New fish etiquette question.

O

ozgood

AC Members
Jul 11, 2007
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Northern Virginia
I purchased 5 snowflake socolofi and 2 electric yellows last night and found that one of the socolofi didn't make it to the morning. I added them to an established tank of 18 month old fish that are outlined in my signature. I purchased them from a LFS, not a big box store.

Should I go back to the LFS and try to get a replacement fish or chalk it up to the fish being picked on by the larger fish. The new socolofi are quite small, maybe 1 to 1.5". The other 4 are doing well and ate well this morning.

Anyway, wanted to see what the group things.
 
Hmmm, that's a tough one. My LFS will begrudgingly replace a fish when there's no sign of disease ( i.e. My Fish Killed It ), but I think I would just eat the loss. If you take home a group of healthy fish, it's not the LFS's fault your current stock killed it, or it didn't acclimate properly. I would guess it's been nipped up after death, so it would be tough to say if your fished killed it unless you witnessed some violence.
I would go in to talk the LFS owner/ manager, explain what happened and see how they react. Bring a water sample with you in case they want to test it. If they're cool people, and sold you all your fish at retail price, they should bite the bullet, give you another, what, $6-$10 fish, and ensure that you will patronize their store again.
 
Thanks. That's pretty much what I was going to do. I want to replace the fish as I'm trying to keep the fish count up as everyone suggests. The other four fish are doing well in the tank. They aren't cowering, that's for sure. They swim in/out of the rock, doing their shaking thing. The bigger fish really seem to be interested but not concerned by their presence. The two new Electric Yellows on the other hand are a much more timid. Anyway, the LFS guy will see me the next night (tonight) buying more of the same fish because one died. If he wants to take 20% off or give me a fish that's great. As you said, these fish were sold for $5.99.
 
I don't know a lot of LFS that give a guarantee on fish especially cichlids. None in my area do, they have signs out stating the exact opposite - that cichlids are ruthless fish in general and are at your own risk. I'd be surpised if they give you any credit. Also, if it didn't make it through the night and it wasn't your fish that means it was horribly horribly sick and died of an illness and you should've seen how sick it was. Was it horribly horribly sick? Probably not, so 99/100 times it was your fish, not some random death. I'd personally take the $6 loss - survival of the fittest my friend, and your little guy was not the fittest.
 
Thanks for the thoughts. My replacing the fish has been veto'd at this point by the better 1/2. If I do go about adding new fish I'll be sure to do so in a group. I'm not sweating the $6 for a fish. The fish didn't look sick when I got it. I'm sure it was something to do with the existing fish. I just didn't know what the general rule of thumb was in the hobby for something like this.
 
like afro stated above it will be a mix up with your LFS another trick of the trade is to wait til its time to eat or make them fast til you get ready to add the new fish feed the current stock on one side of the tank and release the new fish on the opposite side. its worked for me several times.
 
If you have a good rapport with them, they'll often replace a fish that didn't make it. Especially if you bought a group. I have had my LFS do this. I have also dropped $300 on fish there in one shot before, shop there for my food and supplies, and refer customers. After 2 years of shopping there, I now bring them juveniles of their fish I"ve bred, and get most of my food/ supplies for free. Fish cost a lot less than their sticker price, and I can have a new fish held to make sure it acclimates. They don't usually offer return policies, but LFS's beat the box stores on so many other levels.
 
Correction; If you're willing to drop lots of cash, LFS's beat the box stores.

Box stores treat every customer like a potential high-roller, though, which is why I can return even *opened and used* hardware(like pumps/powerheads) to petsmart.
 
If I were in a situation where I knew I needed to use a piece of equipment but not keep it, I'd just ask my LFS to loan me one. They do this, and at no charge either.
If it were a situation where the equipment failed through no fault of my own, the store would replace it.
It has nothing to do with money, I stocked my 55 gallon with Tanganyikan cichlids a year ago. That was my one major purchase. I couldn't have found these fish at the box store. After that it's been food and supplies, and getting to know the owners. I doubt I spend more than $20 a month there now that I can trade for food. I'll take my LFS.
Not to mention the general lack of knowledge or lack of caring on the part of the box stores. I cringe when I go through the fish department and see a customer standing there with a 10 gallon " complete setup " in their hand and an employee netting out an Oscar. It's like me showing up with a box with an ammonia injector in it and buying a puppy to put it in.
 
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