Is a zebra pleco worth it?

[dougall]

Casual fish keepers or non hobbyists, want something colorful with a cute name.

Or just cheap.

I gave up on fish some time ago, at least trying to make them breed.

There are always some that survive from fry. There are wild bettas and shrimp all the time. I don't keep anything expensive nor exciting, at least for now. And for the most part I'm happy to give anything that has grown up here away to friends, I don't try to sell at all.

When it comes to conservation, I am more for maintaining the environment for the fish, rather than taking the fish to captive breed. I'm not a fan of captive fish being released to the wild, etc.

I think in cases like this, if you cannot afford the fish but want to contribute to its conservation, you are better off to donate to the experienced fishkeeper, or a charity for their preservation rather than buying one off the shelf for your own aquarium.

 

[Ijustlikefish]

I’ve never been interested in breeding, the only breeding I’ve even done was on accident. I think I have done Emerald corydoras, a male black orchid betta with a female all red betta, guppy’s (of course) and that’s about it.

 

[jake72]

Sadly the future for wild fishes is not looking good - they simply won't be able to handle the changes in climate - at least many of them. Some will adapt or morph as needed and of course guppies can live anywhere - but it is what it is. I suppose the argument isn't about if you can charge what the market will bear but claiming motivation that is incompatible with conservation. I don't know. To be honest when I look at what is happening there are bigger issues to tackle than people motivation for selling fishes at market price.... but then again i suppose those issues are not appropriate for a fish forum.

 

[FishAddict74]

Casual fish keepers or non hobbyists, want something colorful with a cute name.

Or just cheap.

I gave up on fish some time ago, at least trying to make them breed.

There are always some that survive from fry. There are wild bettas and shrimp all the time. I don't keep anything expensive nor exciting, at least for now. And for the most part I'm happy to give anything that has grown up here away to friends, I don't try to sell at all.

When it comes to conservation, I am more for maintaining the environment for the fish, rather than taking the fish to captive breed. I'm not a fan of captive fish being released to the wild, etc.

I think in cases like this, if you cannot afford the fish but want to contribute to its conservation, you are better off to donate to the experienced fishkeeper, or a charity for their preservation rather than buying one off the shelf for your own aquarium.

lol ya, I thought rainbow cichlids would’ve checked those boxes
With conservation, it depends on the fish. I believe Victorian haps are being endangered by the introduction of the Nile perch. Considering the size of the Nile perch compared to Victorian haps, unless the perch are removed, there’s no way to save the haps. So if they can continue on in aquariums, it’s better than nothing and can be repopulated if the perch are ever eradicated. Fortunately vics are very prolific

 

[dougall]

I think that deforestation and the loss of natural habitats is a more urgent need than climate change.

As for the future of wild fish, look into something like Project Piaba, learn why sometimes buying wild caught fish is better. Stop buying things made with palm oil.

Everyone can do something, no matter how small.

 

[dougall]

lol ya, I thought rainbow cichlids would’ve checked those boxes
With conservation, it depends on the fish. I believe Victorian haps are being endangered by the introduction of the Nile perch. Considering the size of the Nile perch compared to Victorian haps, unless the perch are removed, there’s no way to save the haps. So if they can continue on in aquariums, it’s better than nothing and can be repopulated if the perch are ever eradicated. Fortunately vics are very prolific

When you sell a fish as a cichlid,the understanding is that it will be aggressive.

Your average joe doesn't want that, do stores are less likely to sell a cichlid outside of a tank of 'mixed africans' unless they are a hobbyist shop specializing in cichlids.

And cheap sells, far more than good value does.

Right now I am personally toying with the idea of 50-75 oticinclus and maybe 3 or 4 dozen aspidoras or dwarf corydoras. Will cost less that your average open market zebra pleco... And I am pretty sure I would get more out of it.

If I was thinking I wanted to start breeding L046, my first port of call would be TTA, the price would be mostly immaterial to me.. I would be more worried about how they were raised, qualuty of husbandry and food etc. Good stock is worth it's weight in gold.

If you buy from an LFS, you had better be sure to quarantine well... Not gonna be easy to see signs of disease in a DT.

 

[Wyomingite]

I don't think anyone with any sense would get into breeding zebra plecos for profit.

I would expect that a selling price should take into account the cost to breed and raise them, and often the public selling price is far higher than the price offered to folks interested in breeding groups just to aid conservation and keep the cost of ownership out if the hands of the majority who want one single centerpiece fish and/or don't have the knowledge to keep them alive.


