On question 1, a friend who owns a fish store told me that local fish
stores should be willing to pay more for locally bred fish for two
reasons. The first reason being that the fish have most likely been
raised in the local water and have not had to endure long trips through
the mail. The second reason is that locally bred fish should be of
higher quality in terms of bieing pure breds and not being line bred.
For fish that the stores can get from distributers I was told that stores
should be willing to pay twice what they can get them for because serious
hobbysts will be willing to pay more for locally bread fish. For rare
fish that the stores can't get from distributers, you will have to negotiate
with them. My attitude is, I want to make enough money off my fish to
cover my fish costs such as food and supplies. I think it is important
to get quality fish into the hobby and this is my main reason for
selling my fish to the stores.
I will leave question 2 for the REAL experts ;)
John Dowden
ANGFA NA
Rainbowfish Study Group