What do you think the next fish will be that decreases in popularity and why???

[TicaL]

All fish are popular with me and I think they're all fascinating. My collection is purely limited by tankspace and financial constraints. If you think your fish are becoming unpopular ... send them to me!

Yeah, that's really how I feel as well. If it weren't for time, money, and other responsibilities I would love to house all the fish I could find. I'd love to provide a good home for as many fish as I were able to disregarding it's type of species. Variety is the spice of life we all could use more of.

 

[E_americanus]

i definitely agree that a fish will never go out of style if you are truly interested in it...just keep what you like!

i don't worry about the popularity of any of the fishes i keep since most of them are ugly, primitive, oddballs anyway

all that being said, i think the gulper catfish trend will eventually die off...they are cool fish, but as they become more and more prevalent, the price will drop, more people will have them and their novelty will wear off.

some trends get even more specific, but i am sure will decline soon as well...it used to be really cool just to have an ATF, but pretty much all of them were vittatus, now that goliaths are becoming more available, people are going after those...however, they cost quite a bit, and i think people will eventually realize (other than potential size) they are similar fish...novelty will wear off.

just my opinions --
--solomon

 

[santoury]

Well, everybody with a community tank has pretty much the same tetras or danios or what have you, and they cost less than $2 dollars, yet they are still, and always will be, hugely popular, so I wouldn't base a decision on the price dropping, but I do see your point, if you think about the fish's rarity to begin with, but still...
I, too, have the "ugly primitives" but it's all in the eyes of the owners... oops, beholder... I think lungfish are beautiful and awesome, but most people don't. Most just think they are awesome. They simply never will win any beauty contests

 

[E_americanus]

Well, everybody with a community tank has pretty much the same tetras or danios or what have you, and they cost less than $2 dollars, yet they are still, and always will be, hugely popular, so I wouldn't base a decision on the price dropping, but I do see your point, if you think about the fish's rarity to begin with, but still...
I, too, have the "ugly primitives" but it's all in the eyes of the owners... oops, beholder... I think lungfish are beautiful and awesome, but most people don't. Most just think they are awesome. They simply never will win any beauty contests

agree on the lungfish stuff for sure

as for price...it doesnt apply to all cases, but i think it does regarding predatory fishes. for better or worse, once everybody can get one, the popularity tends to decrease, at least a bit. even with the primitives...when the retropinnis bichir came back (after many years on hiatus, and newly described as mokelembembe, with the true retropinnis being the zaire green...ok i digress), it was popular and moderately expensive...the first ones went off aquabid for ridiculous prices (upwards of $200 for a small individual). now they are relatively readily available from the right sources, and the price is much more reasonable...and it's not as big of a deal to have one.

same goes for the vittatus ATF...they used to be upwards of $250 only about 4 years ago! now you can get them for $60...and they just don't have the same hype.

some fishes go and come back...take the black arow; they've always been more expensive than a silver, but then they were unavailable for about two years and then came back and are now even more expensive (this price may decrease with availability again)...back to popularity, but if they become increasingly available, their popularity (at least here in the US) will die back a bit.

with predatory fishes, price and availability definitely seem to play large roles with popularity--
--solomon

 

[santoury]

The sad thing is, at $4.99 for a baby Oscar, they aren't going anywhere. Nothing stopping a kid from buying 3 for his 10 gallon tank.

To keep with the thread's subject, I think that "Big Cats" are gonna be out of vogue afore long. Not that many people can realistically keep them.

 

[pebble]

i think in general, the aquarium hobby will become less popular in the future. the new generation of kids would be more happier spending their money on playstation 7 or something

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

i think in general, the aquarium hobby will become less popular in the future. the new generation of kids would be more happier spending their money on playstation 7 or something

 

[santoury]

I must say I disagree... If anything, I think the popularity will go up....
Hey, this should be a NEW thread I think it will go up because so many new fish are available that were never available 10, 20 years ago.

 

[deangelo]

I think it would have to be the flowerhorn..too many strains and you got people breeding them left and right, and not all of them turn out as what people expect them to be, plus they can rarely be put in a community tank too agresssive..

 

[santoury]

Quite honestly, I must agree with FH's going "down" - Why do I think so? NOT because they are gorgeous fish and all that, but BECAUSE most of them look the same.

Honestly, the overwhelming majority of them look more or less like a highly festive trimac... that's about it...

It's true that if you know what to look for, or what varieties to look for, this wouldn't be true, but for the general public, and at LFS, and so forth, they all look alike more or less. I don't see this being conductive to sustaining long range interest.

And the RED TEXAS.... c'mon.... They look EXACTLY like carpintis, nothing more, nothing less... The ONLY RED ones I've seen were ALREADY red, at small sizes. I see them all over now, and I find myself wondering how many of them actually even turn red at all? I don't see how this can keep the interest going very long.