Who would like to order fishes from ApistoWorld HK?

[Cacatuoides]

This thread is only to find out the level of interest of members interested in ordering apistos from the above mentioned merchant...

Note* This is not an order thread

KIndly indicate what apisto you're interested to get

Nickname / Apisto interested

1) Cacatuoides / Taeniata Candidi, Viejita II
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

[benny]

Note* This is not an order thread

Then why does it say 2nd Mass Order thread? We've tentatively moved this thread to marketplace.

If you have not sort out the logistics, I would not suggest you start taking orders. This might cause confusion/frustration, especially to folks are are seriously looking forward to owning a pair of these beauties.

Cheers,

[benny]

As requested by the thread starter, I've changed the thread title to better reflect the objective.

Thread will be shifted to Aqua talk.

Cheers,

[Cacatuoides]

Thank you so much benny!!

[Nicky]

Hope this will not considered OT..
Also this is not to flame any LFS or party..

Why buy fish from HK when the fish you want can actually be purchased from local LFS? I thought I have seen more than once, the same (or better, subjective view) looking Viejita II in Singapore LFS arena?

Just curious.

[benny]

Why buy fish from HK when the fish you want can actually be purchased from local LFS? I thought I have seen more than once, the same (or better, subjective view) looking Viejita II in Singapore LFS arena?

No Nicky, it's not considered off topic. Aqua talk is a more casual environment for such discussions.

I agree with your views and would prefer to buy fishes that I can pick myself from the tanks of the shops. Unfortunately, for Apistogramma, very few shops stock them these days and if they do, the selection is miserable. Biotope had them earlier part of the year, but the interest level seems to have waned in the recent months. Hence the hobbyists have no where to turn to to get their fishes.

Cheers,

[Nicky]

I hope I'm not being misinterpreted as having a vested interest in Biotope in my following postings..

I thought with the interest that is slowly gaining steam (or am I imagining things) on apisto perhaps interested party can ask Biotope (or for that matter, any LFS that has reputation to deliver) to bring in the specific apistos. I thought we have a wholesaler in Singapore who can order directly from Germany?

There are tanks and tanks of apistos in Biotope that have not moved for months (and some of them have bred). Maybe the LFS is not stocking the correct selections of apistos that suit our taste.. but if we as keen hobbists are really interested to see local LFS thrive (and hence able to support our specific and unique interest) then we should support/help them by providing feedback as to what we really want.

Of course I also think the HK LFS has very nice apistos, and I was the first (I think) to ask if they can deliver to Singapore. But ultimately "charity" begins at home, right?

[yorky]

My personal opinion is that nothing beats the experience of staring at tanks and tanks of apistos, finding what you like and bringing it home.
I can do that for 2 hours straight.

However, I am not sure about the inherent issue raised.
Take for instance, buying books from Amazon.com.
Why buy from them when you can get them locally too?
I am sure we are well aware of slogans like, 'With internet, its a borderless market now both for buyers and sellers'.
Now about these apistos available locally, I've only seen Biotope listing their apistos by collection point.
To me this is an important piece of information in keeping these fish.
Most of the time, those we get locally, we don't even know the source of the fish and often times, not even labelled.

[leeruisheng]

Hi there,

Take me for instance. I've missed the shipment from biotope in the earlier part of the year and I've have been waiting like 4 months to get a pair of eliz. since then. Contacted few ap. lfs but don't intend to have order list. Another example would be CRS. Why would people buy from Japan or from someone else in the forum? cause these crs have good genes( thick white and no color ran) and another reason cheaper depending on grades. Think same applies to apistos when you don't know their origins. ya these are my thoughts. No hard feelings man.

Cheers

[leeruisheng]

This thread is only to find out the level of interest of members interested in ordering apistos from the above mentioned merchant...

Note* This is not an order thread

KIndly indicate what apisto you're interested to get

Nickname / Apisto interested

1) Cacatuoides / Taeniata Candidi, Viejita II
2) leeruisheng / Ap. paucisquamis" Demini"
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

[leeruisheng]

Hi there,

Continuation in my earlier post, I sometimes wonder why the foreign lands get good apistos or crs at better premium. In Singapore there are few specialized lfs who know they have a niche market but however may still have the tendency to up retail cost thinking that there are no other alternatives but to approach them. Maybe wrong marketing strategy. For example maybe there should be an international price guidelines that draws a line if lfs are indeed pricing their apistos too costly, of course excluding delivery charges. Naturally people would go for better and cheaper sources.

