Selling fish to the LFS...

[endparenthesis]

I hope I'm not duplicating a previous topic... I looked around for it a bit but couldn't find it anywhere.

I've always wondered what the fish-selling process is typically like. I'm hoping to breed some fish in the future and I'll need to take most of them somewhere. I have no experience with this so my questions may sound dumb.

Do LFS's usually pay you cash or do they just give you store credit? Are there weird guidelines of some sort you have to follow in the process? How much money is reasonable and when do you know they're trying to rip you off (not that I'm doing this for profit... just a matter of principle)? Will fish of a certain age/size garner more money (making it wise to wait until a certain point)? How many fish will they usually take at once? If selling bettas will they lend you those plastic cups for you to gather your fish in or do you have to figure out how to get them to the store yourself? Will places like PetSmart or PetCo typically buy fish or do they have policies against that sort of thing?

In my area PetCo is the best and the LFS is the worst... so hopefully I will have found more options when the time comes.

Thanks for whatever input you guys can give.

 

[Synastic]

This is a really good question. I have been wanting to know the answers to these questions too, I just forget to post it. I will be tracking this one.

 

[rsz]

It kinda depends on the lfs. My best one is willing to accept healthy looking fish and will give you store credit worth one third of the price that they'll sell the fish for. I don't know if other places do it like that.

I don't think Petsmart/Pets co/Pets at home would accept fish...

As for the age of the fish, it really depends on the species. I expect a large piranha or something would fetch you a bit more money than a teeny baby one. But some fish, like livebearers, well, you'd be best to take those when they're about 6 months, I expect.

How much money you get also depends on the species. You probably won't get a profit for raising livebearers. In fact, you might lose money. However, for rarer species, or species that are harder to breed, you would get more.

 

[MAM]

well, really, you just have to call around and see what your various lfs policies are. most of the chain pet stores won't buy fish or take them off your hands even. i have one store that will occasionally take livebearers, because they can see them fast and cheap, but otherwise won't take fish. another place, you have to call first and see if they can take your fish (some they don't have room for or won't be able to sell). they'll either just take them off your hands or give you store credit if you ask. now since you are thinking of starting some sort of breeding program, you could talk to store owners/managers and see if you can get some sort of deal as a supplier

 

[CFC]

As already said it does vary from store to store, i get anything from 1/4 to 1/3 of the retail price for any fry i take in, most lfs will insist that the fish are at least 1" in size and sometimes bigger depending on the species. None of the lfs near me will pay cash for common livebearers, they will only offer a store credit and usually for as little as 10 pence per fish.

 

[Perky]

My LFS gives you money on bigger fish and fry (unless they are livebearers)

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Big chain stores normally don't take the fish, let alone pay for them.

The more exotic and hard-to-breed the fish are, the more you get for them. Livebearers get you nothing, but then angels get you money depending on their size. I'd say cichlids and discus'd get you some. bettas as well.

It all depends on your lfs, as said before. Some of them prefer to get their fish from one source. However, they do like exotic fish, though.

Chances are they'll give you store credit because they profit more from it. Or they'll offer you more credit than money.

 

[Doggfather]

like already said, you will get about a 1/3 of their retail price

don't forget the lfs has to feed them, have filters running in the tank, change the water, etc, etc...

it costs money for them to sell them

 

[JoKeR]

I go to mom and pop shops they usally have big cups for the bettas, Or they make orders and then they bring the betta,

 

[got_nailed]

Well here is what I have always though about people selling there fish to LFS. I don’t know what your tank looks like and if you tack good care of your tank or not. So if I know that my LFS is buying a lot of fish from customers then I won’t get fish there anymore. I think this is the biggest part of the sickness that people get. They look good now but what about in 4 weeks. The other thing is are they keeping the blood line true and using good fish for breading.

If you want to breed fish for feeders, that’s great. That’s what most of the LFS where I’m at do. They have a wall of “feeder fish” that are anything that someone has breed and sold them. I will say that there are some nice fish they sell as breeders but how would I know who sold them and who is sick. Yes I do Q-tank all my fish for 4 weeks before they go into my larger tanks.

I have been raising 4 different types of Tetras for 4 years now. I have around 30- 55gallon Q-tanks that I have in my fish room. I do sell to 4 of the LFS and I will not tack any fish out of a tank and drive it to them. I make them come to my house and get them. I keep logs on every tank, and make sure they get a copy of the logs when they buy a tank. I only sell by the tank so I can keep the fish truly in Q-tanks and I know I haven’t spread anything from one tank to a different tank. Every Friday I sell around 300 fish and have never had any completes of a sickness form my stock.

The thing that I’m trying to get at is, a good breeder will not sell a sick fish and if they only get there fish from good breeders then where is all the sickness coming from? I know that all the LFS that I go to will not let you bring them back fish and if you do they get the 151 bath and go to floating.


