Remember Someone Saying.
- Thread starter WILDER
- Start date
~T~
Fish Gatherer
Not sure the point of this post but its not always the case.One of my lfs is pretty grubby and they let thier dogs roam about but they have great fish.
what do you mean by filthy...algae isn't dirty. I'd be more concerned with whether or not the fish are diseased. My criteria for a good or bad lfs is as follows (in no particular order)
1. do they have adult sizes labeled
2. do the employees seem to know basic info about fish care
3. Are the fish healthy
4. How many floaters (dead fish) do they have
5. Do they stock dyed mutilated or poorly hybridized fish (if the mutation would prevent the fish from surviving in the wild then I'd call it a poorly hybridized fish)
6. How do the employees answer the following question. I'm having an algae problem what can I do.
A. You could try modifying your lighting or perform water changes to reduce your nitrates...other options include live plants or chems that remove phosphates nitrates etc...as a last resort or if your just lazy you could buy a pleco or some other algae eating species, by the way how big is your tank.
B. I've got just the thing come with me. What you need is a Plecostomus.
There's more. Just a short list. But really cleanliness isn't as important to me as a varied and healthy stock. Now algae on the glass is just bad business. If you can't see the fish clearly then you can't tell if it's healthy or not and I would not buy it. Algae is only a concern for me if it's a pest like beard or cyano bacteria. Then you should quarantine any plants you buy. Of course you should do that anyway.
1. do they have adult sizes labeled
2. do the employees seem to know basic info about fish care
3. Are the fish healthy
4. How many floaters (dead fish) do they have
5. Do they stock dyed mutilated or poorly hybridized fish (if the mutation would prevent the fish from surviving in the wild then I'd call it a poorly hybridized fish)
6. How do the employees answer the following question. I'm having an algae problem what can I do.
A. You could try modifying your lighting or perform water changes to reduce your nitrates...other options include live plants or chems that remove phosphates nitrates etc...as a last resort or if your just lazy you could buy a pleco or some other algae eating species, by the way how big is your tank.
B. I've got just the thing come with me. What you need is a Plecostomus.
There's more. Just a short list. But really cleanliness isn't as important to me as a varied and healthy stock. Now algae on the glass is just bad business. If you can't see the fish clearly then you can't tell if it's healthy or not and I would not buy it. Algae is only a concern for me if it's a pest like beard or cyano bacteria. Then you should quarantine any plants you buy. Of course you should do that anyway.
~T~
Fish Gatherer
Kinda obvious really, if the tanks are filthy with sick/dying fish then no I would not buy from them.The one im talking about is an old shop and not in the best condition but the fish are always healthy and tanks clean.
dwarfgourami
Fish Connoisseur
When I started again in fishkeeping, there were two shops near me with immaculate floors, neatly arranged dry goods- and dead fish all over the tanks. One I couldn't bring myself to buy from, the other brought in a bacterial infection that went through the tanks and destroyed two generations of fish. The third shop I visited had a thick layer of dust covering their dry goods and a fog of cigarette smoke to make you think of Victorian London- but all the fish I bought from there are still healthy a year later!
I wish I hadn't read all that advice about checking the cleanliness of the floor- it wreaked havoc in my tanks. Even the dumbest employee can mop the floor, that is no guide to fishkeeping skills. My own house is a dump, but I do look after my fish.
SuperColey1
Planted Section
bobross
Fish Crazy
at times, i think my fish tanks are cleaner than the rest of my house(...at least i don't live in my toilet 
)
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