I think people negative reactions to high prices isn't unfounded. I think it's good that people here react to fish and corals that are price very high. In some case it may warranty the high price, but in a lot of case it doesn't. Myself personal I find the items in the Driver Den to be over priced, regardless of the care they give them. They do discount things quickly though, sometimes bring the price down to a good range.
A lot of people get caught up in "rare" things, whether the fish is better than the same 12 fish that everyone has. You'll also find that some people could care less what it look like or even if it's hard to keep, they just want it because it rare. These are the people were money isn't an issue and all they want is something good swimming around their tank. These are the "suckers", as Rich called them, who will buy the high priced fish in the Driver Den, more often than not.
Most of the fish are coming from the same distributors, what you see showing up at Live Aquaria, or other on-line places, are coming from the same sources that you see at your LFS. To see this just look at the sales that each place is running, you'll see it usually the same fish that are on sale. The quality is the same it's the shop and how they handle the fish that makes the difference. What you're not seeing at Live Aquaria, or other on-line places, are all the fish that die or are sick. And by the way not all fish or corals from Live Aquaria's Drive Den are disease free or don't die. I give them credit for Qt their fish but so do other on-line places. It's also nice that they list how they handle their fish, it's a good selling point for them.
That fine but it comes down to what is the premium Live Aquaria is going to charge for that service. Regardless whether they get the fish to you in better condition, as compared to LFS, there still is a price were it would be considered over priced.
Is this writing some where? The fish/corals that are sold in the Driver Den are held at their facilities in Wisconsin, all the other fish that that sell are shipped directly from wholesalers. As for being the best, well I've seen some fish that are pretty common and not in the best condition listed. I've also purchased some fish off of their web site and the fish I received was in better condition than the one that they had listed in the Driver Den.
I don't see this, not even close. You're comparing people complaining about not getting a discount, or LFS charging more than on-line places, vs a place that lists fish for a lot higher than normal, and in some case off the scale.
And in some case it makes them overpriced.
There is a difference between paying for quality and over paying. Once again just because some thing is expensive doesn't mean that it is equal in quality.
The Driver Den is a WYSISYG thing were Live Aquaria has found out they can charge more for corals & fish then they regularly do. You'll find a number of other places have also started to do this too.
On the record, I can afford that fish but I wouldn't buy it because I'm not into collecting things just because they're rare, and I do find it over priced too.
jk...
