OldFishKeeper
Fish Crazy
You are very lucky to have those LFS!
Where are you buying your freshwater fish?
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@gwand has described what's in those stores, and I can only drool.
Online can fill the tanks of those of us who like less common fish groups. If you drift into specializing in a region or a Genus, it's the only way. If I had access to the Wet Spot, or Toyin Ojo's place in Florida, I could spend a lot of money. They have fish that are what I want to keep, and don't see here.
For less rare things, I still think there's value in seeing the fish and evaluating their health. If you buy neons online, they could come from a tank with 50 corpses in it, and be the survivors of a shaky shipment. You have no way of knowing. Study the tank in a store, and even if the corpses were removed, a self trained eye (one that has looked at fish disease books in detail) can see problems and move on. There is an enormous amount of trust necessary for online buys, and if you trust the seller, you're good. If you don't know the seller....
Online can fill the tanks of those of us who like less common fish groups. If you drift into specializing in a region or a Genus, it's the only way. If I had access to the Wet Spot, or Toyin Ojo's place in Florida, I could spend a lot of money. They have fish that are what I want to keep, and don't see here.
For less rare things, I still think there's value in seeing the fish and evaluating their health. If you buy neons online, they could come from a tank with 50 corpses in it, and be the survivors of a shaky shipment. You have no way of knowing. Study the tank in a store, and even if the corpses were removed, a self trained eye (one that has looked at fish disease books in detail) can see problems and move on. There is an enormous amount of trust necessary for online buys, and if you trust the seller, you're good. If you don't know the seller....
OldFishKeeper
Fish Crazy
DOA or sick on arrival is important for online buys but not applicable to instore buys because you are (or should be) bringing them home alive without visible signs of sickness. Both require what you should do after they arrive alive...QUARANTINE TANK.
In either case, no one can tell if fish won't come down with something after they arrive. That is the importance of checking reviews before purchase. LFS or on line, unbiased reviews are as necessary as a quarantine tank. For added insurance, try to keep some meds on hand, just in case.
TwoTankAmin
Fish Maniac
Over the years most of my fish have come from a few online supplies, a number of breeders or from wholesale or imports. Lately I have been buying from my fish club auctions at the end of every meeting, The fish are bred by members, In addition the monthly speaker usually brings hings to put in the auction. Depending upon where the fish I am buying this wat will go, I skip Q a lot.
I also have one store about a half hour from me which is superb. To get a job there one must past a rigorous written test. The employees really know their stuff. There tanks are healthy and the fish moreso. The problem is they may be the most expensive fish store in the country. It has been very long time since I bought anything there. I used to bring them my LF bristle nose for store credit which made things I bought a lot more reasonable. I never used the last of my credits.
I sold some of my zebras to one of the more senior store employees but that did not involve the store. He was a member of my club and several other clubs in the area. Unfortunately, he passed away a number of years ago.
I would say most of my fish came from smaller scale sellers but they were people who bought wholesale and imported. I always Q fish bought this way.
Over the years I have have purchased a few hundred fish, Almost none of them came from Brick and Mortar stores. What I did.do buy from such places are tanks and lids.
Over all the years I have been breeding fish, I refused to sell to stores with one exception. As I began to move from brirstlenose to the B&W Hypancistrus, my remaining bristles were still spawning. I sold my breeders to a woman in CO and she got a spawn the first week she had them. But I still had about 60+ offspring I wanted gone. So I took them to the 2014 CatCon where I was one of the 3rd floor room sellers.
I always had my room door open if I was in, except over night. A woman came in on Sat. afternoon and she wanted to buy all of the bristles. She said she wanted to be honest with me and told me that she worked at a fish store and that is where the fish would end up. I was very happy to sell to her.
I finally got a few bristles again over the past year of so after being without the species for over a decade. I wanted them for algae eating in my planted tanks. My goals was to keep only one sex per tank, But I was buying the fish in both sexes. the plan was to take out one sex before they spawned. I failed. I did manage to separate the fish and to sell all of the offspring and a male or two. Today I have only females I have 4 albino females one in each of 4 tanks. In the 75 I have 3 super red females. All of my current BN were purchased at my club auctions.
What I really like about buying at the club, besides the quality of the fish, is that they were bagged within a few hours of the meeting, the meeting is from 7:30 to 10:30 but often ends a bit early, I am home in 30 minutes and the fish are in my tanks win another 15 minutes, So from being bagged to being in their new digs about 6 or 7 hours. In addition, when fish are not being shipped, they can be over bagged. The cost of shipping fish is very little. It is the cost of shipping the water they must be in that makes up must of the cost. So the challenges is to minmize the volume of water but not to go to far or the fish may not make it.
When selling with no shoipping I over bag, That means I may use a bigger size bag and use more water than is they were travelling via FedEX or UPS. The cherge for every drop of water involved.
I also have one store about a half hour from me which is superb. To get a job there one must past a rigorous written test. The employees really know their stuff. There tanks are healthy and the fish moreso. The problem is they may be the most expensive fish store in the country. It has been very long time since I bought anything there. I used to bring them my LF bristle nose for store credit which made things I bought a lot more reasonable. I never used the last of my credits.
I sold some of my zebras to one of the more senior store employees but that did not involve the store. He was a member of my club and several other clubs in the area. Unfortunately, he passed away a number of years ago.
I would say most of my fish came from smaller scale sellers but they were people who bought wholesale and imported. I always Q fish bought this way.
Over the years I have have purchased a few hundred fish, Almost none of them came from Brick and Mortar stores. What I did.do buy from such places are tanks and lids.
Over all the years I have been breeding fish, I refused to sell to stores with one exception. As I began to move from brirstlenose to the B&W Hypancistrus, my remaining bristles were still spawning. I sold my breeders to a woman in CO and she got a spawn the first week she had them. But I still had about 60+ offspring I wanted gone. So I took them to the 2014 CatCon where I was one of the 3rd floor room sellers.
I always had my room door open if I was in, except over night. A woman came in on Sat. afternoon and she wanted to buy all of the bristles. She said she wanted to be honest with me and told me that she worked at a fish store and that is where the fish would end up. I was very happy to sell to her.
I finally got a few bristles again over the past year of so after being without the species for over a decade. I wanted them for algae eating in my planted tanks. My goals was to keep only one sex per tank, But I was buying the fish in both sexes. the plan was to take out one sex before they spawned. I failed. I did manage to separate the fish and to sell all of the offspring and a male or two. Today I have only females I have 4 albino females one in each of 4 tanks. In the 75 I have 3 super red females. All of my current BN were purchased at my club auctions.
What I really like about buying at the club, besides the quality of the fish, is that they were bagged within a few hours of the meeting, the meeting is from 7:30 to 10:30 but often ends a bit early, I am home in 30 minutes and the fish are in my tanks win another 15 minutes, So from being bagged to being in their new digs about 6 or 7 hours. In addition, when fish are not being shipped, they can be over bagged. The cost of shipping fish is very little. It is the cost of shipping the water they must be in that makes up must of the cost. So the challenges is to minmize the volume of water but not to go to far or the fish may not make it.
When selling with no shoipping I over bag, That means I may use a bigger size bag and use more water than is they were travelling via FedEX or UPS. The cherge for every drop of water involved.
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