cousinav

I want to eventually put a few more fish in my tank. So far, I have been to 2 local aquarium shops and one of them sells painted fish and the bettas look like they are not cared for very well. The other had dead and/or diseased fish in almost every tank. In one tank was a very large koi, who I thought was dead because it was sort of "upright" and then it turned, swam and banged it's face on the glass. Horrible.

Since I can't find a reputable small local store, which, if any, of the large chain stored would you recommend (or not)?

Muffymouse

Good question and the most simplistic answer is whichever one has the healthiest looking fish and/or the fish that you want. From the other posts that I have read, PetCo has more often been called bad names than PetSmart, but both have their share of uninformed, misinformed or purposely lying employees. Then there is WalMart which for all that I have seen take terrible care of their fish. Two out of the three Walmarts here in town are just awful and the third can be good and has even on occasion had a knowledgeable employee in the pet section (telling people real info about bettas), but the good is not overly consistent.

I personally buy my fish from PetSmart as they have the best tropical selection in town and some of the best cared for fish (even if they do sell those terrible betta homes)

Hopefully some of the others can get you more info about some other chain stores, these are just the only ones I have been to.

COBettaCouple

Of the chain stores, petsmart is probably the "least worst". I wouldn't call any of them good. We get our fish at the local aquarium club - if you have one near you, that would be the best source of healthy fish.

nugzboltz

I would check stores on a case-by-case basis. I've seen poorly-kept fish in some and well-maintained ones in others, no matter whether if it was chain or local. An exception to that is Walmart, which seems to take horrible care of its fish, no matter which store.

I have bought shrimp from aquabid, which came in excellent condition, and some of the online retailers seem like they would take good care of their fish; however, shipping is pretty expensive, so I mainly buy from my local store which takes care of its fish.

Nags1965

I strolled though our local wal mart pet dept. the Betta's looked pretty pitiful. I with i could take them all off thier hands.. but they would just get more in and mistreat them.

Allie

We get our from a LPS store and mostly from people selling fish on for sale sites. We met a lot of fish people over the last few years. So you kinda of stick to the same group of people. I just got a betta off of aquabid from Thailand. I get my fish from all kinds of resources. But I wouldn't get my fish from any LFS. I did actually break today and got a Crowntail male betta from Walmart. He looks pretty healthy so far.

mcdonald.kk

It's a good idea to quarantine any new fish but especially one that comes from a chain lfs just in case theres a fish disease making the rounds. Once a fish at a fish store gets ick it spreads fast and is hard for stores to get rid of. You know, uninformed employees not disinfecting nets etc. etc.

Salvatore

I don't have this problem because I have a great LFS right on my block. But Walmart!!! come on. You can do better then that!. I have never done it but how about getting them on-line? Seemes like you can get a better selection and I am sure they are in better shape then Walmart!!

cousinav

Thank you all for your responses. I must say that I wouldn't buy ANYTHING from Walmart, let alone tropical fish, but that's another topic entirely.

In any case, I found a pet store nearby that I think is a chain called Animal Kingdom USA and I must say that the fish there looked fabulous. I saw two dead fish out of hundreds and none that looked at all ill. They also were the only place I found that carried Biospira, which I did purchase today (cross your fingers that it works).

My two remaining neons will be happy to get a few more friends but I want to wait until the ammonia is at zero or close to it. Hopefully by morning the tank will be cycled and I can get a few more. I have no way to quarantine any new fish, as I only have the one tank, unless there is a way to do that in the tank. It is only 10 gallons, though.

mcdonald.kk

Make sure that you add fish slowly in small groups so that your new population of bacteria can keep up with the increased bio-load. I've heard stories of people adding too many too soon and the tank kinda crashes as a result. With a 10 gal you don't want to add a whole bunch--keep in mind the adult size of your neons. They may be small now but I've seen some up to 2" in length. As a schooling fish they will definitely be happier with another buddy or two though. I'll let more experienced fish keepers weigh in on how many more you can add. I'm really glad to see you found Biospira. It is an awesome product! Just make sure you don't add anything to your water while the Biospira does its thing. I got bad advice from my fish store and wasted 2 weeks using Cycle which did nothing. I ended up having to add pure ammonia to jump-start my tank. Thank goodness I was doing a fishless cycle! (no one near me sold Biospira). Sorry about the ramble. Good luck with the tank !

COBettaCouple

Glad you found a good store and best of luck with the tank.

Salvatore

Take your time. There is NO rush. The fish will be there when you are ready!!!