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Just wanted to hear what people think are good fish stores. the best one I've found is pricey but I've only seen one dead fish in their over 500 tanks and they have the bigest selection i've ever seen (Aquarium Adventure). And the one pet store I would NEVER shop it is petsmart. I went in there once and they had at least 2 fish floping around on the ground and the lady didnt care. they ended up dying and she still didnt pick them up! I was about to cry! I was actualy there to pick up a job aplication but left Imidiately and have only been back once since then.

Pickering Valley feed and farm has a good selection of fish

i have actually also had bad experiences at petsmart they dont remove ill fish from selling tanks and a small very beautiful african cichilid jumped into one of the oscar tanks and was being chased and if left alone would be gobbled. i told two different fish section employees and neither moved the fish, for the fifteen minutes i had left to spend thier i was shooing away the oscars in hopes that the cichlid would jump the partition back into his tank again sad . they also had a beautiful goby whose head wasaccidentally smashed and they just let him flail in the display tank to die.i am often at fish stores so i see thier good and bad sides.

Well, I know that my local PetCetera sucks when it comes to fish -- all of them die within a month, so it's never worth it to buy any fish from them. But about a five minute drive away, there is a place called Bird Shop and Fish Aquariums, and that place is AWESOME. They've got well over a hundred tanks, and a good variety of fish. I love to go there to get my breeding guppies; the guppies I get there are at their breeding prime, so they're ready to breed right away.

It depends a lot on the individual employees and managers, though. I probably would not boycot Petsmart, not because they are cheap, but because my local one is pretty good. Our WalMart on the other hand takes TERRIBLE care of their fish.

However, my 2 favorites are Animal Ark (little local pet store) and another big chain people have complained about... PetCo. I knpw elsewhere they have as many horror stories as Petsmart, but this one here is one of the best pet stores around. They are clean, organized, and actually train their employees in CARING for animals, not just treating them like mechandice. I have been very impressed with the knowledgable staff and respect they have for their animals. So say what you want about Petsmart and Petco... I think the ones in Orem, Utah are a cut above.

I like Wal*Mart. I know a lot of people hate them, but I like them. I grocery shop there. But I think Wal*Mart SHOULD close their fish department. The employees are not specialized enough to make it fair to the fish. But at least they no longer sell OTHER pets. Ours used to... hamsters, birds, etc. It is one thing to see a dead fish or 2 but I would go in there and the gerbils would have no water or there would be a dead parakeet just in the cage! It was awful. Finally after enough protesting, they stopped, but ours still sells badly cared for fish that often die with in a week of people bringing them home.

[quote="Oe_Mizunagi]The only bad thing with guppies is that they're almost always pregnant when you buy them x.x but around here they have some really pretty ones. If you ever get interested in breeding egglayers you should try white clouds, they're supposed to be really good for beginers.

What's so bad about buying pregnant fish? When I buy livebreeders I usually pick out the pregnant females, since I keep them for the joy of breeding anyway. sweatdrop
The petshops around my place aren't the best. There are curently three petshops on the island, Cocqui Pet Store, Noord Pet Store and the Pet Stop.
I haven't been in the Noord yet, it's a shack that has been recently erected.
Pet Stop is the best, though it is really small (it's in a garage.) It specializes in fish and the fish are always healthy, but very pricy. I don't know what the normal price is but I think $ 12 is a bit much for a 5 cm goldfish. Regardless, I've never seen a deseased fish in the old man's tanks. Sadly the old man is closing down, since he's well over 80 years old.
Cocqui is the only profecional petstore. The owner also started in a shack till he bought the building Pet O'Landia used to be in.
I must say the shack was a lot better then the current one. The employees of Cocqui can't even tell the difrence between fresh water and salt water, and they don't sell saltwater fish. Also they have started selling a lot of painted fish lately. stressed

Oh yeah true, sweatdrop I forgot about that, I had that happen after all the males died, the guppies kept getting dead fry.
But i thought that only happend if you left a female that had mated once without a male. You mean, they never mate again?