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Most expensive livestock

mrhoyo

mrhoyo

Member
Joined
20 May 2020
Messages
265
Location
Halifax, UK
What's the most expensive aquarium livestock you've all bought? I'm starting out with fish but have been keeping reptiles for 13 years and it seems (to me) that fish keepers spend a fortune on enclosures but relatively little on livestock. Most reptile keepers seem to be the opposite, it's very common for £1000+ snakes to be kept in plastic tubs or chipboard vivariums.
 
My most expensive tropical fish was a golden nugget plec I bought about 20 years ago and it cost £30.66, I was 13 at the time.

The most expensive fish I've bought for marines was a £2300 (wholesale price, nearer 4.5k retail) captive bred clarion angel, though luckily it was for a customer and I couldn't wait for them to pick it up.

The most expensive fish I've seen was a Peppermint angel at de Jong in Holland and that was about €25,000 but I know that cheap compared to some koi.
 
Funnily on this subject, when I went to a couple of the trade shows you could spot the normal tropical fish shops from the ones who specialised in koi because the trop guys turned up in old bangers and the koi guys nice new mercs and bmw's:D
 
mort said:
My most expensive tropical fish was a golden nugget plec I bought about 20 years ago and it cost £30.66, I was 13 at the time.

The most expensive fish I've bought for marines was a £2300 (wholesale price, nearer 4.5k retail) captive bred clarion angel, though luckily it was for a customer and I couldn't wait for them to pick it up.

The most expensive fish I've seen was a Peppermint angel at de Jong in Holland and that was about €25,000 but I know that cheap compared to some koi.
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Holy moses that's an expensive fish. Cool though.
 
Obviously not a fish but my most expensive small livestock (exc. dogs) is probably this green tree python, Hetty, at £450ish.
20170906_173514.jpg
 
Back when I was in to L-number plecs I would normally spend 40-60 quid on a fish however some of the rarer species go for a lot more. Starts to add up when you want a fair sized group for breeding too. Was well worth it to see them hide in a cave all day and only come out for feeding 😂

cheers

Conor
 
mrhoyo said:
Holy moses that's an expensive fish. Cool though.
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We never really used to get much interest in high end fish but a few customers had money to burn so we did special orders. The limit for most was about £40 for marines and much less for tropicals, apart from the guys that bought in bulk. I had one customer order 200 threadfin cardinals for his monster planted tank.
 
The Most i have spent on a fish. Was £75 for one of the 1st Halfmoon Giant Betta it was stunning, and 5 inch body without finnage.
 
I'd have thought some of the more attractive discus must be at the higher end of what most 'average' hobbyists would consider purchasing in terms of tropical fish?
 
not to much from me - I think paid around £50 for a green phantom pleco.

I would pay very well for a nice dark plakat fighter
I would pay fair amount for a good good pair of apistogramma cacatuoides if someone new a top notch breeder or supplier.

some of the arrowana prices i have seen are pretty scary, BUT the fish are amazing
 
Not aquarium fish but in the late 80s early 90s when koi carp were selling for ridiculous prices I laid out large sums of bank loan money on stock fish for my business .
In the early 80s I worked on a koi farm as a general manager, we had many imported Japanese fish for sale at over £10.000 although I can’t remember selling any at that price!
We did sell lots of koi in the £500-£750 range and several over £1000.
The owner of the farm went on a buying trip to Japan and spent 100k on fish including many around the 5k each.
Crazy times, koi were often in the news papers when big sales were made, 100k individual fish were not that uncommon.
Personally, I think I paid £1200 for a particularly fish and I sold it for the same price a few years later but most of my sales were around £50-100.
Funny thing is ... 30 years on and I still see many of the same fish I sold in customers ponds but they have very little value now. Some are 60-70 cm long and weigh 25lbs but there is little market for big koi where I live and it is more often a struggle to re home big fish for free!
@frederick thompson
 
Tomp91 said:
There's a massive puffer fish in the Maidenhead aquatics in Tong Garden Centre for £999.

All my favourites are the cheap common ones though, suppose that's quite lucky!
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That's a lot! I'd love to know where it ends up.
 
Even if I was the most confident fish keeper in the world I would probably want some sort of insurance! (💭is that a thing?)
 
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