How come frontosa are so expensive?
- Thread starter Lukee
- Start date
moba,kapampa,and kitumba are the most money,they can start at around 30 for a baby and go for up to 400 or 500 for a 12''-14'' show male.mpimbwe are a little cheaper and burundi are dime a dozen.The one's with the most color and best trailers always cost the most money,no matter what variant.
Like stated before burundi are a dime a dozen, and that's because they have been available in the trade for much longer than any other front. Any of the zaire will cost you much more. The moba seem the be the most wanted of the zaire. I only know of one person in Utah that has a wild caught colony. And he has a waiting list to get fry. Most F1 moba fry at 1" will cost between 20 and 30 dollars. It's all about supply and demand. I just finished off my colony of mpimbwe with another 17 fry, I know have a total of 27 and I'm into them about 300 dollars. And they are all F1. For the price of one wild caught moba male I have an entire colony of F1 mpimbwe.
Wild caught Zaire are the big money ones. You are paying for the collectors, shippers, and general care of bringing these things in from Africa.
Burundi are so cheap because they are so wide spread in the hobby, those can be bought at any Petco.
I bought Moba at 6-7" for $180 plus shipping, because I got a group deal. Single, they were $220 a piece. The only problem with my WC guys is that they are really skittish.
Oh yeah, like the other guy said. Big ones 10-14 inch WC can go up to 500 or more.
Burundi are so cheap because they are so wide spread in the hobby, those can be bought at any Petco.
I bought Moba at 6-7" for $180 plus shipping, because I got a group deal. Single, they were $220 a piece. The only problem with my WC guys is that they are really skittish.
Oh yeah, like the other guy said. Big ones 10-14 inch WC can go up to 500 or more.
You will find the more scarce a fish is in the Lake the more you will also pay. As said, in previous posts, the deeper a dive to catch them will push the price up. Just like the Malawi fish, there are certain species you will pay loads more for especially if they are wild caughts.
Here is South Africa I pay around 14$ for a wild caught yet only 3-4$ for an
F1.
They are also rather slow to grow. Not too sure as to the age before they will start to reproduce!!!!
Here is South Africa I pay around 14$ for a wild caught yet only 3-4$ for an
F1.
They are also rather slow to grow. Not too sure as to the age before they will start to reproduce!!!!
Most expensive were some ALBINOs that Oddball was trying to buy overseas!!!
Theres a pic of them somewhere lost in the MFK files.
Theres a pic of them somewhere lost in the MFK files.
Frontosas start to become sexually mature around 6"+ and could take anywhere from 4-6 years to reach 6" depending on how much you feed them and how often you do water changes. All cichlids from Lake Tang. are slow growers. Not sure why that is. I have heard it is because the Lake only changes temp about 2 degrees in a year, but not sure if that is a reason.
There are a few factors that make them expensive.
1. Out of a batch of 50 eggs maybe only 20 actually hatch. Out of that 20 only 12-15 will actually survive the fry stage to be 1-2" juvis.
2. They take so long to grow that it will be months to grow out a fry to a selling size.
Neither of these makes them so expensive IMO.
Supply and Demand makes them Expensive. All Tang Cichlids grow slow. Any fish that is in high demand is going to be expensive.
There are a few factors that make them expensive.
1. Out of a batch of 50 eggs maybe only 20 actually hatch. Out of that 20 only 12-15 will actually survive the fry stage to be 1-2" juvis.
2. They take so long to grow that it will be months to grow out a fry to a selling size.
Neither of these makes them so expensive IMO.
Supply and Demand makes them Expensive. All Tang Cichlids grow slow. Any fish that is in high demand is going to be expensive.
