What happened to fish keeping?

[Industrial]

First I must say, I am a relatively new fish keeper. I started with goldfish maybe two years ago and now I am planning on getting a degree in aquatic biology.

I work in a LFS and we have a fraction of the customers that the store had years ago. Most stores have a single employee in the fish department, when we would have up to seven at once. My boss was also telling me that we always had large cats and other large exotic fish from trade ins. Today, the only fish we get traded in are pacu, oscars, plecos and the occasional RTC or gar.

And then reading TFH magazines, the articles focused on new discovered fish or exotic mormyrids while the newer issues seem to have very basic articles.

And now breeding is almost unheard of except for the old-timer guppy and angelfish breeders.

So why is the fish keeping hobby shrinking?

Is it because of the abundance of information on the internet? Perhaps, I mean who wants exotic fish when they realize that they will outgrow their aquarium?

Is it because of the recession? My area was unaffected by the recession since my area hasn't had economic progress since the 50's (long before the hobby was thriving here).

Is there any other reasons? What do you guys think?

 

[DMD123]

Chain stores have had an impact. With Petco and Petsmart selling fish like Oscars & Pacu to an uneducated public you see why they end up at any LFS that will take them.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Seems to be doing alright here. The first things to go when you have a recession are non-essentials like hobbies. But you can look at it from the perspective that you will find a lot of deals out there on used stuff. We've got a decent community of breeders and serious hobbyists here in the NW, so I guess it depends on where you live. Also, there's always trends in every hobby like this.

 

[brich999]

Recession. Hobbies are one of the first things cut from the budget when times get tough.

 

[Fat Homer]

Over here its more to do with cost of rent i'd say... a lot of shops (outside of fish street) have closed down over here due to landlords almost doubling their rent every year or few years... even on the infamous fish street i've seen a lot of stores disappear because the rent prices have sky-rocketed...

One shop owner i know really well said at the end of last year their landlord wanted to double their rent and they were ready to move out, even got a new space outside of fish street, but i guess when the landlord couldn't find a new tenant he decided to raise their rent only by a little bit more rather than double...

So i guess it comes down to quite a few things that probably effects the hobby over-all...

 

[Jimmy16]

Over here its more to do with cost of rent i'd say... a lot of shops (outside of fish street) have closed down over here due to landlords almost doubling their rent every year or few years... even on the infamous fish street i've seen a lot of stores disappear because the rent prices have sky-rocketed...

One shop owner i know really well said at the end of last year their landlord wanted to double their rent and they were ready to move out, even got a new space outside of fish street, but i guess when the landlord couldn't find a new tenant he decided to raise their rent only by a little bit more rather than double...

So i guess it comes down to quite a few things that probably effects the hobby over-all...

yeah man, how do you afford fish when you live in hong kong?! lol you must be pretty well off

 

[Red_Belly_Pacu]

There is a big market for large oscars and large plecos in my area so those trade ins are not bad. It takes a while for them to grow that size so there is a market for them. Usually the LFS I go to will sell them within a month or less.

 

[Stateofficer1984]

Petsmart and petco is taking over... I went to the Petsmart in florence SC last saturday and had to wait in line at the fish department!!! The prices at the big pet stores are half of the smaller pet stores... I have to travel about 40-50 miles to get to the local Petsmart,but I heard thier opening one 10 minutes from my house soon...

 

[Allan01230]

I guess depends on where you are. In my area the hobby is thriving. A lot of people breeding all kinds of differant things like bettas to plecos. Saltwater is also bigger than most think and mom and pop shops thrive here since the chain stores don't sell or have any knowledge of saltwater.

 

[dogofwar]

We've lost several good LFS in the DC/B'more area in the past few years. Some were relatively new, but one has been open and doing business sincle 1989!

I think the recession has something to do with it, although this area is somewhat insulated (lots of gov't jobs / contractors) and less hard hit than say Ohio or California.

Another factor is that LFS simply can't compete with chain stores - Wal-Mart, Petsmart, Petco - and online retailers. People simply aren't willing to pay for service...they just show up at the LFS with their (non-working) Wal-Mart filter and ask the LFS how to use it. And many LFS will help.

I really, truly believe that, although web forums like this one are good, there is no substitute for real, hands-on mentorship in fishkeeping. Some get it from their LFS...and other in fish clubs. As a kid, I'd read magazines and books, but I learned to be a successful fishkeeper from other successful fishkeepers...not random internet people (no offense ). I'd spend time in their fishrooms, watch what they did, help them with their maintenance regimens...even go to club meetings, shows, auctions, conventions (Akron seems pretty fun and mysterius when you're 16!)...

Being involved in fish clubs was also a way to get cheap / free QUALITY stock. Anyone who's really breeding fish will have no shortage of fish. I remember being GIVEN a group of Neolamp. leleupi in like 1987 by a couple in our club who were some of the only folks in the country breeding them. I bought my first rack of tanks (for like $125 for 8 each 20L set-ups) from another club member. I bought Yellow Labs for a couple or bucks each in 1990(?) at the ACA convention in Chicago...There was unlimited demand for their offspring. Our club did a fish swap with the Columbus Zoo, which was part of the Lake Victoria species preservation program (~1989?)...and I came how with several pairs of real deal Victorians in exchange for whatever I was breeding at the time (Haps and peacocks, I think). How could I not want to learn more, breed my fish and be a good fishkeeper in that environment? And with fish clubs, there's (nearly) always a market for your extras...

I also learned a lot from working in an LFS as a kid. The reasons that people fail basic fishkeeping are a relatively short list. Having them played out hundreds of times...and having to explain them hundreds more...represents a good way to ensure that you at least have the basics.

Sorry for rambling...

Matt