LFS cichlid indentifying
- Thread starter Mij
- Start date
What's the deal with LFS with no labels/prices on the tanks? I worked at a pretty good one when I was in school and we always labeled the fish (right too, most of the time anyway). Lately I go into shops, tank of fish, no labels, no prices. So I have to ask how much X fish is and have the guy pull a number out of his ass? I'm not buying a car, it's fish...I'm not going to sit there haggling over it especially since half the LFS guys don't even know what the fish is.
At least the lfs I go to usually have the fish labeled and priced, although a lot of time incorrectly. To me it just seems to be incompetance on the retailer's part. When I used to buy fish from the wholesalers they were labeled correctly abuot 99% of the time, and I dealt with two different companies that delivered fish and two companies that shipped fish. So, it seems to me that the retailers are getting fish in and not taking great enough care at keeping strict enough control of their stock when receiving them. I just don't see that this should be so difficult!CTU2fan;1742690;1742690 said:
I worked at a LFS years ago and did a few pickups from the airport with the owner (Mainly because I had special ordered some fish and I needed to take them straight home as they were brackish and the store didn't have a brackish tank) and I remember one box came in and it wasn't labeled worth anything.. Generally we were able to pick through them and figure it out from the order that was put in but it could be fun at times, lol.
I never had too much trouble getting correctly identfied fish from wholesalers. I don't mean to say ALL RETAILERS are at fault and fail to do a decent job identifying fish, its just I see it happening far too much. I just feel that if the hobbyists accept this random identification problem for too long, we loose a little bit of justification for keeping tropical fish, and the people who are against keeping tropical fish gain a little more ground each time this happens. Their arguments will be, how can you justify keeping tropical fish when you don't even know what kind of fish you have?
Also, when these same people go into a lfs and see some of the conditions that the fish are kept in it gives them more ammo. I see too many threads of RESCUES and can't help wondering why this has to happen? The lfs should keep these cichlids in adequate spaces with minimal stress. I would rather see cichlids in 20g tanks by themselves rather than in a 150g and beating the crap out of each other.
Also, when these same people go into a lfs and see some of the conditions that the fish are kept in it gives them more ammo. I see too many threads of RESCUES and can't help wondering why this has to happen? The lfs should keep these cichlids in adequate spaces with minimal stress. I would rather see cichlids in 20g tanks by themselves rather than in a 150g and beating the crap out of each other.
I have been out of the hobby for 9 years now and am just starting to get back in as we are building a house and will be putting a large tank in the office or in the wall between the office and family room.. But I have been visiting some shops here and there when I have the time and sometimes I am stunned by what I see in the ways of overcrowded Cichs.. there was one I saw recently with very large Convicts mixed in with some other fish about their size (I can't remember which ones right now, thinking some Dempseys that were about the same size and than some other centrel American) and all the fish were beat to heck and chasing each other and it was just kind of, wow, when is this going to get real ugly.. At least they had the real big Cichlids either in their own tanks or divided tanks so they couldn't kill each other..
Sorry to derail what is the draw to FHs? Its a overpriced fish that can't reproduce and doesn't look any cooler than similar cichlids of the same size. Don't get me wrong, they are nifty looking. But I think Jags, Festae, and most the Viejas are just as nice to look at. And I am sorry but I am going to take a dump in a bucket and put a post-it on the outside that says "Fire-Orchid Blood Dragon Empress Shaka-zulu Flamethrower Flower Horn - $200.00" And see if i get any takers. Just needed to vent.
elting44;1743098; said:
They are often over priced, but they can reproduce. I don't know where you're getting that from. I just saw a thread today where someone had FH x Carpinte fry for sale, with pics. Aside from that, you should really just start another thread if you want to vent about FH's.
The dump in a bucket thing was kinda funny though.
