Prices of Shell Dwellers

[ttmnky]

After consulting a few people on the forum, I visited my lfs today to see if they stocked shell dwellers. They did have some which were newly in stock, but the prices were murder.

A Brevis costs me around $25 + Tax CDN (around $18 American). Is this normal? I really want some shell dwellers, but this is going to be insnae if I want to get even just three of them.

BTW, I'm trying to stock a 10 gallon and am having a few questions about which fish to stock. I'd really likle some rams, but have also seen some fish simply labeled as "dwarf cichlid" at a pet store which looks a lot like the ram. Is that a suitable species to put in a 10 gallon?

If not, then what cichlids (commonly available) would you recommend which show interesting behaviour and will breed under not too difficult circumstances?

Anyways, I'm mad at the prices. They're simply bloody murder!
Do they usually cost this much?

 

[Rokl33t]

holy moly thank god for great glory..jus playen shell dwellers at my LFS were less then 15.99 more then 9.99 plus tax thats pretty rough bro

jus keep in mind the following, every inch of the fish is a gallon to the tank, remember about territory, cichlids are very territorial....but orion knows alot more, and this is coming from me who put, oscars, silver gars, in my 10 gal. hahaha so its all on the risk and the posibilty of ur fish out growing the tanks....

but im sure dwarfs should be fine, ive seen em in 5 gal. eclipses...

 

[Orion]

Prices for Tanganyikans at LFS can often be murder. I paid $15 US each for my N. brevis. They said that they can get me a 1" calvus for $45 bucks. OUCH! That isn't happening in my lifetime.

Best bet is to check out local fish clubs, even if they aren't so local to you. There is always someone wanting to trade or sell some fish, for just a fraction of the price a LFS would charge. This is where a majority of my Tangs have came from, and where most will from now on.

Is this 10 gallon you are wanting to stock different than the tank your wanting to put shellies in?

 

[Aaron]

The prices will come down eventually but Africans are in fashion right now. Thankfully I am fascinated with central americans and since nobody wants those I can stock an entire tank for a half finished Snickers bar and a tarnished bottle cap.

 

[Gunnie]

Are you a member of the Vancouver Aquatic Hobbyist Club ? Maybe fellow hobbyists can help you out or possibly have some available.

 

[svetlana]

Petsmart sells not so good looking fontosa cich. for $35 - most expensive fish in the store. Whereas 8-9" oscar costs less than $10 and JD (very beautiful was about 4" when i got him now is about 6-7"), was ~$7.5.

 

[ram man]

i wont buy fish from my petsmart anymore! they had just got a stock of cardinals in. about 4 buck a piece. half of them were dead and the otheres had ich! i informed him of his problem and he said those white spots are its natural color!

 

[Rokl33t]

good thinken hahahah

 

[ttmnky]

Orion: Yes, this is the same tank as the one I originally wanted to put shellies into it. After looking at the prices, however, I'm thinking of keeping something more economic... even though shellies are the fish I want the most.

Gunnie: No, I'm not part of that club. Maybe I should join it and see if some people have shellies they're willing to trade or sell at a lower price... Thanks for the site.

 

[Orion]

I'm sure that if you did contact some people in the club, you'd be almost for sure that someone is going to have some shellies. Multies are almost always available.

 

[karma_llama]

have you tried searching around for a local breeder, or someone near enough to ship them out to you. That is how i got mine, ended up costing me less than £4 ($8) each fish, ocellatus and leleupi, not to mention they guy gave me one free

 

[ttmnky]

I'm trying to contact a few people in the club in jopes of gettig some local fish. So far, no luck, butI'll keep trying. Thanks for the heads up on the local club. Never knew one existed!

 

[wayne]

Buy them on the net, or find a local breeder. Brevis has a number of colour flavours, and the prices are really variable - I see them from 5 dollars equiv and up to 30 for the gold flash

 

[Miles44]

I've seen shelldweller prices vary from $6 - $25 for a sigle specimen of multifasciatus. Depends on where you go. Then it's depaned on how bad you want them at that time. Personally the most i've ever spent on a shellie was
$20 for an F0 L. boulengeri. In the end it's all relative.

 

[straitjacket]

$20 for a wild boulengeri is still a deal. Specialized dealers are better to purchase from all around though. Can you imagine wild boulengeri at a LFS??? Exepct to pay an arm, a leg, and a full head of hair for that puppy!
I've seen multi's for $4 on forums from people looking to sell or trade locally! *crazysmil

 

[ttmnky]

well, the LFS I visited sorta did specialise in some sorts of fish, lots of Arowanas, a few large sharks (actual marine sharks), large variety of show bettas, a ray or two...but I wasn't really expecting to see wild caught fish. Afterall, they do advertise as having all their fish coming directly from Florida Fish Farms...

 

[ttmnky]

Sorry to have two posts in a row.

When looking for shell dwellers, definitely look around for aquarium clubs. The guy at the club just phoned me today and we talked about shell dwellers a bit. He's out of town right now, but will return on Monday hopefully with a few different species of shellies at about $5 a pop.

Final bit of advice: Look for aquarium clubs to buy fish from them instead of buying fish from LFS if their prices are too outrageous. IT's worth the extra bit of time!

 

[Gunnie]

ttmnky, you will find that your fish will be even more special when you get them from fellow hobbyists. You know they were well taken care of, and weren't necessarily bred for profit. I'm glad you will be getting some shellies! They are awesome! *thumbsups