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95jeepxj
05-21-2003, 11:58 PM
Curious to see how many people support the LFS

BlueTurquoise
05-22-2003, 01:05 AM
Support... depends on what you mean...

I don't go becuase I buy everything online cept for live foods. And even then, i go every 2 weeks, which I am due to visit tommorrow! :D

Chong

RandalB
05-22-2003, 02:39 AM
No more LFS for me unless my daughter want's some guppies or something for her 10's. No more equipment, supplies or food from them. I got tired of paying the lease on the "Pet Superstore" and the surly employee's salaries.

My little girl want's guppies, I go to the mom/pop pet store.

RandalB

ReeferKimberly
05-22-2003, 04:32 AM
sure why not? i like that i can actually buy something with no shipping and handling!!
kimberly :-*

jeep
05-22-2003, 09:30 AM
I went to Petsmart for cat food yesterday...

I know what you're getting at and for me, for equipment it comes down to price, and for fish it comes down to quality.

I won't repeat the same old arguements, but I will tell you that there is not one single "fish" store in my area that I would even remotely consider purchasing a discus from. This is not because they are a "LFS", but rather because I've seen what they sell. Diseased runts and culls in the 2" range going for $50? If they know their business then they know these fish are sick and/or culls. The fact that they know exactly what they are doing makes me stay out of their store for any reason.

I'm not saying they're all the same. Show me a good LFS that takes pride in selling healthy quality discus then sure, I'd buy from them as long as they have what I'm looking for. I may even consider paying the incredibly high prices on some equipment every once in a while just to show my support...

edgeguy
05-22-2003, 09:31 AM
Went yesterday. Thats where I get my frozen bloodworms. My discus are not big enough yet for me to order bulk on the internet. They also had some pb that looked very nice, but I have no quarantine tank to keep them in or I might have bought two.

Mike_Selley
05-22-2003, 09:37 AM
Since someone posted that Petsmart would meet Petsmart.com's prices, I'm going to be going more often. I get my frozen bloodworms from them already. We have a real nice LFS here that is really trying to get into discus, buying from Sunrise Tropicals.

TnMark
05-22-2003, 10:01 AM
Mike, I know the store you're talking about. I got 2 discus from them and returned them both. When I compared them to the ones I bought from Mike Wells, it was clear they were runts. In addition the guy that buys them is buying quantity, keeping the good ones at home for himself and bringing the poorer quality ones to the store. Although I have heard a lot of very good things about Sunrise, the fish the LFS (AQ) were selling had poor coloring. I am not an expert. I never post about the quality of Discus and never comment that a fish is nice or not because I don't feel I am expert enough yet. But I do know when I see poorly colored fish (uneven color, peppering so they look almost black).

In addition they are expensive. Under 3 inch Discus are $50-$70.

The store has really nice fish. I buy other fish from them. It's just their Discus are terrible. Their equipment prices are outrageous but I do try to buy inexpensive things from them to support them.

Wolf
05-22-2003, 10:16 AM
I trade in my discus I don't want for food at the LFS. It is also good for emergencys if you need something quick. I also like to look at all the runted and diseased fish they try to sell for $50 to $150 to unsuspecting people. Yep, they know they are selling sick fish but just don't care. The sicker the fish the more meds they can sell you next week. And it's an authroized Wattley dealer :-\. Personally, I wouldn't let them put my name on their discus. I can imagine how Mr. Wattley would feel.

chirohorn
05-22-2003, 10:29 AM
I'm inclined to say that I'd buy guppies/catfish/goldfish/etc. from the LFS, but never a discus. You know what's funny? Guppy/goldfish people probably say the same thing regarding the quality of those fish from the LFS. ;D

Very Fishy
05-22-2003, 02:00 PM
I like to browse through the LFS every so often. Sometimes they do have good sales on equipment and food. The few discus they have are runts and overpriced. I would never buy a discus from a LFS. The quality is too poor and the prices too high.

Mike_Selley
05-22-2003, 02:40 PM
Thanks TNMark!!

I really wasn't planning on buying discus from them just because of the price. But thanks for the quality comparison and thumbs up on your discus from Mike Wells. Am presently growing out some Leopard SSs from Frank (fcdiscus) I'm very proud of. Thanks to the internet and excellent breeders nice discus aare available at reasonable prices. :)

blaze
05-22-2003, 06:44 PM
almost every week,
to get stuff for HER goldfishes, and to look at anything new & pretty

Fisheyes
05-22-2003, 08:35 PM
I think that we should be careful as we tend to demonise the LFS.
If we insist on the best from them they will have to meet the standards of the discus keepers or who is going to buy from them .
Example --I just got off the phone with a fellow who wants a couple of red siams I happen to have .They are in pristeen health and I can afford to sell them for 30.00 each .
They are 3 inch in size
These same siams came from the fish store 2 months ago and sold for 80.00 each .
However there is a place and time when we need those emergency things and have to go to the LFS in a rush.

I think we are shooting our selves in the foot by continuing to blastfeem the local store .

Big deal if u don,t like what they have tell them and don,t buy it but buy what you need and make a suttle suggestion that maybe if if if you did such and such you might attract more customers

Just my opinion by Fisheyes :rolleyes:

giroux68
05-23-2003, 11:28 AM
The LFS here has given me some outstanding advice, they have some amazing display tanks, and some high quality discus....the down side is their price. Their discus are mostly 3" for $110! But they did have one the size of my hand for $120 - go figure. They looked like wilds too.

