librarygirl
Look It Up
Hi everyone,
I'm currently fishless cycling but I'm trying to think ahead to where I'll get my fish when/if the time comes. How do you judge a trustworthy LFS? I don't want to spend all this time cycling my tank just to introduce diseases from a substandard LFS.
I live in a small state (er, the smallest lol) so I don't have a large number of options for LFS. I have visited 5 so far, and here are my findings:
Place 1: Local LFS, non-chain store. They had about 10 FW tanks and they seem to QT their fish (some were marked not for sale yet). Most of their fish looked good and the tanks were clear, I didn't notice any obvious diseases or issues. However in one tank there was a dead fish being eaten by others (it had a large hole in its gut) and the worker didn't seem too concerned with removing it or perhaps didn't know about it (he was busy feeding the corals). In two other tanks, it seemed like there were dead fish too, but it could be the fish were just not moving. One was a large catfish of some sort just laying at the bottom, other fish were bumping it with their noses and it wasn't moving. In another tank a group of fish (again maybe smaller catfish, couldn't tell) was lodged under a cave, I saw one that looked upside down but it was hard to tell. So at least 1 dead fish, possibly more.
Place 2: Local LFS, non-chain store. This one was obvious as a bad store. One whole tank had ich and I didn't see anything about it being in QT or not for sale. A whole tank of angels were in the top corner, not moving and gasping. Other fish were gasping too and the worker was giving horrid advice to a mother and her kids about goldfish. So I've ruled that one out (pretty obvious lol)
Place 3: Local LFS, non-chain store. The fish looked OK, didn't see any obvious sign of disease, but the tanks were a bit murky for the most part, I felt they could have been clearer. The owner told me my tank wouldn't cycle fishless and to buy a few "insignificant fish" to put in there to cycle it.
Place 4: PetSmart. Their tanks on the whole look good. I did spot a dead fish in one once (and told the worker who didn't' seem to care) but for the amount of tanks they have they look good and didn't see any noticeable sign of disease.
Place 5: PetCo. This one is a new one near me which opened up not long ago. Their tanks looked very good and the worker even shook his head when I talked to him about the advice PetSmart gave me. They don't seem to have a large selection though. I went to another PetCo near where I worked and they have more tanks and they look OK but I can't tell for sure.
So....how do you know (or do you ever) whether the fish you are buying are safe? Place 3 is the only one so far that has one of the fish I definitely want (Galaxy Rasbora) but not sure I would feel comfortable buying their fish given what I saw.
And then there are members here who sell fish who have gotten great reviews. Again though they may not have the fish I want to get. There's also buying online from a large company but I'm not sure I would trust them either if I can't see what I'm getting and can't read other's reviews on them.
So...any advice on what to do? Is there a way to be sure? Or is it just a gamble? Should I set up a QT tank and do that to be 100% safe?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm just concerned about introducing nasties.
I'm currently fishless cycling but I'm trying to think ahead to where I'll get my fish when/if the time comes. How do you judge a trustworthy LFS? I don't want to spend all this time cycling my tank just to introduce diseases from a substandard LFS.
I live in a small state (er, the smallest lol) so I don't have a large number of options for LFS. I have visited 5 so far, and here are my findings:
Place 1: Local LFS, non-chain store. They had about 10 FW tanks and they seem to QT their fish (some were marked not for sale yet). Most of their fish looked good and the tanks were clear, I didn't notice any obvious diseases or issues. However in one tank there was a dead fish being eaten by others (it had a large hole in its gut) and the worker didn't seem too concerned with removing it or perhaps didn't know about it (he was busy feeding the corals). In two other tanks, it seemed like there were dead fish too, but it could be the fish were just not moving. One was a large catfish of some sort just laying at the bottom, other fish were bumping it with their noses and it wasn't moving. In another tank a group of fish (again maybe smaller catfish, couldn't tell) was lodged under a cave, I saw one that looked upside down but it was hard to tell. So at least 1 dead fish, possibly more.
Place 2: Local LFS, non-chain store. This one was obvious as a bad store. One whole tank had ich and I didn't see anything about it being in QT or not for sale. A whole tank of angels were in the top corner, not moving and gasping. Other fish were gasping too and the worker was giving horrid advice to a mother and her kids about goldfish. So I've ruled that one out (pretty obvious lol)
Place 3: Local LFS, non-chain store. The fish looked OK, didn't see any obvious sign of disease, but the tanks were a bit murky for the most part, I felt they could have been clearer. The owner told me my tank wouldn't cycle fishless and to buy a few "insignificant fish" to put in there to cycle it.
Place 4: PetSmart. Their tanks on the whole look good. I did spot a dead fish in one once (and told the worker who didn't' seem to care) but for the amount of tanks they have they look good and didn't see any noticeable sign of disease.
Place 5: PetCo. This one is a new one near me which opened up not long ago. Their tanks looked very good and the worker even shook his head when I talked to him about the advice PetSmart gave me. They don't seem to have a large selection though. I went to another PetCo near where I worked and they have more tanks and they look OK but I can't tell for sure.
So....how do you know (or do you ever) whether the fish you are buying are safe? Place 3 is the only one so far that has one of the fish I definitely want (Galaxy Rasbora) but not sure I would feel comfortable buying their fish given what I saw.
And then there are members here who sell fish who have gotten great reviews. Again though they may not have the fish I want to get. There's also buying online from a large company but I'm not sure I would trust them either if I can't see what I'm getting and can't read other's reviews on them.
So...any advice on what to do? Is there a way to be sure? Or is it just a gamble? Should I set up a QT tank and do that to be 100% safe?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm just concerned about introducing nasties.