Poor Panda Corys

[Eastside Game]

Hello everyone,
I decided to share my experience from today.
So today i was planning on going to my LFS( which is a chain petstore whose name will remain anonymous) to buy some panda corys today. Excited, i got to the store and started looking for them expecting to see a whole tank full of them since they are school fish. When i found them, the store only had two of them in a tank with other fish and they looked like they were on the edge of perishing. I read about how energetic these fish are and all the fish in store did was to look dead. I feel bad for the conditions these fish have to live in =(. If they were cheaper i would have rescued them but as a college student i cant afford to buy fish who probably won't even survive the way home.

[Cerianthus]

Such behavior , just sitting and rolling their eyes, can be normal behavior as well provided conditions were w/in acceptable.

[Eastside Game]

so do you think i should get them or wait till they have more. i have none and and in their case is the more the merrier lol

[TheFishBoss97]

I hate stores that are like that.
I am in middle school, and I never buy from petco/petsmart, I always buy ffrom dolphin pet village(very great store, with helpful/knowledgeable staff, and very healthy fish/inverts/etc. for marine and freshwater.

I have bought my starter fish from petco since they have a 60 day guarantee so if they die within those 60 days(which happens unless you specifically choose the fish), then I can just get new fish for free until the 60 days for those fish are up.

[TheFishBoss97]

so do you think i should get them or wait till they have more. i have none and and in their case is the more the merrier lol

If other fish in the freshwater section are unhealthy/diseased, then all the tanks have that disease/sickness because most stores use one large huge filtration system for all the fish.(separate for freshwater/marine)

[user_name]

If other fish in the freshwater section are unhealthy/diseased, then all the tanks have that disease/sickness because most stores use one large huge filtration system for all the fish.(separate for freshwater/marine)

+1 Most LFS's do this too though.

I actually just bought 6 panda corys 2 weeks ago from a reputable (supposedly) LFS. 5 died after the first week, paramaters were perfect.

Anyways, I would avoid it unless you can get a guarantee on them. IME corys have been sensitive and are generally weak stock. (I've purchased 11 corys of different species, a month or two later I have 4 left. All came from different stores too.)

Cory's can also be a pretty heavy investment, especially at 5-6 bucks a pop. Definitely make sure you can get a guarantee on them, and make sure that they'll FULLY refund or replace any dead fish. Make sure to quarantine too, as their waranty won't apply to the rest of your tank, which they could kill by bringing in disease.

Good luck,
Cam

[j0onahra3]

I hate stores that are like that.
I am in middle school, and I never buy from petco/petsmart, I always buy ffrom dolphin pet village(very great store, with helpful/knowledgeable staff, and very healthy fish/inverts/etc. for marine and freshwater.

I have bought my starter fish from petco since they have a 60 day guarantee so if they die within those 60 days(which happens unless you specifically choose the fish), then I can just get new fish for free until the 60 days for those fish are up.

You know dolphin pet village too? LOL. I used to know the guy working there. I think my dad and the owner guy were friends or so. And one time my dad asked him to hold onto his saltwater fishes and then send them over to here in missouri because we were moving. But he didn't send them at all. He didn't even email my dad back and probably sold all that nice and expensive saltwater fish my dad worked with for years. Yeah. Dolphin pet village is pretty nice though. They have good quality fish.

As for the LFS incident with all the panda corys, you cant really do much about it. I mean, how can one college guy spend his/her money on the fish just to save them? It's not only that LFS. Petco and petsmart do the SAME thing. They kill all their fishes and they dont care.

[j0onahra3]

I hate stores that are like that.
I am in middle school, and I never buy from petco/petsmart, I always buy ffrom dolphin pet village(very great store, with helpful/knowledgeable staff, and very healthy fish/inverts/etc. for marine and freshwater.

I have bought my starter fish from petco since they have a 60 day guarantee so if they die within those 60 days(which happens unless you specifically choose the fish), then I can just get new fish for free until the 60 days for those fish are up.

You know dolphin pet village too? LOL. I used to know the guy working there. I think my dad and the owner guy were friends or so. And one time my dad asked him to hold onto his saltwater fishes and then send them over to here in missouri because we were moving. But he didn't send them at all. He didn't even email my dad back and probably sold all that nice and expensive saltwater fish my dad worked with for years. Yeah. Dolphin pet village is pretty nice though. They have good quality fish.

As for the LFS incident with all the panda corys, you cant really do much about it. I mean, how can one college guy spend his/her money on the fish just to save them? It's not only that LFS. Petco and petsmart do the SAME thing. They kill all their fishes and they dont care.

[Cerianthus]

[QUOTE=Eastside Game;2594769]so do you think i should get them or wait till they have more. i have none and and in their case is the more the merrier lol[/QUOTE

Tap gently on the glass and observe their reaction and physical appearances. Dont know if they are in centralized system or not but use your judgement + other recommendations posted as I cant check all other possibilities for you:)

If theyve been in the display tank for awhile with an assumption store usually receives lot more than 2, perhaps last 2 may be the one of the stronger ones???
Even when new batch comes in, should wait at least a week to make sure they survive the trip/shipping ordeal.

Either way, should Q/T any new arrivals regardless of where they may have originated from. Perhaps difficult in dorm but again not an impossible task.

[Eastside Game]

the store i went to was petland discounts i dont know if they have any guarantee. So it might be a smart idea to take them from petco if they are a little bit more expensive but have a guarantee

[Cerianthus]

DOnt know which PD you went to or even if they have central system but depending on Mgr/staff, they can have healthy fish but I do know all the Petco I know of did ran centralized system.

Like I said on your prev thread, check the rest of fish to determine how well they take care of their live sotcks. Last I saw in my lfs, although bit small, they were ~ $3/ea, perhaps 2/$5.50 if memory serves.

Good luck with the hunt!

[Eastside Game]

thank you. i appreciate all the feedback =)

[vombatus]

In general, I'd recommend buying any live animals from Petco over Petland Discounts, and not just because I work at Petco. But some individual Petland D stores do have really good fish people and are exceptions to the rule. I just wanted to chime in and say that you shouldn't necessarily draw conclusions about fish care based on what you see in one visit. For example, we get something like 16 panda cories in a delivery, but they sell fast. We might have two in the tank when you happen to be looking. And they might not look healthy, because sometimes some of our fish aren't healthy, but we work hard (at my location anyway) to generally maintain a happy, healthy, large selection of fish as best we can. As far as guarantees, Petland D does have a guarantee but Petco's is longer at 30 days.

P.S. I think it's just a matter of luck, but my trio of orange laser cories from my store are the longest-lived fish in my tank.