Special order through LFS

[enrique4jc]

What are some of your experiences doing special order through a LFS. I am interested in some of the Gary Lange rainbow strains that Seagrest is supplying now. Looks like in my area I'd have to travel a bit and it will be a big box store. Wondering how that would go and what kind of expectations I should have. Can I be selective in terms of male/female ratios? Are they guaranteed healthy? Do they send extra to account for potential losses in shipping? Do I have to be there as soon as the delivery comes in or can it be an evening or next day kind of thing?

I know some of this may be specific to the individual store, but surely there are some basic standards.

 

[dougall]

I think it is all dependent on your LFS, to be honest.

Whether you have to be there will likely depend on whether you want the fish hanging around in bags indefinitely, or want them in the store's water.

Being able to choose M/F ratios will depend, ultimately, on what is available, the availability of both, and the person who bags your fish being able to tell the difference between the two.

I know Gary has sold fish in person plenty of times in the past, especially if he is speaking at local clubs, or just there in attendance.

 

[enrique4jc]

I'm thinking more about non-stock items you requested specifically to be sent for you from the farm to LFS.

It would be great to get some from the man himself, but I am in rural KY so the odds of being anywhere near a decent meet up where he could be seen are slim. Does he do web orders?

 

[dougall]

I don't know if he does, or does not.

I know that folks (as well as himself) have sold his fish online, but I couldn't quickly find anywhere while trying to work.

my suggestion would be to try to get involved with the local organized hobby and see what friends you can make.

for right now, maybe ask the LFS you would like to order through, what their policies are.

 

[the loach]

Normally, a "special order" means that fish will ordered from the same wholesaler (retailers don't order from fish farms) the other fish in the store come from as well, just the owner deems them too expensive, unknown, not popular enough, etc to order them himself.

When males/females aren't specified on the orderlist of the wholesaler (and only few fish are sold by gender, like guppies) you are just getting what they catch at the wholesalers. The catchers don't know, and don't care, so no you can't choose gender if it is not explicitly listed as an option (this of course means that they are in separate tanks, and the fish farms sell them separately.. the employees just catch and count). So it is up to the owner, if he orders more fish than you want to buy you can select them of course, otherwise not.
If he gets more so you can choose he will get them in a tank first as I don't see any retailer trying to fish certain individual fish out of a bag.
You could leave them there for a week or what so any losses won't be yours. Hope that explains the process, as for will the fish be any good it could go either way..

 

[dougall]

Segrest are no longer considered a farm, but are the largest wholesaler in the country..


But from what I can see, it looks like this would be for buying a whole bunch of fish, not necessarily a handful for yourself.

 

[the loach]

Yes if the retailer is a customer of them (as I assumed) they can get a couple to go along with their regular order, otherwise they're not going to do it, too expensive.

 

[enrique4jc]

@ the loach, I'm with you. Many of the folks at the local retailers don't know anything about their fish either, unfortunately.

D dougall , correct! Seagrest will not sell direct but will work with any LFS they supply to get you something as best I can tell. They are committed to not going around the middle man, because they (correctly) see the local LFS as vital to the hobby. You can search for their retailers by zip on their website. I just didn't know what that experience was usually like. I will have to call the nearest big box and see what they can do I suppose.

 

[the loach]

I just didn't know what that experience was usually like. I will have to call the nearest big box and see what they can do I suppose.

It can go either way, you can get good or poor quality fish regardless if the wholesaler is good or bad, I'm certainly not a fan of ordering fish but like you I live very rural and sometimes that is the only option.

 

[dougall]

My assumption is that most all wholesalers will sell a minimum number of fish to make it commercially feasible, in the case of Saltwater fish, that might likely be a single fish... for most Freshwater fish, it's maybe closer to 50 pr more. unless you want that many, it may be difficult to have them order a few for you, unless they plan to sell them themselves,.

Personally, if I was looking for something like this, depending on the strain, I would likely be looking at someone maintaining a population of the fish through something like the CARES program, and trying to buy from there.