WC bandensis eggs!

[Thales]

I am selling bandensis eggs through www.newalameda.com - a local fish store that I help out.

The eggs/babies are at my place and I bring them over as needed. I should be getting more eggs this week, and right now I have about 10 eggs and 10 babies - the eggs are hatchin!

:D

RR

[DHyslop]

Righty,

Are the babies for sale fresh hatchlings? I'm considering a few but I don't know if I'm ready to commit to raising mysis just yet.

Dan

[Thales]

Freshish. They will still be doing mysids for a month or so. If you are on the east coast it is easier to buy mysids, or you could experiment with different foods. Are you near the shore?

[Colin]

Hey Rich

good you can make almost as much on the eggs as the hatchlings, I'll bet you prefer to sell them that way too, bit less hassle?

Has there been much interest yet? Could be a real niche

[DHyslop]

I am near the shore. This weekend I might try to see if I can harvest some. This area is typically wave-dominated sandy beaches and I don't know if that's ideal for catching them.

Dan

[Thales]

Dan,
Find a bay or a harbor and flip some rocks and see what you can see.

Colin,
No idea if the prices are workable in the long run. I do know that as they hatch I have to start 'taking care of them' so it seems reasonable to ask more money for them. I have shipped both eggs and babies and they ship about the same. I don't know about the interest yet, they only went on the website yesterday.
In the past, there hasn't been as much actual interest as testing the water interest.

[Colin]

Guess I might get lynched here by others but I think that you are selling yourself short with $10 per hatched baby.

As you said, that's when you have to start looking after them and that's when it gets expensive. No reason why you couldn't ask double or treble that? People get what they pay for and a healthy captive hatched cuttle is worth it in my opinion!

cheers an keep up the good work
C

[DHyslop]

Hehehe, Colin, lets wait until after I've ordered (or decided not to) before encouraging a price hike :)

The biggest interest from hobbyists might come from selling juveniles 4-8 weeks old. I personally would pay a premium to avoid SIDS and mysids.

Dan

[Thales]

Would you pay 100 bucks each?

[DHyslop]

I was thinking along the lines of $50-75. $100 each might be a bit much for me: at that point the mysids start to look a lot better in my cost-benefit analysis. Is $100 where they become worthwhile to sell at age? I suppose you don't have the same benefits of scale as the seahorse people who can sell in that price range.

Dan

[kinetic]

I think $10 per hatchling is good, though once they're done feeding off only mysid then maybe the cost should go a bit higher since you've put so much into raising them.

But let's wait until I get my hands on a few ;) I'm pretty close to new alameda aquatics as well.

[Colin]

Yeah, okay... apologies to Dan et al, if this sees a price hike but I dont think they should be cheap. Partly because a lot of Rich's time will go into raising them. I would guess the $50 mark seems about right, bearing in mind postage and packaging etc on top if need be...

It would be too easy to get scunnered* if you were doing all that work and getting only ten bucks.


Colin

*Scunnered - Scots - to be sick of; to have had enough of; to go completely off something.

[Nancy]

I thought that Octopets sold its bimacs too cheaply. Jim apparently had no money in reserve to cover accidents, couldn't afford to provide good communication and customer service, etc. There's a lot of time and effort, not to mention other costs, that go into rasing animals and selling them.

Maybe Jim just got scunnered, as Colin says!

Nancy

[Thales]

They aren't being kept at New Alameda Aquatics, so don't go there looking for them!

The hatchling price will be going up as I have to feed and keep them. Prolly in a week or so.

The price issue is really weird. There seem to be few people who will buy them at all, and fewer who are willing to pay what they are actually worth. I also don't want to get stuck with a bunch of cuttles I can't keep.

[DHyslop]

The price issue is really weird. There seem to be few people who will buy them at all, and fewer who are willing to pay what they are actually worth. I also don't want to get stuck with a bunch of cuttles I can't keep.

As Nancy pointed out, this is likely the reason that Octopets sold bimacs so cheaply: there's no market for a hundred dollar cephalopod until they hit the mainstream, and they can't hit the mainstream if they're $100! Unfortunately they folded before they had enough demand to raise prices and break even. Its the same reason why Amazon.com didn't make a profit for its first decade.

Dan

[Thales]

I am also always amazed at the seeming lack of interest when I have some available.

[kinetic]

Soon! I'll be plumbing a holding tank for them in a week!! =X

[Jemhidiah]

If only I could find the food to raise a few from the egg I would be all over this deal. Still gonna try to get a few after I move the current inhabitants of the tank to there new home. Oh boy what joy of having an Octo and Cuttles at the same time!!!

[Mizu]

Sigh
Timinig is Key my 75 is down for cleaning and resealing and my 150 houses the might ZIM whom I am sure would eat anything that looked like him.
:(
I bummed once i realized that no matter how fast I moved they would be 7 weeks old before I could get one :(
Looking forward to next season though
75 and 150 gal set in an L and both ready for new Cephs :)

[Thales]

Then you should move now. They will be at least 7 weeks in a net breeder. Stick the net breeder in Zims tank and you should be good to go!