Betta_Endeavours Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 The whole process does end up costing quite a lot, be prepared to be paying at least $50 per fish, for a good show quality/breedable fish, including shipping and transhipper fees. I recently bought a male and female black copper CT from a singaporean breeder and each they cost around $75 once everything was paid for. Oh wow *jawdrop* Look $75 for a show quality fish of MY choosing arriving happy/healthy and almost ready to breed in Adelaide is well worth it . Heck the shop we buy our frozen food from wants $61 each for some rather ordinary looking plakats. *must calm down* I have to clean tanks first. Heavens knows how I'm going to get my fish shed tidied up with all my hubbies tools in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beano Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 LOL! I think it's worth it - then you can breed them. Except mine are being a bit stubborn in that department at the moment... It gets cheaper per fish the more you buy. For example, the guy I bought my black coppers off sold them for US$25 per fish. But the shipping box cost US$15. You could put 10 fish in the shipping box. But I only wanted two (only could afford 2 at that stage). Then it's a US$6.50 transhipper fee for the singaporean transhipper. Then once they arrive in Australia, someone has a $25 per fish handling fee which includes her own transhipper fee (I think it's $25 anyway). So if I had bought 10 fish, it would have been a bit cheaper per fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 But where's the fun, if you just buy show quality fish instead of developing them yourself? Or am I just being masochistic about the whole thing. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beano Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 (edited) Getting black copper CT's myself kind of involved me importing a black copper CT pair. I didn't see any in the LFS until just recently and I had joined this site but no one seemed to have any. You've got to start somewhere. Buggered if I was going to wait around a lifetime while my blue fish sporadically developed the "black" and "copper" mutations! Plus - just because you buy show quality doesn't mean you still don't need to perform extensive selection of the offspring to continue the line. Perfect parents doesn't equal perfect offspring. Edited May 6, 2007 by Beano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beano Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Oh I should add while importing the nice fishies is fun, it's really painful watching them get their first fin tear in the spawning process. It's like "oh gees, there goes $75 worth of finnage" - but then you get to watch their babies grow up which is exciting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Endeavours Posted May 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 I see your point bettarazzi but the only bettas I can readily access are poor quality pet shop fish which are most likely too in bred to throw anything good. I just want to get some nice fish and use some of the local petshop females and create my own lines. I just can't afford to spend 5yrs + to start seeing any results. Any idea on how often shipments of fish are being done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beano Posted May 7, 2007 Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 I see your point bettarazzi but the only bettas I can readily access are poor quality pet shop fish which are most likely too in bred to throw anything good. I just want to get some nice fish and use some of the local petshop females and create my own lines. I just can't afford to spend 5yrs + to start seeing any results. Any idea on how often shipments of fish are being done? On the contrary. LFS betta would be less inbred than the pretty imports. That's how they get those beautiful colours, perfect tails - selectively inbred to siblings to keep the genes homozygous without introduction of new unwanted genes from unrelated betta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Endeavours Posted May 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 True true but at least they are doing their homework first Anyway I need to know how often these shipments are coming in. Is it monthly, quaterly or once or twice a year? I don't want to order a couple of great males or females and find that it'll take 3 months before the next shipment if you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 7, 2007 Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 I wonder if St Kilda Aquarium here in Melbourne would ship some fish to you. You want me to ask? Some of their fish are not bad but I'm not sure that they're show quality. Plus you don't always matching females. But it might be worth it. If you got 4 of their halfmoon males at $45 each and had to $20 to ship them to Adelaide that's only $50 a fish. I got some the other day (see my Shopping Spree thread, sorry don't know how to link it). I could take some pics for you if you like. You were after greens weren't you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Endeavours Posted May 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 I would love to see pictures and yes I am after greens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 I rang St Kilda Aquarium today and they said they would be willing to ship bettas out to you. They haven't got any females at the