Huge price difference for Denison's Barb!!!

Last week I visited one of my LFS in search of Denison's Barbs. They had a decent number in stock priced at €20 each. I thought this was quite pricey but was willing to pay it, as these fish will become more and more rare due to the ban on their exportation from their native waters. They had actually been reduced from an original price of "4 for €100".
During the week, I visited another of my LFS and found the same fish, albeit in slightly smaller size and not as colourful. However, the price on these fish was only €7.50. In fact, they worked out even cheaper, as I was given 8 for the price of 6!
Can anyone explain why the cost of a particular fish in one shop should be more than double the price in another??

That works out at €5.62 each. I would imagine the shop got a good price on them and is still making very little on them.
The cheapest i ever got these for was €5.50 each. The shop was doing me a favour and i was also buying a good number of them.
They are also been captive bred so that could have brought the price down.

i've seen these massive differences before. some shops are just out to rob you. I actually visited 1 shop and saw a fish for sale at 12 euro each. i went back next day when i had gotten paid and a brand new price ticket of 14 euro each was on the fish. I didn't buy them. i've seen congo tetras for 3 euro and 8 euro in different shops.

i know the ones your talking about,,, i bought 3 a few days ago, 20 euro each! i know there quite pricy.. but they arnt very hardy fish and are quite sensitive to water conditions... these ones were very healthy, lots of colour and not to small..!

On another topic some1 said they got a good few down in cork very cheap.. i think mislabled as a rasbora.. but some died..!

the quality of the fish would also have a factor in the price..
also as platty said they might of got them for a good price or they were captive bred ect...

Depends on which supplier the shop gets their fish from. I remember there being a huge difference between that particular fish between suppliers. Thats why I always shop at UK hardys and czech supplied stores. Always good to ask where a shop gets it's fish and if they won't tell ya go somewhere else that has nothing to hide. They don't have to tell you anything of course but If you ask for example "Are these fish from glenkrag?" and they say "I can't tell you" Then thats a shop with no pride in it's sources.

I agree complety with Trimax on this one, esp with the Czech supplied fish,far better quality I have found also. In relation to the Torpedo Barbs in Cork, they were going for €10 in the shop I was in. I thought that was a good price,but was mightly pis*ed off at the price of Kulhi loaches then in the next tank at €8 each.

I was tempted to buya torpedo but they are abit to lively for my tank Im afraid.

Gavin

I have to disagree about the Czech fish, I think they are very poor overall. Their identifications are very bad, the fish often harbour virulant stranges of common dieases that do not respond well to normal treatments. A lot of their fish are hybrids, thinking particularly of synodontis here - they have destroyed that area of the catfish hobby as it is all but impossible to identify the real thing until they are near adult size, when it is too late. Hybridisation also applies to other fish, like cichlids too. A few years ago the Czech fish were of a much higher quality but I imagine that they are turning them out at a higher volume with less attention to quality now. I strongly suspect, but have no proof that a lot of the fish a treated with strong broad spectrum treatments whether needed or not and that is what results in their resistance to treatment later on. I have also seen several fish that just look wrong, a recent example is C Robinae a long sleek cory normally but in Czech supplies here recently and in some I saw in the UK they were short stumpy fish, more like a bronze cory shape. There are several ther examples and whether this is due to in-breeding, hormones, crossbreeding or what I can't say, but there are several examples of Czech fish that just look "wrong".

Back to the original topic, the Denison bard. There are at least two types and one is rarer than the other, prehaps that would explain the price difference, I can't recall the differences now, but Platy252 was lucky enough to have both at one stage and was able to compare them, I seem to remember one have a preference for a vegitarian diet and the other preferred more protein.

The other possible reason as stated already is that one lot may have been captive bred.

There is always that possibility that the dearer shop was trying to make a few bob more. Shop with your feet, if you are sure you are dealing with comparible goods.


Daragh

Yes there are at least 2 different fish sold as Denison barbs.
1. Puntius denisonii. This is the one that is sold most of the time. It grows to about 6". It should be kept in a group of at least 6. 10 or more would be better. Don't just keep 1 or 2 in a tank. They become skittish and stressed.
They need a spacious tank. 4 foot would be seen as a minimum sized tank.
They are omnivores. They love live or frozen foods but they also like the occasional algae wafer.
There colour sometimes look washed out in the shops. This is usually because they are in bare tanks. They will colour up once they settle in to a decorated tank.

