I've been in the hobby for many years and it seems like the usual local sources all have a poor selection of fish these days. Other than Petsmart or Petco, where are you buying fish? I looked into online sources but shipping is ridiculous. Tariffs have already raised prices to ridiculous levels. There has to be a good source somewhere. Thoughts?
Where are you buying your freshwater fish?
- Thread starter Clip
- Start date
A lot of us really feel the loss of quality local stores. It seems worse in the USA than in other countries, where the trade doesn't seem quite as monopolistic. In my region of Canada, we still have a few small locally run stores, a growing online purchasing set up, and other breeders. Local fish clubs can help.
I see a lot of the US people here biting the bullet and spending on shipping. The price of fish has gone up everywhere, to real sticker shock levels for ordinary species that used to be inexpensive. It makes it almost easier to buy rarer fish, as the price gap has closed a bit.
I see a lot of the US people here biting the bullet and spending on shipping. The price of fish has gone up everywhere, to real sticker shock levels for ordinary species that used to be inexpensive. It makes it almost easier to buy rarer fish, as the price gap has closed a bit.
In USA certain areas of good local stores - north east, florida, central colorado (denver/boulder), portland, seattle but yea most of the places are junk. Not only junk in what they carry but junk in knowledge. When i was a kid we had a great local store where i live now and they were a family run business that ran for 30+ years but eventually it was shutdown when the kids decided not to carry on the parents business and the parents retired. I really liked that shop - great people. Now the building is a clothing store even if it still has their sign on it. Oh well. things change usually for the worse.
I have never bought fish online. Just something about it that i quiet cant het my head around. I like to buy from various different LFS. Id rather pay a couple of pounds extra and support these shops than go to a big buck store. Here in London a lot of great LFS have closed down. It really has hurt the hobby.
I dislike buying online, but have the advantage of having a close friend who is a seller. I know he'll only send me stable, healthy fish representative of the best of their species. But not many people have that.
From what I've heard of the UK hobby, you still have good shops closer by than in North America. For example, it takes me four hours to get to the nearest large aquarium store, and they have the stocking of any good urban store - no more, no less. To go to a city where I could visit several stores, I would need nine hours of driving each way. I get the feeling if I drove 9 hours in a straight line in England, I'd have lots of fish around me as I sank into the North Sea.
That changes things.
I used to have to cut through the northeastern USA a lot from the 1980s to the 2020 period. At first, most decent sized small cities there had decent local stores. Some had two or three - not outstanding, but with different fish as they competed with each other. In a very short period, those stores vanished, replaced by 2 major corporate chains. If you went in to look in town B. the 12 tanks on the upper rack had exactly the same fish in them as in towns A, C, and D. Tank one was this fish. Tank two was that. The uniformity and lack of choice was hobby killing.
We blame the internet for killing the North American hobby, and it has done a lot for that. But those corporate chains, with their MDonald's menus of fish species have probably done more harm.
We have them here, but for whatever reason, they haven't been able to create the monopolies they have there. and what I see is they're now eating themselves. The endless offerings of glofish and hybrids mixed with young fish that'll outgrow tanks aren't selling enough, and dog and cat food is getting the space as they close aquarium racks. Some little stores are reappearing, though the going is tough. That's in Canada - I don't know what's up in the US anymore.
Rusty_Shackleford
Fishaholic
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2019
- Messages
- 488
- Reaction score
- 969
Buying online is not my first choice. However it is the reality of life, I have no other options. Only 4 big box stores within an hours drive and a questionable LFS within 2 hours. That's it. I live in a fish desert.
RyanKieser
New Member
We have a lot of stores in South Africa, all independents, no chain stores that I am aware of, that sell fish. Importing would be incredibly expensive due to our echange rate.
I'm lucky. I have a branch of Maidenhead Aquatics 3 miles away and another 10 miles away in the opposite direction. My favourite independent LFS is 17 miles away and another is 19 miles away. And the aquascaping store Horizon Aquatics is 16 miles away. (Distances from Google maps)
no local dedicated fish store… there is a pet store ( more dog groomer than anything ) and their tanks generally don’t look good… I do buy feeders, and frozen food there regularly though…
so in reality mail order is my fish store… and I’ve had both the best luck, and the worst luck mail ordering fish… I have a couple I order from regularly, and get consistent fish from them..
so in reality mail order is my fish store… and I’ve had both the best luck, and the worst luck mail ordering fish… I have a couple I order from regularly, and get consistent fish from them..
I have two good local LFS here . My favorite one , Exotic Pets , has recently been getting some different and unusual fish . That’s where I got my Fundulopanchax gardneri from . She also had Scarlet Badis recently and the other day I stopped in for my monthly frozen food purchase and she had some really nice German Blue Rams . I had to summon up all my willpower to pass them up . I just hope that people buy them and support her .
I will say that i gave my local store (we have one) a try but they did too many things wrong so after 2 years i stopped using them (forever). Some of the wrongness:
a) receive fish in the morning
b) start selling new fishes an hour later after releasing them.
c) rarely having what i want
d) they allow store credit for deaths within n days (I think 3 or 7); BUT when i tried claiming this 'credit' it was always a hassle. They would make excuses like - that fish isn't covered (even though there is no sign or fine print that state such); they always gave me the credit but it wasn't worth the head-ache.
e) they are expensive. It is actually cheaper to mail order from a non-cheap place like wetspot (which actually has the species i want; and qt their fishes a proper period and know a little about fishes) then to buy locally.
I'm moving soon to an area that has really good local shops and after i move in a couple of years (yea i plan way out there); i might buy more locally (again). Then again i have a good relationship with the stores i've used on-line so there is that to consider.
a) receive fish in the morning
b) start selling new fishes an hour later after releasing them.
c) rarely having what i want
d) they allow store credit for deaths within n days (I think 3 or 7); BUT when i tried claiming this 'credit' it was always a hassle. They would make excuses like - that fish isn't covered (even though there is no sign or fine print that state such); they always gave me the credit but it wasn't worth the head-ache.
e) they are expensive. It is actually cheaper to mail order from a non-cheap place like wetspot (which actually has the species i want; and qt their fishes a proper period and know a little about fishes) then to buy locally.
I'm moving soon to an area that has really good local shops and after i move in a couple of years (yea i plan way out there); i might buy more locally (again). Then again i have a good relationship with the stores i've used on-line so there is that to consider.
OldFishKeeper
Fish Crazy
Here in Northern CA, we have Petco, Petsmart and a couple of LFS that are questionable. The only good ones are miles away in Oakland and San Francisco. By the time I pay for gas and tolls, it justifies purchases from quality online vendors.
We are fortunate to have several excellent family owned tropical fish shops within 20 minutes drive. But they usually don’t offer wild caught fish. For wild caught fish I use online vendors.
Similar threads
Most reactions
-
380 -
178 -
150 -
138 -
107 -
105 -
95 -
93 -
85 -
80 -
79 -
68 -
65 -
61 -
51