What if I dont have a lfs?

All my research has come to a dead end. The closest "official" lfs, as in family owned-is nearly thirty minutes away. I don't even think they are reputable. The next option is a aquarium based pet shop. Now, as a business model I've never heard of an aquatic store that also sells puppies and tarantulas, but at least from reviews the fish stock is great. I've been in it-not recently, and I do recall the animals looking less than spectacular but the reptiles and fish really thriving and well cared for.

My other options are pet smart and another lps. The petsmart is ok-I have bought many bettas from there-though the cruel cup treatment scares me. I also bought my corn snake from there and its over a year now.

I looked in the tanks a few days ago and these customers were hassling the "expert" there. He's been working there a while but is no older than 20 something. They kept asking questions, and every time they decided on something it seems they were continuously changing their minds. They looked in a tank and saw a single dead fish in it-what scared me is he didnt seem interested. I've noticed they tend to have dead fish stuck to filters for way too long. It almost seems like they just pretend to take care of the fish.

The closest lps has had its fair share of picketers and has given me poor advice in the past-I have healthy guppies and a beautiful fancy betta but they've also sold painted tetras. Also they have about six fish to pick from.

What sounds like the lesser of the evils? I feel like I've committed a sin by not having a %100 lfs.

Edit--not to mention, this "aquatic" place has had sea horses happily swimming in its own tanks--I didn't even know they were aquarium pets!

 

Yes sea horses are regular aquarium pets well not regular but the are aquarium pets just a bit harder to care for than your normal fish

a LFS about 4 minuts from my house has 4 different sea horse tanks and they look so amazing but I don't want to have a species only fish tank

I would go with the place that has the healthiest looking fish to you regardless of what the employees say even though some might be helpful it is best to know a healthy fish when you see them

I hope this makes your chooseing easier


Edit
I didn't think about this until after I posted but you could always order online there are tons of places just do a bit of searching

Soon I will be makeing my first online purchase if I can't find the fish I want in one of the 6 LFS I have here but I guess that is a perk of living in Florida

I am also getting my licence to go and catch my own marine fish when I get my new tank

 

As far as the dead fish, I think he was probably too stressed out to care at the moment, given what he was going through.
I think some people don't know/aren't told what damage it can do to leave dead fish in a tank. I certainly didn't know until recently, when I dove into this thing headfirst (lol).
Fish do die...it could have been a recently added batch that just wasn't 100%. The aquarium based shop sounds good, whether there are other animals or not. You did say that the fish appeared well-cared-for, and that's what you're looking for. If they can keep sea horses they must not be all bad. Them things are tricky. I would stay away from the picketed shop. As far as the cup thing goes, they are popular fish but they just can't be put in tanks together. They could stand to use bigger cups, but what can you do? As long as they appear healthy in there, I wouldn't worry too much.

The aquarium-based shop is probably your best bet. Ordering online is OK but you should find out where they get their stock from and try to talk to some people that have ordered there before (if you live in the UK, Tyne Valley Aquatics looks good); I should mention that shipping costs doing that can be a bit crazy.

 

I agree I would go with the aquarium based shop as stated above it is generally difficult to care for sea horses they require strict diets and very strict water conditions I have looked into caring for them but as I said above I just don't want a species only tank

 

I agree go with healthy fish, but I would not give money to a place that sells puppies, regardless of fish care. Your money helps them stay in business and thus helps them to keep supporting puppy mills.

 

I typically used to go to a fish store look at the fish I wanted and google it real quick or make list and research them when I get home.

Fortunately my Lfs knows me and knows about every fish they stock.

Best bet is look for healthiest fish and do all the research on your own

 

I would not give money to a place that sells puppies, regardless of fish care. Your money helps them stay in business and thus helps them to keep supporting puppy mills.

I have to completely 100% agree with this.

If you tell us where you're located, I'll bet we can find you other choices for lfs.

 

You can check to see if there are fish clubs or auctions near you. Even compared to the best lfs, the quality should be better in clubs and auctions. If I look in my cichlid aquarium, I can tell by looking which fish came from big box store, which came from reputable lfs, and which came from private breeders. At least in my tank the difference in quality between big box and lfs is very noticeable, and the difference between lfs and private breeders is noticeable, but not nearly as great. I really like my lfs, they know there stuff, and the difference in quality I talk about has more to do with the quantity of fish the store has to buy, and how picked over the stock is. I find it funny that for the most part fish are supposed to be 1m to 3f or more, but the last 10 fish of every kind that are left in the tanks at lfs are always females.

