How far would you travel for fish?

[LadfromLondon]

Just out of curiosity, if you had seen fish you liked but were not local to you, how far would you be willing to travel? Let's assume you're happy with the quality of the fish and the price offered. You can travel anyhow, i.e. train, car, coach etc.

 

[pagoda]

I have all mine delivered by courier due to not being able to get out and about. But if I was able to travel, I guess my limit would be around 200 miles round trip

 

[SouthAmericanCichlids]

I can't drive myself, but I would probably if I had my own car and license, go about 3 hours there and 3 hours back. And I wouldn't really have to drive much further because I have one of the biggest cities in the US 3 hours from me and a semi-big one also 3 hours from me.

 

[DOMtheBettaFish]

Just out of curiosity, if you had seen fish you liked but were not local to you, how far would you be willing to travel? Let's assume you're happy with the quality of the fish and the price offered. You can travel anyhow, i.e. train, car, coach etc.

prob 15 miles as fresh water seems to be everywhere

 

[veggieshark]

50 miles if a single species. 3 hours one way if it is a gathering/swap/auction with potential to buy a lot of of bags.
Edit: This is for these days with everything being closed due to COVID. Normally, I get to everything within 50 miles.

 

[BigManAquatics]

I can usually get whatever fish i want within about 5 miles from me. All about building relationships with the people in charge of the stores!

 

[LadfromLondon]

I have all mine delivered by courier due to not being able to get out and about. But if I was able to travel, I guess my limit would be around 200 miles round trip

200 miles whoa, that's some dedication. I might have to sell you some stock in the future

I can't drive myself, but I would probably if I had my own car and license, go about 3 hours there and 3 hours back. And I wouldn't really have to drive much further because I have one of the biggest cities in the US 3 hours from me and a semi-big one also 3 hours from me.

That's a good point. I hadn't thought of the seller's location. I guess it's a good thing you can get pretty much anywhere in England in a few hours then!

50 miles if a single species. 3 hours one way if it is a gathering/swap/auction with potential to buy a lot of of bags.
Edit: This is for these days with everything being closed due to COVID. Normally, I get to everything within 50 miles.

That's fair enough. This makes me think if fishkepeers want something bad enough, the majority are willing to go a long way to get it.

I can usually get whatever fish i want within about 5 miles from me. All about building relationships with the people in charge of the stores!

Ah that's a good point. LFS do make a big difference. Say you didn't have one around?

 

[Ouse]

My favourite fish shop is 16 miles from where I live: a 30 minute bumpy drive. I usually visit because it’s on the way to my sister’s flat and the service is good.

 

[veggieshark]

It also depends on how much you are willing to spend. If money is not an issue, a decent LFS will get it from somewhere for you and sell you locally but they will charge several times it costs them.

 

[LHAquatics]

The PetSmart near me is really good and has healthy fish and it is only 1-2 miles away from me

 

[NotSoAggressiveAquatics]

The furthest I’ve gone is 3 hours to a store in another city.

 

[pagoda]

There are no fish suppliers close to where I am and I certainly refuse to use the big chains as their husbandry is not always good enough. I only use specialised suppliers like Sims or Aquatics To Your Door. They offer great selections of both wild caught anf tank bred fish, imported or home bred. They use licenced couriers and so far in 4 years of using them, no issues or losses experienced.

 

[BigManAquatics]

The PetSmart near me is really good and has healthy fish and it is only 1-2 miles away from me

I don't know if PetSmart does this, but my guy at Petco is willing to order fish i want if they don't have it. But then again, we do have a pretty good relstionship. Don't know if that applies to everyone or not.

 

[Ouse]

I don't know if PetSmart does this, but my guy at Petco is willing to order fish i want if they don't have it. But then again, we do have a pretty good relstionship. Don't know if that applies to everyone or not.

The fish shop I use orders fish for the customers. They were going to order me an adult angelfish once but we never got up to doing it.

 

[MyFishAddiction]

I found someone giving away 3 guppies and a tank, and I drove about 3-3 1/2 hours away.

 

[BigManAquatics]

The fish shop I use orders fish for the customers. They were going to order me an adult angelfish once but we never got up to doing it.

I think it is pretty standard fare at LFSs especially. I know the one shop here won't carry a lot of certain fish just due to the sheer size some of them get. But he sure will order them if he is convinced you can handle them.

 

[Mac2113]

I’m very lucky to have multiple great small fish stores within 30-40 minutes of me all of which can order fish whenever you ask. Always helps to go to the same stores over and over again and build a relationship with the workers/owners.

 

[fish 321]

I have done about 440 miles round trip multiple times.

 

[Mudminnow]

I used to live in rural PA. An impressive fish store called That Pet Place was about an hour and a half away. I made the drive several times.

 

[MacZ]

As Europe is a "bit" smaller than North America: 50km here are likely comparable to 200km in Canada and the US.

That said: Back in the day 250km were absolutely within ok range. Today, since I am dependent on public transport, anything longer than 1 hour (in cold or excessively hot weather 30min) is out.

 

[LadfromLondon]

My favourite fish shop is 16 miles from where I live: a 30 minute bumpy drive. I usually visit because it’s on the way to my sister’s flat and the service is good.

Nice! Which shop?

It also depends on how much you are willing to spend. If money is not an issue, a decent LFS will get it from somewhere for you and sell you locally but they will charge several times it costs them.

I’ve known this to be true. My local chain does this!

The furthest I’ve gone is 3 hours to a store in another city.

Was it worth it?

There are no fish suppliers close to where I am and I certainly refuse to use the big chains as their husbandry is not always good enough. I only use specialised suppliers like Sims or Aquatics To Your Door. They offer great selections of both wild caught anf tank bred fish, imported or home bred. They use licenced couriers and so far in 4 years of using them, no issues or losses experienced.

