I don't see it the way some people on here do. MFK is a great resource. For example, I have 2 BD and a bd/leo. To me the bd/leo which I bought from vamptrev is much better looking than the other two. Only 2 rows of spotting, but spots are perfectly symeterical, and has tons of TI spotting, and the spots are spaced out in a way that is very pelasing to the eye, belly is nice and dark which is different from my other two. That is my AAA ray. My male BD comes a close second. Didn't spend top dollar on them, and they are still amazingly beautiful to me. So, that being said, when my two females have pups, I plan to sell them to a LFS, I will try not to spend the profits and put them aside for a ray people here consider AAA. Once I have enough, I will post on here and contact people like Mike from Exotic Aquaria, Pedro, Cheon, Bigslick, vamptrev, etc. I can GUARANTEE you, someone will give me a lead for the $3000+ ray I want to spend money on just for prestige. Thing about this is it may not even be as nice to me as some of the others in my tank, but thats where I wanna say screw it and just judge based on how much pleasure watching each specific fish in your tank gives you, not how rare other people consider it.
I feel like I missed the point of the topic here, talking about wholesalers lists and taking this hobby to the "next level", but if theres one thing that fishing and fish keeping has taught me is that it is about enjoying the journey. When I first started I was so anxious to get everything I thought as cool to get my hands on. Then I realized less is more. Then I realized if I want to be serious, I gotta be prepared to dish out serious dough. Then I realized eventually what I want will come to me, with patience, and the most important thing being to take the time to be happy with what you have. Sounds corny I know, don't mean to sound like a preacher but to the OP: keep at it and you will get what you want, just don't expect it right now. I bet most people here feel like they will never stop keeping fish, so why the hurry? Keep researching, you'll find the ray you want, just keep asking people on here.
I feel like I missed the point of the topic here, talking about wholesalers lists and taking this hobby to the "next level", but if theres one thing that fishing and fish keeping has taught me is that it is about enjoying the journey. When I first started I was so anxious to get everything I thought as cool to get my hands on. Then I realized less is more. Then I realized if I want to be serious, I gotta be prepared to dish out serious dough. Then I realized eventually what I want will come to me, with patience, and the most important thing being to take the time to be happy with what you have. Sounds corny I know, don't mean to sound like a preacher but to the OP: keep at it and you will get what you want, just don't expect it right now. I bet most people here feel like they will never stop keeping fish, so why the hurry? Keep researching, you'll find the ray you want, just keep asking people on here.
