Good Find at Wal-Mart!

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Aqualung

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Jan 31, 2004
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I have never bought a fish at Wal-Mart until today. I happened to peek in the tanks to see a fish which I couldn't remember the name of at the time. It is a species I have always wanted, but had never seen until now. It must have been a stowaway in one of the shipments. I picked it up for a buck fifty (payed for an Otocinclus). When I got home I looked it up, and it's a Banded Characidium, also known as a Banded Darter. It is now at home in my 29 gal. and seems to be adjusting well. :D
 
I love it when stuff like that happens. Like when you go to the store and they don't ring up something :) Yeah, it would be better to be honest but I am poor and they are rich. :p
 
Mayree, I have to admit I did that once, but here's why:
I made a purchase at my LFS a while ago, near closing time. The cashiers were going nutso ringing through customer after customer, and I was buying about seven or eight things - I got home and looked at the bill, and realized they'd charged me an extra $9.99 for something the customer in front of me must have had in his pile - I wouldn't have minded if I'd got the thing, but I didn't - I paid for it, he took it home. ><
The next time I was in the store I bought some plants and a couple fish. Again, the store was crazy busy, and the cashiers were having a hard time keeping up. I didn't notice until I got home (I now check every bill before I leave the store) that they'd charged for all but one of the plants, a sword that was $8.99.
I figure we're about even now ;)
 
LOL Blinky. Now if my LFS made a mistake and gave me something free I definitely wouldn't feel bad. They rip me off every time I shop there. Every LFS around here the prices are outrageous.
 
I figured since they didn't even realize they had it to begin with, I might as well let the employee make the decision. He questioned what it was at first, but since he couldn't figure it out he decided to tag it as an otto since that was the only label on the tank besides "silver dollar". I was more than happy to pay less than $2 for a fish I hadn't even seen for sale before :dance
 
I got a baby electric catfish once, about 2" long, sold as a plecostomus, for about $3 from a department store clerk who didn't know any better. I took it home, put it in my 55 with a bunch of other fish, and the next day one was dead, another was dying, and a third was never quite right afterwards. I thought such a small one wouldn't be deadly to other fish, the shock it gave was less than you get from a good 9-volt battery on your tongue. I eventually gave it to a friend who had a 125 with 3 LARGE oscars, and a pacu the size of a dinner plate. After 2 of the oscars learned that it wasn't a feeder fish, (One had to try twice), it was funny, to see a little 2.5" fish swimming around this huge tank, with relativly giant fish as far away from it as they could get at all times, and seemingly terrified of this little pipsqueak catfish.
 
I had a similar situation happen at Wa-mart once and I definately regret not buying the fish. I walked back to the automotive department to get some oil, And the fish dept is running perpendicular to the oil aisle so I figure I would look and see what they had and there in the middle tank was a pair of 5inch
Elephant noses, so I figured they would be like 20-40$(avg. price here) I looked at the price tag and they were only 6.99$. I came so close to buying them but for some reason(fiancee) I didnt and have regreted it ever since!
 
I got an african butterfly and 2 weather loaches. They were 1,87 each, I felt like I was stealing them lol
People at the counter were giving me weird looks, like what the heck you want those for lol, when I put them on the counter next to the lady's giant bottle of fabric softener...heheheh
 
Come to think about it, I got a couple of Synodontis catfish a few years ago, labeled as upside down cats, which many syno's are, aside from the common little ones. They usually sell for $20+ at pet shops, had them for years before I traded them off for something else. They also occaisonally sell Asian upside down cats, that look like syno's, all black with a few silver flakes on their sides. Asians are not syno's though, they grow much faster, and are much more aggressive, usually the ones in the tank at Wal-Mart are beat up, with torn fins, from being crowded together. I got 3 or 4, and only 1 survived, it killed the other ones, in a 55 gallon tank.
 
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