Old timers- are fish being sold at smaller sizes on average these days?

[Stan510]

Just seems like it. Before,it was special to get some fish at very low price because they were tiny. Like Clown Loaches. But nowadays..Danios and Barbs and the CL's are up in price ( what isnt?) at those same tiny sizes. Tetras too. Used to get Lemon Tetras at half size maybe..now they are like dots of yellow.

 

[Fishmanic]

Yeh, the last tiger barbs I recently bought at Petsmart were very tiny. Out of 5, only one survived. Larger sizes would have a better chance of surviving in my opinion. The one survivor is doing great.

I then went to Petco to get 3 more tiger barbs. They were much larger than the ones at Petsmart and all have survived for over a month now.

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

Not an old timer but I've noticed it depends on the shop. There's two I go to and the fish at the one shop are like half the size at the same price.

 

[Uberhoust]

I don't know what constitutes an old timer but I bought my first fish as a kid in the 60s. It seems to me that fish offered for sale many years ago were larger, I wouldn't say so much on fish like Neons, they always seemed small, but fish like clown loaches seemed to be larger. The local fish stores also seemed larger, but that could be due to location.

 

[Cydeth]

I've been in the hobby for 26 years so I guess I would count as an old timer.

Fish are certainly smaller these days, but I'm lucky enough to have a couple of local shops that are happy to hold larger or smaller specimens for me if I ever really require them.

One of the shops I've been going to occasionally of late, although not a shop I know very well, often have two tanks of their fish with one containing larger specimens.

 

[NannaLou]

When I was first married (30+ years ago) my husband had a tank and I remember him putting all the fish in a washing up bowl covered with a tea towel emptying all the water, scrubbing everything and putting all back again and those fish lasted for years....certainly weren’t as fragile/sensitive as they are now...?

 

[itiwhetu]

Yep fish are smaller. Shipping costs have increased so everyone is trying to get as many fish as they can per kilo. The quality of the fish have improved in most cases, some exceptions do occur like Dwarf Gourami's and Swordtails. If you are not happy with the size of a fish don't buy it and tell the owner that the fish need to be bigger.

 

[Stan510]

Yes,the hardiness factor is down. Clown Loaches were a sure thing to have a long aquarium life..I have 3 out of five I bought. That and the fact the two just died with no external problems. Seems like some kind of internal bug going around..swollen bellys..then death no matter how you treat it.
Back to the size thing. It's hard to find fish I want (Danio's/Rasboras) large enough to avoid being eaten by the usually very safe Rainbow fish. When Rainbows get to the 5" mark you would be very surprised what they can gulp down and how large their mouths can open.
One thing about fish today is- if you do see what you like? Jump on it and pay because it might be a long time before you see them again and at a decent size.
Haven't seen an Albino Giant Danio in years. They used to be a standard,always in stock.

 

[emeraldking]

If the sales have to continue and the breeders haven't got sufficient adults to sell, the juvies are sold. The sad thing is that the price won't go down despite of the smaller sizes. I've seen it at wholesalers that whatever the size, the price is the same unless we're dealing with XL sizes.
But to the average household with a fishtank at home, smaller versions of fish are sold better. But nowadays, overhere all relavant retailers need a certificate that will show their skills within this field. But it also says that they need to inform the customer that a depending on the species, what size it will become at some point. And that's a good thing. For before they didn't give such information in order to sell more fish.
But I do know that there are a large group of retailers that still refuse to give such info despite of the fact that they are obligated to do so.