Big fish are BACK
- Thread starter HarleyK
- Start date
the majority of fish keepers have no interest in monster fish at least in my region. There are a hand full of dedicated monster fish keepers granted but many of the large species would sit in a LFS for months, now the guppies and goldfish, cant keep those in stock.
I was explaining this to a friend the other day and I told him it is why such species are known as "bread and butter" fish.
Let's be honest. How many fully grown mature adult gatf, atf, goonch, rtc, tsc, piraiba, arapaima etc.. the list can go on and on have we actually seen, let alone in proper homes. The sad truth is a vast majority probably never even make it to adulthood.
A lot of people think they want a monster fish until it becomes a monster fish. This clown knife has been sitting at my lfs for over a month after it was traded in. The store also has a 6" clown knife for the exact same price($60). Care to guess which one will sell first. The tfb are still there as well, bet they have sold a dozen 3" specimens.
$24.99 XL TFB is overpricedA lot of people think they want a monster fish until it becomes a monster fish. This clown knife has been sitting at my lfs for over a month after it was traded in. The store also has a 6" clown knife for the exact same price($60). Care to guess which one will sell first. The tfb are still there as well, bet they have sold a dozen 3" specimens.
a LFS in my area with 10" TFB trying to give it to me for free and the price tag is $9.99 for all of them (3 total). The store owner even joke about that price tag not even cover the food cost to feed those tfb LOL...I think he's telling the truth about that 
our LFS has Clown Knife for $10........$60 seems a little steepA lot of people think they want a monster fish until it becomes a monster fish. This clown knife has been sitting at my lfs for over a month after it was traded in. The store also has a 6" clown knife for the exact same price($60). Care to guess which one will sell first. The tfb are still there as well, bet they have sold a dozen 3" specimens.
$24.99 XL TFB is overpriced
I guess it is what it is. We have Petsmart, Petco, and these guys for choices. There is a reason I never buy fish over 3" . Lack of competition in smaller markets makes it tough for a hobbyist. Bad selection and overpriced fish are the norm for me. I have been looking for a lima for about 2 months now, the only one the store has is $50 at about 8".
The idea of big fish depends on the people in the area too. Around here anything over 6 inches is a big fish. To me how ever big fish start at 2 feet on up. Sadly though gold fish guppies and angel fish seem to rule around here. This makes my wife happy as she is making a killing on her angels right now and would love to devote half of our 160 tanks to them. Me I like my central american cichlids but they are considered huge as some can reach 16 inches of the ones we have.
Earlier in the thread it was mentioned about outside influence on the hobby. It has sadly hit our hobby hard and we are losing ground every year to the do gooders or what ever title you want to give them. Yes some of those real monster fish probably can not be housed in an aquarium of most sizes we can afford. However how many of those huge fish are actually brought in and sold every year. A store near us has Aripima for sale at 1000 dollars a piece not many people can afford that. So if some one buys that fish and loses it or can't keep it he is out all that money maybe he will learn his lesson I know I would.
Maybe abetter solution to banning these fish would be to use a portion of lfs fish sales to save habitat and go to conservation. This Has been used for eons in the hunting world and seems to work real well Some species like the cheetah have been saved by this kind of programs. This is just my idea but is something maybe the hobby should start to look at.
Earlier in the thread it was mentioned about outside influence on the hobby. It has sadly hit our hobby hard and we are losing ground every year to the do gooders or what ever title you want to give them. Yes some of those real monster fish probably can not be housed in an aquarium of most sizes we can afford. However how many of those huge fish are actually brought in and sold every year. A store near us has Aripima for sale at 1000 dollars a piece not many people can afford that. So if some one buys that fish and loses it or can't keep it he is out all that money maybe he will learn his lesson I know I would.
Maybe abetter solution to banning these fish would be to use a portion of lfs fish sales to save habitat and go to conservation. This Has been used for eons in the hunting world and seems to work real well Some species like the cheetah have been saved by this kind of programs. This is just my idea but is something maybe the hobby should start to look at.
