LFS support vs Online fish buying.

[CoriNotCory]

I'm curious what opinions you all have on purchasing fish that are not very easy to find at my LFS. I'm not able to stop buy and just have a look often enough due to work hours, and I want some specific fish because I'm setting up a new 75gal planted tank. There are some that I want that they get on a fairly regular basis that I'm willing to just get the next time they have them in stock, but others I've never seen in their tanks at all. I try to support the LFS as much as I can and avoid the big box pet stores.

So, my dilemma is would it be a better support for them to request that they special order some for me, or just order what I want online, and continue to get what I want that they regularly carry from them? Are special orders profitable for small LFS? 

[Flumpweesel]

I'd doubt they will lose money they will just have them included in their next delivery /trip to wholesalers.

They might refuse or take a deposit if they think you are the only person who would want that fish.

I have never mail ordered fish (I dislike mail order shopping in general). But I'm in the UK and everything is closer together here. If you have a good LFS I'd talk to them first they might have a very good reason for not stocking them that could be useful to know.

[CoriNotCory]

On 3/1/2022 at 3:15 AM, Flumpweesel said:

I'd doubt they will lose money they will just have them included in their next delivery /trip to wholesalers.

They might refuse or take a deposit if they think you are the only person who would want that fish.

I have never mail ordered fish (I dislike mail order shopping in general). But I'm in the UK and everything is closer together here. If you have a good LFS I'd talk to them first they might have a very good reason for not stocking them that could be useful to know.

At the moment it's just some specific platys. They get in mixed batches, but never the more specific types I would prefer to have for this tank in particular. I suspect that most people are happy with the mixed bags/more color selection, and the price point is slightly lower. If they got in more than just the number of fish I want I can't imagine it being hard to sell the extras. Later on it will probably be some rosy loaches. Small, durable, not a hard sell, but less colorful than what a lot of people are looking for. 

I would not be opposed to a special order purchase fee at all. It would certainly be less expensive than shipping, and I wouldn't have to worry as much about delivery with my work hours. 12hr night shifts make things a little harder than normal. Hopefully I can work something out with them that is better for both of us. 

 

[Flumpweesel]

Certainly with shift work deliveries can be a nightmare, have a chat to the shop see what they can do. Sounds like a perfect customer order scenario to me.

[gardenman]

Something to keep in mind is how often the fish get handled through each method. Unless you're there to take the fish when they arrive at your LFS then they'll likely get put into a tank there until you're ready to pick them up. That's one more acclimation and transfer for the fish. And if your LFS only sells mixed platies your "pure" platies could very well end up sharing a tank with them and be impregnated by whatever platies they're sharing the tank with. That largely defeats the purpose of getting a pure strain.

And depending on how your LFS gets fish, they may have been moved a lot. Odds are they were bred overseas and moved to an exporter then shipped to an American importer. The importer then typically ships fish to a wholesaler who then either sells to the LFS's in the area or to a regional distributor. It's not unheard of for fish to have been moved five, six, or more times before reaching your LFS.

Even when they reach your LFS they may end up getting moved from one tank to another within the store multiple times if the store wants to use their tank for another fish. A lot of fish stores shuffle fish around fairly frequently. I've been in fish stores one day and see a fish I'm interested in, go back a day later and the fish have been moved to another tank. It happens a lot in some stores.

If you can buy the fish online directly from a breeder, the fish will go from the breeder to you. That's a lot less stress on the fish.