Is this L052 or L168 ?

[CatsandFish]

Please help me indentify this Dekeyseria

[Janne]

They are not so easy to tell apart, do you know if it was imported from Colombia or Brazil?

Janne

[Shane]

Looks more like L 52 (Rio Atabapo)to me, but as Janne said its is difficult to tell the two apart. Country of export may or may not help as L 52 and L 168 ship from Colombia. The latest list I have from Colombia (from October 2008) lists L 52 at US $2.20 each and L 168 at US $2.50 out of season and US $1.70 each in season (which is now).
-Shane

[MatsP]

Looks more like L 52 (Rio Atabapo)to me, but as Janne said its is difficult to tell the two apart. Country of export may or may not help as L 52 and L 168 ship from Colombia. The latest list I have from Colombia (from October 2008) lists L 52 at US $2.20 each and L 168 at US $2.50 out of season and US $1.70 each in season (which is now).
-Shane

However, those are exporter prices, when bought in "lots" of a box or more [perhaps 50-100 fish of one species, or 1000 of small fishes like Neons] , and on top of that the importer will have to add shipping and possibly customs fees. The local shop usually sell fish at about 3x the wholesaler (which would also be the importer, usually) price, and the wholesaler price is probably about 2-3x the price listed above unless the shop buys large quantities of the same fish.

That's just so no-one walks in to a shop saying "Well, Shane on Planetcatfish says that these cost around $2, why are you charging $20?"

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Mats

[DutchFry]

Like i said earlier on, i think this is L052.


wow, 2,20 that's a great price! what a pity it costs 10 times more in the shops, i really like the Dekeyseria's.

[MatsP]

Like i said earlier on, i think this is L052.


wow, 2,20 that's a great price! what a pity it costs 10 times more in the shops, i really like the Dekeyseria's.

And my explanation pretty much explains that the 10x comes from the importer paying for shipping, adding on a profit (they are a BUSINESS, not a CHARITY), and the shop paying for shipping and adding on a profit (again, they are a business) - there's also VAT added in the end-stage [well, it's technically paid in each of the steps, but in nearly all countries, incoming VAT can be deducted from the outgoing VAT, so only the final customer actually pay VAT]. Bear in mind also that the shop may buy 100 fish, but some will die before they are sold, and they need feeding, heating and filtering for every day they are in the shop. And even if you are ONLY interested in one kind of fish each time you go to the shop, you wouldn't want to go to a shop that only carried one species fish, right?

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Mats

[DutchFry]

of course you are right Mats! I understand this very well, it's just me wanting to import my own fish

[CatsandFish]

Would be great to go on a "fishing" trip to go an get us some L105's right ?
Anyways, the LFS keeper has no idea where the fish hailed from, as it was incorrectly labelled

Guess i,ll have to hope it's a L052 as i realy haven't spotted L168 around at the various catfish breeders/sellers here in holland
Thanks for all the help guys

[Shane]

However, those are exporter prices, when bought in "lots" of a box or more [perhaps 50-100 fish of one species, or 1000 of small fishes like Neons] , and on top of that the importer will have to add shipping and possibly customs fees. The local shop usually sell fish at about 3x the wholesaler (which would also be the importer, usually) price, and the wholesaler price is probably about 2-3x the price listed above unless the shop buys large quantities of the same fish.

That's just so no-one walks in to a shop saying "Well, Shane on Planetcatfish says that these cost around $2, why are you charging $20?"

I was attempting to make two points: 1) Both L 52 and L 168 are being exported from Colombia and 2) Retail price is not a way to differentiate between the two spp (or morphs) because wholesale prices for both are almost the same.

I am quit confident that most hobbyists that have been around the hobby for long know what the typical mark up is from wholesale to retail.

-Shane

[MatsP]

However, those are exporter prices, when bought in "lots" of a box or more [perhaps 50-100 fish of one species, or 1000 of small fishes like Neons] , and on top of that the importer will have to add shipping and possibly customs fees. The local shop usually sell fish at about 3x the wholesaler (which would also be the importer, usually) price, and the wholesaler price is probably about 2-3x the price listed above unless the shop buys large quantities of the same fish.

That's just so no-one walks in to a shop saying "Well, Shane on Planetcatfish says that these cost around $2, why are you charging $20?"

I was attempting to make two points: 1) Both L 52 and L 168 are being exported from Colombia and 2) Retail price is not a way to differentiate between the two spp (or morphs) because wholesale prices for both are almost the same.

I am quit confident that most hobbyists that have been around the hobby for long know what the typical mark up is from wholesale to retail.

-Shane

Sure, I just have more useless rubbish to talk about, rather than useful and informative posts like yours... ;)

--
mats

[Shane]

No worries Mats

Just in case anyone is curious, most expensive pleco on the Colombian lists this season is L 91 at US $15.00 and cheapest are, no surprise, Meta basin Otos US$ .14 and Amazon basin Otos US$ .14

-Shane