My first aquatics auction.

[MatsP]

I decided to take a few of Ancistrus to an auction today, and I think it was a success: I sold one pair and two males, for £16 and some change. Then of course, I spent some money - I got an Eheim 1260 pump for £20, and it's currently pumping water around my sumps.

In general, the catfish got pretty good prices, a couple of Synos (S. shoutdeni and S. waterloti, ID's by seller) sold for £10 each, which I think is a good deal for both seller and buyer. Two lots of less common corys (one of which was labeled C. deckeri (presumably C003)) sold for some decent money as well.

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Mats

[bronzefry]

Nice, Mats! I always find it amazing what sells and what doesn't. It varies from auction to auction. I was at one for the Boston Aquarium Society last weekend. The most common fish were selling for over $75 for a bag of 6 unsexed juveniles. Nothing special, just 2 people bidding frantically. Other fish went for next to nothing. A friend got 8 discus for $100, males and females. That large. At a different auction, the same fish from the same breeder were $50 each. I've had a bag of 4 L-387 juveniles go for $64 at one auction. At a different auction, months later, a bag of 6 went for $20. I'm glad I held onto the rest and sold them to someone I know.
Amanda

[Martin S]

Hi Mats
Please let me know when/where the next one is and I may well come along and join you if you don't mind.
Martin

[MatsP]

They haven't announced the 2010 dates, but yes, I will let you know - it's in Basingstoke, so it's an even further trek for you...

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Mats

[Martin S]

They haven't announced the 2010 dates, but yes, I will let you know - it's in Basingstoke, so it's an even further trek for you...

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Mats

Cool. Only about an hour or so, so not so bad.
Martin

[DJ-don]

I decided to take a few of Ancistrus to an auction today, and I think it was a success: I sold one pair and two males, for £16 and some change. Then of course, I spent some money - I got an Eheim 1260 pump for £20, and it's currently pumping water around my sumps.

In general, the catfish got pretty good prices, a couple of Synos (S. shoutdeni and S. waterloti, ID's by seller) sold for £10 each, which I think is a good deal for both seller and buyer. Two lots of less common corys (one of which was labeled C. deckeri (presumably C003)) sold for some decent money as well.

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Mats

i went to my first fish auction just 2 weaks or so ago too
they are usually quite fun!
usually peppermints would be 10-30 dollars per cm and i got my 8 cm peppermint for 25 dollars
this was at the Canberra District Aquarium Society
im thinking of going to the next meeting in december with my grandad who is coming over from South korea
i'm gonna show him how great keeping fish can be!

[andy75]

Would love to go to an auction, so mats when u have dates please let me know...


Andy

[Richard B]

They haven't announced the 2010 dates, but yes, I will let you know - it's in Basingstoke, so it's an even further trek for you...
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Mats

This is almost sounding like another Planet Catfish day out....?

[Carp37]

Hi Mats-
I've only been to our own (Sheaf Valley Aquarist Society) auctions, and the Catfish Study Group auction at Darwen. For our own auctions I do the unpacking, so I can actually see the fish, but at other auctions, bidding on fish you can't inspect always puts me off. I did actually go to the front a couple of times at Darwen to inspect fish, but if you do that too many times it irritates everyone as it slows everything down too much. I've never had a great deal of luck selling- prices way down on what I could get store credit for fish. At the last auction I went to, I bought 20 sticklebacks for 80p! I've done pretty well on getting fish food/bogwood etc. though.

I know a few fellow members of our society, and familiar faces from other clubs who sometimes put fish in our auctions, that effectively do a show and auction circuit, so they've always got outlets for fish above and beyond what local shops can take.

[MatsP]

This auction, you had a period of time before the auction starts to inspect the bags of fish - of course, with around 200 lots on the list, it was a bit hard to know what to look at, and I missed looking at a few things before bidding started. Then there was a break after about 100 lots had gone, and we had another chance to look at the remaining objects.

Obviously, there's only so much you can determine from looking at a stressed fish in a plastic bag - but certainly you would at least be able to judge whether it's "likely candidate" or "not what I'm after" type decision.

The two pieces of bogwood went for a bit more money than I was prepared to pay... But not as much as the same piece would be in a shop, I think...

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Mats

[Martin S]

Mats
Do you think it's likely to bag any woodcats, or dorads? I guess the bulk of the fish are corydoras, and loricarids, but wonder if you saw anything lie that whilst viewing?
Martin

[MatsP]

No woodcats, no dorads at all. But of course, what is on one auction is most likely not there in the next - except for the common guppies and platies. But yest, catfish were nearly all Corys. The remaining 3 (give or take) species were Synos and Ancistrus.

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Mats

[Lloydy]

Hi Mats,

As others have said, can you also let me know when the auction in Basingstoke is as it's only 20-30mins from me

[ricefish]

i was at the same auction so i can now put a name to a face.not as many catfish as the last auction and the prices were a bit down but a good day out.got some c/b cory loxozonus at a good price and the fish food was cheap good selection of plants also

[Carp37]

In the UK, I'd say the vast majority of fish offered for sale are home-bred. There will be some adult fish that people want to get rid of, and may even be some fish that are imported from people with licences, or donations from local shops, but these tend to be in the minority, so there won't be that many unusual fish offered as a matter of course. There might be some unusual cichlids (and I've only ever seen Callichthys and certain livebearers in auctions), but fish that are more difficult to breed will only really appear from sellers who have an importers licence.

If anyone attends an auction for the first time, it's a good idea to have a polystyrene box or cool bag to put any fish you buy in- not only to maintain the water temperature but also to provide a dark, less stressed environment for the fish.

This auction, you had a period of time before the auction starts to inspect the bags of fish - of course, with around 200 lots on the list, it was a bit hard to know what to look at, and I missed looking at a few things before bidding started. Then there was a break after about 100 lots had gone, and we had another chance to look at the remaining objects.

Obviously, there's only so much you can determine from looking at a stressed fish in a plastic bag - but certainly you would at least be able to judge whether it's "likely candidate" or "not what I'm after" type decision.

This is a good idea I've heard happen at some (not most) auctions- my only concern would be that it's likely to stress the fish more than leaving them unpacked until 5 minutes or so before sale, but from a buyer's point of view it at least means you can inspect the fish to make sure they're what they're claimed to be, and also that the fish look to be in good (albeit stressed) condition, and with a better idea of size.