Why I Hate Chain Stores >.<

[Vegan Peaches]

We have (had) 2 LFS within reasonable distance, one was a PetCo (chain) and the other was Pets'n'More (locally owned). I usually bought my fish from Pets'n'More because they had better stock, more selection and the owner was knowledgable, even if his staff were all ditsy college girls. Well, I haven't been out to Pets'n'More in awhile because of laziness and no need for new fish, but having just set up a new aquarium, I decided yesterday I should go out there, maybe put a few fish on hold, get some ideas.... I get there and

THERE ARE NO FISH

I stood there for a second thinking "wtf..." Upon looking around, I realized my "LFS" had turned into a "LPS w/o Fish" Well, long story short, it turns out that they stopped carrying fish a little while back because they couldn't compete with PetCo and since PetCo didn't sell dogs or cats, that was all Pets'n'More was dealing. They had some bunnies and ferrets, too, but mostly dogs and cats. They still had some fish stuff, like food and conditioner, but the only fish they had were feeders and goldfish - both kept in the same aweful conditions that made me not want to buy petco fish.

So now what? I'm stuck with one LFS and it's too cold to have fish shipped to me from the internet. One word: "Bummer."

 

[catxx]

damn! open your own LFS.

 

[kris-b-]

That's just bad! Is there no others anywhere near you? It'll be a while until the weather gets warmer too and then you cant see the fish you want before you buy except from a picture that might not even be the fish you get sent.

 

[Vegan Peaches]

The next closest LFS is some 45 minute drive away, which isn't horribly far, but my car doesn't like making that trip in the winter. After that, I can't find anything else in the yellow pages or online that is close to me.

That's my problem with online fish shopping - you don't really know what you are buying. Aquabid has picture sometimes, but alot of them say "not picture of actual fish", or "used as representation only" or some bullocks like that.

It's all really kind of a downer because I either have to go with chain store fish, or no fish and keep up a fishless cycle until it gets warmer.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

What town is this petco in?

 

[Vegan Peaches]

De Kalb, IL; roughly 65 miles west of Chicago

 

[fish_keeper2]

try liveaquaria.com. they have a 14 day qauaranty on thier fish. they also have quite a selection. they also carry plants too. ive herd lots of good things about them. the only draw back is that you have to make min 30 dollar order and shipping is 30 dollars but this fish arrive the next day pretty much. if you orderd tomorrow before 9 am the you will have the fish at your door by 10 am thursday. that really sucks........all i have around here is one small fish shop that doest carry much for freshwater, theyve got angels guppies mollies assorted cichlids etc but nothin special. and then i have petsmart and petco........again not the greatest.......im very werey of petco now. especialy since i have ich in my saltwater tank because of them and my stupidity............

 

[BigC]

Vegan have you ever thought about joining a local aquarist society or specialist association. There's bound to be one near you. Where like minded people trade fish and equipment with each other. Sometimes for FREE, not to mention the wealth of knowledge that can be gleened from its membership. I would recommend this trait to anyone.
Regards
BigC

 

[Vegan Peaches]

How is petsmart? I know there's one around here, though I'm not exactly sure where.

I've heard mixed reviews from LiveAquaria, but I'm not really a fan of minimum order sizes, so I probably wouldn't purchase from them. If my $5.00 order is important to me, than it should be to them, too -.-

Either way, I'm weary of shipping fish in the cold.


---

Big C, where could I find out information on an aquarist society 0.o ? That sounds rather interesting.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

petsmart actually breeds their own fish, so all the fish you see at petsmart come from places owned by petsmart, whereas other stores get them from independant companies, what I do not understand is that petsmart breeds their own fish, but every time i'm in there their fish are diseased

 

[fish_keeper2]

the petsmarts here are lot better than petco. i go into petco and i ask how big the figure 8 puffers get(which are brackish and are being kept in freshwater) and i get the answer.......ummm im not quite sure i think 6-8 inches.......wrong. where as the petsmart i go to regularly has several emploies that know a lot about fish. one of them(forgot her name) is almost always in there when i got there and she personaly has lots of fish including a 55 gal discus tank. she seems to know quite a bit about fish too.

i rearely see dead or dying or diseased fish at petsmart........except the poor feeders....which come in half dead anyway.

 

[BigC]

Big C, where could I find out information on an aquarist society 0.o ? That sounds rather interesting

I know American states can be vast land masses and I don't really appreciate the size of things (distances you have to travel) where you live but here's a few for starters I'm sure there's more.
http/freshaquarium.about.com/library/clubs/blclubil.htm

just do a Google for Aquarist societies/clubs in your region.
Regards
BigC

 

[Durbkat]

This chain store near me called superpetz has an amazing stock of fish but every fish I buy from them dies with in a few weeks so I stopped going there so I went to another lfs chain store really close to this superpetz called feeders supply the fish always live for a long time but the selecton isn't that good but a locally owned lps called pets galore has an ok selection but the price for a fish is expensive since they are locally owned and if feeders supply ever closed I don't know what I do.

 

[rdd1952]

How is petsmart? I know there's one around here, though I'm not exactly sure where.

The Petsmart near where I work is one of the best fish stores in the area. The one near where I live is so so. I guess I'm really luck. I live in a small town outside Charlotte, NC and I have 11 LFS or LPS that sell live fish (not counting Walmart which I don't consider a "live" fish store) within 30 minutes drive of where I live or where I work. I even have 1 LFS in my town (population less than 5,000) and another about 3 miles away in an even smaller town.

 

[Vegan Peaches]

I located a couple of petsmarts close by (40-50 miles) via their website, so i will have to have a look someday and see if any of the ones around here are any good.