2. Puntius chalakkudiensis. Not seen very often. I have only seen them once in the local shops been sold as denison barbs. More or less identical to P. denisonii. They prefer a lot of frozen or live foods and dont seem to like any algae based foods. If they are not mixed with denisonii they seem to swim higher in the water and the school is spread out a lot more. They dont like to swim to close to each other and can be boisterous. They also grow bigger, up to about 9".
When p. chalakkudiensis are young and small they have a small dark spot up behind the eyes. As they grow this moves along and ends up on the base of the first ray on the dorsal fin.
IMO Puntius denisonii is nicer and a better fish to keep.

There is rumours of a third fish called Puntius denisonii ubangii. If i remember correctly it is a smaller version of P. denisonii. But i dont know how true this is.

Both p. denisonii and p. chalakkudiensis were priced the same but they both were been sold as Denison barbs.

Here are some denisonii

Here are both denisoni and chalakkudiensis. See if you can tell the difference.

Thanks for the info...all these discussions makes you want to buy the Denisonii more isnt it? Or maybe not?

After listening to the discussions IMO its a combination of slightly higher quality fish and deffo higher prices. Without naming names the shop with the cheaper price would have much more buying power.So this maybe a factor in the price difference.But,I still have the feeling I was slightly done. All in all they are a stunning fish and I consider myself lucky too have a small shoal of them now!!!

you would be suprised, not naming names but one particular supplier with a rep for poor quality fish sells at double the price of another well respected quality supplier , same species, probably the same original source - it's allot to do with the journey of the fish from the farm through various exporters/suppliers to the shop, the more stops the more people's wages to pay and the higher the cost.

Imo lfs will have to change this practise of overcharging on particular fish such as these denison, hell i shop with my feet often contacting many sponsors and lfs's for prices.. generally i buy only from 2 due to the way they look after me, Aquapaws and D&M Aquatics as they have always provided me with top quality fish at very competitive prices, fishkeeping can be an expensive hobby if your looking for harder to keep species but it dosent mean we cant search around and vote with our feet as i do, yes we can all get stung at times but the good lfs will always look after their customer base and not rip them off and these are the ones who'll survive and continue to have loyal customers even in these tough times... trimax has a point re shop location, rents,wages,suppliers prices etc but its us who buy them and here we have the power.. we pay their wages, rent etc by buying their stock so if we all shop around we will get the deals

I dont think climbingperch was ripped off in the first shop he went to. €18-€25 would be the normal asking price for these fish for at least the past 3-4 years. But i think he got a great price (and probably a 1 off) in the second shop.

platty252 wrote:

I dont think climbingperch was ripped off in the first shop he went to. €18-€25 would be the normal asking price for these fish for at least the past 3-4 years. But i think he got a great price (and probably a 1 off) in the second shop.

I asked at the time was that the normal selling price in the cheap shop and was told YES!!! In fact I even pointed out the price difference between the 2 shops and the guy just told me " sure there is no point in rippin people offf". He also seemed well aware of the price differences between the 2 shops.Just hope I have not ruined the cheap price for everybody else if they get more in as I took every 1 they had left at the time...

finally got the picture posting thing to work so here they are in my planted tank !!!!!!!

Seems to me that you got very lucky with that price. This fish has risen to "celeb" status within the hobby over the last 2 years, so much so there are now rigorous regulations being put into place in order to preserve wild stocks. As a result, suppliers are charging a higher price for these fish. This is course is then being passed on the customer by lfs's. Really dont think that any shop charging within €15-25 for these fish (provided their quality is good) can be accused of "ripping" people off, these fish are simply expensive...

I saw these in 2 different shops today,I dont know the price in either,but the difference in quality was quite noticeable.I would've been quite happy to buy from the 1st,but the 2nd weren't that great.
Ultimately its down to the individual what they are happy to pay.If you feel you have been ripped off,then you have only have yourself to blame.I havnt seen a shopkeeper hold a gun to a customers head and force them to buy their stock yet.

Very nice tank climbingperch.
Any chance of a front view?