Have you been to a Petbarn before?

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elephantnose3334

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Petbarn is an Australian pet store that sells freshwater fish and only freshwater fish. Have you been to a Petbarn store in Australia before? I like going to Petbarn because I have been to some of their stores in my state before (Booragoon, Cockburn and Myaree).
 
Added to the bucket list - a visit to an Australian freshwater only fish store. I visited an Irish shop 2 weeks ago, in a very small town. It only had 5 tanks, but I have never been able to walk by an aquarium store without sticking my snout in. I just need to go to Australia.
 
Added to the bucket list - a visit to an Australian freshwater only fish store. I visited an Irish shop 2 weeks ago, in a very small town. It only had 5 tanks, but I have never been able to walk by an aquarium store without sticking my snout in. I just need to go to Australia.
You’ll be very disappointed if you visit Petbarn expecting to see Australian fish. About 90% of their floor space is devoted to stuff for cats and dogs. The other 10% is freshwater fish but they aren’t fish native to Aust. Mainly guppies, goldfish, angel, rainbow shark, etc. Occasionally “miscellaneous” cichlids . . .

They don’t stock marine fish. You get the idea, an Australian pet store selling only freshwater fish (i.e. no marine fish) :).
 
If you come to Perth in Western Australia for your bucket list, visit the following stores. You can checkout their websites for a bit of a looksie.

Aquarium Gallery in Wangara
Used to be Perth Aquarium & Display Centre in Cannington and was owned by Graham and his wife. However, he has apparently sold it and the new owner is pretty good. This place carries a lot of high end gear and used to be the Dupla and then Tunze stockist for Australia. They carry a lot of unusual plants, many of which come from Graham's plant nursery.

Aquatix in Canningvale
Owned by Oliver, Kerri and Colin. Colin is/ was a drug addicted psycho who bashed his staff and destroyed his last shop. However, that was back in the 90s and apparently he has been to rehab and sobered up. Nonetheless, I consider him a piece of crap. However, he does know about fish and has a lot of unusual stuff. Oliver knows more and is a nice guy (used to be one of my friends). Kerri is married to Colin and knows a lot but not as much as me or Oliver.

Morley Aquarium in Morley
Owned and run by Paul. He is a nice guy and knows a lot about fish but his specialty is Rift Lake cichlids. He has a pretty big Mbuna tank and also has/ had a giant gourami that was nuts and used to try and eat anyone who walked past the tank. There's no way in hell I would clean that fish's tank. It had teeth.

Pet Magic in Cannington
They carry a wide range of animals but also have a fairly decent selection of fish. Most of the staff aren't in my league when it comes to knowledge so don't ask too many difficult questions. But it's nice to visit and has a good selection.

Vebas Aquarium in O'Connor
They don't do websites but it's worth visiting the store. Patrick is the owner and Aaron is one of his better staff members. Both are very knowledgeable when it comes to fresh and saltwater fishes. Patrick is a busy bee and usually out the back doing paperwork. Aaron can usually be found in the shop but is regularly busy with customers so you don't always get time to chat.

There are other shops too but those are the ones I used to frequent and I knew a number of the owners and staff and worked with some of them.
 
I doubt I'll ever visit Australia. I'd like to though. Fishwise, I would love to see and keep Melanotaenia duboulayi and Pseudomugil mellis. All the dubs I've gotten via the trade (they are rarities here) have had bad tb that showed right after arrival, and I've given up on buying them. I love those colours though. It's an underappreciated species.

As for mellis, it's a fish I've never seen live, and its conservation status means I'll probably never see it.
 
If you come to Perth in Western Australia for your bucket list, visit the following stores. You can checkout their websites for a bit of a looksie.

Aquarium Gallery in Wangara
Used to be Perth Aquarium & Display Centre in Cannington and was owned by Graham and his wife. However, he has apparently sold it and the new owner is pretty good. This place carries a lot of high end gear and used to be the Dupla and then Tunze stockist for Australia. They carry a lot of unusual plants, many of which come from Graham's plant nursery.

