Buying Fish

[Ansomnia7]

I would like to stock my tank with fish that are different from what you would see at Walmart or somewhere like that- but I don't want to pay big bucks for fish considering I'm still new to this and barley have a clue what I'm doing.

Where does everyone shop?

I think I'd like to start with a Pleco and some painted platies.

 

[Fishdude3233]

How big is your tank and do you know how to cycle it. Second what type of pleco do you want because commons aka the cheap one need at least 70 or 90 gallons

 

[Aquamandan]

Do you have a LFS near you (not Petco or Petsmart)?

 

[HN1]

Where are you located? I highly recommend looking for local fish clubs or breeders in your area. The quality and variety that may be available will trump anything at the chain stores. There are also some very reputable online sites as well as aquabid.

 

[trkchezz]

I have had good success on Craigslist. Make sure you research any fish before you buy it.

 

[Ansomnia7]

I have a 50 gallon planted tank and I am in the process of cycling it. Talk about a confusing mess for someone new to the hobby! I'm just glad I found this forum

I live in rural Appalachia so no lfs and probably unlikely to find a club closer than two hours away, although its worth a shot. My big plan was to order from somewhere on the Internet.

 

[trkchezz]

Try aquabid, some good deals on there.

 

[Alyxx]

Try aquabid, some good deals on there.

I agree. You can probably find whatever kind of fish you might want there, and often at a pretty reasonable price as far as shipping fish goes.

 

[Ansomnia7]

So I made the mistake of ordering from liveaquariablue.com. They sent me the wrong variety of platys (sunburst instead of painted) which are mostly male and a gromai that died with a fungal infection the next day. The platys are healthy and vibrant, but still, I will not be ordering from them again! They won't replace the fish because the loss has to be in excess of $30.

I ordered some shrimp and female gromais from fish2you.com and the stock are doing well.

 

[henningc]

For livebears and some of the more common stuff, Consolidated Fish Farm is very good. They are easy to work with and will help every step of the way.