workin at meijer's like a box of chocolates...

[ryan]

its wednesday, Meijer's day to get our fish shipments. so i come in and look around for new fish; nothing interesting. then i came to the feeder goldfish tank. mixed in with the small comet's was a 3 inch tadpole and 2 three inch unidentified fish. i put them in the plant tank until i decide what to do with them :)

I believe the 2 unID's fish are native fish. bass maybe?

ryan

[mwood322]

Petco's fish delivery day is Tuesday, Wednesday for feeders. It's teh longest most exhausting day. yesterday we got 7 boxes to unload, and at least 1 of the bags was broken.

I think we got in a rainbow that was mis-identified. Nothing so interesting as native fish. I will be keeping an eye out for blue fin killifish this year when water hyacinth's come in, sometimes eggs are atttached.

--Mia

[JamisonBWolsh]

MIa,

whats the most interesting fish did you get by mistake at petco?

[mwood322]

Well, I got a False SAE as a Flying Fox once, a Female New Guinea Rainbow just came in as a Yellow Rainbow. I've seen the Blue Fin Killifish twice now, but not at my Petco. Sometimes we get White Clouds, which we can't sell in MA. Nothing really good recently comes to mind though. Goldfish come from local, so normally are clean. Contaminents come in normally in teh less bought species, and can often look a lot like the species we ordered.

I think my best finds weren't even at a Petco, I got a tiny unknown cory as an oto. I've also bought 4 Aspidora spec. catfish as Micro Cories (that name of course doesn't exist).

I spend lots of time looking for contaminents, which works best at my favorite fish store, as they can often get fish from closer to the wild than Petco.

--Mia

[JamisonBWolsh]

so then nothing that would BLOW your MIND!?!?!?!?!?!

[O-man21]

yea, with the petco I go to, I wouldn't be surprised if they sold a arowana as a white cloud.
lol seriously, tho it is really bad there

[JamisonBWolsh]

I dont think any superstore will have "accidently" get a rare or hard to get fish, simply because they get their shipment from wholesalers. WHILE the LFS get there shipments from personal contact/orders so have more of a chance to get that unusual fish.

[jiggerpolebill]

i had a guy sell me a zebra pleco as a feeder guppy at Walmart.

[mwood322]

Petco rarely gets interesting fish because most are from Fish Farms in Florida. Sometimes we get fish that obviously just jumped over from another tank or pond and blended in, but rarely do you get an interesting species. The assorted groups might yield something, but I don't know African Cichlids well enough to look, and I'm not expert at Corys either.

It doesn't really matter though. Petco sells mostly bread and butter fish. They have a fast turnover rate, and so make more space for more. That is the only real reason I hate retail so much. Sometimes we get in interesting fish, but rarely are people even interested. It's hard to get someone who thinks fish are disposible to buy a 6 dollar rainbow.

Case in point. We have a Yellow Headed Jawfish in our Saltwater tanks. He's been there for at least 4 weeks, but we aren't completely sure when he got there, or how much he is. He hides so well that very few people even notice the guy, and he's almost 4 inches long. We've also got some kind of catfish that is the reaminder of an old shipment, and not one customer has noticed it. Which is nice, since we have very little idea what he costs.

Petco rarely stocks the fish I'm interested in anyway. I just bought a tiny yo yo loach that had been a reminant for a few weeks, that very few people noticed. I love loaches, and with Petco's sometimes fluctuating water quality they have a tendency to die there, so they don't normally order them. And hey their going rate of 5 bucks keeps most regular customers away from them. :rolleyes: Imagine if they stocked dwarf cichlids.

--Mia

[JamisonBWolsh]

You got a zebra pleco as a feeder guppy? YOU LUCKY PERSON!!! they normally sell for 50 dollars or more. Do you still have him?

[mwood322]

I also pay the price of normally going to fish stores where they know what they are doing. I don't get too many good deals, but I get good information. And they can order whatever I want :p

We also have to keep in mind, most chain stores don't care much, it sells as what it came in as unless it looks drastically different.

--Mia

[jiggerpolebill]

no. i really didnt get a zebra pleco as a feeder guppy. but it blew your mind didnt it?

[bettaman]

Why isn't Petco allowed to sell white clouds in MA?

[mwood322]

White Clouds are illegal in MA. Some idiots dumped them in ponds and lakes, and being what they are they spread. We aren't supposed to sell dojo loaches either. And if I'm going to be picky lots of things are illegal in MA. Supposedly all cold water fish except goldfish, guppies, and oddly enough some kinds of hillstream loaches are illegal. Pirahnas are illegal too although they would never survive our winters.

--Mia

[JamisonBWolsh]

Jigger: whats the point of saying that statement? High?

[jiggerpolebill]

so then nothing that would BLOW your MIND!?!?!?!?!?!

[JamisonBWolsh]

Ha ha..Good one... It blew my mind...but not permanetly.. nice try though.. :)