Buying Fish From The Chain Pet Store Or The Family-owned Aquatics Stor

[kelp]

I'm not really sure whether to buy my fish from the local family owned aquarium store or a big chain store. The big chain store has a two week guarantee on all of their fish. The family owned aquarium store has a very knowledgeable staff and a great variety of fish. I usually buy at the chain store rather than the family-owned business because they have a two week guarantee which is really helpful to a new tank. I'll usually call the big chain first, and if they don't have the fish, the family owned business will usually have it. The family owned fish store has a higher quality of water in each tank compared to the chain store, but with the chain store, I can just replace the fish if they die. What do you guys think of this?

 

[tnhowery]

go with the family owned better water quality=heathier fish

 

[Gatorbait]

Buy from the family-owned store.

You won't need a 2 week guarantee with healthy fish.

 

[my fat fish]

yeah family owned uunless it maidenhead aquaticsa

 

[Tolak]

That depends if you like to gamble. Family owned shops often get their fish locally bred, but pay a little more, so they have to charge a little more These fish have been bred in & acclimated to your local water conditions. You pay a little more for well bred well acclimated disease free fish. Smaller shops need this, if they have a disease outbreak they have no one to back them up but themselves.

The chains import fish from around the globe, where they are bred in huge hatcheries. They pay for what amounts to pennies for many fish, if they lose 80% they still make money off of the remaining 20%. They have corporate backing, if their setup does a crash & burn from disease outbreak they order in more fish.

It is a generality, I've seen some well run clean corporate shops, and some filthy terribly run independant shops. I would go with the independant shop, and quar the fish for at least 2 weeks. If you find some suitable fish at the corporate shop, quar for 4 weeks.

 

[BigIan]

the chain store may give you a 2 week gaurantee on what you buy but what abut the disease they bring into your tank and kill the rest of your fish???


I`d go with the smaller family owned buisness, you say they have a better knoledge and f the staff have better knowledge then the fish you get will have been better looked after...

 

[Gatorbait]

the chain store may give you a 2 week gaurantee on what you buy but what abut the disease they bring into your tank and kill the rest of your fish???


I`d go with the smaller family owned buisness, you say they have a better knoledge and f the staff have better knowledge then the fish you get will have been better looked after...

Yep and kelp also says the water quality is better which means most likely healthier fish.

 

[chibi]

I'm guessing it's Petsmart? I'd go with the family-owned. If you think they're a reputable business, support them by buying fish from there. They may be a bit more expensive, but their main focus is fish, not dog food, cat food, etc. like pet chain stores who cover all pets.

 

[shellyboylan]

without seeing the fish it's difficult to say - but if they look healthy and the store has a good reputation then i'd choose that place. my lfs is awful, my mate wouldn't believe me for months, he got a couple of fish there last week and now all his others are dead... he believes me now. my favourite place was an aquatics section at a garden centre, never had a problem with anything there but they closed down last year i'm not keen on big names like pets@home - too often there are fish floating on the top there, and the tetras i got there were a bit of a mixed batch too. the problem is most places will have the odd bad fish, so unless you're willing to travel for hours on end sometimes things WILL go wrong

 

[Birdie]

In addition to all the excellent fishy reasons for going with the family-owned business, your ££ will benefit the local economy far more that way. If you don't want a high-street full of boarded-up shop-fronts, ya have to buy things from them

 

[Amunet]

Well, if the family owned one has better quality fish that look healthy, then I'd go with them. If your larger chain petstore has high quality stuff though you could always go with them too.
There is one aquatic shop here and it's just terrible. The only thing they have going for them are their plants that they keep snail free. Their freshwater fish are just in bad BAD shape though. Just as bad as if you went to Walmart fish section.
Lots of dead ones floating around being pecked at by it's tankmates... dyed fish.. etc etc.

There are 2 Petsmarts here. One is a bit further way, but b/c it's in a richer neighborhood, their fish section is REALLY nice (cept for their bettas... sigh). All of their tanks were clean, no dead fish or anything of the sort.

So yeah... go with whichever you think would be best.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Although your chain store has a 2 week return, which is admirable, I find a good repore with local, smaller shops still nets me a refund or store credit. Getting known at your LFS for being a regular and informed customer gets you perks those nasty in-patient customers wont ever know!

Quality fish and Customer service over price any day.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

i would go with family owned if their fish are just as healthy as the chain because they need the money more than the chainstore. and if they have more money, they will have better fish usually, they will get store credit for dead fish, at least 1/3, thats how it is for my lfs.

 

[dwarfgourami]

It really is impossible to say without having seen the store. I've seen some pretty grim small family-owned stores in my day, and some pretty grim chainstores. Also, perfectly reasonable shops of both kinds. I have also seen two stores from the same chain, in the same town, with clearly a totally different approach to selling fish. Haven't seen a perfect shop yet; the nearest I've come is a pet shop in a department store in Sweden...bit far to go for my fish. But one day I am going up to London to see some of the most highly recommended ones.

 

[vinylman]

Always trust your eyes. If one has obviously better water quality and healthy fish, go there. I'd always be inclined to buy locally bred fish; they're more likely to come from healthy parents and not been bred almost to death.