Do you sympathy buy?

blue2fyre

blue2fyre

Blue Fish
Oct 7, 2008
4,440
3
0
43
Wisconsin
Real Name
Ashley
There's a Ps. acei at my local lfs that has literally been there for months. Poor guy is skinny and beat up and looks worse everytime I go in there. I always consider buying him and nursing him back to health but the $28 price tag usually stops me.

Do you sympathy buy fish? What was the outcome?
 
I had an Ich outbreak in my Livebearer tank, and I saw 2 Platy that were chewed up and had what looked like the start of ich too, so I got them, tossed them in and now they are very happy fish.
I did do that with a Guinea Pig too. She was in a Petco for about 5 months, all other new and past piggies would be sold off, but she stayed and kept growing. Soon she was an adult and I couldn't let her spend her whole life in a tiny glass 2ft by 8in cage. She was an albino, I guess she was scary to the little kids...She turned out to be a very sweet piggie.
 
If you do end up getting her, make sure your QT her so that she has time to regain her strength before being put back in a tank with other fish. Also because of her condition, you could try to lower the price. If you think you can do it I say go for it.
 
Once I had three small clown loaches in a 55 gallon tank, and I knew that I was going to need to rehome them relatively soon.
Then, one day I saw this pathetic clown loach at the lfs. His former owner had dropped him off because he'd gotten too big. He was about 6 inches, stuck in a tank with a bunch of catfish. He had no hiding spots. The only object in the tank was a flat piece of driftwood, and the loach had scratched his head up trying to wedge himself underneath it.
He was only 12 bucks. At first I didn't buy him, because I knew I already had clown loaches that I couldn't take care of in the long term. But I couldn't get that poor guy off my mind, so I went back in a couple of days and bought him. He was in quarantine for a few weeks. It was so much fun to finally put him in the 55 and let him meet the other three little guys.
I kept them all for about another 6 months, and then found them a good home (with Zebulon who's here on AC). They live with Zeb's old loaches, plus a group of little babies he got recently. He's got them hand-feeding :) My rescue fish is the largest one in there, so he's the alpha loach.
So, in my case, I'm totally happy about my sympathy purchase. That fish went from being miserable, lonely, and scratched up, to fat and happy and king of his tank.
 
Yeah I asked about a cheaper price but the fish in the tank were already on sale lol. My lfs is pretty expensive. I think I've pretty much decided that if s/he's still there in 2 weeks, I'll pick him/her up. I'm going to be out of town during Thanksgiving so after that I will check in. Mbuna are tough so if s/he can make it another 2 weeks then it'll work out.
 
personally, i would not buy a sympathy fish, especially one that is $28. even if you think you can nurse him back to health, you'll probably spend quite a bit on money and lots of time doing water changes and other things that he may need. then, when if you do nurse him back to health you'll be stuck with a fish that may not fit in with your others.
 
Definitely try to bargain the down--after all there is clearly not a lot of demand for the poor guy...
 
One of my lower end LFS have a couple year old oscar. The guy is the biggest he can get and is stuck in a 35-50G tank. Poor thing can't turn too well and they have him on for sale, yes sale for 99$ which is completely nuts. Heck if he was 20$ I would buy him, but 99 is way too much.
 
i would definitely pick her up especially since you have the ability to take care of her properly. once you get back from your trip i would go there and pull "oh look at this sickly fish it will barely survive in anybodies tank but i might be able to nurse her back to health will u take $10 for her that way if she doesnt survive i dont lose the whole $28 and you guys still make a little money instead of letting her die and losing money"
 
personally, i would not buy a sympathy fish, especially one that is $28. even if you think you can nurse him back to health, you'll probably spend quite a bit on money and lots of time doing water changes and other things that he may need. then, when if you do nurse him back to health you'll be stuck with a fish that may not fit in with your others.
Click to expand...

I agree. Although, it would kinda depend on the situation for me. If it was a fish that I had wanted anyway and I knew the store was good--just a unwanted fish for whatever reason, then I think I might get it. If the fish is in a store that is just generally poor (think big chain stores with totally ignorant fish departments), then I can't in good conscience buy the fish and encourage them to keep the bad fishkeeping cycle going.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom