In my opinion, unless you have an independent pet store, not Pet Whatever, you're better off going on line. I've read goldfishonline.com is good.. For my stuff, I buy from Consolidated Fish Farm, Select Aquatics, Blue Grass Aquatics, Aquabid - You can do your home work on sellers-Blue Ridge Gold Fish Farm and several others. Some of the places buy from ship air cargo and have minimum orders of $300 or a number of boxes. If your budget can sustain that p.m. and I'll let you know who I get wholesale stuff from.
As for gold fish issues, it is what you don't know that gets you. The chain stores buy in super bulk from importers. Most goldfish imports are from Thialand. The cost to tranship one box of fish is approximately $200 and the fish cost only pennys on the dollar. If you pack 800-1,000 fish in a normal wholesale packing bag, like Florida farmers use for 250-300 livebearers, then you can get them over here at a reasonable price after losses. The fish, up to5,000-6,000 are then placed on large vats appropriate for 1,500 fish. The loss ratio is approximately 50% during shipping to destination. The fish are then heavily doesd with medications typically at a rate of 6-10 times the normal limits. The meds kill off still more of the fish, and those that survive are kept heavily medicated and in the coldest water possible to increase oxygen levels. Industry standards call for holding fish 3-5 days prior to reshipment. Once the fish are packed back into boxes, they get sent by ground to the chain store locations. The not all that lucky survivers are then sold to you. If you find out what day they get their fish, observe new fish the day they arrive and then come back two days later and you will note several fish missing and the rest perking up a bit. The missing likely went home with the trashman. After the store has had them 6-8 days new problems start to show. The fish have withstood a horrifying journey and may get lucky enough for somebody who cares and knows what they are doing to save them. Most just live very short lives. Keep in mind, you can buy fantail fancy gold fish from Bland's Fishery in AK, for $0.24 ea. per inch. Asian fish a 3" fish is around $0.09. Livebearers are typically between $0.25 from Florida but $0.4 from asia.
