Lfs Gave Me The Wrong Cories >:{

[greenmumma141]

Well, another frustrating incident with the my LFS (coughpetsmartcough). It has been a long road with my cories and I... Ive bought them a humongous new tank, switched from gravel to sand, going heavily planted... and all just so I can up my number of cories to get a couple happy little shoals going. 
   I had 2 green cories who are awesome little buds, and so i purchased 4 more from my local petsmart. (I now know not to go there for advice or any info on the fish and to do research before purchasing any fish from them, but they have the cleanest and healthiest fish in my area and certainly the best prices, so what can ya do) and since then green will not shoal with the new 4. I had my little shoal of 2 and a new shoal of 4. I thought they looked maybe a tad bit different from my first two when i brought them home, but figured they needed to color up and once they are in the tank, who could tell who was who when they're all dancing around.
   Now I know exactly what happened. Instead of giving me 4 of the cory aeneus like the sign stated, Im pretty sure I have 4 brochis splendens. I am so frustrated. I keep running into incident after incident with every LFS in my area. If they know half of what they're talking about, their prices are high and I get nervous about bringing their fish into my tank, or they have clean fish but horrible info and I never really know what fish Im bring home. I would like to order fish online but it costs so much to ship them, and I feel kind of guilty about putting the fish through a whole shipping process especially with the winter weather where I live. UGH.
   Okay, that was my rant. 

 

 

[techen]

Even the same type may not all shoal as one, I have 8 bronze corys and they tend to swim around as 5 and 3 even though there all the same.

 

[snazy]

Mine don't shoal at all, scattered around in singles or doubles, worst then the guppies and platies. But I guess they are social species, not shoaling or schooling species.
Brochis splendens look quite different than bronze corys though. I don't know why both are called green corys sometimes. It's best to ask by their scientific name but how can someone confuse bronze with brochis, certainly that's basic fish knowledge considering how common both species are and the shop should have known.

 

[greenmumma141]

I always look for the scientific name and it did say c. aeneus.... Im thinking bc they sell the splendens, but much much bigger, and maybe they got in a shipment of small ones and assumed they were the green cories? I dont know, they're know that different, but their faces are a little bit more snout-ier (?lol) and they shape is a bit different too. I thought i was just paranoid but my first 2 stick together and wont have anything to do with the other 4. I dont really care that they're different, but the whole idea was to up my numbers so they had more friends and the splendens get pretty hefty in size!

It was petsmart, they pretty much make up their own names for most of the fish lol. Its just tough bc they have really clean tanks so thats mostly why I go there but then things like this happen... I think tomorrow I will broadening my lfs search area lol wish me luck.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I use my local petsmart for most supplies, and I've had very high success with the fish I've gotten from them.  But, as with ANY LFS, the responsibility always lies with the purchaser, ultimately.
 
You can return them, if you'd like and try to get the proper ones...  Certainly an option.  Petsmart has a return policy on fish, so if you act quickly, you should have no issue.

 

[greenmumma141]

And that's what i use petsmart for as well, and again... Ive never had a single health problem with a fish from there. I dont think Ill bring them back, i would feel really bad, they're so happy now. Ill probably just grab a couple actual green cories some other time. Im just really stacking up the numbers on my bottom feeders, and i wanted to get a shoal of another cory type soon, and/or my yoyo loaches, i just don't know if i have the room though.. it will be cute to have the splendens when they're bigger though


That's funny, bc Ive actually tried to return a fish before that i purchased from petsmart. I can't remember what it was, i think a balloon molly or something.. and he was causing major problems in my smaller first tank, he was really mean. And bc he wasnt dead they wouldn't take him! I guess i should have just asked to speak with a supervisor or something. Learn something new everyday, and once again, it was from eagles lol 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I bought a second Dwarf Gourami male about a month after getting my first one, in a moment of weakness with my son. I hoped, erroneously, that my tank was big enough and had sufficiently planted the tank that they could get along. No soap. The first started going after the other immediately, so I had no choice but to return it. I spoke to the supervisor.


It was an easy conversation after speaking with the associate. The associate seemed confused. I had the receipt and asked to speak to the manager. (The associate knew about the 14 day guarantee... But was unsure about the live fish return.) As we were waiting on the manager, I pointed out the silliness of her proposal that they would accept the fish back alive. I pointed out that the fish's deaths was only a matter of time. The other DG wasn't about to allow it to live in the tank. When the manager came, and looked at the receipt, it was an easy return. Incidentally, that manager was the same one that I chatted with for roughly an hour one day, long before when I was getting back into the hobby and was searching for a LFS. They are my primary store. They don't have a great selection, but what they do have has been very good.


