How can I know if the fish store I'm buying from is a reputable one?

Question

I usually buy from PetSmart or Petco but they don't have the kind of fish I'm looking for. I don't know anyone with a tank so I can't ask friends.

I am looking for glofish. I bought my first two on the web from one of the only two places that are officially approved by the glofish site. The price was reasonable but the shipping is outrageous.

Answer 1

That can be tough to do. Your can educate yourself by researching the type of fish in which you are interested, then you won't have to rely on the advice of the store employees. A good aquarium reference book can be used many times over. There are some good websites, but just about as many bad ones, so you'll need to be careful there. If you could post an "added details" to your question (use the + in the box under "answer this question" and say what type of fish you're looking for, someone can point you to some better web info as a place to start. I'll check back in a bit!

Answer 2

Ask them if they have any tattooed fish. Most fish don't survive the tattooing, so good stores don't support it because it's inhumane.

Also, many people have a problem with salt water fish in general. Many times part of a reef is blown up in order to catch these fish from the wild (most don't breed to readily in captivity).

Other than that, as long as they keep their tanks clean and their employees actually know what they're talking about, it's probably a good store.

About the connected filters (one big system as opposed to many little ones)-- diseases do not spread through them. The whole back room is one big filter, with a UV sterilizer which kills diseases. The way diseases would be spread now is through net usage without using net soak in between, which pretty much every store does anyways. Also, with so many little tanks, how do they keep a handle on their levels? Petsmart tests their water twice a day.. do those little pet stores test every tank even once a week??

Answer 3

great hole in the wall mom and pop stores are a great place to start. these are normally called local stores and are run by people who have been in the fish industry for a while. I normally do not ask for advice from petco or petsmart unless i can get an answer that I feel comes from years of experience, I have dealt with ignorant "new" employees at petco and big fish chains that say alot of BS about new fish but my research always contradicts them.

if you drive around you can hopefully see a local pet store. go inside and check it out.

a few good things to look for are:
1. are all the fish in separate tanks? to do this check the water levels, if they are different to fish do not share the same water, so if a fish gets sick in one tank, it does not spread to all the other fish, this is seen mostly in Petco and wal-mart.
2. are the staff knowledgeable? you can test this by asking them questions you already know the answer too. if their reply contradicts your own knowledge ask to speak to someone else, the employee could be new or from a different dept. but use your own judgement, 2nd opinions are good, but if you get a third one, its not a reputable source.
3. do all the fish seem healthy? no ich/ ick, no clamped fins? all the dead or mostly all the dead fish are removed?
4. do they have fish experience/ do they keep fish themselves?

those are basic but important questions to determine if the store is reputabe.

that's at least what i base my standards on. I found two great places in my city and I used this rubric as my standard judging scale.

GOOD LUCK!

-aNna

Answer 4

I prefer the "old school" independent. They have individual tanks with individual filters. NOne of these retail systems you see in chain stores that spread disease throughout the system.
If the tanks are clean and the fish are healthy, it's probably a good one. If more than 5% of the tanks have dead fish, don't buy from them!

Answer 5

Well, from personal experience, don't go to walmart. Too many I have got have died. Just when you go in, make sure the tank is fairly clean and their aren't a lot of dead fish in it. It's good to make sure the tak isn't overcrowded when you get some out of it, cause that seems to have some affect. (why, i don't know)