Zebra Plecs

[KnuckleHead]

Ok why are zebra plecs among others so darn expensive? Granted theyre very cool looking and look great in a tank but still. Are they rare? Is owning this fish considered a status symbol, a way to show off how much money you earn? I saw an auction for 5 of these that closed close to 500 bucks. Its just ridiculas.

 

[cryosi]

i would not say rare, but hard to catch in wild because of where they live and the depth they live in. We did a post about these a while ago i will try to find it for you! they should be form £50-£70 here in uk so that about $ 80-130. i guess. they can be breed so there should be more breedones available depending on where you are and the local fish breeders.


they live around a depth of about 20ft in the wild on a rocky face, tis why they can be hard to catch, same as the L307 and L270 they live in water at 20ft on a rocky face/cliff, near to a heat source, like a power station in int he stretch of river they live in i have 3 wild specimens, as they as far as i know not been bred as of yet! they were only redescribed recently.

 

[cichlidmaster]

There are quite a few plecos that are referred to as "zebra", but if you mean L046 then here is a good reason they are so expensive.....

The L046 has been over collected in it's native habitat. The local Government is concerned that they will become extinct so they are discussing a 10 year ban on collecting them.

The cost of bringing these in from SA is high!! The importer has many fee's to contend with as well as high shipping cost's and many times high losses due to poor shipping methods on the part of the exporter.

While it's true they are now being bred in captivity, but still not to any large degree.

It's a case of supply and depand with the L046....the more the demand, the higher the cost!!!

I do however agree that near $100.00 each for a L046 is quite high. One should be able to find them here in the states for $60-85.00 and this is in fish shops!!

CM

 

[mrV]

Well, first fishes, in a german market, were over 420 euros ~ 290 £ / each one (Hypancistrus zepra) So, nowadays they are cheaper if that is a good news

In Finland H. zepra is around 80-100 euros. (euro ~ usd)