Anyway the key is the receipt and doing it within 14 days.

 

[greenmumma141]

Receipt, 14 days, supervisor, got it     They're my primary store as well. the local one around the corner from them has a greater selection, and sometimes plants. The guy seems to know his stuff too and has steered me in the right direction a couple of times like when i had my first tank and was convinced I could use a filter made for turtles haha.  I would so much rather put my money into a local business, but sometimes his tanks look awful, and I find myself not purchasing any fish bc Im too scared to put them in my tank   So lately Ive been just sticking with petsmart. More green cories is never a bad thing anyway, i think i was just frustrated bc i have diatoms in my tank and now that Im ready to get a bn i can't find them anywhere!!! sigh

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I can understand all of the above.  But, honestly, the big stores are a part of the economy, as much as the smaller stores.    The people employed by Petsmart are no less in need of employment than the "mom and pop" stores.  I've checked out my local independents, and by and large they are AWFUL!  They are "pet stores" more than they are "fish stores" and you can easily see where they get their profits, and its NOT from selling fish!  The fish are usually tucked away in the corner somewhere, meanwhile the signs up front say "PUPPIES!", etc.  They have pupples for sale that sell for anywhere from $500-$1500+.  The fish on the other hand are between $3 and $15.  Which would you rather sell?  Not to mention puppy toys, food, beds, etc.  
 
 
When I need to find a specific fish that's not at my local petsmart, I take a 1.5-2 hour drive over to "That Pet Place", which also ships fish, plants, supplies, etc. anywhere in the US.  They are the largest fish store that I am aware of in the US, and I'm close enough that I can go whenever I want.  I just went there two weeks ago to get some plants.  Much more fun to drive out and look over their stock (freshwater and saltwater), plants, display tanks (not for sale) and just take in the whole scene.  Its a volume business they do, but I've never had a problem with their fish either...  Very well maintained tanks, and healthy fish.  You can actually see the quarantine tanks, and when the fish are available for sale.  Each tank has a sign that identifies the fish, size, compatability, etc.  Then if the fish were recent arrivals from the supplier, they put a sign stating when they came in, and when they will be available for sale.  I actually asked to buy a few one time, and they refused to sell them to me until their quarantine time was up.  They have a guarantee on their fish and plants, although at times the guarantee is waved, although I don't know what constitutes the reason for that... either going against their recommendations, or other.  (I even spoke to the manager and explained I came two hours to get these fish, and he told me he was sorry, but he couldn't sell them until their quarantine time was up.  I really respected that.  I was disappointed, but I respected it.)

 

[greenmumma141]

There's a couple stores like that in the town i live, where the fish section pretty much shouldnt even be there, and their tanks are atrocious. I refuse to buy anything from them, even in an emergency. The small town place I go is a dedicated fish store, I feel like the guy would just rather do everything himself so he gets overwhelmed and kind of overlooks the important things (like dead fish in the tanks )  Found a nice store today, not a huge selection like petsmart, but he had the cleanest tanks Ive ever seen, and he orders in any fish that are not in store for his customers, so it was good to find the place if for that reason alone. And i bought a $2 plant that is pretty large (rotilla) and i thought was a great deal, so all in all it was a good day. The other store I checked out was pretty awful. Tattooed mollies and an indoor koi pond (more like a small tub) with beautful koi, but were way too big for such a small space. I will not be going there again.

 

[snazy]

Ok, so let me complain too. I bought the other day 10 forktail rainbow fish. I asked for 5 males and 5 females. They are very easily sexed to be honest and I was standing next to the guy while he catched them. Today in my tank I count 7 males 3 females

 

[greenmumma141]

i would rather someone say that they have no idea how to do something then just pretend lol. maybe he lost count, or simply guessed? haha, i feel your pain snazy.

 

[snazy]

I waited for him for half an hour to catch them and sex them. That's why it didn't even cross my mind he would catch the wrong ratio. The shop is 3 hours away from me so I can't be bothered complaining but now I might need a few more females if they get bullied a lot by so many males.

 

[greenmumma141]

3 hours is quite a trip to re-try something i agree. I actually saw some blue platies the other day that Ive been contemplating ever since.. forktail rainbows sound really cool

 

[eaglesaquarium]

So what have you decided to do with the brochis splendens?