Well I just wanted to share a little frustration. Today I went to a big pet store that is quite popular in the US. I was getting some supplies, air hose, etc. when I decided to check out the fish selection.
Well is was very disturbing. Lot of dead fish everywhere. Some even floating on the top of the water. Other fish that were alive where looking nasty. Many had piece of their body bitten off. Even the goldfish looked sick and the water was really green.
Where in the US do you live. I don't know how stores who don't take good care of their inventory can stay in business. I've mostly seen this in stores that are mainly for other pets. Their employees are not as knowledgeable about fish and probably don't get paid enough to care.
Going into those super stores makes me sad now...Luckily I just found a small family owned pet store in another town close by and the fishie guy there is willing to special order me anything he can. He's pretty knowledgeable and the store is super clean and organized. I just hope those big stores dont put this one out of business. Im recommending it to my friends now too. I'm hoping to order all my fishies from him from now on if I can. Their products are a bit more pricey and there are never any deals but I think its worth it if the products, animals and customer service are all wonderful.
wow... you weren't banned... someone owes me 5 bucks...
anyways... if a petshop sells dogs or cats i usually don't walk into it... if they have mamals, they usually aren't going to know alot of stuff about fish, or other creatures... if i'm looking for a snake, i'll go to a reptile store... if i want a fish, i'll go to a fish store... well... actually all of my pets come from breeders... lol... i hardly go to petshops unless i need equipment, or speciality foods...
i've never seen one in la that has dogs and a nice variety of healthy fish... and i go to alot of petshops all over LA...
another thing i noticed that if it's ran by asians... they usually have the best quality, and variety of fish... the worst petshop owners are mexicans... they can't take care of squat...
and i'm not racist... 'cuz i'm mexican...
white people have the best reptile shops around... with the exception of strictly fish in long beach... that place is FTW!!!!...
The shop in my town is ran by white trash so the reptiles are actually taken pretty good care of. The shop has known for not taking very good care of their animals but they have had a big turn around. Atleast in the fish and reptiles department.
Just To add something though... Arnt mom and pop shops really expensive with some of there mechendise. Like fish, I have seen fish at petsmart at least 10.00 cheaper then at this other one I know. Is it different in your areas?
Specialty stores will ALWAYS (for the most part) be more expensive then chains. Mainly just because chains have more connections on where they get their supplies. They get it cheaper so they can afford to sell it cheaper.
truth... but also the quality of aquatic life at small shops are second to none compaired to petsmart/petco...
the fish that the large petstores get are from huge HUGE fish farms like in florida and such... they don't care about quality... that's where i mostly see mutts, or mixed breed of mbuna alot... when a labidochromis cereleus has faint black stripes that means he's not of pure yellow lab family... usually because they breed cichlids as "assorted" cichlids... and that's what you get when they have an assorted cichlid tanks... stay away from they...
another thing i noticed about my LFS are more baller is because they have to make the rent along with other expenses... so i don't mind paying $40+ for a mdoka peacock when i could get a similar looking peacock at petco for 7 bucks...
i like to buy all of my filters and equipment at petsmart... plus... they honor online prices... so they will gladly sell you a penguin 350 for 26.99 instead of the the shelf price of 38 bucks... just take them a print out...
