Reef Central Online Community - View Single Post - can someone explain from when a fish is caught to when it arrives at the lfs?

IslandCrow · 10/17/2011, 09:36 AM

I general, the fish is caught by someone halfway across the world probably making no more than a few pennies per fish. From there, it's put on a boat, about half of them die in transit. It arrives at a mass distribution location in the States, then they're shipped off to wholesalers where another 10% or so die off, and finally to your LFS, where a few more die off in transit. I'm pulling the percentages out of my butt, but the point is, a significant number of the fish that were originally caught are going to die in transit, so if you can find captive bred fish, even if they're a little more expensive, I'd highly recommend it. That's unfortunately not possible with many species, however.

As far as when the stores get their shipments, that's simply when they've set it up with their wholesaler. There's nothing special about the date.

10/17/2011, 09:36 AM	#4
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	I general, the fish is caught by someone halfway across the world probably making no more than a few pennies per fish. From there, it's put on a boat, about half of them die in transit. It arrives at a mass distribution location in the States, then they're shipped off to wholesalers where another 10% or so die off, and finally to your LFS, where a few more die off in transit. I'm pulling the percentages out of my butt, but the point is, a significant number of the fish that were originally caught are going to die in transit, so if you can find captive bred fish, even if they're a little more expensive, I'd highly recommend it. That's unfortunately not possible with many species, however. As far as when the stores get their shipments, that's simply when they've set it up with their wholesaler. There's nothing special about the date. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?