Buy LFS Display Fish

[ChargerstoLA]

My LFS has a Fish I really have been trying to hunt down. It’s a male L134, and by hunt down, just would like one I know is a male without paying too crazy money. The thing is when I ask, they said it is just not for sale. I have 2 females and I offered to trade them for the male and still got a no. Anyone have suggestions, or was successful at getting a display tank fish?

[nabokovfan87]

You should check out aquahuna.  I think 9 times out of 10 someone has a display tank in their store, they special order something for that tank.  They definitely won't just sell it.  That being said, you can talk to the store owner, pay up front, have them order you one in.

[Brian]

Ask why it’s not for sale?  If it is the owners “pet” or maybe their child’s pet. Walk away.  If it is because it is in a large display tank, offer to pay them 20.00 to let you catch it without destroying the plants, setup and decorations.   Do you think you will be able to spawn this fish?  If so, offer to give them 2-3 from first spawn and maybe work out a deal for them to purchase/trade in the future.   

[ChargerstoLA]

On 6/4/2022 at 12:07 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

You should check out aquahuna.  I think 9 times out of 10 someone has a display tank in their store, they special order something for that tank.  They definitely won't just sell it.  That being said, you can talk to the store owner, pay up front, have them order you one in.

I wish they carried it at aquahuna. I am probably pushing my looking in trying to get an adult size one. 

On 6/4/2022 at 4:43 AM, Brian said:

Ask why it’s not for sale?  If it is the owners “pet” or maybe their child’s pet. Walk away.  If it is because it is in a large display tank, offer to pay them 20.00 to let you catch it without destroying the plants, setup and decorations.   Do you think you will be able to spawn this fish?  If so, offer to give them 2-3 from first spawn and maybe work out a deal for them to purchase/trade in the future.   

The good old rumpelstiltskin you can have my first born. I am going to see what it will take. I would catch it myself any day. 

[gardenman]

In general, every fish in a store is for sale, it's just a question of what kind of a price you're willing to pay. Offer them ten thousand dollars and they'll grab a net, bag and you'll have your fish. Even a store mascot like Murphy might get sold if someone offered Cory a hundred grand for him.  (Maybe a million dollars for Murphy.) He could move Lady Bird into Murphy's tank and have lots of cash in the bank. If you're selling fish, every fish has a price. They may not want to sell the fish. And they certainly don't want to sell it at a "fair price." But money talks, and the fish is just a fish. 

There's the old Groucho Marx routine where he asked a woman of high society if she'd spend the night with him for a million dollars and she readily agreed. Then he asked, "What about $20?" She huffily replied, "Sir, I'm not a prostitute!" He replied, "We already established you were, we're now just negotiating the price." If you're a fish store, every fish is for sale. It's what you do. You sell fish. The customer might have to vastly overpay to get a fish if the store doesn't don't want to sell it, but if you offer enough money, the fish is available. 

Imagine the reaction of the fish store owner's significant other if they went home and said, "Remember that L134 that I love? Some bozo offered me a hundred grand in cash for it today. I told them, no. It's not for sale." Yeah. It wouldn't end well for the store owner.