How Do You Get A Hold Of Rare Fish?

[Sirron]

I've seen numerous posts were people have amazing fish but then say not available at the lfs. If not sold in stores where do you get them? Do they all come from websites like aquabid, the shipping price for fish is usually twice as much as the price of the fish! Unless using priority shipping...which i've heard mixed reviews about. I have some fishless tanks right now that would love some less common editions I don't want to fill them with just anything, but aquabid seemed a bit over the top. I think there was a pair of sword tails for 35 plus 35 shipping......Anyways where the heck do you get your fish!!

 

[star4]

I spend ages and ages scouring all the classified ads. I try to get my fish from a breeder or from someone selling off their fish.

 

[dave_oddballs]

some rare fish are near impossible to get hold of, but as some may say, anything is possible. it takes either time and patience, or long road trips and a bit of cash.
all depends what you want, and how rare it is really. a lot of 'different' and 'rare' fish are considered this because of their numbers in the wild whereas they may be abundant in captivity.
do you have any idea what you are looking for, people on here sometimes know where to get hold of some fish that are not too common in the trade.
we definitely have to start with some sort of idea what you want.
big or small?
live bearer or egg layer?

Dave

 

[Sirron]

I spend ages and ages scouring all the classified ads. I try to get my fish from a breeder or from someone selling off their fish.

Online classifieds like craigslist or the paper kind? And how would I go about finding breeders? I've been keeping an eye out but the only fish I've found so far are common fs kind ie various cichlids and goldfish/koi

 

[Bebobb]

Aquarium club auctions. They have amasing fish there. I have never bought from one, but I have seen them, and go to the all, just to look and admire the fish that they have. They usually get ahold of the fish/fry that they are selling from either a breeder or aquabid. Aquabid is quite popular.

 

[Davo86]

Agreed with Dave_Oddballs

Knowing what species your looking for is half the battle

 

[star4]

Aqurist classifieds is a good internet one (not sure if I am allowed to post the link) a lot of home breeders seem to advertise on there. The classified section on here is also rather good. If you cannot see what you are after you can always ask, there are so many helpful people on here someone will know somone with somthing.

 

[dave_oddballs]

does no body listen?
as i and davo stated knowing what you want is half the battle, even if you dont know exactly what you want, you must have some idea of what species!
we, and im sure plenty of others would offer our knowledge in order to help you but we need to know what you want or theres not an awful lot we can do!

Dave

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Sirron

What country do you live in?

 

[Sirron]

does no body listen?
as i and davo stated knowing what you want is half the battle, even if you dont know exactly what you want, you must have some idea of what species!
we, and im sure plenty of others would offer our knowledge in order to help you but we need to know what you want or theres not an awful lot we can do!

Dave

I have three empty tanks two 20g and one 35g. So I'm looking for smallish sized fish. I would like to start with livebearers as they are easier and if I can manange to rasie some fry maybe move on to some more difficult types of fish. I absolutely love the fish that oldman47 and fish48 have posted. those being wild type livebearers (?) Maybe move onto gouramis or rainbowfish later. and from there who knows. I have two sets of corys that I hope will spawn in my community tank but I don't plan on setting up a cory spawn tank at the moment. And as far as a local club...how would I find one. I've done hours of internet searching that turned up squat.

 

[KMX]

Davesfish.com is a good place to get rare fish. F0's, F1's Very nice pricing. Shipping is great and very professional. I get fish from him all the time. Also everytime you call and order your talking to Dave so you can ask questions if needed. Highley recomended.

 

[Sirron]

Hi Sirron

What country do you live in?

Hello Inchworm!

I'm in the states I live in Phoenix Az. For being such a big city there are hardly any fish stores pretty much only the large chains.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Sirron

Check out this link to the Dry Wash Aquarium Society in Phoenix. Good luck and please let me know how things go if you decide to attend a meeting.

http/drywashaquarium.org/

 

[KingOfTheSea]

You know what I have found. Aswell as visiting huge LFS with massive fish parts, visit the smaller stockists. They tend to have the more unsual fish. I always look through the tanks at garden centres and they seem to have fish I had only read about and seen in books.

 

[OldMan47]

I got almost all of mine at my local fish club, the one nearby in the next state and the ALA annual convention. My fish club is just 2 hours from the one in Indy so I use the sales at both clubs to both buy fish and sell my surplus. As Dave Oddballs said, it helps to know what you are hoping to find. I also make sure that I know how many cycled tanks I have at home in case I find something that I want. At this spring's club auction, I bought almost no fish at all but I found some very nice plants to help fill my newer tanks with nice greenery. I also found a few 10 gallon tanks that can save you if you buy a fish that needs an immediate home. At that sale I also sold off some of my surplus wild livebearer stock and got a decent price for them. This weekend I have been considering an auction in Missouri but I don't think I want to make that drive tomorrow. I would love to pick up a few more of the easier goodeids but need to wait and see what is available at the sales. Right now I have my Xenotoca eiseni in my summer tub/pond to grow bigger but I will not have room to bring them all into the house in the fall. That means that someone at the Circle City fall auction or at my own club's winter auction or even one of our monthly meetings will get a chance at some nice pond raised Xenotoca. My X captivus have been breeding like rabbits so somebody will get a chance at a few of those by next spring's ALA convention when they have had a chance to get to a nice size. Both kinds of Limias and both Ilyodons along with my Xenotaenia resolanae will be giving me enough fry by next spring's ALA convention that I will probably BAP them and sell a few at the ALA auction. One of the ways to earn ALA BAP points is by selling some of your young fish at the annual convention so there is always a good selection of fish there. Since everyone at the auction knows what the fish are really worth, the prices on the better fish can climb a bit more than at a club auction but that is OK if you are the seller, as I found out this year. My Xenotoca eiseni brought me more than I had expected.