assorted :( What do I do?

An alternative to LFS's and ordering online is acquiring them from other hobbyists.

If you're lucky there may be someone with cichlids to sell in your area (and can get fairly priced cichlids without having to pay for shipping if you can pick up locally). You can usually find them in the 'classified ads' section of this forum and others like it. Many hobbyists also can ship their fish, if local pick up isn't available.
 
Wow. If your going to pay 10 dollars for an 1 inch assorted african you might as well try to buy online or from a local breeder. Besides most of the fish in the assorted tank are going to be hybrids.
 
rinmouse said:
So I checked out all the places I could possibly get fish here in town... superpet and two LFS... unfortunately, all three places only have tanks of 'assorted african cichlids'. Except for superpet, which actually had a separate tank for frontosas. So what should a poor cichlid newbie do? Does assorted neccessarily mean hybrid(which I don't want)... should I order on line? The next closest place I could go would be either 6 hours drive to one place, are there issues with bringing fish across the canadian/american border? or 8 to another...
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It doesn't mean hybrid as several have said. It's just similar african cichlids bought as "assorted." What usually happens is either it is a mixed bag for variety offered from the wholesaler or a mixed bag of fish that the wholesaler has leftover that he combines as a special just to clear his tanks out.

Most of the mixed or assorted africans fall into the mbuna category and require heavy stocking to deal with aggression. There's tons of articles on stocking mbunas, so I won't reiterate that here.
 
Nolapete said:
It doesn't mean hybrid as several have said. It's just similar african cichlids bought as "assorted." What usually happens is either it is a mixed bag for variety offered from the wholesaler or a mixed bag of fish that the wholesaler has leftover that he combines as a special just to clear his tanks out.

Most of the mixed or assorted africans fall into the mbuna category and require heavy stocking to deal with aggression. There's tons of articles on stocking mbunas, so I won't reiterate that here.
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We never said they WERE hybrids. Most of them TEND to be hybrids.
 
tarheels910 said:
We never said they WERE hybrids. Most of them TEND to be hybrids.
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I disagree. Most of them do not tend to be hybrids. Where did you get from my post anything about hybrids though? I was agreeing with what most had said, "It doesn't mean hybrid as several have said." You obviously read it wrong.
 
tarheels910 said:
Your like the only one that seems to think this. If most of them werent hybrids, they would sell them under names and make some money.
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How many times have you made fish orders for pet shops or dealt with wholesalers? Assorted is a mixed bag or variety pack to allow pet shops to not get stuck with one particular type and offer their customers a good selection for a discount from the wholesaler. It's marketing 101.
 
Nolapete said:
How many times have you made fish orders for pet shops or dealt with wholesalers? Assorted is a mixed bag or variety pack to allow pet shops to not get stuck with one particular type and offer their customers a good selection for a discount from the wholesaler. It's marketing 101.
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Haha, not really true. Assorted is fish they cant classify (mostly hybrids).
 
Nolapete said:
In my experience, 35 years and a half dozen friends that have owned LFS, that is not a true statement.
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You might be talking about mom and pop fish stores. Im talking about places like PetSmart and PetCo, like everyone else is. The assorted tank at these places are mostly hybrids.
 
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