Fish purchase

[gwand]

A newbie here. I’m cycling two tanks. One for quarantine purposes and one for post quarantine. Do folks bUG fish from the large chain pet stores or through mail order. If the later, who do you recommend? Thanks. GWand.

 

[Ellie Potts]

Both are at least a little controversial, but so is everything in this hobby (lol)
I'm of the opinion that buying from a chain store is not a crime against nature, but it is ideal to find a local fish store. If googling 'fish stores near me' doesn't yield any results (although I'd be shocked if Baltimore didn't have one), then a chain store works. But the variety won't be as good and the fish may need some extra love. It's great you have a quarantine tank, though, that eliminates a lot of the major concerns in using Petsmart/petco/pet supplies plus/whatever
If you want to order online, I'd recommend AquaHuna. Almost all fish end up getting shipped to pet stores via plane or at least a massive truck, so shipping isn't something your fish will avoid going through either way. Just make sure the company packs the fish well. This will be more expensive because shipping costs $$$ when you have to pay for priority, and express, and the extra heat packs, and whatever else.

 

[Back in the fold]

Anyplace you get them is fine but a small local Mom and Pop is always best. That’s just my personal opinion because mail order is environmentally destructive and the chains are capitalistic.

 

[JonasN515]

Both are at least a little controversial, but so is everything in this hobby (lol)
I'm of the opinion that buying from a chain store is not a crime against nature, but it is ideal to find a local fish store. If googling 'fish stores near me' doesn't yield any results (although I'd be shocked if Baltimore didn't have one), then a chain store works. But the variety won't be as good and the fish may need some extra love. It's great you have a quarantine tank, though, that eliminates a lot of the major concerns in using Petsmart/petco/pet supplies plus/whatever
If you want to order online, I'd recommend AquaHuna. Almost all fish end up getting shipped to pet stores via plane or at least a massive truck, so shipping isn't something your fish will avoid going through either way. Just make sure the company packs the fish well. This will be more expensive because shipping costs $$$ when you have to pay for priority, and express, and the extra heat packs, and whatever else.

I just learned of 2 new fish stores by me doing that. Why didn't I think of that???

 

[Ellie Potts]

I just learned of 2 new fish stores by me doing that. Why didn't I think of that???

Lol! My "local fish store" is an hour away and worth the drive every time. Enjoy!

 

[Fishmanic]

I have a Petco about a mile from me. A Petsmart 4 miles from me. I go to a family owned LFS about 18 miles away to buy my fish...well worth the trip. They have about 200 tanks.

 

[anewbie]

I usually get them via a hobbist i trust or mail order - if mail order westspot is my # choice; followed by aquahuna for schoolers and 'cheap' fishes. i wont' use aquahuna for cichild or specialty fishes. Also specialty stores i like are tangleupcichild and aquaticclarity. For hobbist well as far as i know none of them are on this forum so it won't do much good to mention them.

I've had very bad luck with the only lfs in my area so i no longer buy fishes from them. There was one petco that was fairly decent but things went down-hill during the pandemic and the person that kept their tanks in good shape left.

 

[JonasN515]

I like my LFS but I think I may go with 'The Wet Spot' now. Any bad reviews on them? They will be shipping to Des Moines, Iowa, where it is extremely cold. Do they insulate the box well or is it just in a cardboard box? Thanks guys.

 

[Back in the fold]

Tropical fish online retailers insulate the boxes and use heat packs but the package travels by air and there are things the shipper has no control over. One of those things is packages sitting out in the cold at airports due to unforeseen delays. Spare yourself disappointment and wait a couple months.

 

[JonasN515]

Tropical fish online retailers insulate the boxes and use heat packs but the package travels by air and there are things the shipper has no control over. One of those things is packages sitting out in the cold at airports due to unforeseen delays. Spare yourself disappointment and wait a couple months.

Thank you for the advice and you are extremely right.

 

[Back in the fold]

One other thing to commend the LFS is lower prices. The online retailers have to charge a high price for shipping. Really high. You will get more for your money locally.

 

[JonasN515]

One other thing to commend the LFS is lower prices. The online retailers have to charge a high price for shipping. Really high. You will get more for your money locally.

Again, I love my LFS store but considering I would pay roughly $20 for 9 fish (Gourami's and Danios) online, it would be more then double that at my LFS

 

[Back in the fold]

The one thing that is best of all at the LFS ? You get to see what you are buying before you buy it. No surprises.

 

[anewbie]

One other thing to commend the LFS is lower prices. The online retailers have to charge a high price for shipping. Really high. You will get more for your money locally.

I seem to always end up ahead with aquahuna (who charge $12 for shipping); but they do have weather limits on where they ship; so if you are super cold they will just cancel the order (I think). I odn't want to push aquahuna and as i noted i would never use them for cichild. As for my local lfs; not only are they expensive but as I noted i've had a lot of proplems with diseased fishes... and when I pay a lot i expect them to add some value such as qting the fishes (which wetspot and aquahuna do).

As for petco they were pretty darn cheap - i got my first lovely L204 from them for $10; but as i noted the quality really depends on individual stores and who is managing their tanks and orders. Things were great from the local petco until darn pandemic messed everything up.

 

[Ellie Potts]

I seem to always end up ahead with aquahuna (who charge $12 for shipping); but they do have weather limits on where they ship; so if you are super cold they will just cancel the order (I think). I odn't want to push aquahuna and as i noted i would never use them for cichild. As for my local lfs; not only are they expensive but as I noted i've had a lot of proplems with diseased fishes... and when I pay a lot i expect them to add some value such as qting the fishes (which wetspot and aquahuna do).

As for petco they were pretty darn cheap - i got my first lovely L204 from them for $10; but as i noted the quality really depends on individual stores and who is managing their tanks and orders. Things were great from the local petco until darn pandemic messed everything up.

For me petco and petsmart are cheapest but lowest quality, LFS is more expensive but higher quality, and shipments are most expensive and medium quality. I've never received an animal dead or hurt when shipping, but I also never order when weather is weird, pay for express shipping, and have gone so far as to drive 40 minutes to find a mail truck that missed my house.