YOUR input on cost of CB Marbles

[earthstudent]

Here you go....

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206316

Maybe not as nice as a Leo or Pearl but I sure like her.

I know what was offered for a ray like this.... The former owner turned down an acrylic 400 WITH a Leo in it.

That female is amazing. If that pattern stayed like that, than there is no doubt rays like that should be worth more than your average marble. I would pay more for a stunner like that. Just as a hypothetical scenario, if a person offered me the option of two rays and said pick one and it is yours. One being this female and the other being a normal Leo, my first thought would be that this female is more beautiful and I want her but I would have that lingering thought that the leo is worth more. But since I'm in it for my own hobby and not for money, I would take this female because at the end of the day I would be observing and absolutely stunning ray that IMO if far more stunning than any normal Leo.

 

[earthstudent]

I will have to admit though, that female looks like it has pearl in her. Probably doesn't but that is just what popped into my head after staring and drooling over her for several minutes.

 

[Cajun]

My $0.02 - The market dictates what anything, including a ray, is worth. If you love MM, keep them & breed them. Just don't expect others to pay what you feel they're worth & you won't be disappointed. Since they all cost about the same to maintain & feed, if you look at rays from a financial point of view, black rays are where it's at.

 

[DB junkie]

Black rays may be where it's at now but IF the goverments down south want to manipulate the market and pull the plug on exporting Marbles then guess what?

I'm personally gettin kind of tired of all this black is where it's at talk. IF they are where it's at why doesn't everyone have them? I'll tell you why.... They can't afford them.

Ever watch a 4 digit ray die? Bet you'd run right out and buy another.

 

[DB junkie]

I will have to admit though, that female looks like it has pearl in her. Probably doesn't but that is just what popped into my head after staring and drooling over her for several minutes.

You've never heard that Pearls are just fancy Motoros? That's all Marbles are......

Check out the vids in the media lounge. The female is in the "mumz" vid.

Keep in mind she's fresh out of a black pond so she looks terrible in that vid, but at least you can see that at 20" across I don't think her pattern will be going anywhere.

Fiar market value is only usefull to people flipping fish. To a hobbyist that plans on burying thier fish then value is out the window as it won't be resold. That being said, it's easy for me to justify expensive Marbles cause to me it takes a higher caliber black ray- BD, King, Thousand Island, Eclipse to equal the beauty of a truly nice Marble, and even then you're spending well over 3 fold the cost.

 

[LOPAKA]

Fair market value is only usefull to people flipping fish. To a hobbyist that plans on burying thier fish then value is out the window as it won't be resold. That being said, it's easy for me to justify expensive Marbles cause to me it takes a higher caliber black ray- BD, King, Thousand Island, Eclipse to equal the beauty of a truly nice Marble, and even then you're spending well over 3 fold the cost.

I would have to agree with that..... no comparison in price but the quality is there.

 

[earthstudent]

You've never heard that Pearls are just fancy Motoros? That's all Marbles are......

Check out the vids in the media lounge. The female is in the "mumz" vid.

Keep in mind she's fresh out of a black pond so she looks terrible in that vid, but at least you can see that at 20" across I don't think her pattern will be going anywhere.

Fiar market value is only usefull to people flipping fish. To a hobbyist that plans on burying thier fish then value is out the window as it won't be resold. That being said, it's easy for me to justify expensive Marbles cause to me it takes a higher caliber black ray- BD, King, Thousand Island, Eclipse to equal the beauty of a truly nice Marble, and even then you're spending well over 3 fold the cost.

Actually I did not know that pearls were just a motoro until now. How many other names are there for motoros? I know there are a bunch for Leos but...

This whole thing boils down to economics, supply and demand. Like you said, if motoros were the rays that got the export ban than they would be the high price rays. But what makes you price idea valid is the fact that there is not a large supply of top notch motors in the market. The real question is what is the demand? How many people out there are wanting a A+ motoro? To be honest, I think the prices that people pay for Leos is ridiculous. They do not even need to be imported, they breed readily in captivity. I think someone should get a good size breeding project going and start selling Leos for $500. That might actually make your Motoros worth more. There you go, you should do that to reduce the supply demand ratio on Leos and increase the demand for awesome motoros.

Sorry, I'm just thinking into text again.

 

[DB junkie]

The whole Pearl being a Motoro bit was just a random thought tossed out a while back by someone. Maybe there's proof out there but until there is a lot of this ray stuff is just heresay. We don't know how they are related.

 

[earthstudent]

I definitely see how a pearl looks like a marble but a hyena also look like it would be related to K9s but it is not at all. This is just a visual example. There are lots of plants, animals and fungi being reclassified due to genetic analysis. We are finding our old way of classifying animals is not very accurate when it comes to genetic heritage and evolution.
They may be the same species or a sub-species or not closely related at all. When I was in collage 10 years ago, my biology professors told me then, that much of the classification knowledge I was learning would be obsolete in the next 20 years or so due to genetic classification.