20 monster dovii from ?? Lol the magic canals of fl lmao !!! Wait I grew them in my pool ! Lol whatever
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There's nothing wrong with that, although it seems to me that shipping a monster fish twice would both add to cost and mortality. But if that's what goes on, it must work.

I think that's the issue here: How Gage's (and Conkel's) "wild" fish go from a bunch of native waterways to aquarists' tanks is a mystery. Some transparency in the process would go a long way in reducing the doubt. What we have is a lot of posturing, assumption and BS.

So Gage, what is the step-by-step journey that the 22" dovii took to get from Lake Nicaragua to the OP's fish tank? What about the "wild" fish sourced from other places in Central America? Same or different process?

1) Fisherman catches fish in Lake Nicaragua
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10) Gage ships fish to OP
11) OP received fish and puts it in his tank

Without revealing anything "secret", what are the intermediate steps?

If this has been going on for 40 years with regular exports of 50 boxes of wild fish...it would seem pretty straighforward to explain.

I'd really, really like to have my doubts dispelled!

Matt

Freshwaterpredators said:
Why not??
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I think that the main issue with the analysis is the assumption that the primarily driver of cost is the size of fish, when issues such as the type of fish (i.e. discus vs. acara) and the location from which the shipment originated (Peru vs. Nicaragua) could have a more significant impact on cost to the wholesaler (and the prices charged to the aquarist).

Wholesale costs and volume shipping from some places (e.g. Peru, Lake Malawi) are pretty straightforward and routine. Hundreds if not thousands of boxes of wild fish are shipped regularly from these locations.

From other places, there aren't regular commercial exporters. For example, there was an article in a recent ACA BB about Eric Hanneman only having success (because of losses in-country and ability/inability to get export permits) to bring back "Laguna Yaxha" melanrus (from Guatemala) on one of his three collecting trips down there. Mexico is all but closed off from collection/export. Rapps's recent export of cichlids, catfish and livebearers from Lago Nicaragua and some feeder streams was the first export from there in years, as far as I knew.

Anyway, I think that the model is useful but limited because other factors are more significant into the end cost of wild fish on the market (or whether actually wild fish are on the market)...

Matt
 
Prior to the fisherman catching the fish in the wild, the fisherman would need to know what he's supposed to catch.

What's the process for that? How would a fisherman know to catch a 22" dovii for you, Gage?

Matt

dogofwar said:
So Gage, what is the step-by-step journey that the 22" dovii took to get from Lake Nicaragua to the OP's fish tank? What about the "wild" fish sourced from other places in Central America? Same or different process?

1) Fisherman catches fish in Lake Nicaragua
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10) Gage ships fish to OP
11) OP received fish and puts it in his tank
Click to expand...
 
im sure its a PITA to import fish cuz of all the paperwork and stuff. but i dont think importers will really tell u who they got the fish from or how much they got it for. but just know they are making money off of you.
 
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