Zebrasoma Gemmatum

[pygoplites]

I have seen one in a shop near my home...€ 1000,00!!!

Is so expansive also in other countries?

[steffen]

Oh no,in germany the fish cost 350-450€:
But he is very rar,1 year must wait to have.
Steffen

[Tanne]

In which country do you live? Here in the Netherlands the price is between €550-800. They are really hard to get in here as well.

[pygoplites]

I live in North Italy.
Also 500€ is crazy pricefor a fish, but i can accept to lose my mind and do it, but 1000...

[moonpod]

It's more of an issue of do you ever see the fish. I'm sure the ballpark price is 500-1000 USD, but more importantly they are RARE.

[coralite]

I too have seen only a few gemmatums. two were in the collection of a private aquarist in the US and the other one was in Bachir's tank. I think Bachir said he got his for 300 euro but in the US, they are much rarer and they go for $1500 on up. Its a cool fish but its definitely only worth the price for its rarity, not its looks.

[WayneL333]

I've seen it at my LFS. They orignally wanted $1800 for it, but when it sat there for two months, they went down to $1100 and I bought it I heard they are collected from Africa's Indian Ocean. Is that true?

[steffen]

yes,west.indian ocean,south africa and mauritius

[WayneL333]

Is this fish rare because there are that many in the wild, or because of collecting/exporting restrictions?

[coralite]

the island of mauritius is a very small place and they only allow the export of a limited amount of livestock. Some years there are no collections, apparently this year, they might have let out a few dozen. Europe definitely sees many more of these than the US.

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

yes,west.indian ocean,south africa and mauritius

Absolutely correct ... more specifically ... The Agulhas Current.

The Agulhas Current LME lies off the southeastern coast of Africa and includes the continental shelf of Mozambique and South Africa (up to the Cape of Good Hope), the Comoro Islands, and the islands of Madagascar and Mauritius. Its dominant oceanographic feature is the swift, warm current for which it is named and its precursors, the Mozambique and Madagascar Currents. While less productive than some other LMEs, it has a high species diversity, with >1500 species of fish recorded from its waters. The main threats to the system are overexploitation and pollution due to rapidly increasing population, urbanization, and industrialization.

Extracted From:
Ecosystem Reference

Is this fish rare because there are that many in the wild, or because of collecting/exporting restrictions?

Their scarcity in the market is somewhat puzzling. After all, their "resilience" is relatively high ... with a minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity) [fishbase.org Reference].

Perhaps it's because this species' social behavior in the wild is primarily solitary, with extreme territoriality [fishbase.org Reference]. Most Acanthurid species which demonstrate territoriality aggregate in relatively large conspecific colonies, making collection "relatively" easier.


JMO ... HTH

[WayneL333]

Do they school in the wild like their yellow counterparts?

[nbd13]

any pics that you guys could post of the ones you have in your tanks?

thanks

Nick

[coralite]

The first one is Bachi's gem tang. I'll see if I can get him to post one. The other two images of the pair belong to Tom Hill of Atlanta GA. He runs justrarefish.com and marineaquatics.us. Can you count up the value of all the fish in the picture?

[nbd13]

Dang what size tank is that second and third one?

very nice!

Nick