How Much For A Zebra Pleco?!

[tomtomtom1230]

I knew they were more of a speciality fish and were - as a consequence - a helluva lot rarer than most fish but there's one going for £350 in my LFS... Really...? £350...? Also, some of their rarer gouramis are hitting £150 each, or £250 for a pair...?! I simply had no idea and I nearly fell over backwards into the coral reef display when I saw that price tag staring me in the face!

 

[Alex.]

Abyss in Stockport had a few in about 6 weeks back... They were £125 each. £350 seems steep.

 

[blackops]

there is one in lfs that is £200

 

[ian]

£150-£200 is the going rate at the mo. They are notoriously hard to look after as well. They are even harder to breed as well. Hence the high price.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I guess, I just didn't expect a whole 3 big ones to be looking at me in the face... Especially at my LFS - it's nothing special AT ALL

Is it feeding issues that make them hard to look after?

Here comes google...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

They are notoriously hard to look after as well. They are even harder to breed as well. Hence the high price.

They are not all difficult to care for and are easy to feed. Most people who fail have usually put them into community tanks. They basically need warm well oxygenated water. And they are not any more difficult to spawn than many of the other Hypancistrus. All plecos can be finicky at times either to get started initially and/or to get restarted when they decide to stop. But what runs up the price is they take so long to reach sexual maturity and then they have very small spawns. This also makes it uneconomical to farm them in large numbers. The have also been illegal to export from Brazil as they have not been on the approved export list for a number of years.

What is now pushing up prices once again is the fact that these fish will likely become extinct in the wild in the near future due to the construction of the Belo Monte dam.

If you really want to acquire some in the UK, find breeders there. These are just three listings I was able to find on the zebra site and one UK pleco site.

Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:12 pm I have 12 F1 Zebra plecs available. They are around 1.5".
£100 each or two for £180 PH is 6.7 and they are all feeding on Tetra Prima.
Can view and collect from Reading, Berkshire or will ship next day guaranteed with FedEX

Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:58 pm I have some well reared juveniles for sale 1" plus. Pick up only from north east uk. My son is travelling up to Aberdeen on good fri and may be able to meet people on the way to drop some off should anyone be interested. price is £75 each for very nice fish

Unless they have sold since May 3, I am aware of 7 (likely wild caught)

Size between 1.5 inch to 3.5 inch, Price: £100 and £150 based on size or might do a deal on the whole group, Shipping/Posting?: Collection only, Location?: Sheffield, One mile from Junc. 31 of M1. could potentially meet on motorway for the right buyer

I have been a zebraholic for some time. I can quit anytime, really I can..........

 

[Tizer]

plecos are as hard as nails, by all accounts Zebras are no different. Cant say i would pay that much for one though!

The guy who breeds them in Reading, in the UK sells a lot of his to the local Maidenhead Aquatic stores, even they find them hard to sell on.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I genuinely think it's the price of them that puts people off. IMO Royal Plecos look just as good (perhaps not quite as stunning as the Zebras in colour) and they're less than half the price. I would still like a Zebra over a Royal purely because their colours are that much more contrasted. Still, I'm almost sure it's the price putting fish keepers off. I couldn't afford that on a whim whilst I'm browsing my LFS. It'd need a lot of planning and I'd probably set up a specialist/biotope (I think that's what they're called) tank.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Yes, they are not cheap. But then look at the price for some other fish like more exotic discus, arowana, or how about 6 young adult cory CW016 for $750?

The nice thing about keeping fish- I will let go of my few tanks of zebras long before I would let my clown loaches go. And combined my clowns cost me less than a single zebra.

I don't feel sorry for you if you can't afford a Rolls, but you would have my sympathy if you can't afford a used Morris Mini.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Yes, they are not cheap. But then look at the price for some other fish like more exotic discus, arowana, or how about 6 young adult cory CW016 for $750?

The nice thing about keeping fish- I will let go of my few tanks of zebras long before I would let my clown loaches go. And combined my clowns cost me less than a single zebra.

I don't feel sorry for you if you can't afford a Rolls, but you would have my sympathy if you can't afford a used Morris Mini.

+ 1

 

[smokeyjo]

I would love to have 1 but I couldn't justify spending that much money on 1. Especially when I could spend it on my son lol they are absolutly stunning fish though

 

[Pleco crazy]

They are notoriously hard to look after as well. They are even harder to breed as well. Hence the high price.

They are not all difficult to care for and are easy to feed. Most people who fail have usually put them into community tanks. They basically need warm well oxygenated water. And they are not any more difficult to spawn than many of the other Hypancistrus. All plecos can be finicky at times either to get started initially and/or to get restarted when they decide to stop. But what runs up the price is they take so long to reach sexual maturity and then they have very small spawns. This also makes it uneconomical to farm them in large numbers. The have also been illegal to export from Brazil as they have not been on the approved export list for a number of years.

What is now pushing up prices once again is the fact that these fish will likely become extinct in the wild in the near future due to the construction of the Belo Monte dam.

If you really want to acquire some in the UK, find breeders there. These are just three listings I was able to find on the zebra site and one UK pleco site.

Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:12 pm I have 12 F1 Zebra plecs available. They are around 1.5".
£100 each or two for £180 PH is 6.7 and they are all feeding on Tetra Prima.
Can view and collect from Reading, Berkshire or will ship next day guaranteed with FedEX

Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:58 pm I have some well reared juveniles for sale 1" plus. Pick up only from north east uk. My son is travelling up to Aberdeen on good quote]Size between 1.5 inch to 3.5 inch, Price: £100 and £150 based on size or might do a deal on the whole group, Shipping/Posting?: Collection only, Location?: Sheffield, One mile from Junc. 31 of M1. could potentially meet on motorway for the right buyer

I have been a zebraholic for some time. I can quit anytime, really I can..........

Please help me I bought two very healthy looking zebra plecs about 2cm but I've had them 7 months, and it doesn't look like they have grown any bigger my ph etc are fine and I feed them a small bit of tetra prima pellets by straw directly to there hide out, and have seen them eat it and I've now and then fed them bloodworm ( scared they might choke) the have a tank to themselves please please can anyone help I love zebras but feel I'm not doing enough on my part or are they meant to grow that slow? Thanks mark.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Yes, they are pretty slow growing. And they can take a few years to reach the stage where they will spawn.

If they do not have sunken bellies, then you should not be overly concerned. One thing I would suggest is that you give them a more varied diet. While they have a prediliction for meaty foods, they also need and will eat veggies etc. I will normally feed mine once a week spirulina bits w/ garlic and parprika as well as veggie sticks now and then. I would guess I feed somewhere between 8 and 10 different foods.