Hey Doggfather you have a real good point but what about treating a disease a huge wet/dry sump with 30 tanks on it. and then the costumers tanks that got the fish, and now have sick tanks to.

 

[fishdudein]

I only have one local owned fish store in my area, and one Petsmart. I have checked with both about buying fish from me. Petsmart says they are not allowed to buy fish from customers, however they will take back any pl*cos that outgrow your tanks, no compensation, they'll just take the fish off your hands. Thank goodness for the local fish store, though. If they have a demand for the fish, and if they have open tank space, they will usually be more than happy to buy fish from customers. Now, looking back at got nailed's post - you can't be sure what the tank conditions are that customer's fish are coming from, but you CAN tell a lot just by the quality and condition of the fish. I don't pass on any deformed , undersized,or otherwise poor quality fish to the store. My fish are well fed, kept in clean, frequently changed waters, and if I suspect that there is anything wrong going on in the tank, those fish do not get sold. It is not worth jeopardizing my relationship with the store, to sell a few fish. I always check on the store's progress in selling my fish a week or two afterwards, and because I only bring them fish that I would buy myself, I have never had a complaint. Whatever their retail price is, they will give me half if I take it on store credit. If I want cash, it's half of the store credit amount, or 1/4 of retail. I have never sold any bettas, so I'm not sure how you would handle that, just check with the store. I used to bag my fish and take them to the store, but since they always put them in buckets to acclimate them anyway, I started using buckets also (with lids) and it's much easier. Also, it doesn't matter if I have 100 fish to sell, they will only buy what they have room for, and I have to admire that because I don't keep my fish overcrowded at home. I'm just a hobbyist, doing what I love to do, not planning on making a profit, but it's nice to get a little something back once in a while.

 

[got_nailed]

I didn’t mean to put anyone down or to make anyone feel like all I did was bread fish to make a bunch of cash. I have got fish form lots of stores thought the years and have gotten a few sick ones. My work requires me to travel and stay out of town over night a lot. Well I love fish and started to go to pet stores everywhere I went.

I had a lot of fry and moved them to a 55 gallon and they grew up. Well I love to talk to the store owners about there products and the next thing I know I was breading some Black Widows (Black Skirts) Tetras for my LFS. He gave me a few fish to use for my breading. It took a few months for them to bread and I stared to go to other LFS to find fish with better colors to mix with the ones I had. I and my LFS were happy with the fish I was breading. I stared to bread them and get them to size in large numbers.

I found that sorting them by size after a point and putting them into 55 gallon tanks. He told a few other stores about the fish I was breading and the next thing I know I was trying to breed fish for 4 stores. Once I got to the point I could keep up with what they wanted I started to bread Bleeding Hart, Serpae, and Three-lined Pencilfish.

The more I was breading the more I thought I could spread something so I was talking to them and they gave me some more tanks and canister filters to make a huge room just for Q-tanks.


My biggest thing is that somewhere I think that fish need to be in Q-tanks for the 4 weeks. This will ensure that putting $20 worth of fish in a 125 gallon won’t become sick and add another $70 worth of meds. This has happed to me before I stared to breed fish but it happens a lot. Most LFS don’t have room to hold all there new stock for 4 weeks, and most of the time they put there fish right into there tanks.

If every one just started to bring fish into the LFS then a lot of sickness will come into the tanks. If the breeders are sending sick fish then they are going to buy from other breeders. Over ½ if the LFS I go to I see ich and body fungus. You can’t tell if a fish is sick by looking at it for 5 minutes. Some times it can take 2 weeks for them to show signs of stuff.

 

[endparenthesis]

I have a feeling I'll be posting a newspaper ad .

"Crowntail Bettas - cheaper and healthier than the petstore"

I'll probably live in an apartment building in the near future... I can post it in the lobby.

 

[pete28]

hey im in the sme boat as rsz. my lfs will take the healthy fish and give you 1/3 of there value in store credit. i think they do this because they buy there fish at wholesale prices. i have yet to find a lfs that will give you cash for your fish. if thats the route you wish to go you would be better off selling them to individual people ass opposed to an lfs.

 

[GuppyFan]

It really all depends on location I suppose. When we had our first batch of guppy fry, we called around to see what the deal was with the lfs policy on buying back fish. Well, One store said they would take only fully mature guppys without giving even store credit. Turns out the lfs down the street gives 1/2 price in store credit and they will take them as soon as they can distinguish between male and female. We usually wait at least 6 weeks so we can see the color variations and then sell them. Typically we take in about 15-20 fish at a time and get about $30 in store credit. Not too shabby if you ask me. I think the reason they are willing to take so many at a time is because they go through guppys at an incredible rate. They normally get a shipment in on wednesday and by the next monday, they are all gone. I think that guppys sell more than any other fish in the store. Im hoping to save up enough store credit to get a huge tank for the apartment next year.