Question For People In The Uk

[snake007]

Well oddly enough im after a male convict and none of my lfs seem to have it, you would of thought they would be normal stock for them.
They dont have no convicts so im looking to try P@H as I have one close to me but never thought of trying it.
Thanks for all your opinions guys!

 

[mike455555]

bit off topic. but my LFS will order in fish for me (or try to)

as for dead fish. i think all fish stores have deaths.

my LFS gets imported fish most of the times (not sure if its the same at P&H) but they normaly package 400 odd fish in a bag and put it in a box. if 1 fish go's it causes a spike and the rest go.

betta's are transported in there little own pockets in a strip about 3" by 3" with minimal water and pure oxygen.

getting to my point. when fish arrive there generally in bad condition and deaths even in the best of stores (unless there suppler package them really well) are very likely

 

[HayzH]

I...as most of you know had a bad experience with P@H at the start of my hobby...
Basically i bought 3 mollies and they were dead by day 2..they had forgotten to tell me to change the water, they died of ammonia poisoning.

So all in all i think they are ok...if you go in KNOWING more than them. Each time ive been in ive had to sex the fish myself as they didnt have a clue.

personally i think most LFS will have dead fish in their tanks afterall they are mostly overstocked in the tanks anyway.
And who's to say the LFS who NEVER have dead fish in their tanks didnt fish um all out before they opened for the day.??

They are trained on PETS...not souly on fish. Where as an Aquatics store will have better/more specific training on species and care.

 

[snake007]

My lfs has a few dead ones in from time to time but as soon as you tell them they take it out and do an immediate 70% water change, so at least there Trying to keep on top of things, also Im after a rare species called a Tamandua Knife fish? Anyone know of a lfs who would sell these?

 

[minnnt]

I...as most of you know had a bad experience with P@H at the start of my hobby...
Basically i bought 3 mollies and they were dead by day 2..they had forgotten to tell me to change the water, they died of ammonia poisoning.

So all in all i think they are ok...if you go in KNOWING more than them. Each time ive been in ive had to sex the fish myself as they didnt have a clue.

personally i think most LFS will have dead fish in their tanks afterall they are mostly overstocked in the tanks anyway.
And who's to say the LFS who NEVER have dead fish in their tanks didnt fish um all out before they opened for the day.??

They are trained on PETS...not souly on fish. Where as an Aquatics store will have better/more specific training on species and care.

+1! Totally agree. If you go in knowing what you want and everything there is to know about that fish then you will be fine. It's when people go in and get advised to get a dwarf gourami to go with their newly acquired male betta you have to start questioning yourself as to why you're in there...

Snake, the reason your lfs don't have convicts is because they're common and breed like wildfire. They don't just have a 100 babies, they have 400... What LFS wants to take 400 potential killers off your hands?

None i would have thought...

 

[njstockley]

My lfs has a few dead ones in from time to time but as soon as you tell them they take it out and do an immediate 70% water change, so at least there Trying to keep on top of things, also Im after a rare species called a Tamandua Knife fish? Anyone know of a lfs who would sell these?

unlikely to be an easy fish to find... and from what ive heard of them not the easiest fish to care for either!!

where are you based?

 

[mike455555]

And who's to say the LFS who NEVER have dead fish in their tanks didnt fish um all out before they opened for the day.??

my LFS does fish them out at the start of the day but during the day more die. and they sometimes fall behind/ don't spot them. most times iv been in there i can normally spot a dead fish in one of there tanks. but i find them a really good small store =D

 

[creeker]

