mr86mister said:
when i go around to my
lfs, such as Petsmart or Petco and other ones i let their new "fish people" know which fish are huge and they HAVE to let people know...luckily my g/f works at PetSmart and most of the people that work with the fish, have many tanks of their own and arent ignorant to just selling the fish and also at PetSmart they have little info about each fish on the tab on what kind of water they like (brackish or fresh) what Ph and Temp and even the max size and their Scientific Name with an actual pic of the fish, so you know exactly what you are looking for....i recommend my local PetSmart to everyone but i have realized not all are the same
and they call them chain stores
PetSmart seems to be a pretty good bet even though they are a chain. Like yours, my local PetSmart has a few knowledgeable to very knowledgeable people working in their fish dept. They know the fish pretty well and are quick to make points about stocking tanks too early, relying too much on chemicals to maintain water quality, etc.
In fact, the head of the fish dept at the local shop was the first person I ever heard about cycling from. Back when I was a kid and had a 10 gallon, I just had the aquarium and all I knew about the hobby was that I had to keep the water in the upper 70s and feed the fish every day. If I believed in Karma, I might actually be worried about my future when I think about how little I did to accommodate my aquatic pets back in my youth. So, three years ago when I got my 30g from my boss, took it home, and set it up, I promptly went into PetSmart the next day to get some fish and was given my first lesson on cycling. Imagine that? A chain store employee telling me NOT to buy stuff for altruistic reasons.
Their return policy on fish is also pretty excellent; two weeks with receipt and water sample. I never worried about refunds/exchanges for deceased fish when I was buying $2 Tiger Barbs and White Clouds but when I bought a small school of Loaches at near $10 apiece, it became a concern. It was nice to have a safety net even though, thankfully, I have never needed it. The only place I trust more regarding quality of livestock is the dedicated
LFS that I frequent and even their return policy is just one week.
BTW, on a somewhat related note, has there ever been put together a directory of local fish shops in these forums? I think that would a great idea and I would love to sing the praises and/or denounce the detriments of the two that I go to regularly.
As for the cat that is the subject of this thread, that is a beautiful fish but as has been stated before, the 10 gallon tank will need to be upgraded inside a couple of months as both the Cat and the Pleco got too large by themselves for that tank. Yes, I know the Cat will eat everything else in the tank but that is hardly the ideal solution for overstocking.
Great fish at any rate...
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