For me, it depends on what I am ordering. For high-light plants that require
CO2, etc., my
LFS won't have it, since they don't fool with that in their tanks, so I'll get those online. For commonly available fish (like what I assume must be a plecostamus, sdveirs) that I am very familiar with I'll get them at the
LFS, assuming I am happy with the quality of the fish.
However, a lot of fish are mislabeled, or in juvenile coloration and don't wind up being what you thought, and in these cases I won't buy at the
LFS but will order from a reputable breeder.
A year ago I got what I thought were three male peacocks in a tank of juvie males, or what were labeled to be males. I wound up with one male and two females, and one of the females was actually a C. borleyi hap! There are so many hybrids out there when it comes to cichlids, in particular, and you have to beware of the "mixed Africans" tanks, since what you get in there might be extremely incompatible together once they grow up. If it is not something like a N. brichardi or L. caeruleus, where I can tell what I am looking at, I'll order online to save myself trouble down the road. Here I am now, stuck with some peacock/hap hybrid fry, which I can't sell and will wind up having to set up a tank for (poor me
).
