I HATE big name pet stores!

[Cheetah]

Big Al's in Oakville, Ontario have a 36' diameter tank for there black tips, more than enough to keep them for life. Two are 5' in length, the last time I was there.

As for Oscar's as the main display fish, nice, but don't have the same impact as rays, aros, or black tips.

...and whats wrong with Oscars?I have yet to see or even hear about a store that can properly keep a blacktip in a display.

 

[Fat Homer]

I've seen more crappy lfs than crappy chain stores.

I've seen a few LFS' around HK where when they first open their shop, the display tanks look amazing, but then after a month or two, the same tanks looks dilapidated and neglected to the point where all the drift wood grows a fuzzy mold type substance, and even the moss grows the same type of thing with algae all over the sides...

So although there aren't really any chain stores per say in Hong Kong that sell fish, there are definitely some shops that make you think twice before buying from them... although a lot of the times those are the same shops that tend to sell very unique or exotic fish no other shop has

 

[krichardson]

Big Al's in Oakville, Ontario have a 36' diameter tank for there black tips, more than enough to keep them for life. Two are 5' in length, the last time I was there.

As for Oscar's as the main display fish, nice, but don't have the same impact as rays, aros, or black tips.

I knew someone would refute my comments sooner or later and thats great that they have such a large system for the blacktips,sure beats the hell out of what I've seen.I also understand about the impact of seeing the more rare fish in a store display but if they are not kept properly then that only sends wrong messages to would be fishkeepers.

 

[r3d]

i used to work at petsmart and in the back we had what we called the quiet room. in that room were a few 20 gallons for fish recovery. one of the 20 gallons had 3 pretty big oscars which were covered in ich and a yellow lab cichlid in it. the tank didnt even have a working filter, I offered to fix the filter but my boss looked at me and said any fish that goes back there goes to die anyways

 

[swede]

i used to work at petsmart and in the back we had what we called the quiet room. in that room were a few 20 gallons for fish recovery. one of the 20 gallons had 3 pretty big oscars which were covered in ich and a yellow lab cichlid in it. the tank didnt even have a working filter, I offered to fix the filter but my boss looked at me and said any fish that goes back there goes to die anyways

then why not at least euthanize? sheesh!

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

Even if the oscar was in perfect condition, its pretty sad there prime showtank fish is an oscar to begin with.

Typically you expect black tip sharks, rays, or aros.

Not always true nothing wrong with oscars anyways.

 

[shenzhenluohan]

I've seen a few LFS' around HK where when they first open their shop, the display tanks look amazing, but then after a month or two, the same tanks looks dilapidated and neglected to the point where all the drift wood grows a fuzzy mold type substance, and even the moss grows the same type of thing with algae all over the sides...

So although there aren't really any chain stores per say in Hong Kong that sell fish, there are definitely some shops that make you think twice before buying from them... although a lot of the times those are the same shops that tend to sell very unique or exotic fish no other shop has

I agree, HK has some amazing shops, but it has some really disturbing ones as well. I guess the same can be said for anywhere...

 

[bgcoop8784]

atleast at petsmart they had a tank in the back for sick fish, here they just remove the dead fish once a day, and the lfs around have the 20 gal square tanks and i counted 8 of them that had fish bigger than the tank, not kidding, one tank had a pleco whose tale was at the surface and his nose whiskers were too, he was in a "U" shape with his belly on the bottom and according to someone i know that works at one of the chains around here, they supposedly record every fish death and they are just wrote off as a loss for taxes, so not buying the fish as a rescue really doesn't hurt the store, either way they won't lose any money from the fish dying

 

[Toby_H]

they supposedly record every fish death and they are just wrote off as a loss for taxes, so not buying the fish as a rescue really doesn't hurt the store, either way they won't lose any money from the fish dying

There is a big difference in writing off a loss and selling at a profit...

Don't be fooled into spending money at a subpar establishment...

 

[Sab_Fan]

while I agree with the comment about not "rescuing" fish from poorly-run shops, like any rule I make exceptions. I recently rescued a Carpintis from one of my LFS, because it was simply in a bad situation. this LFS generally takes good care of their fish, but this guy just wasn't selling. I got tired of watching it grow up in a display tank, so I bought it. and now it's one of my favorite fish

but yeah, if you go around rescuing poorly kept fish, a) you will run out of money, and b) the stores will just keep on keepin' on . . .