Shortage of Sids

[fatbotia]

Another slow day, so I'll post something that's been on my mind.

Can anyone shed some light on why there is such a shortage of sids? I'm a little dumbfounded. The story goes that only a few licensed suppliers in Thailand can produce and export these fish. Well fine. They, at great risk and expense, obtained the only viable gene pool of the fish, and gambled on being able to produce them commerically, for profit. That's fine with me.

But it's been many years since these farm bred fish have become available, and yet the price is more often than not, relatively high. Why haven't other fish farmers, in other countries, mass produced these loaches. They do it with Chinese algae eaters, various sharks, khulis and yoyos, and these have become some of the cheapest fish in the hobby. Surely the same hormone technique that works so well for yoyos, would have similar results for sids. But in my neck of the woods, yoyos retail for $3 @ 1", and sids for $20 @ 1".

Being the cynical guy that I am, I presume there are fertility issues with the fish released for sale. I certainly hope not. I don't like to think that the sids in our tanks are sterile.

[piggy4]

I must say , i dont know the politics , behind Sidthimunki reproduction , but they are on the pricey side ! which makes it difficult to buy the large groups, would'nt it be great if they were cheaper to anyone wanting to buy a dozen , or more ! say about £3.95 ,ha ha ha wishful thinking , in fairness though its not really fair to discuss prices online ! it used to always bug me when Practical fish keeper , put the price of the fish , on their new fishes article , because they were always a lot more expensive than what i could pick them up for ! lets face it the power of suggestion , though i dont suppose Practical fish gives a toss , i mean the price of fish will alter with every dealer , i guess if fish are imported in bulk , then the shop can afford to sell them on cheaper ?

[Mad Duff]

When I got my 36 Sid's I payed an average of around £3 each, I did get a good deal at the time but the shops I got them from were still making a profit on them so I think in a lot of cases it could come down to the fact that they are a rarer loach and very attractive looking so shops think they can hike up the prices a bit .

[crazy loaches]

Fatbotia - if you fill in your location in your profile you never know someone near you might have seen them cheaper. Around here there is 1 lfs that I was at recently that has them for (if I remember correclty) $12.99. And they are I think a little bigger than 1" perhaps closer to 2" long. They have been in there a good while, dont appear to be big sellers. I was debating talking with the owner if I can get a deal on a good size group of them, but I've pretty much decided I'd rather enlarge my striata group and they are a few dollars cheaper there @ $8.99. They just had there biannual 40% off sale and I bought all the remaining striatas they had but was only 8.

But maybe I'll still ask about a bulk buy. Heck, a group of say 2 dozen sids is probably less bio load than one fully grown adult clown so I could probably fit em.

[Jenn]

Hi there,

Delurking since I just recently purchased six sids at 14.99 per fish. I thought I was getting a deal since the posted priced was 24.99. (Mine are all over an inch.) I'd feel silly paying that price after reading this thread if I weren't so in love with them. They're like a pack of otters swimming around the tank.

[Emma Turner]

When I got my 36 Sid's I payed an average of around £3 each, I did get a good deal at the time but the shops I got them from were still making a profit on them so I think in a lot of cases it could come down to the fact that they are a rarer loach and very attractive looking so shops think they can hike up the prices a bit .

I think you were very fortunate, MD. I couldn't buy them in at such a low price!....

I see no shortgae of Sids on the lists either, fatbotia. Where are you located? (Could you add yur location into your profile for us please?). It may just be that the stores near you aren't willing to place orders for a relatively expensive fish, which is always sent out in a reasonable quantity - which makes the cost of the bag/box expensive. This year, they have pretty much been available from various suppliers of mine all year round.

Emma

[zmo63]

I tried to special order some about a month ago, and the LFS came back and said they couldn't get them in. They did, however, after I'd made five trips to pester them about it, sell me the one lone sid they had stuck in a five gallon display. I counted it as a major victory.

[Batch]

I also haven't been able to get any sids from the local stores (knoxville TN)... been considering ordering them online...


Batch

[Martin Thoene]

I've seen sids appearing more and more frequently around Toronto in the last 2 years. Never cheap though.

Martin.

[fatbotia]

I hope didn't put anyone off getting these wonderful fish, after all, my ramblings are just whimsicle theories.

I'm in Australia, probably the worst place to get rare and interesting fish, due to the strict bio-security measures we have. Quite a few of the local stores around my place have sids in their tanks, it's just the price that's putting me off. I guess that's my gripe. For a fish that can be bred on demand, why hasn't supply caught up with demand?

[Botia Robert]

Gday Fatbotia, Its good to meet someone here from Australia. I am in Brisbane and havnt had too many problems finding Sids. I have seen them for about A$10 for a 1.5". I also sympathize with you about availability of Loaches in Oz. So far I have only found Kulli's, Clowns, Yo Yo's and Sids. I am dissaponted I havnt found any Striata or Kubotai's up here. Keep looking!