# My Petricolas aren't selling



## Gregzz4 (Jun 25, 2010)

Can anyone tell me why they aren't sold yet?
They are locally bred, I bought them last year @ 1"
They are now 2-1/2 and 3" each.
There's 4 and I started the price @ $100 because I paid $80

I now have the price down to $70/4 or $40/pr and still no bites.
I have sold almost 100 fish this last week, but no interest in these

Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Greg

Update: they are finally in a new home. I'll leave this post open as it seems to have sparked some interest from people who aren't aware what they are


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

hard to say why Greg. They are a beautiful catfish, maybe the high price of them? Not saying your price is too high, just saying they are a high priced fish. I seen some baby ones at at one of the LFS's & thought they were really cool but a bit more than I care to pay for them ATM. Sometimes you just have to wait for someone who is looking for them in general.


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## terelol (Jul 7, 2011)

Just fyi a few weeks back i paid 30$ for 4 of them at around 1.5-2 inches long. If you know where to look you can get some good deals on these guys. Perhaps that is why they aren't selling.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

wow that is a good price...I think the baby ones I seen were like $20 each


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

There's someone
Breeding them and there's an abundance of them in town.
Saturated market? And also maybe not a high demand fish


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## Gregzz4 (Jun 25, 2010)

Well...
Not sure what to do now
Guess I'll sleep on it
Thanks everyone for your input both posted and PM'd


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

apatite varies, and there's no telling in advance. I can sit on a variety of bristlnose for 6 months and then sell out in two days. Also, as April suggested, it's easy to saturate local demand if two or three people have the same fish at the same time.


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## Gregzz4 (Jun 25, 2010)

I agree
I'll just have to sweeten the deal a bit more
Otherwise I'm stuck with them when I want out of Freshies
I'm going Salt


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I always found that I could almost never sell fish for what I even paid for them unless I grow them out real big or I wait until someone is looking for them. It's tough when you want to switch to something else too. Also as others have said, there are local breeders too.


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Trade them to a store for salt supplies or a credit.then you can get going on your project.

---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=49.275168,-122.835605


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

they are a great fish and it is their high price tag that is slowing down the sale. The fact someone picked them up 4 for $30 just shows another example at how the hobby in town is being held back. By liquidating fish you breed, or just not knowing the true value, you are hindering the hobby. When people think that dirt cheap price is the norm, LFS do not bring in those species because they dont make money.

Dont liquidate them man, someone should appreciate them for the beautiful fish they are. If i had not bought the other fish from you i'd have picked them up for sure


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

neven said:


> they are a great fish and it is their high price tag that is slowing down the sale. The fact someone picked them up 4 for $30 just shows another example at how the hobby in town is being held back. By liquidating fish you breed, or just not knowing the true value, you are hindering the hobby. When people think that dirt cheap price is the norm, LFS do not bring in those species because they dont make money.
> 
> Dont liquidate them man, someone should appreciate them for the beautiful fish they are. If i had not bought the other fish from you i'd have picked them up for sure


I could not agree more with this statement. Petricola sp. are very slow growers and at any decent size are worth money. Juveniles are available now more then in the past. I suspect the problem being had selling them is simply because they are more of a specialized fish and you have to really be into catfish to appreciate them in general. They are best suited in Tanganyikan or at the least African Cichlid aquariums where scavenger options are less abundant. Most that we sell end up in African displays and not the typical community aquarium. 
It's funny, when people decide to breed a somewhat rare fish, or expensive fish why do they end up selling it so cheap? Was that the initial plan? I doubt it. Likely what happens is a hobbyist sees demand for a species and makes the necessary effort to breed it successfully without realizing that even for an LFS it is not a fast seller. Yes, agreed with Neven, lowballing such species will see them disappear from the local LFS for a period. The cheap source is rarely reliable and imports are more expensive. 
I can remember when an LFS used to sell Cardinal Tetras at a ridiculously low price, these were wild caught and very sensitive. the majority sold likely died and the fish was devalued. Funny, around that time I can also remember hobbyists asking why there were no Cardinals around......


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## Gregzz4 (Jun 25, 2010)

April said:


> Trade them to a store for salt supplies or a credit.then you can get going on your project.
> 
> ---
> I am here: Google Maps


Yes, that will be my last option, but I know I'll get virtually nothing
This next week will tell whether or not that happens
I have an offer on the table I may take if no-one else is interested


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## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

Hey Gregg, I have 4 of them right now and they are a great fish, if you can hold on to them somehow, personnally i'd take them from you, but since i just had my knee surgery and now on EI I just don't have the cash right now, but if you are able to wait a couple of weeks i'll take them..


Cheers 

Rob..


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

I have never heard of petricolas, but when I looked them up after reading this post, I learned that they're a beautiful syodontis catfish. 

Maybe you could describe them differently? There may be other people interested in them who might not open a thread called "petricolas" (if that's what you called it). How about
Lake Tanganyika Synodontis or cool catfish?


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## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

and they are a cool catfish these buggers rock i love em..


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

I agree with April- I tried to sell mine last year and couldn't. When I took them in I even had a hard time convincing the shop that they could trade, lol. They told me that there are tons available and they haven't been able to sell the ones they have. Eventually they gave me 6 clown loach for the price of 4...


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## rich16 (Mar 25, 2011)

I bought Greg's petricola's last night, for my cichlid tank. Very cool little cats, they're my son's favorites. Thanks again Greg!


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

Good buy rich16  They are such playful fish!!! 

Congrats Greg on the sale and being able to go ahead with your new tank set-up


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## Gregzz4 (Jun 25, 2010)

Thanks Sophie
I think they're in a better environment now with Rich's Africans and his 2 other Synos


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## rich16 (Mar 25, 2011)

All four are doing well, they're adjusting nicely, and have been really active exploring their new digs. The cichlids are leaving them alone, and they seem to be feeding well - no conflicts with the other cats either. I'm happy to have them!


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## IceBlue (Mar 17, 2011)

Darn. I would have given that a serious look if I had known that petricolas were synodontis cats. Oh well, next time I'll know.


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