The most convenient method of buying aquarium fish is through your local fish store, wholesale or breeder.
This guide at Aquarium Blueprints will reveal some of the advantages and disadvantages of shopping locally as well as provide tips as what to look out for so that you can acquire healthy fish.
Quick Navigation:
- Advantages of buying aquarium fish locally
- Disadvantages of purchasing aquarium fish locally
- Checking the reviews of your local fish store
- What to look for when buying fish locally
- Questions you should ask your local fish store
Advantages of buying aquarium fish locally
We generally prefer buying fish locally as opposed to ordering online. This is because, in a vast majority of cases, you can get fish cheaper as you don’t have to pay for shipping and its associated packaging costs (which may include a heat pack).
If you visit your local fish store, fish breeder of wholesaler, then there is a pretty good chance that the water they are using are the same, or close to the same, as your water if they are taking it from the tap. This will help your fish better acclimate to your water parameters when you put them in your tank.
Not to mention that the fish will be more stressed if you decide to acquire them online. This is because they will potentially spend several days inside a bag containing a small body of water. During shipment, they may also experience dangerous rises and/or drops in temperature as well. By buying fish locally, you can bring your fish home as quickly as possible and, therefore, limit the amount of stress to your new aquatic pets.
If you purchase locally, you can also pick out the specific fish you want as opposed to buying online. If you decide to buy over the internet, the fish may or may not look like the one shown in pictures and/or videos. Last but not least, you can check if the fish is sick with your own eyes at brick-and-mortar stores as opposed to buying online.
Disadvantages of purchasing aquarium fish locally
The major disadvantage when it comes to buying aquarium fish locally is that you are limited to what your breeder, store and/or wholesaler offers. If you looking for some of the unpopular fish species (such as cichlids, rainbow fish and many saltwater species) then you most likely have to look for a source that is outside your local area.
Furthermore, your breeder, store and/or wholesaler may not have the best reputation. They could be offering sick fish, giving bad advice for fish keeping, try to up-sell you on products that you may not need and more. If you don’t have a local source with a good reputation, then you may be better offering looking for reputable websites that sell live aquarium fish.
Checking the reviews of your local fish store
Before going to the local fish store of your choice, you can save a lot of time by looking at online reviews. We recommend using Yelp when researching the reputation of your local fish store. You should read as much of the reviews as possible as some reviews could be falsified (someone could be posting a positive review on behalf of the store while a competitor could be posting a negative review). You should also keep an close eye to see if there are any responses from the company to customers who posted negative reviews.
Researching a local breeder or wholesaler is a lot more difficult, especially if they don’t have any online presence. Even if they do have a website, the testimonials could easily be faked. So, unfortunately, you can’t do much when it comes to researching these sources.
What to look for when buying fish locally
By buying fish locally, you have the advantage of spotting healthy fish. The first thing you should look for is whether or not your local breeder, store and/or wholesaler is using separate filter for each tank or running one big central filter for all tanks. Contagious diseases, such as Ich, are easily spread to other tanks if a central filtration system connecting multiple aquariums is used.
You should keep an eye on how the fish nets are used. Diseases can also be transferred from one tank to another through netting. If your local source is using the same fish net across multiple aquarium, then they could unwittingly be transferring harmful diseases (even if the fish are looking healthy, you may run into trouble down the line).
When you’re actually looking at the fish, the most obvious troublesome sign to look out for is the presence of dead fish. Deceased aquatic life could mean several factors, including poor water quality and diseases. If your local source is using a central filtration system, make sure to analyze all the tanks.
Next, you should also look for signs of fish diseases. You want to avoid buying fish from tanks that have inhabitants that exhibits white spots, deformed spines, worms, fungus, open wounds and other abnormalities.
If you spot dead or diseased fish at your local source, then we recommend looking for better place if possible.
If you are planning to shop at a local fish store and/or wholesale, we recommend showing up during opening hours. This is because the employees and/or owners can simply removed the dead or diseased fish from tanks, which will then give the appearance of healthy tanks. If you showed up as the business opens, there is a good chance that there won’t be enough time for the employees and/or owners to do any cleanup before you can spot any warning signs.
Questions you should ask your local fish store
Of course, what you see with your eyes, won’t tell the whole story. There are a few questions we recommend asking your local fish store, breeder and/or wholesaler.
The first question should be whether or not the fish have been properly medicated to be as disease free as possible before they are put out to be sold. Even if a fish looks healthy and behaving naturally doesn’t mean that they aren’t carrying anything contagious that could harm them and/or the rest of the inhabitants in your tank. A properly medicated fish also means that you don’t have to spend money on medications.
Another question should be about the water parameters, especially in regards to pH. The more similar the parameters of your local source are to your own tank water, the easier it is for your new fish to acclimate. With that said, having vastly different parameters aren’t necessarily a bad thing, it just mean that you have to be more careful during the acclimation process.
You should also ask about what type of food your local source is feeding the fish. Some fish species are picky eaters while some require specific diets. Not to mention that some may not readily accept new types of food. So it’s best to ask the owners and/or employees just so you don’t run into any problems once you add your new fish to your aquarium.
The last question you should ask is a return policy. A good fish store, breeder and/or wholesale should know that a lot could go wrong when adding new fish to your tank even if it is not their fault. A good return policy should let you replace your fish and/or any form of credit or monetary refund.
Recap
We generally prefer shopping locally over online as it is less stressful on the fish. Not to mention that you will be able to inspect the fish personally before making a purchase.
When buying fish in person, you should look out for any dead or sickly fish. You should also check the reputation of the seller online if possible.