I’m an old-ish dude too lol, 49 but I’ve found that once you find trusted online sources, it’s just as safe as a quality LFS and it’s easier to find some of the harder to find species.Other than my wife, met her in college, I buy everything online, even my groceries. I think it’s pretty cool to be able to push a button and have something at your door the next morning, I just make sure returns are just as easy first.I'm old enough to still prefer buying something that I can see, touch and feel...rather than ordering it sight unseen online and being forced to trust that I will get what I want. I've bought fish one time only online, and might do it again...but it would be an exceptional circumstance.
I mean...I won't even order a pair of shoes online. I want to try them on for fit before I buy. Fish? If I want to buy a half dozen of a given species...I want to be able to observe the tank they are in for myself, the clarity of the water, the general overall condition of the fish in it. I don't just want the slowest, dumbest easiest-to-catch 6 fish in the tank. In a store, I don't necessarily point at one fish out of 200 in the tank and say "Gimme that one!"...but I want to see each one in the net and approve it before it comes out of the water. And I have no problem vetoing a given specimen and asking for another.
My wife and I lived together for years before we married. That worked for me; I wasn't the least bit interested in a mail-order bride. I'm slightly less careful about buying fish...but only slightly...
Is the hobby slowly dwindling?
- Thread starter Fallen_Leaves16
- Start date
big als also take alot of fry in
well first off. big als is well known to take stock from local breeders. i use to sell to them on the regular. i store hop every few months and trust me.. big als isnt my frequent place to shop. you'll find that the only places within an hour of the GTA that still practice not selling deformed low quality fish these days is. tropical gems, finatics and missisuaga aquarium. tropical gems and missisuaga aquarium hold stock like asian arowana and dont risk carrying low quality fish. pretty much every other store is carrying low quality fish. our experiences arent the same i guess. i never said low quality fish were never in the hobby before. its the acceptance of said fish that is the problem. the lack of culling and the acceptance of it are definetly a problem thats more obvious in the past 5 years. but hey, ive ben doing it for 15 years. run multiple facebook forums for fish and know most of the store owners by name.. what do i know about my local market
Certainly, which is why I said most. I know folks that supplied Big Al's stores in various stores in ON, for years. Including some that collected the fish in the wild. But what is taking place in or around the GTA, is not causing an overall decline in the hobby. lol Not in the GTA, or anywhere else. Serious hobbyists can still source solid genetics. No problem. Don't like the local garbage, order some O's from stateside. Or from some of the various vendors here in CA. This is not a sourcing issue, in fact, today this is much easier than in yrs past. MUCH easier. Think pre-Facebook, pre-IG, pre-X. Pre-internet. lol You have no idea.
Most LFS's have sucked for a long time, sounds like it's just catching up in the GTA. Hybrids have always been an issue, long before you kept your first fish, including in the GTA. Has it gotten worse? Probably, times are tough for most folks these days, including owners of brick & mortar stores. Between online vendors, and the economy, I'm surprised that there are any brick & mortar stores that have survived this long. The ones that are left, mostly cater to what I consider to be entry level hobbyists. I saw this yrs ago when I was a wholesale distributor of aquatic dry goods here in CA, and still seeing it today. The only difference, is now the average hobbyist has less disposable income to spend on quality goods, and/or fish, and most store owners can't afford to cater to a niche market where only the best of the best are found on their premises. Those that do are few & far between, such as you just described in the GTA.
But stats don't lie, today there are more pet fish being kept in Canada, than in yrs past. Go back as far as you like. The $$$$ that is being funneled into this hobby, by & large has always come from folks that are entry level, with many/most of them resulting in failure. How many of those folks will one day have a fish that is pushing 12 yrs of age, like I currently do? Or 15-20+ yrs of age, like some of the various members here on MFK? 2%? Less? As a collective group folks like you and I don't keep LFS's thriving. Even an old fart like myself figured out a long time ago how to save $$$ by purchasing aquatic items online, including fish.
Hybrids and poor quality fish aren't killing LFS's, consumer spending habits are.
Most LFS's have sucked for a long time, sounds like it's just catching up in the GTA. Hybrids have always been an issue, long before you kept your first fish, including in the GTA. Has it gotten worse? Probably, times are tough for most folks these days, including owners of brick & mortar stores. Between online vendors, and the economy, I'm surprised that there are any brick & mortar stores that have survived this long. The ones that are left, mostly cater to what I consider to be entry level hobbyists. I saw this yrs ago when I was a wholesale distributor of aquatic dry goods here in CA, and still seeing it today. The only difference, is now the average hobbyist has less disposable income to spend on quality goods, and/or fish, and most store owners can't afford to cater to a niche market where only the best of the best are found on their premises. Those that do are few & far between, such as you just described in the GTA.