moment. They still a few males. But I was there on Saturday and I don't think they had any greens. They'll be going to the wholesaler again on Friday. I'll try to get in there in the next day or so to get some pics for you. If you're like me you plan to work on greens then fall in a love with that gorgeous HM bi-color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Endeavours Posted May 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 (edited) Thank you . I also like Royal blue and turquoise marbles, White Opaques and a few others but if it's a great fish with good finnage then I like it lol. just a darn shame we can't just fly over to take a poke around ourselves but maybe I can wangle that for when it gets warmer I'm going to have to avoid Aquabid all together now until I can get the info from someone. I keep seeing fish I'd love but with out knowing exactly what to do and roughly how long it'd take to get here I can't buy anything. Not even the $1 opaque DT HM that looks like a wonderful start up specimen . Hopefully I'll be able to find something nice when I am able to bid Edited May 8, 2007 by Betta Endeavours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 I ducked out of the office during lunch for a short visit to St Kilda Aquarium to take some pictures. I'm not sure that the pictures will turn out. I'll have to wait till I get home this evening to see. There was a lot of water movement in those tanks. Those bettas are fed 3 times a day and every time I approached they got all excited. I spoke to Peter, the manager, about shipping to Adelaide and he seemed happy to do it. He also said that if there was something that you particularly wanted he would look out for it and get it for you. In their shop today they had: - 2 yellow plakats - a blue bodied red finned half moon - a green pastel bodied red finned half moon - 2 very gorgeous orange very close to half moon being sold at the delta price; and I'm sooooooo tempted - a dark blue half moon with some unfortunate yellow streaking in the caudal and anal but still nice - a nearly green half moon, he insisted on looking at me head on and made it difficult for to look at his fins but he's the greenest I've seen in a while although there's still work to do to get a properly green fish - and another one which I'm very seriously considering so I'm not telling you lot about him... a tank, a tank, I need another tank. My advice is for you to call them and discuss. St Kilda Aquarium, 148 Barkly Street, St Kilda VIC 3182, Ph: 03 9534 3957 Open Tue to Fri 10am - 6pm, Sat 10am - 5pm, Sun 11am - 5pm They are probably going to the wholesaler this Friday so you need ring and chat to them tomorrow. Given that it's a lot cheaper than importing yourself my suggestion is that this is a a pretty reasonable way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Endeavours Posted May 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Just rang him because I wanted to wait until the fish from Najrick were secured. The green HM is gone and currently debating a mainly red HM and a gold CT DT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 That sounds to me a bit like they haven't visited the wholesaler to restock today as expected. Did he say if he had any females? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Endeavours Posted May 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 That sounds to me a bit like they haven't visited the wholesaler to restock today as expected. Did he say if he had any females? No they are going next Friday. I didn't actually ask about any girls sorry. I have 3 girls coming to me from Najrick so was mainly after males. I really really need info on golds though so I can call back and say if I'll take him or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted May 16, 2007 Report Share Posted May 16, 2007 hmmm /me thinks about calling st kilda one day.. ill see how my orange HM search goes first. back to topic~ id rather buy my fish from LFS but none in Sydney have any "exotic" types so imported from somewhere is the way to go for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishchick Posted May 17, 2007 Report Share Posted May 17, 2007 Most exports are from Bangkok in Thailand or KL in Malaysia. If you purchase from either of these countries there are generally no extra charge besides the $25AU import/quarantine charge. Sellers in Rayong, or areas outside of Bangkok may charge $2-$5US for bus freight to Bangkok. Fish from Singapore or Indonesia need to be shipped to Thailand. This is paid for by the buyer. I pay for the shipping of fish from Thailand to Malaysia. I usually have a collection of HM available. These are cheaper than LFS and importing - but you will have to purchase "sight unseen". Best regards, someone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted May 17, 2007 Report Share Posted May 17, 2007 i just bought a fishy sight unseen from you someone just waiting for your reply lol. hmmm... should i get another one as well guys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 17, 2007 Report Share Posted May 17, 2007 Jodi-Lea, could you give us a quick and dirty list of what you've got available at the moment? Happy to purchase sight unseen from you. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted May 17, 2007 Report Share Posted May 17, 2007 yeah... thats a great idea :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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