agreed blksubykid. i bought a jd from a low quality fish store... we was small and i took great care of him until he was about 10in and them i traded him into global aquatics the owner told me he was one of the best he had seen in his life and this was an OLD man. Next time i was in there he was going for 49.99. traded him in because he was a typical jd recluse... hated me! i could only see him if i stood outside and looked throught my house windows. He killed a RD, O, and GT and had to be housed alone.
Vendor/Breeder Vs Petsmart Vs Lfs
- Thread starter BillyBlanco
- Start date
I love the look on a Petsmart workers face when i walk in and buy feeders and they ask what im feeding them to. I say a Nimbochromis Fuscotaeniatus, their eyes bulge out of there heads and they grin in a stupor as to signal to me they know what im talking about...lol
BillyBlanco;5155583; said:
Petsmart gets their fish from huge (mostly) local farms, which have nothing to do with them. They basically buy their stock from wholesalers, and some fish that don't breed in captivity i.e. otocinclus and clown loaches, are wild caught. It's not so much where their fish come from but what kind of care they give em... after all, most of the fish diseases we see in these places (ich, parasites, bloat, etc) are directly related to the conditions the fish are kept in from the day they are caught in the wild (or farm) and shipped out, until they arrive at the store, and then until you go there and buy it.
In other words, you can get a fish directly from the farm, from the same batch of fry... and it might be super healthy, but then you go to petsmart and find their siblings all dying from ich. That's why whenever I need a petsmart fish (rarely) I always try to go there on the same day they get their shipments, so I can be sure the fish spent as little time as possible in their care. You can ask a store employee what day of the week they receive new fish.
I've heard horror stories from these places - but it also varies from store to store, not all the petsmarts mistreat their fish equally.. lol.. I guess it mostly depends on who's in charge and how much they know about fish.
I have found that if I go in on shipment date, the quality is often still very good.
Even better at the LFS. Some things look the same though, like africans and often the common cichlids.
One LFS an hour away from me has prime stock.
It seems like prices reflect this too.
However I have seen some of the best looking oscars at my local walmart, no joke. One of mine is from them and it is my prettiest oscar to date (of 3). My walmart isn't as bad as some people say but neither are my petsmart/petco. Just depends. I go in multiple times to check out stock to see ...it always varies.
Even better at the LFS. Some things look the same though, like africans and often the common cichlids.
One LFS an hour away from me has prime stock.
It seems like prices reflect this too.
However I have seen some of the best looking oscars at my local walmart, no joke. One of mine is from them and it is my prettiest oscar to date (of 3). My walmart isn't as bad as some people say but neither are my petsmart/petco. Just depends. I go in multiple times to check out stock to see ...it always varies.
i usually only buy fish from any store on their delivery days. every tues is fish day lol. my petsmart is actually decent, almost all the fish handling people have tanks so they have a general knowlage. and the fish are usually never sick. my avatar is a $3.00 JD from petsmart, i just take good care of her
Haha, I agree with many of the posters - genes are important, but environment is just as critical, and if a wild-caught beauty spends his time hiding or beating himself up on the tank, then the fish farm petsmart fish might be a better choice. Ultimately, a lot of LFS order from fish farms that may very well supply big box stores, and so, checking in on shipment day is the most important for me.
Honestly though, if I'm not buying cichlids in general, I don't hesitate to buy from Petco/Petsmart (not others though - at least the Petco/smart group does get some extremely rudimentary training about fish care). Quarantine is more important, but hey, a QT of 20 barbs that were on sale for a dollar a fish (even if they've got ich) is easier for me to swallow than those same 20 for $5 each.
Not to mention, I've seen some REALLY hilarious mix ups at Petco. Both stores have those little cards with the image of the fish on the card so they know how much to charge, but Petco lacks the photos for a lot of the fish... so you can get some great fish super cheap. You know, something like 5 rainbows (looked like turquoise) marked as loretta tetras. Or a shovelnose as a pleco. Or free 10" tinfoil barbs because someone dumped them and they wanted them out asap...
Honestly though, if I'm not buying cichlids in general, I don't hesitate to buy from Petco/Petsmart (not others though - at least the Petco/smart group does get some extremely rudimentary training about fish care). Quarantine is more important, but hey, a QT of 20 barbs that were on sale for a dollar a fish (even if they've got ich) is easier for me to swallow than those same 20 for $5 each.
Not to mention, I've seen some REALLY hilarious mix ups at Petco. Both stores have those little cards with the image of the fish on the card so they know how much to charge, but Petco lacks the photos for a lot of the fish... so you can get some great fish super cheap. You know, something like 5 rainbows (looked like turquoise) marked as loretta tetras. Or a shovelnose as a pleco. Or free 10" tinfoil barbs because someone dumped them and they wanted them out asap...
I have bought fish from Petsmart on a very small number of occasions, but I always knew exactly what I was looking at as far as the standard for the species goes, I would observe the fish for several minutes, then finally ask an employee to feed the fish for me so that I could be certain they are healthy. I would say about 98% of the fish I own came from Aquabid though.
blksubykid;5155589; said:
I got my GT at 2.5" from Petsmart aswell and it looks VERY similar to this one. It was very healthy and ate like a pig from the very first day, actually spawned within the first 2 weeks!!!!
My Red Oscar was also purchaesd at a Petsmart and has grown HUGE, more so than my tiger oscar from a lfs when they were both roughly the same size
....So I guess it is all about genetics and care.
BlesOne;5156052; said:I got my GT at 2.5" from Petsmart aswell and it looks VERY similar to this one. It was very healthy and ate like a pig from the very first day, actually spawned within the first 2 weeks!!!!
My Red Oscar was also purchaesd at a Petsmart and has grown HUGE, more so than my tiger oscar from a lfs when they were both roughly the same size
So I guess it is all about genetics and care.
if your Os are in the same tank then the growth difference could also be because of dominance and not necessarily genes, the more dominant fish in the tank tend to grow faster than the submissive ones
as for the OPs question, i would actually prefer a quality lfs/breeder since you actually get to see the fish beforehand but unfortunately all i have in my area is the chain stores, i still go to them and get fish occasionally if its the more common spp that they carry, just have to watch them closely and see which one looks the best, but anytime i want anything not commonly available i have to order from a reputable vendor and have never had any problems, fish have always arrived in great shape