Aquatix in Canningvale
Owned by Oliver, Kerri and Colin. Colin is/ was a drug addicted psycho who bashed his staff and destroyed his last shop. However, that was back in the 90s and apparently he has been to rehab and sobered up. Nonetheless, I consider him a piece of crap. However, he does know about fish and has a lot of unusual stuff. Oliver knows more and is a nice guy (used to be one of my friends). Kerri is married to Colin and knows a lot but not as much as me or Oliver.

Morley Aquarium in Morley
Owned and run by Paul. He is a nice guy and knows a lot about fish but his specialty is Rift Lake cichlids. He has a pretty big Mbuna tank and also has/ had a giant gourami that was nuts and used to try and eat anyone who walked past the tank. There's no way in hell I would clean that fish's tank. It had teeth.

Pet Magic in Cannington
They carry a wide range of animals but also have a fairly decent selection of fish. Most of the staff aren't in my league when it comes to knowledge so don't ask too many difficult questions. But it's nice to visit and has a good selection.

Vebas Aquarium in O'Connor
They don't do websites but it's worth visiting the store. Patrick is the owner and Aaron is one of his better staff members. Both are very knowledgeable when it comes to fresh and saltwater fishes. Patrick is a busy bee and usually out the back doing paperwork. Aaron can usually be found in the shop but is regularly busy with customers so you don't always get time to chat.

There are other shops too but those are the ones I used to frequent and I knew a number of the owners and staff and worked with some of them.
These are good fish stores and I'm actually going to work on Vebas on 15 June. But, have you been to a Petbarn store before?
 
I doubt I'll ever visit Australia. I'd like to though. Fishwise, I would love to see and keep Melanotaenia duboulayi and Pseudomugil mellis. All the dubs I've gotten via the trade (they are rarities here) have had bad tb that showed right after arrival, and I've given up on buying them. I love those colours though. It's an underappreciated species.

As for mellis, it's a fish I've never seen live, and its conservation status means I'll probably never see it.
Melanotaenia duboulayi are nice fish. I had some from GinGin Creek and the mature males were almost a green and yellow with black markings. Females are silver. But beautiful fish and they tolerate cold and warm water (temp between 5-30C). The ones sold in shops here have TB too.

Pseudomugil mellis is found on Frazer Island (off the coast of Queensland) as well as some waterways on the mainland in that area. Frazer Island had a bush fire (wild fire) run through most of it in 2019/ 2020. The fires burnt for over 6 months and the government did nothing to stop to because it wasn't affecting the tourist places. However, the damage done to the trees has left vast areas of exposed sand, which is now blowing into the lakes and killing everything in them. Sand drift has been an issue on Frazer Island for decades but with half the trees now burnt to the ground, it is happening much more rapidly and some of the people monitoring the lakes reckon they will all be gone in 20 years, probably sooner.

P. mellis is an interesting fish. The males develop a honey coloured body with black & white fins when kept outdoors in sunlight. If they are kept in aquariums, they turn pale and drab, so it appears they use UV light to improve their colour. It's probably a bit like tanning or dark skin in people and animals. They have darker skin to protect them from the UV light and it fades when they aren't exposed to it. Female P. mellis are pale and drab.

Frazer Island is also the only place left that has pure dingoes (native dog). They are endangered due to the fires and limited genetics.
 
These are good fish stores and I'm actually going to work on Vebas on 15 June. But, have you been to a Petbarn store before?
Are you doing work experience there or did you get a job there?

Make sure you don't have any cuts on your hands when working at Vebas or any pet shop. I know 2 people that got Fish TB in their hands and they both worked at Vebas. One was Harry (former owner) and the other is Paco (Patrick the current owner). Apparently they have cleaned the tanks up since then but they have a huge turnover of fish so try to avoid getting any cuts or scratches wet from aquarium water. Fish TB isn't only found at that shop, it's in every shop around the country.

I have been to a few Petbarn stores and most aquarium shops in Perth. Big chain store shops with inexperienced staff. No offence to the people working there. They just don't get the training they need.
 

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