Am I alone on this or is it much more common???

[awesomecichlid]

In the rare cases of me going to a lfs to purchase a fish, I have a little check list that I use to help me make a decision.

• The first is to check all fins - making sure they are up and flaring
• The coloration is good and doesn't look stressed.
• Is the fish active or is it in a corner by it self.
• Check to see any signs of sickness

But the one thing that seems to stump the lfs employees is:

When I ask them to feed the fish first - In my opinion if the fish doesn't eat or not a voracious eater then I do not pick it.

I always get "well we just feed them" or "Why do you want me to do this" and the best one "Trust me, these fish eat and are perfectly healthy"



I am just curious to see if others have a similar method or practice that is used to pick a fish.

 

[knifegill]

No, because I have magic powers that help fish to feel like eating once I get them home. Magic like a nice big aquarium and better food, mood lighting and very little stress. In the shop, these little critters are crowded, beaten and fed flake gruel. You wouldn't want to eat, either.

 

[awesomecichlid]

I respectfully disagree. I have seen tanks that are crowed like you say with fish that do nothing but wait to be feed. I do agree with better conditions equal happier fish but that is not the point of this thread.

Thanks a lot for your comment

 

[Gill Blue]

more involved than I get. if it looks reasonably healthy, I'm fine. nothing wrong with a loner fish either, I consider them kindred spirits.
I'm of the opinion that any fish I get is more likely to survive with me than at the store. I've also noticed that drab blah looking fish also tend to be much more colorful after a week or two with me. often it barely takes 24 hours. good water can make a world of difference.
In 30 some years,I don't think I've ever lost a new fish from not eating.

 

[EmilyMarie85]

That's a good idea (feeding), I have never done that before. The only thing I do in addition to the list you wrote is check the store. How are the tanks filtered? Some stores are on a centralized system, so any disease that is in one tank has the potential to be in all of them. I think you can learn a lot about how the fish has been kept just by looking around the store... If the tanks look clean and well kept, if there are any dead fish in any tanks, etc.

 

[andyjs]

I usually don't have problems taking home fish that don't look quite 100%, but I won't pay for fish that are obviously not doing well.

I work in a fish store and when people ask, I'm always honest about how long the fish have been in our store and willing to feed them if people want to see that first.

 

[bomber]

Sounds very common to me, you're not alone

 

[fish n chips]

what i cant understand is how some shops keep ther [shy] fish in tanks with no hiding or cover, yet they seem to be fine, 1 thing iv learnt tho is never colect fish soon after a delivery

 

[PDRed302]

Sounds pretty much par for the course. The check list seems right on, I usually just make sure they look healthy before picking out a new fish and depending on what tank I plan on putting him/her in I look for signs of how aggresive the fish is with its tank mates.

To answer your question about the feeding, the only fish I ever had a store feed for me was my Silver Arowana.

 

[awesomecichlid]

I understand things happen. I have a 55 gallon that has been running for 3 years. I recently purchased 4 Cardinal Tetra's using the above checklist and still lost 2 within an hour of placing them in my tank.

This is why I believe that having some sort of guide line is better then just getting a fish and thinking it will survive because you are an expert.

Thanks,