LFS to trust or not to trust?!

One of our LFS I have discovered is breeding their own mollies and guppies for sale! This implies to me that they care (or at least understand) about fish keeping etc. I know that livebearers breed with anything that walks past them : but the fact that they're doing this on purpose gives me food for thought, it's either that or they're just too cheap and nasty to buy fish wholesale ;D
Any thoughts?

 

If the fish and tanks in the store are well kept and cared for, I personally would not be concerned.

 

I don't know if knowledge like this would influence me strongly one way or the other about the LFS. I usually base my judgements on the cleanliness of the tanks, the number of dead fish, whether the species of fish are identified correctly, and the advice/information (correct or incorrect) that I receive from the employees or store owner.

As long as they're not inbreeding the livebearers, I wouldn't get concerned over it ... but I certainly wouldn't give them a medal either. I know a bunch of LFS will take young livebearers from fish owners who have gotten fry (either on purpose or by accident), so it's hard to say where the average LFS livebearer comes from anyway. It'd be interesting to know what percentage they actually buy from wholesalers/distributors, and how many just kind of end up in their shops!

 

true enough - I hadn't considered that they might be taking freebies (or giving store credit) from fish owners who have fry to spare

 

yea, it's easy for quite a surplus of livebearer fry to result from a "here you go, 1 male and 3 females" purchase.. so who knows?

 

For as cheap as they can get livebearers, breeding their own is a plus for me.

Most fish under 10$ here in the U.S., are purchased by the shops from farms for less than 3$.
As a general rule, most shops take the price they pay, multiply it by 3 or 4 and add 10% to cover shipping, to get their selling price.

 

Amount of dead fish doesn't always tell the truth. Sometimes shops just get bad orders in and they may quarantine them in display tanks. some of my lfs's do this and put a label on the tank that says so and don't gurantee the fish but still sell them if someone wants one that bad, they just say they are safe yet.

 

To me, clean tanks and consistent information is key for me. If the fishkeeper gives information that works and makes sense and the others in the store give the same reasonable information, that's all you can ask for....Besides, many of us aren't experts and when we go into the LFS our first impression is what we see - and smell....And that would be the tanks or livestock.....If they're clean, they're probably a business that you can reasonably trust. Notice I said reasonably.....

 

Aslong as you LFS isn't Wal-Mart , I wouldn't would worry about it!!!!

 

Aslong as you LFS isn't Wal-Mart , I wouldn't would worry about it!!!!

i'd rate deathco even lower than wallyworld.

 

I've never had a problem with my local Petco....Others in the area are a different story...It all comes down to the staff.......Think about it folks....These stores hire part time workers...Most of whom are students looking for spending cash and housewives looking to stay busy while the kids are in school...Most have only 2 - maybe 3 knowledgeable people...Which is why I go to Petco on the days I know the fishkeeper is working.....Get to know your store and it's staff......

 

I've never had a problem with my local Petco....Others in the area are a different story...It all comes down to the staff.......Think about it folks....These stores hire part time workers...Most of whom are students looking for spending cash and housewives looking to stay busy while the kids are in school...Most have only 2 - maybe 3 knowledgeable people...Which is why I go to Petco on the days I know the fishkeeper is working.....Get to know your store and it's staff......

you're fortunate to have someone at yours who knows something. the 'fish expert' at ours gave us nothing but bad advice, including using 'cycle' and putting 4 female bettas in a 10 gallon tank.. and it's the manager of the store who I heard suggesting that a male betta with a bloated belly could be pregnant.

 

At least both of my local LFS only sell fish. They do stock other animal supplies, but fish are their primary industry - they will also order in a specific breed of fish for me if I ask, although there is no choice of colour if I do this, and the price is higher...

 

you're fortunate to have someone at yours who knows something. the 'fish expert' at ours gave us nothing but bad advice, including using 'cycle' and putting 4 female bettas in a 10 gallon tank.. and it's the manager of the store who I heard suggesting that a male betta with a bloated belly could be pregnant.

Someone lied to you. Even when you use cycle, you should still let you tank cycle for 2-3days!!!

 

Cycle doesn't do anything but create a mini-cycle. Our tanks were erratic in chemistry until we stopped using cycle.

 

Cycle doesn't do anything but create a mini-cycle. Our tanks were erratic in chemistry until we stopped using cycle.

I wonder why it works for me.... ???

 

Cycle doesn't do anything but create a mini-cycle. Our tanks were erratic in chemistry until we stopped using cycle.

I wonder why it works for me.... ???

the tank may be cycled.. the test would be if you stopped using cycle in a tank that is giving you cycled numbers. once a tank is cycled, it shouldn't need anything added to stay cycled as the good bacteria colonies would be thriving.

 

I don't use it in an already cycled tank. I used it to start up my 10gal. I only waited like 2days, then my tank was ready for fish!!!

 

I've been to a few non-chain fish stores, and then PetCo and PetSmart on top of it. Both places have been wicked inconsistent. Sometimes I'll visit a PetCo and they are awesome, I love them. Other times they don't give me the time of day or the information I want/need. I had the same problem with other non-chain stores, too.

I really think that you have to do your own research and double check everything. It's the only way to be safe, you know?

 

I've been to a few non-chain fish stores, and then PetCo and PetSmart on top of it. Both places have been wicked inconsistent. Sometimes I'll visit a PetCo and they are awesome, I love them. Other times they don't give me the time of day or the information I want/need. I had the same problem with other non-chain stores, too.

I really think that you have to do your own research and double check everything. It's the only way to be safe, you know?

Whatever you do, NEVER go to Wal-Mart!!!