New Fish At Petsmart!

[Ruskull]

I still frequent the exotic fish-only stores just because they have a better variety & they're willing to order anything you want. You'll pay extra for it of course............

Still, $4.99 for 2.5 inch Bolivians that appear healthy is a great deal, especially with PetSmart's 14 day warranty. Those fish only stores that I mentioned charge more than double that per fish & their warranty is only 7 days.

The local fish only store will come in very handy when I want to purchase female Honey G's for my males.

The warranty is why I buy there. The fish are sick in every store I have around here...I try hard to pick healthy ones. But 5 of my 6 apistos have died. 2 of them within the first week, and my lfs wouldn't do anything about it, but blame my water at first.

That's another good point. PetSmart has a 14 day warranty & Petco has a 30 day!

 

[creeker]

I too notice a difference in the quality of care between my two local Petsmarts. One does a good job of keeping things maintained and the staff is knowledgeable, the other not so much. The secret to successful fish buying at these stores is patience. Never buy the new arrivals. Let them acclimate a week in their tanks. Never buy a fish from any tank that has a sickly looking fish in it, even if it's only one, and even if it's a different species from the one you want. Take a lot of time looking over all the fish in the tank, and select the nicest looking ones. Not necessarily the biggest or smallest ones. Talk to the employees. Establish a rapport with them when you're there. They will be more likely to give you an honest answer when you ask them how the Cardinal Tetras have been doing lately. One thing I will say is "Hey, the guy at your other store said he was having some trouble keeping these alive. How are they doing at your store?" It lets their guard down and they feel you won't think they're bad fish keepers if the other guy is having trouble too. It's just something I say, I don't usually really talk to the other guy. I really wanted to buy some of their $1 Cardinals, but the employees told me they were losing most of them when I asked like that. Not worth the risk. I also wanted to buy some Marthaes Hatchetfish from them, but they had recurring Ick for weeks. No thanks! I did end up buying a Blue Ram, a Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami,some cories, and a bunch of Neon Tetras from them over a year ago. All are still alive and not been sick yet. I also bought one of those Argentine Swordplants that they keep in a tube. The plant has split into about 30 separate plants over the past year. I had so many I had to give some away. Kissfn, the reason they sell the fish so cheap is that they have the buying power of almost 1200 stores. Wholesalers will cut great deals to sell in huge quantity like that. Petsmart marks down a few fish, then sells the rest at a decent markup. Then you have to buy more tanks and supplies to house all these cheap fish.

 

[KISSfn]

Well said.