I am not going to look at the specific prices from some folks But I know a pet store by me (well 150 miles away) got 3 zebras of unknown size this AM and were selling them for ~$200 each
I have see prices much lower than that between honest breeders, but the fact is that it takes a lot of time and care to get to the point of sale.

If you are looking to breed fish for profit, outside of suggesting you shouldn't, I would suggest bettas (wild or domestic) or shrimp would be a far more profitable option.

I know you're trying to explain why zebras command so much and thank you; I'm aware of the challenges.

But does everybody think that breeding other rare fish is cheap or easy? That you just put a male and female together and, voila!, you have hundreds of babies? Well, it's not that way. With the rarer mouthbrooders sometimes you're lucky to get six or eight young that survive to maturity. And I've put in a lot of time and money to get successful spawns and raise those fish. Over the years I've spent thousands of dollars, maybe tens of thousands. Saying it takes a lot of time and expense to breed zebras is a cop out. Period. If someone is more worried about recouping their costs than distributing the species and increasing the captive population base, then it's for profit no matter how little profit is gained. For conservation to work then the fish need to get to other hobbyists, and it won't happen at those prices. I could have charged good prices for some of the cichlids I have bred and so could have a lot of other hobbyists. We could very well have kept the prices inflated by limiting access. But we didn't. We made sure that other hobbyists have a reasonable chance to acquire and breed the species. Some of those fish are now very common in the hobby. That is conservation.

WYite

 

[FishAddict74]

I know you're trying to explain why zebras command so much and thank you; I'm aware of the challenges.

But does everybody think that breeding other rare fish is cheap or easy? That you just put a male and female together and, voila!, you have hundreds of babies? Well, it's not that way. With the rarer mouthbrooders sometimes you're lucky to get six or eight young that survive to maturity. And I've put in a lot of time and money to get successful spawns and raise those fish. Over the years I've spent thousands of dollars, maybe tens of thousands. Saying it takes a lot of time and expense to breed zebras is a cop out. Period. If someone is more worried about recouping their costs than distributing the species and increasing the captive population base, then it's for profit no matter how little profit is gained. For conservation to work then the fish need to get to other hobbyists, and it won't happen at those prices. I could have charged good prices for some of the cichlids I have bred and so could have a lot of other hobbyists. We could very well have kept the prices inflated by limiting access. But we didn't. We made sure that other hobbyists have a reasonable chance to acquire and breed the species. Some of those fish are now very common in the hobby. That is conservation.

WYite

I remember when I sold my fulu, the buyers were all people that were knowledgeable about the species and told me they couldn’t find any locally. They were true hobbyists So that tells me some of my buyers are probably going to breed them along with the guy that bought my breeding group. Kinda makes me feel good. It was different type of keeper than the ones that bought the fryeri. I imagine it would probably be a similar situation with zebras if they were reasonably priced
Maybe I’m wrong, but if other plecos can be bred to the point they’re $8-$20, why not zebras? Are their breeding habits much different?

 

[Ijustlikefish]

I remember when I sold my fulu, the buyers were all people that were knowledgeable about the species and told me they couldn’t find any locally. They were true hobbyists So that tells me some of my buyers are probably going to breed them along with the guy that bought my breeding group. Kinda makes me feel good. It was different type of keeper than the ones that bought the fryeri. I imagine it would probably be a similar situation with zebras if they were reasonably priced
Maybe I’m wrong, but if other plecos can be bred to the point they’re $8-$20, why not zebras? Are their breeding habits much different?

If that happens and zebra are the price of BNs then they would probably be a very popular fish. That is assuming they get bred as much. But if they did they would start to pop up in petsmart and petco and stuff like that.

 

[dougall]

WYite, I'm not trying to downplay the effort if breeding other difficult fish or the expense involved. The issue with Zebras is that pictures have circulated and folks just decide they have to have them.. kind of like this thread in the begining.

I personally don't expect anything for my bred fish, but I also will not give them to someone who I do not think can care for them sufficiently.

But I do know and understand that there is a cost involved with breeding and raising fish.. to do it with an unwanted fish is somewhat of a fools errand.. but I don't really begrudge someone wanting to recoup some of their expenditure.. some do not have the disposable income that I do.. and for those good breeders I would hate for them to give up because they do not have the resources to properly care for them. I would also prefer that such fish stay out of the realm of your average fish farm too.

I'm happy to pay for quality livestock when needed, but am happy to give away or trade or whatever where applicable.

If I were to breed fish, and not quite so cynical, I would likely be giving them to local club BAP programs.