Smokey
05-23-2003, 01:13 PM
Personally - I visit lfs shops, just to see . I produce my own food [beefheat]; I build my own tanks; I build my own filters; However, every now and then i spot an unusual fish I just want to have.... however I rarely purchase ... WHY - my tanks are for discus ONLY !!!

Chong - must be nice.

Randal - yup, some one has to pay for keeping the economy strong. lol .

Kimberly - good point. Plus you get a - if it doesn't work, bring it back warrenty. Immediately!

Jeep - interesting. When I left Edmonton[2000], I sold two pairs of breeding discus to a ''LFS'' . They even bred in their tanks. Three weeks later the discus were DEAD. WHY, because the owners[business persons], threated them like ****. no water changes, dirty water, fouling food, etc.
Then there tired to blame me for selling them ''BAD FISH''!!!

edgeguy - excellant point ... quarantine all fish.
lfs DO NOT [MPO] have the time or resourses to ''fawn'' over discus. The way we do !


Mike - the large box-fish -stores have an incrediable $$$.$$ overhead. ex - one in West Edmonton Mall - had an overhead of $$50,000.00 per month. thats a lot of guppies.

TnMark - mpe - LFS - if you can not make 2 - 300% on a product; why bother. Space cost money !

Wolf - keeps the cash register full. lol.

chirohorn - Yup !!!

Very Fishy - so true.

Smokey
05-23-2003, 01:20 PM
Fisheyes . Calgary has some excellant fish shops !
And some very dedicated persons who keep and maintane them.

HOWEVER - perhaps, just something to think about. If the LFS read this post, they maybe inclined to take better care of such beautiful fish.

Afterall, it is the customer/consumer that keeps the doors ''OPEN''. MPO

Smokey
05-23-2003, 01:34 PM
Just a bit of insite.
I started doing the maintance for a ''LFS''. They were setting up all ''NEW STANDS TANKS''. I was the one who set up the tanks, water, etc. Now I do the w/c's and try to keep everything ''alive''.
W/c's are tap water, treated for ammonia and cholorine. NO SPECIAL WATER !

We do have a good supplier for fish. However - because of the water number differences - I do expierence a loss.

I try the best I can, given the boundries of reality/enviroment.

the most important thing ... I WILL NOT SELL A FISH BEFORE IT IS READY [ in good health].

Mind you, when I am not there, other persons sell what every the customer wants. With no knowlegde of the fishes health. OR the customers tank setup/conditions/ habits.

I strive to ''educated'' before i sell a fish [even a feeder].
ex - what size tank do you have; filteration; water change schedual.

It is amazing just how many people do not realize they need to ''maintane'' an aquarium !

Smokey

TnMark
05-23-2003, 03:30 PM
If I just wanted to buy a fish or 2 I would love the opportunity to buy at my LFS. Shipping costs from breeders are hard to justify unless I'm buying at least 5 fish. I also dojn't have a problem with the prices that LFS charges. They have risk and overhead. I just don't understand why they aren't selling the same high quality fish I can get directly from the breeder. If the breeders are selling nice 2 1/2 inch fish for $25-$30 they can still sell them for 75-90 and make a good profit. My experience is the LFS wants to pay $5-$10 for junk and sell them for $50-$60. I think that's stupid.

Smokey
05-24-2003, 02:37 AM
Nope, thats business !!!! CAPITALISM RULES.
BUYER BEWARE.

wolf_discus
05-24-2003, 03:43 AM
Hi,

This Is A Link Of A Discus Shop That I Visit Offen.......
Its One Of Singapore Reowned Breeder.... Nice Guy To Talk To>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I Mean The Owner ;D ;D ;D

http://www.fishiotribe.com.sg/

Rgd, Wolf

BlueTurquoise
05-25-2003, 08:50 PM
Well ok, here's some things that I would not buy online, simply becuase it is too hard/fragile and it's best just to buy locally:

1) Fluorescent bulbs - 4ft long in the post? I dun think so... hardware store for plain bulbs LFS for 10,000k bulbs at 10 times the price!

2) Gravel vacuum/python - 2-3 ft long, I'd rather just go pick one up from the pat warehouse for same price as online + postage.

3) Gravel - Not that I have any or use any but I cannot fathome posting 10kg of gravel...

4) tanks - A LFS/supplier visit required

5) Gold fish - Can't buy them mail order!

6) air line hoses - per metre on the net???

7) ... the list goes on

Chong

Luca
05-29-2003, 09:26 PM
The LFS it seems to me has no idea about discus, they have runty ones/jouveniles in a planted tank with tonnes of other fish, they barely have room to move.

Another thing that concerns me is them selling just one or two of a fish, particularly tetras that really should be in schools...i don't see the logic, they'd make more money if they educated people properly about individual fish's specifications. Maybe they're scared of sounding capitalistic?

off topic: do you guys think $70NZ ($40US approx) is too expensive to buy an adult discus from a local breeder? I hear they are large and well-coloured.

Carol_Roberts
05-29-2003, 09:44 PM
If you like the discus and it is healthy that price sounds reasonable to me.