I too refuse to purchase from my local chains. I dislike my local Maidenhead, their overpricing is a joke and the care/stock doesn’t even represent the prices! Until now I’ve used TropCo. I’ll be switching to breeders for my cichlids.

I have done about 440 miles round trip multiple times.

I need to hear these stories

As Europe is a "bit" smaller than North America: 50km here are likely comparable to 200km in Canada and the US.

That said: Back in the day 250km were absolutely within ok range. Today, since I am dependent on public transport, anything longer than 1 hour (in cold or excessively hot weather 30min) is out.

250km?! Those must have been good times.

 

[pagoda]

LadfromLondon

I will not use Tropco

Had a couple of orders from there, 50% lost during transit and the rest passed away within a short time. All were far too small/young to be travelling. When I called them and sent email photo's they were very dismissive in that "these things happen".

Selling underage/under size fish is cruel, and they were not bagged properly and no heat packs despite snow on the ground.

 

[Ouse]

Nice! Which shop?

It’s called Perfect Aquatics. It’s renowned for being a good LFS with lots to offer.

 

[MacZ]

250km?! Those must have been good times.

The 90s. You had no choice but take a longer ride if you wanted direct import wild caught fish. 250km was the distance to Frankfurt Airport, where we sometimes picked up the fish directly.

 

[CHJ]

Depends on the fish.
Usually walking distance (It is awesome to have an AMAZING LFS within walking distance). The next that has cool stock is a 30-45 min drive.
Now if someone has 20$ cross river puffers, I'll fill a back pack full of ice and hike to the far side of the devils homeland for a deal like that.

 

[Zeeth29]

I haven't really thought about it. I live in the middle of nowhere with the closest place to get fish is a PetSmart a little over 2 hours from where I am. I doubt it would be worth the trip, honestly.

 

[Jojo205]

Lol I have my license but i pay my parents per mile I drive (covers some gas and helps with the expensive teen insurance a little) so like 4 miles to my LFS

 

[LadfromLondon]

LadfromLondon

I will not use Tropco

Had a couple of orders from there, 50% lost during transit and the rest passed away within a short time. All were far too small/young to be travelling. When I called them and sent email photo's they were very dismissive in that "these things happen".

Selling underage/under size fish is cruel, and they were not bagged properly and no heat packs despite snow on the ground.

Apologies, I thought I replied to this yesterday!

I was surprised to hear of your experience with them, very different to mine. Although, I’m not too surprised. I have heard my friend’s friends order was similar and when a review was left, they shut the website down to remove the bad review.

I’m glad you have found success with others

 

[jmaldo]

So far 45 mins one way for an Auction. "Great" local breeders, hopefully they will start-up again.
A couple of years ago thought about 1.5 hour trip one way to pick-up Discus, but... my schedule was crazy ended up having them shipped.

 

[Heron]

I'm surprised to hear people have had issues from tropco, I have used them quite a few times and only had one dead fish that they promptly re-funded me for.
I sometimes go to a shop an hour's drive away if I'm going in that direction anyway but usually I stick to stores within 15 miles, I have a local store that will order in most fish you want and although more expensive it saves paying for diesel and saves time.

 

[Alejandro]

All this talk of traveling for fish reminded me long ago I drove 2500km each way into arid Australia to collect triops eggs.

Alejandro knows where I keep the samples and has asked me many times to hatch some.

Today we got one box out and set it up to see if they will still hatch - the date of collection on the box was September 1999. Let's see if these eggs are still viable after 20+ years - will post photos if they hatch.

 

[Catappa]

As Europe is a "bit" smaller than North America: 50km here are likely comparable to 200km in Canada and the US.

That said: Back in the day 250km were absolutely within ok range. Today, since I am dependent on public transport, anything longer than 1 hour (in cold or excessively hot weather 30min) is out.

I don't drive and don't know what gas prices are like here or in the UK. However, (before Covid travel restrictions), Americans renting cars over here really, really freaked out over the gas prices! So even though our perception of distances are different, the expense involved in traveling some distance to a shop can be prohibitive.

I've gotten used to the perception of distance here compared to when I lived in the US. I used to travel over an hour each way to school every day (by train) and later, I had a boss who traveled hours each way (Connecticut to Manhattan) to commute to work. In the Netherlands, many people think twice before traveling anywhere more than an hour, lol!

 

[Flyfisha]

I regularly travel 3 and a half hours each way to get fish from distant shops that have local breeders supplying them . As every shop in Australia buys from the one importer we rely on local breeding for those fish that can’t be legally imported anymore. Or those imported by individuals. With a hot climate temperature is a consideration as to why driving is better than using to post.
As a retired couple it’s a good day out for my wife and I to drive to Sydney and back. Plus you actually can look at what you are buying.

A good day out is my local club hiring a van to drive to a Sydney clubs all day auction. With the auction starting at midday staying until it’s finished to get your money for whatever you put in the auction has in the past been a 2 am finish . Then the 3-5 hour drive home we must be mad? No doubt about it.

 

[smalli]

Just out of curiosity, if you had seen fish you liked but were not local to you, how far would you be willing to travel? Let's assume you're happy with the quality of the fish and the price offered. You can travel anyhow, i.e. train, car, coach etc.

I limit myself to 40 miles but we rarely go

 

[FisHobbyist]

I'll be traveling 2 hours (4 hrs roundtrip) this weekend to a fish swap for the second time this year. Definitely worth the drive!

 

[SouthAmericanCichlids]

Editing my answer, 3 hours because I have 6 huge cities within 3 hours, I didn't even realize that I was near so many. I really only go to 2 though.