Lfs must do market analysis by understanding consumer behaviour why do we want to get from other sources like apistoworld and not plunge into which popular species of apistos to get when the season comes. Every product have a product life cycle and prices change with time. Goods left unsold will eventually become dogs, which most companies will try to phase out before becoming dogs. eg. Floppy disk. Quite difficult to explain.

Cheers

[valice]

In Singapore, seriously, other than Biotope, which other shops are bringing in Apistos? EcoCulture do at times have, but are the common ones... who else?

As far as I know, I might be wrong here, Biotope (no vested interest) and HK LFS has nearly the same source... But why does HK get nicer fish? Because of the volume... For example, Singapore only take 10 pairs, HK takes 100pairs... If you are the supplier, which customer will you concentrate on and give the better stock to?

Anyway, I got no vested interest in any of the shops here, but I like to support local... My personal views here...

[Cacatuoides]

Sometimes when lfs are willing to bring in a shipment of quality apisto but end up not able to sell all of them due to difference in customer's preference, so the fish is stuck in their tanks, taking up space and lose a lot on opportunity cost....
Also lfs are sometimes unwilling to take the risk of importing apistos as what they order and what arrive may be totally different and what about those fish that are dead on arrival?

my 2 cents

[leeruisheng]

HK lfs have bigger piece of the pie one reason being that they do entertain overseas market like us thus another consumer source for them. What I'm trying to say is that they are stretching their possible market. So if their apisto. sales in HK isn't doing very well they would still have other alternatives which is us. This might be a good reason to expand services to overseas. For instance eliz maybe common in HK and if nobody wants to get eliz, HK lfs may search for other markets short of rare apisto to sell to. And eliza wouldn't be left too long to collect dust. Thus the ratio of one pair of apisto to consumer rates are different in HK and S'pore. My small study.

Cheers

[kray]

I think ApistoWorld has done a good advertising job by taking and posting beautiful pictures of the fishes on sale. This has stirred up some interests in apisto keeping again, which is a good sign for all apisto lovers and traders. Hopefully the interests could be sustained and we could see some actions from our local lfs soon.

Personally I would prefer to view and choose the fish myself. If it has to come from overseas, I would rely on my trusted friends to select the fishes for me instead of ordering "blindly" from the internet. If my favourite species are available and I could rely on the selection expertise of my friends, I wouldn't mind getting them from Hong Kong.

[Cacatuoides]

I agree Kray, the apisto interest group will always exist no matter what, even if there'll aren't any apistos locally, those who are really serious about apistos will always find ways and means to get fish from abroad...right? hehe

[ApistoRanch]

The Apistogramma market in the USA is almost none, If you do find them they're mostly from collectors who got them to spawn and need to get rid of a few.

I'm a breder of them and my LFS just flat refusses to order them do to the cost that is so high that they can't turn a profit if they do find them and get them. It's to the point that if we in the US want a spices, we have to order from overseas.

Me and 3 of my buddies are all pitching in and placing a order from Apistowrold and then once we get them to spawn, we are all going to trade with each other just to ensure we all get at least 1 to 2 pairs of the others set. Just to add to our collection.

[valice]

It is interesting to think about the market of Apistogrammas in US to be close to none... And also the high prices... Given that the Amazon river is much much much much near to you guys then to us, but the Asian market seems to be much much cheaper and abundant...

Transportation cost should therefore not be the rationale for the high prices since the trip to say even to New York or LA is much closer than to Singapore or Japan or HK...

[ApistoRanch]

You would thank that. But for some reason the American market has mostly the brazailan and not purzil. Like i've been looking for 4 different spices of Apistogrammas for some time now. The Ap. pertensis , Ap. eliz , Ap. viejita II , Ap. gephyra. There's others but I'd take these first but there just no where to be found unless I look overseas.

Yea there's other species here and can be bought easily enough. But not the more so called { rare } by the American standards, Mainly just because there not affordable to US. Unless you have big bucks and can afford to have them shipped in. I've got Apistoworlds list of stock and just the shipping alone from there to the US is $165 and up.