Cash Cow

If it's about fish in general, or it's a little bit random, then this is the place to post it.
dave
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Cash Cow

Post by dave »

In any business or money making hobby noone sells "cash cows". Get a few youngsters, mingle with those that have them, things will come your way...

I lifted the above post from Private sales and wants.

Obviously the reasons for keeping this fish are wide and varied.

Mine is because I like the fish, and the belief that because of this site it will be possible to maintain a gentically viable population.

What is your reason?

Take care

Dave
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bonsai
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Post by bonsai »

Hi Dave, my reason for keeping fish is tht they're so lovely and easy to keep (that's when things go right, of course :lol: ) :wink:
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Post by McEve »

I fell in love with this fish the moment I saw the first picture of it. After doing some research on the fish and learning of it's plight I just knew i had to make an effort to help out.

My reason is pure love.

I must admit i got angry when I read the aforementioned post, but he's just shooting himself in the foot so I let it stay. I couldn't take him seriously. :clown:

I'll close the thread if anything else off topic is said there, but don't want to ruin OP's chanse of getting hold of fish.
dave
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Hi again

Post by dave »

Just an afterthought, the question I asked above seems to exclude people without L46's, so for those, why do you want to keep L46's?

Take care

Dave
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bonsai
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Post by bonsai »

I've had mine about 4-5 years now, and I wouldn't dream of selling these little cuties :luw:
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Lucy
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Post by Lucy »

I've always loved plecs & corys above all other fish & the moment I saw a Zebra plec I fell in love - couldn't afford him of course, but I'm glad about that now as I probably would have just had one (at that price £50!!!!) in my community tank.
That was a long time ago & my fish keeping knowledge was very limited back then.
So when I finally could afford them - they weren't available!! (& had at least doubled in price!!)

It's mostly due to this site that I've got some now (& learn new things everyday about them).
I hope mine do breed as I love rearing young fish & we need to keep them going as hobbyists if they die off in the wild.

Lucy <><
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John
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Post by John »

I am in it for the money, just 10587 good spawns to go and i can order that new ferrari :clown:


And now serious alltough i am pissed off by certain remarks:

I am fascinated by their appearance and behaviour, they are great stressrelievers after a hard day at work because they are so relaxed.
I just enjoy the little fellows every day.
(but also my other hypancistrus species)
Greetings,
John
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Post by ZebMan »

I bought mine becuase I think they're a beautiful fish and I have always wanted a few. If I can breed them and come out even in the money department, than that is more than enough for me. :D
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Post by TwoTankAmin »

About 6 years ago while surfing for fish i came across a picture of a zebra. I was so amazed by their look that I was instantly captivate and they went to the top of my wish list. I went through a few aborted attempts to acquire some.

I sent a well respected seller $250 for eight 2+ inchers to which included overnight shipping from CA to NY. My fish were dropped at LAX the morning of 9/11. Needless to say they never made it and then the seller was activated for his national guard unit, left his biz in his wife's hands. he messed up, ruined the business and never refunded my money.

About 6 months later a fishy buddy who worked part time with an importer told me they were brining in zebras and arranged for me to get some almost right off the plane. Well the box came in and the fish had been packed horridly and they arrived as mush. The importer arranged for the seller to send more, individually bagged.

My buddy came into the fish chat room we both used at the time excited as heck and asked me for my phone number. When he called he told me the fish had arrived, looked beautiful and were the largest he had ever seen- 4 inch and larger. I immediately put a check in the mail for my 8 zebras- $360 which also covered $40 for shipping and clearing on mine. The next day in chat my friend informed me the fish had begun dying. they would hemorage into their stomachs and then die. Apparently the shipped had used hypno and overdosed it. Out of 20 zebs that arrived, one lived, and it was not mine.

A number of months later I was able to purchase and adult pair from a private hobbyist. They cost me $77 each with overnight shipping. Unfortuantely back then I did not know what I do now, an I out them into a tank with 2 adult 260s and a pair of adult 143s. Inside 10 months i had one zebra. I then located 3 more juvies about 1.5 inches which went into the same tank in the summer of 04.

Fast forward to march of 06. I got the opportunity to purchase a proven breeding colony of 13 fish along with 5 of their fry. I cleared all of the other plecos out of the tank and sent them to new homes. I had but two zebras still alive in the tanks and they were moved into a tank with a discus pair- apparently after all this time it turns out they are a pair and started to show the first signs they migh want to spawn this past week.

From the very first time I unbagged my original pair, I have been struck by their coloration. No other fish I have seen, either in person or in pictures, has their unique coloration.

I bought the breeding group for several reasons. I knew I would try to spawn them rather than sell them off for the maximum profit. My only concern was could I keep them alive and then could I get lucky enough to spawn them. I was blessed to get a lot of spawns and fry which I have only been willing to sell in groups to folks I honestly believe will grow them out and try to spawn them. I wanted to do my small part to help insure these lovely fish do not disappear from the planet. I will also admit that I wanted to recover my substantial cash outlay, which I have done.

Despite having had zebras in one form or another now for over 4 years, every time I look at one I still can't help getting this huge grin on my face.
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

OK, i got my first zebra from a shop in edinburgh, because i thought it was the most phenominal fish I had ever seen and i managed to hide the price (then £30) from my wife.