Ok. Here's my take on the dead fish in the tank thing. Yes, in a store with many tanks and fish, there are going to be casualties. What the employees should do is walk the tanks first thing in the morning. They should remove any dead fish, make note of what tank any dead fish were in, and look for signs of disease. You then mark these down on a list, quarantine and treat the tanks that need it, and repeat this noon and night. That way all employees know what's up with the tanks. One dead fish in a tank in the morning might not be a big deal, but if more die throughout the day, there is a problem. Sometimes with changing employee shifts, if you don't write it down, nobody knows. What I see in some of the bigger pet chains here in the U.S. are tanks with dead fish, sick fish, and employees with a general lack of knowledge. Fish stores are going to get sick fish, it's what they do with them that concerns me. Recently I saw some Hatchetfish at one store and I wanted to buy some. I noticed they had a slight case of Ick. Kind of hard to see, but I pointed it out to one of the employees. I came back a week later, and they still had Ick! No quantine sign on the tank, or any other, several tanks had fish with obvious disease symptoms, several dead fish in various tanks. I then asked one employee if she would personally treat them as I wanted to buy some, but did not want the added bonus of Ick. Went back a few days later, still Ick, still no quarantine sign. Another store in that same chain, maybe three miles away, takes great care of their tanks. The employees are knowledgeable, there are a couple tanks with quarantine signs, and rarely a dead fish visible. So I shop there now. When I worked in fish stores, my biggest concern was not selling any sick fish. I mean, who wants to be responsible for exposing someone's pristine tank to that? I even used to have people try to get me to sell them a sick fish. They said they would cure it themselves. I was like, sorry, can't do that, extremely unethical. Come back in a few days. I always find out what day of the week a store gets their new fish in, then I buy fish as far away from that day as possible. Let the fish acclimate to your area's water for a week. Sorry to ramble on about this, but the dead fish and sick tanks I saw bothered me and I needed to get it aired.

 

[MBOU]

Most shops wont order in convicts, the ones they have are ones that have been in the shop ages or brought it.

They are one of the Boomerang fish... you can order them in because they sell well, but you can be guaranteed that at least 50% will come back to you! If not with all their babies too.

Jewel Cichlids
Red Tail Black Sharks/Ruby/Albinos
Synodontis
Plecs
Convicts

All fish that keep coming back, no matter how far you throw/sell them LOL

I think you can agree you wont find your knifefish in a shop, you would have to find a shop to order it in and to do that, you would have to be able to prove you have suitable tank and knowledge first and pay up front because they wont want to keep it in the shop... and apparently that means about 1000L.

I havent seen them available at any point recently and you would be paying a LOT of money...

 

[alihar]

My local P@H have a better variety of species and different species to my trusted LFS
I have never bought fish from them as there stock never appears healthy.
They are more expensive.
Yes my local P@H always has dead and diseased fish in it's tanks.
This indicates to me a problem with staff husbandry or poor stock.
My trusted LFS do their dead sweep before opening so you rarely see a dead fish in their tanks and never a diseased one.
Experienced aquarists can quite easily identify a healthy or unhealthy fish and spot a diseased fish in a display tank but how many people just starting out would be able too?
Where would most families take a trip too?
Yeah P@H!!!
My local one needs to up there game.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

What i have learnt, as was stated earlier, is that it is a franchise.. a franchise of a PET store and not an aquatic one.
The staff there 'rotate' through the different sections on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.. therefore finding a particular aquatic enthusiast and/or expert is pretty difficult.

I followed their advice when starting out in this hobby, and the results are what you would expect and what you read on a DAILY basis in the 'new freshwater tank' section
I frequently visit my local store though, their stocking of anything 'hardware' for my tank is great (plastic plants, dechlorinator, food and ornaments).

If it really is P@H that you wish to use, always start the conversation with the sales staff with "do you own a tank at home"? Straight away you've learnt whether to take what they say with a pinch of salt or trust them completely.

But for livestock itself, i will always prefer to use the small, family run LFS in the next town, not 10 minutes away.

Terry.

 

[snake007]

Well I just called P@H to see if they have any convicts, they said they do but but all their cichlids are "under treatment" so ill have to wait


No thanks ill pass, don't want no diseased fish in my tank.

 

[creeker]

Snake, have you thought of what you will do with all the Convicts that would come from breeding? People around here were using them as feeders for their other fish. Have you considered breeding a fish that is actually in demand? I suggest Blue Rams.

 

[Akasha72]

I've never bought fish from my local store mostly because everytime I go in there are several dead fish, people coming in complaining that the fish they bought an hour ago has died already and they all seem a bit unhealthy to be honest. Whitespot is rife in every tank.

Price wise, it's pretty expensive but then everything is when you live in such a 'posh' town!

They're selection here is pretty mainstream. Mollie's, guppies, platies and various goldfish and the odd plec.

It would seem it varies as everyone else says. I prefer to get my fish from the LFS at the other side of town where I know new fish are quarentined, the staff are knowledgable and every tank has healthy fish inside.

 

[micko]

there are bad and good shops like any other franchise.
shop around, go to different LFS's if you don't like what they have.