Fish Swapping With Pet/fish Stores

[Barlet]

Do you think pet/fish stores will swap fish?

Reason I ask is because my dad bought Goldfish without me knowing, and he doesn't know anything about fish. He just buys whatever he likes. We have Blood Parrots, Neon Tetras, and a Pleco in the tank. And I've read that Goldfish is not a good combination with these fish since they're opposite regarding water temperature.

He bought five of them and they all are about 2+ inches in size. Fantails and Redcaps.

And if pet/fish stores do swap, what would be good tankmates for the Blood Parrots, Neon Tetras, and Pleco?

 

[Rafael Dilone]

Depends on the store. Some of the huge chain stores like Petco, petland, etc would probably trade or swap since their setups/knowledge are not as vast as the privately owned stores. The privately owned store i get my fishes from would have to inspect the fishes finnage and so forth before even considering. I would have a talk with a LFS that would give you a reasonable offer.

 

[holidayinn]

Hello. Re- tankmates, would need to know:

How big is the tank? How many Blood Parrots?

Re - swap...Depends on the individual store, some are more co-operative/understanding then others.

HTH

 

[Barlet]

Thanks for the replies.

The tank is 100 gallons, and there are currently 2 Blood Parrots, 4 Neon Tetras, 1 Pleco, and the 5 Goldfish.

I'll talk to a couple Petcos around my area, as well as the one LFS that I know of around too. If they don't want to swap, I'll just have to find someone who's willing to buy them from me.

 

[`Peter]

Big stores like Petsmart and Petco will only take the fish off your hands in my experience. Wont give you store credit or anything like that.

A private owned fish store I usually go to took one of my angelfish that I have had for over 2 years because it was getting too big for my tank and gave me store credit.

 

[Barlet]

Big stores like Petsmart and Petco will only take the fish off your hands in my experience. Wont give you store credit or anything like that.

They just take it? Won't even trade for a smaller inexpensive fish? The goldfish I see in Petcos and Petsmarts are tiny compared to the goldfish my dad bought. I'm sure they can make a profit for selling bigger sized ones. And we would be happy to trade them for cheaper fish.

I would probably end up asking a LFS since they will likely have more expert knowledge.

 

[SlyPolak]

I will PAY YOU if you find a PetCo, PetSmart, or PetSupermarket that will take ANYTHING off your hands around here even if it is free. They always tell me its against policy to accept anything from other than their own breeders, if they do their going against corporate rules.

 

[Assaye]

A lot of large chain stores (especially Walmart/Petco/etc) will actually just kill any fish you return as they are "damaged goods" or something.

See if you can find a store that will take them on and will explicity state that they will be rehomed or resold and not killed. Don't expect store credit or a swap, though. You can always ask - would be best to ring around first and explain what happened.

It's best for the fish if they are not in a tropical tank with cichlids. Perhaps you could get a new tank for them? They'd need at least 50 gallons though and you might need to upgrade in the future.