Unfortunately I lost it approximately 3 months later as i could not get it to eat.

I continued to research and became more and more intersted in the fish and it's possible plight in it's natural environment. Finally after spending almost 5 years of travelling the country, scouring every fish shop i could identify with a possible zebra, I managed to build up the colony and get them breeding. I dont think the idea of selling them had ever crossed my mind, until I started the site.

Yes, I agree that the fact that i can recoup some of my costs is attractive, but it has never been the reason for my interest.

I think what most people do not realise is that it is acgtually very difficult to make money breeding zebras, unless they sell them very young (which I don't really agree with), or set up a little production line.

If i was to calculate the money spent on how many i sell and the fact that i keep all fish for at least 18 months - 2 years, i think the profit margin would be considerabley less than i would tell my wife!!!!! :wink:

In short, I breed them because, like many others, I feel it is just one action, one contribution, that i feel genuinely makes a difference. Every time a new member joins the site ( obviously excluding the dratted spammers) we are increasing this fish's chance of a successful healthy preservation in th hobby.

That said everyone has their own reasons, and i must admit john, this is a fantastic idea for a thread!!!!!!
:idea:

Rob
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bonsai
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Post by bonsai »

I got my 2 females from Manchester 4-5 yrs ago, and I can't believe how much they've gone up in price :shock:
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Post by gugge »

Well, as I see it, the people that get this fish to make money out of them is in for a big suprise ;) at the slow rate they grow and the few numbers of offspring at the time makes it a poor cash cow then ;) take in the amount of time you put in your fishes to care for them, to read about them, to do waterchanges and so on.. take that in to a an huorly payment and you don´t make much money ;) you would be better of taking an extra shift or take an extra job then ;) or if presistant breed an anscistrus spices that has a hi volume sellrate in stores...

I never expect to - or thrive after to even break even on them, if I get then to spawn and has youngsters to sell in a year - it´s time to upgrade somthing in the aquarium to make their habitat even better :)

I have had mine for a couple of years and hasn´t tried to spawn then until now, to many speces to discover and to breed out there ;) and of course... I´m not made of time ;) i have about 4 hours to the fishes a week and I spend 20 hours of time a week on GOC(Guardians of Catfish - www.goc.se ) a catfish society for scandiavians and do volenteer work so.. where is my intrest? ;)
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Caesars
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Post by Caesars »

We got over 30 L-codes plus some large cichlids. Our main reason is we absolutely adore them and we are intrigued by their behaviour. Each fish has an individual character - just by watching them you learn something new every day.

We are also keeping a number of endangered species, with a view to preservation through the hobby.

Pure looks don't come into it for us. Agreed, Zebbies are a real gem appearance wise, but so are the L114s, the Luteus, the Pellegrinis and the L25s of this world. But then who of them can beat the unsurpassed parental care of the "humble" ancistrus?

We also have a number of "rescue" fish which were acquired because they were in shops that didn't want them as they have been in for a long time, and they were threatening to chuck them down a toilet (literally).

Two days ago I was watching our male gutatus (currently all of 10 cm in length) chasing a 28 cm L24 away from his 2 days old free swiming fry and their mother. You should have seen the determination of the little guy, it was amazing! The L24 was swinging him away with her tail and he was returning with a vengeance, until he got his way in the end.

Then of course, there is Lord Percival, our male managuensis, who "brings me flowers" (seriously, he cuts off pieces of java fern and brings them to me at the front of the tank) when he wants an extra bite.

Try beating that one ...

Caesars and Polleni
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Cash Cows

Post by Shimmy »

I aquired my first zebras over 7 years ago after standing in awe for over an hour in one of my LFS.

I was fortunate at the time to then aquire several more, but had no intention to breed.

What these fish have now done to me is to motivate me towards my final goal. Move house, build a small fish room and try my hand at all the other plecos I adore but choose not to buy as I cannot give them the attention and care I give my little zebras.

The people who think that half a dozen zebras purchased will mean a steady income over the following years will definately be disappointed. I am sure all the successful breeders will tell you a tale of how their fry have mysteriously died, the infrequent numbers of fry produced on each clutch and the uncanny decision to sometimes completely stop breeding for 6-9 months!!!!

The money I make from selling my fry is used to improve my setups, improve the quality of life these little guys get and (to my wifes annoyance) Buy more zebras!!

I do feel that anybody thinking there is money to be made will unfortunately be disappointed and ultimately these fish will then be resold back to hopefully people like ourselves. There is already evidence of this happening now.

Shimmy
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John
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Re: Cash Cows

Post by John »

Shimmy wrote: The people who think that half a dozen zebras purchased will mean a steady income over the following years will definately be disappointed. I am sure all the successful breeders will tell you a tale of how their fry have mysteriously died, the infrequent numbers of fry produced on each clutch and the uncanny decision to sometimes completely stop breeding for 6-9 months!!!!


I do feel that anybody thinking there is money to be made will unfortunately be disappointed and ultimately these fish will then be resold back to hopefully people like ourselves. There is already evidence of this happening now.
And that's reality, well spoken shimmy Image
Greetings,
John
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