madmark285 Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Recommended by Fish Folk (thanks soo much) here at CARE, I want to add a school of Odessa Barbs to my 75 gallon tank I have set up. Currently the tank has 6 Tiger barbs and 6 Serpae Tetra, both juveniles. I want minimum of 10 Tiger Barbs and 8 Serpae, the tank should be able to handle another school of fish. So my dilemma, do I wait and try to buy 8 unsexed Odessa Barbs at $16.25/each (including shipping) from Greg Sage at Select Aquatics, he is very profession and clearly knows what he is doing or just say frack it and buy them from PetCo who has a tank full of unsexed Odessa Barbs for $7/each. This is not a support you local breeder issue, it seems the demand for Mr. Sage's barbs far exceeds supply and based on his comments, he supports the mass breeding of this fish. My concern is the quality of the Odessa Barbs being breed at the fish farms. Mr Sage seems to be working hard on maintaining the brilliant colors of his line, I am unsure on what I will get from the PetCo fish. Note: I am trying to support our local Mom&Pop fish store but they seem to be living in the 1970's, clearly they are still old school. I asked about ordering some Odessa Barbs, a young employee wrote my name down in a quaint little notebook. I really have no clue if it will be feasible. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy's Fish Den Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 When you have seen the ones at Petco, have you seen females? A lot of times fish stores, and especially the big box ones, will only have males as they are the brightly colored ones. I understand the dilemma, wanting to support a hobbyist breeder, but when you see fish for a lot less, it is hard to pull the trigger on the more expensive ones. One thing is for sure, if you buy from Greg Sage, you will be getting nice and healthy fish. Be sure to let us know what you end up deciding to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanTruth Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 I would say get them from Select Aquatics, just because breeders like him need our support. I would even wait if they are out of stock. If you can't wait, which is totally understandable, then local or petco. I just don't think you'll be able to get as pretty a fish elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 The Petco Odessa's are juvenile, very bland colors at this point. Petco's customer who are unaware of this fish must be confused on the high price, quite boring looking fish at this point. I may email Mr. Sage for opinions, I live in western NY so no shipping of live fish for a few months, it's going to be brutally cold next week. Winter ends in my area on Memorial Day 🙂 Soapbox rant time, selling just mature males seems cruel, this may mean the females end up as feeder fish. If I ruled the world, I would sell the fish in pairs with the female sold at a lower price. . I believe you should have more females than males in the tank, get the males horny so they show their colors! One female being pursued by multiple males is not a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 I have seen videos of Greg sage Odessa barbs and they look a lot more colourful then what I seen have in chain stores Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 36 minutes ago, OceanTruth said: I would even wait if they are out of stock. If you can't wait, which is totally understandable, As I said in the above, I need to email Mr. Sage. I believe he shuts down breeding as he does not ship out fish in the winter. I just got back into aquarium and I don't have a feel on how rare this fish is at local stores, was a bit surprise that Petco had a tank full of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhitecloudDynasty Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 (edited) If you plan to breed them you would want quality stock so I would go with Greg sage, but if its just want to have them in your aquarium it doesn't really matter, the average fish keeper would be happy with either one. Also they might not know how to bring out the best out of Greg fish. Most of the time when breeding fish they are at their peak condition. Edited February 3, 2021 by WhitecloudDynasty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 23 minutes ago, Colu said: I have seen videos of Greg sage Odessa barbs and they look a lot more colourful then what I seen have in chain stores I am concerned about that, Mr Sage will continuously select the best males to maintain the brilliant colors. I doubt that happens with wholesale breeders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi_Aquatics Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 I have a 55 with green tiger barbs and Odessa barbs that I bought from petco. Once they settled into my water parameters they colored up nicely! I would suggest that you should get what you can afford. If you can get Greg Sage’s I would highly recommend it because they will be great quality! I hope this helps! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 2 hours ago, WhitecloudDynasty said: If you plan to breed them you would want quality stock I thought about trying breeding but the last time I had an aquarium was 20 years ago, I was very busy in life with a young family, career and sailing. I neglected my 50 gallon tank and it ended up a disaster. I promised I would never do that again so now I just want a healthy environment with my 75 gallon display tank. But you made a good point. If was to get into breeding Odessa, buying them from Mr. Sage would be a wise move. Thanks for your advice. Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 @madmark285Greg Sage for quality. PETCO/PetSmart for quantity. It’s your budget and aquarium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 1 hour ago, Paul said: Greg Sage for quality. PETCO/PetSmart for quantity. It’s your budget and aquarium. Availability is another factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 Well it was a good day, I got my 1st vaccine shot. I am expected those broccoli sprouts (protein spikes) will be growing out of my head anytime now 😁 So I bought some Odessa barbs from Petco today, attached is a photo: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sreding Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 I ordered 8 Odessa barbs from LiveAquaria - Shipping was as much as the fish! They did arrive healthy and so far look pretty bland since they are young. I do hope that I have some females - Mine all have dark head/tail spots/bars. They're doing well in my QT tank. They are very active and are a bit aggressive with each other at times - hoping they're not too much for the platies in my main tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 I check out LiveAquaria, yep those shipping cost were high. Same with That Fish Place, $60 shipping charge. Why females? Most people want the highly colored males. I also want females, keep the males in full color! I was surprise to see a much smaller Odessa go after one of my Tiger barbs, they should do fine together 🙂 Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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