 

I agree go with healthy fish, but I would not give money to a place that sells puppies, regardless of fish care. Your money helps them stay in business and thus helps them to keep supporting puppy mills.

Aaand I would tend to agree with that...but when you have those choices to pick between...

 

I agree go with healthy fish, but I would not give money to a place that sells puppies, regardless of fish care. Your money helps them stay in business and thus helps them to keep supporting puppy mills.

That's a bit presumptuous don't ya think.

 

Okay, enough discussion regarding puppy mills (or kitten mills, or ferret, guinea pig, or hamster mills, for that matter). Yes, purchasing from a place like that does help keep them in business, though it doesn't directly support the industry. It is up to each person to decide how important this topic is to them, and what things will influence whether or not they shop at a given store. This is an aquarium forum. Let's focus on fish.
And, let the discussion resume.

 

I have had luck ordering fish from liveaquaria

 

I have had luck ordering fish from liveaquaria

I have to wonder about the accuracy of their photos sometimes...do you get the right fish?

 

If you're ordering from their standard site, you get the same species as is pictured. I've never had a problem with them. I don't recall anyone on Fishlore saying they'd had problems, either.
If you're ordering marine fish from their WYSIWYG page (if it's even up still), you're getting exactly the creature pictured.

 

I have to wonder about the accuracy of their photos sometimes...do you get the right fish?

Yup but the only disadvantage is you don't get the fish in the photo so you really can't pick out coloration.

As for the fish they were the right species but not the fish featured in the photo

 

Yup but the only disadvantage is you don't get the fish in the photo so you really can't pick out coloration.

As for the fish they were the right species but not the fish featured in the photo

So I was right, then...their photos ARE inaccurate.
Lesson to be learned here, know your latin names XDD

 

So I was right, then...their photos ARE inaccurate.
Lesson to be learned here, know your latin names XDD

Not really.
If you go by Latin name and order from liveaquaria, you'll have exactly the same success or failure as if you go by the pictures.
What Luke is saying is that you don't get the individual in the picture, but you get a creature with the same Latin name (since the Latin name is how we designate species). For fish with few color variations (neon tetras, for example), you probably won't be able to tell the difference between the fish you get and the fish in the picture. On the other hand, if you order guppies, you're going to get a wide variety of colors. Even if they have a listing of, say, turquoise and black guppies, you're going to get different patterns. All of them will be Poecilia reticulata, which is what will be pictured on the liveaquaria website, but you're not going to get the exact individual pictured, as it would be nearly impossible for them to keep a listing of every individual fish currently in stock.

 

Ah, right. And I guess they're usually using juvenile shots, too, aren't they? That makes sense.

 

Just a glance at the front page of their freshwater fish section suggests that they're mostly using adult photos. Most of the fish there have their adult coloration (for species that have differences between adult and juvie colors).

 

Just a glance at the front page of their freshwater fish section suggests that they're mostly using adult photos. Most of the fish there have their adult coloration (for species that have differences between adult and juvie colors).

Maybe I'm thinking of a different site XD Sorry. I've been through soooo many lately I can't keep them straight.

 

you have a lfs 30 minutes drive is nothing. I have a 3 hour drive to one of 3 in my state...

 

my advice is to make friends with the ppl at the lps I love petsmart I go there all the time I'm friends with all the ppl that work with the fish I had a few deaths but they make me aware of which fish may be stressed from shipping cuz it comes from a distance and replacement with them is no hassel no water sample no question just hand dead fish a receipt and get a new fish at least for me this happens I have 5 blue rams from my petsmart and the are doing really good. also like mentioned there are tons of places online but be careful some seem a little funny lol but good luck

 

Thanks for all the advice! Unfortunately I had a tank stand mishap and won't be up and running for weeks

Lunas-as previously stated, believe it or not that lfs 30 minutes away has worse reviews than the hybrid aquarium/pet store. Just to clarify only one is a 100% pet store that I avoid like the plague. and the hybrid has fairly good reviews overall.

I think I'm going to check them out and reinvestigate and see what petsmart looks like this time. I have plenty of time now lol.