Where do you buy your fish?

Where do you buy your fish?

  • Local Fish Store

    Votes: 108 74.0%

  • Petstore (Petsmart, Petco, etc...)

    Votes: 55 37.7%

  • Walmart

    Votes: 13 8.9%

  • Online

    Votes: 19 13.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 12 8.2%
  • Total voters
    146
I buy my fish equally between my LFS and on line (LiveAquaria.com). I've purchased exactly 2 fish from Petsmart and will never buy fish from them again. Although 1 was fine, the other developed ich within 1 day of bringing him home. I've gotten 1 fish (Cherry Fire Shrimp) that was DOA from LiveAquaria and they gave me credit for that, and 1 fish that we all thought was gonna die, but didn't and we still have him.

The LiveAquaria and other on line shops have more fish varieties than my LFS, however the LFS fish are cheaper. I got 7 Boesemani rainbows for $7.99 each at my LFS, compared to the cheapest I could find on line at $8.90 each, plus overnight shipping.

I buy all my plants from LiveAquaria (with the exception of 1 or 2 I got from my LFS) as well with no problems whatsoever.

The majority of my supplies come from from online/Petsmart/LFS. Petsmart's supplies have more variety than my LFS, but their prices are about the same. On line is cheapest, even with shipping eg: Emporer 400 Bio Wheel filter was $90 at Petsmart, $88 at LFS and $42.00 on line with 6.95 shipping for a total of $48.95 on line.

Roan
 
Most of my community fish I buy from a PetCo in my area. They have a great fish dept....the fella responsible for caring for the tanks does a fantastic job. They don't have a huge variety though...just the usual easy selling stock with the occasional great find..like my rams that I bought there.

I have bought some from an LFS as well. He has lots of variety, many many different species...lots and lots of tanks full of fish. I bought my panda cories from him and also my red bellied newts and halfblack pastel guppies.

I have bought a few fish from walmart...not often though. They have a lousy fish dept, even though they recently vamped it up. Mostly just bettas and once a gorgeous irridescent green cobra tailed fancy guppy...he was beautiful, but...the cashier placed him on the scanner and then I...having my hands full...forgot to lift him up over the scanner on the way out the door..(DOH!!) He was doomed from the start ! Died two days later... :rolleyes:

Bettas I buy from whatever store I'm in and I see an unusual one. Walmart, PetCo, PetSmart or the lfs...if you get there when they get them in you will sometimes find some really nice bettas. Those are the ones that go first as soon as they get on the shelf, so if you get there a day late, they're already gone. But, I've lately slowed down in buying bettas....occupied with my planted tanks, shellies and dart frogs these days...lol
 
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I haunt any place that sells fish. I'm not opposed to purchasing from any and all outlets depending on selection and price. I of course use caution with all purchases. I have seen sick fish for sale and bad advice offered in all outlets. Watch the fish carefuly before buying and do your own reseach are my key rules.
 
So far I have purchased almost all of my equipment from Petsmart. It's not really by choice because the closest good LFS is on the other side of Houston.
 
Big als for the common stuff, platys, snails, plants, but all of my Bettas are from overseas...I usually get hooked up with breeders via aquabid or the IBC. The nice thing about buying from breeders online is the quality (bar none better then ANYTHING at the LFS, i dont care where you shop) and you can usually wrangle a deal for extra pairs, whatever if you are spending a few bucks...The price is usually alot better then what you would of paid for half the quality at an LFS..If you get in good with some breeders, they will usually keep you posted of any stock they have available BEFORE it goes out for sale to the general public. The other consideration is they know the genetic info on their fish, not important if you are looking for pet quality, but a must if you breed.
 
I get my fish at Petsmart. It turn out that there is a Petsmart about 1/8th a mile from my work, and about 1/4 mile from my school, and theres one on the way home from work or school. So all 3 petsmarts are convieneint for me to go to, and I buy from one of them depending on where I am that day.

Sometimes I stop by Petco, but they don't quite have the variety that Petsmart has, although they do seem slightly higher quality, but their slightly more expensive. I have a friend who works at Petco, so maybe I'll use his %20 discount sometime, but I haven't yet.

The Wal-marts near me have a rather small selection, and they actually aren't any cheaper that Petsmart, and their fish usually look rather sick. The only thing they have that I would buy is ghost shrimp.

I buy my fish supplies from Ebay.
 
I used to go to a great LFS in Blacksburg (any current Hokies need to do business with Zooquatic on South Main), but where I'm living now has one disgusting pet store that reeks of feces and grody aquariums filled with unhealthy cichlids. My local Walmart actually does a decent job with their fish department and I've overheard the woman who runs it talking to customers several times and she knows what she's doing at least.

Still, getting back to a place with an excellent store like Zooquatic has me thinking of returning to that area. Not a major factor of course, but still a selling point.
 
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