But stats don't lie, today there are more pet fish being kept in Canada, than in yrs past. Go back as far as you like. The $$$$ that is being funneled into this hobby, by & large has always come from folks that are entry level, with many/most of them resulting in failure. How many of those folks will one day have a fish that is pushing 12 yrs of age, like I currently do? Or 15-20+ yrs of age, like some of the various members here on MFK? 2%? Less? As a collective group folks like you and I don't keep LFS's thriving. Even an old fart like myself figured out a long time ago how to save $$$ by purchasing aquatic items online, including fish.
Hybrids and poor quality fish aren't killing LFS's, consumer spending habits are.
Fallen_Leaves16
..... a recent paper that you might find interesting. Survey indicates large proportion of fishkeeping hobbyists engaged in producing ornamental fish - ScienceDirect
Some interesting stats.....
Pet Industry Market Size, Trends & Ownership Statistics (americanpetproducts.org)
Pet Ownership Statistics from the 2023-2024 APPA National Pet Owners Survey
According to the 2023-2024 APPA National Pet Owners Survey, 66% of U.S. households own a pet, which equates to 86.9 million households.
Estimated Number of U.S. Households that Own a Pet
Bird 6.1 million
Cat 46.5 million
Dog 65.1 million
Horse 2.2 million
Freshwater Fish 11.1 million
Saltwater Fish 2.2 million
Reptile 6.0 million
Small Animal 6.7 million
Pet Ownership by Generation (% of Current Pet Owners)
Generation Z 16%
Millennial 33%
Generation X 25%
Baby Boomer 24%
Builder 2%
Pet Industry Market Size, Trends & Ownership Statistics (americanpetproducts.org)
Pet Ownership Statistics from the 2023-2024 APPA National Pet Owners Survey
According to the 2023-2024 APPA National Pet Owners Survey, 66% of U.S. households own a pet, which equates to 86.9 million households.
Estimated Number of U.S. Households that Own a Pet
Bird 6.1 million
Cat 46.5 million
Dog 65.1 million
Horse 2.2 million
Freshwater Fish 11.1 million
Saltwater Fish 2.2 million
Reptile 6.0 million
Small Animal 6.7 million
Pet Ownership by Generation (% of Current Pet Owners)
Generation Z 16%
Millennial 33%
Generation X 25%
Baby Boomer 24%
Builder 2%
....... and some additional interesting stats.
Pet Ownership Statistics and Facts in 2023 – Forbes Advisor
With regards to keeping fish, it looks like Gen Z is leading the crusade at 26%.
Pet Ownership Statistics and Facts in 2023 – Forbes Advisor
With regards to keeping fish, it looks like Gen Z is leading the crusade at 26%.
Those are some interesting stats,
RD.
Thanks for posting that.
I am heartened by the fact that Millennials and GenZ folks seem to be bolstering the hobby by actually making up a slightly higher percentage of the pet-owning population than they do of the population in general. I would have guessed the opposite.
RD.
Thanks for posting that.I am heartened by the fact that Millennials and GenZ folks seem to be bolstering the hobby by actually making up a slightly higher percentage of the pet-owning population than they do of the population in general. I would have guessed the opposite.
Being an early Gen Z I reckon I can provide some insight to it, or at least the way I see it. Housing prices keep going up, the world is in the toilet, the vast majority of us won’t be able to own a house before we’re 45, so instead of getting a pet that requires a yard or needing to be fed crickets or mice, why not a fish? Fish keeping is a whole world with something for everybody as we all know, so many niches that even somebody who dislikes fishkeeping could find some part of it they like.
Ditto, but over time I have learned to bend. For those of us that don’t live in the sticks, even healthy quality fish can be found locally, from fellow hobbyists via the local for sale sites. Kijiji offers up some fantastic deals at times. Last year I scored 4 brand new pairs of Red Wing model 4473 boots in my size, for $300 CAD. A retired fireman had them in his closet, new in box, labels & tags still attached. Hot diggity. The new old stock in this discontinued boot sells for more than that for each pair. A 4 for 1 deal !
A couple of years ago a buddy scored several massive clown loaches in the 8-10”range, for a mere $40. The owner had grown them all out for years, and had no idea what their fair market value was. A LFS would have listed them at $100+ per fish, the largest for probably double that. He bought the entire group for less than what most 6” specimens sell for.
Dry goods, pretty much a no brainer these days, unless one has a local vendor worth supporting. I buy all my dry goods online, and have for years.
