New Fish - hard time finding them

[Brian]

So, for the last 20 plus years I have purchased 95% of my new fish from auctions or fish clubs.  With everything going on local clubs are not meeting. Is anyone else having a hard time finding and purchasing what they consider common fish?  I have been trying to purchase hatchetfish, clown loaches, blood fin tetras and rummy nose tetras.  
 

thanks

[mynameisnobody]

@Brian I’ve had the same trouble, however I recently moved from NYC to The Tampa area. In NYC, I had 2 of the best local fish stores. In Florida, it seems saltwater reigns supreme, add to that, the covid factor, and it’s made it very difficult for my to find Denison barbs, dojo loaches, and even most tetras. 

[FrozenFins]

Brian, in my area too hatchetfish are not so easy to find. According to the stores they haven't beeen able to get any of them from the exporter in south america. 

For tetras and clown loaches I would suggest aqua huna:

https://aquahuna.com/ 

[gardenman]

Overseas flights have been widely disrupted so any fish like hatchets that aren't raised domestically are harder to find right now. 

[Daniel]

Since the pandemic the majority of my purchases have been either through AquaHuna or AquaBid.

[OceanTruth]

I always have a hard time sourcing fish, because I’m pretty much regulated to online merchants. There are no “local” fish stores around me.

8 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Since the pandemic the majority of my purchases have been either through AquaHuna or AquaBid.

I have not tried aquabid yet for whatever reason. Is it pretty much as simple as ebay if the seller is in the same country (U.S.)?

[Kirsten]

2 hours ago, Brian said:

So, for the last 20 plus years I have purchased 95% of my new fish from auctions or fish clubs.  With everything going on local clubs are not meeting. Is anyone else having a hard time finding and purchasing what they consider common fish?  I have been trying to purchase hatchetfish, clown loaches, blood fin tetras and rummy nose tetras.  
 

thanks

Since I've only gotten back into aquariums since the pandemic started, most of my livestock, plants and supplies have come from online retailers. Even my nearby pet stores, including Petsmart and Petco, have been more or less stripped bare of fish supplies.

I've only had good experiences so far with the Co-op, naturally, ebay and etsy sellers who are usually hobbyists themselves, and some larger sellers like aquaticarts. I would love to buy from aquahuna some day, but as wholesalers, their minimum quantities have always been a little too high for a new hobbyist like me, and the selection hasn't been as diverse as others. But for experienced aquarium keepers, it looks like a great resource.

[Rocko Buffone]

I can literally not find my shrimp I have wanted for 3 months cherry shrimp I have a tank set up but not even my mom and pop store is carrying them right now

[Chiclid addict]

2 hours ago, James Black said:

Brian, in my area too hatchetfish are not so easy to find. According to the stores they haven't beeen able to get any of them from the exporter in south america. 

For tetras and clown loaches I would suggest aqua huna:

https://aquahuna.com/ 

It’s the same as rope fish for me with also come from South Africa 

[Hobbit]

3 hours ago, Rocko Buffone said:

I can literally not find my shrimp I have wanted for 3 months cherry shrimp I have a tank set up but not even my mom and pop store is carrying them right now

I can recommend Aqua Huna for shrimp! I got blue shrimp and amano shrimp from them and they came in very healthy. Their shipping is very reasonable compared to other realtors. And I think aquarium co-op has a discount code.

[Nana Finopolis]

I'm so fortunate, I live near The Wet Spot in Portland, Oregon.  They deliver to my house for only $10.00. Shoot, it would cost near that much for me to drive there and back home again. They also ship fish and have a really nice selection. I believe they charge $39-40 to ship outside of Oregon. They post new fish they get in, once a week, on Fridays. 

One of these days I'm going to make the trip up north and visit ACO. I'll take a couple buckets and my usb nano pumps so any fish I buy can travel in comfort, lol.

[Andy's Fish Den]

Unfortunately, my area doesn't have much for LFS other than Petco and PetSmart, but I have driven to Cleveland area and visited a couple nice LFS over there as well as into the Detroit area once, and all the stores have had good selections of fish, both common stuff and not so common. I actually saw clown loaches and rummynose tetras in every one of the stores and hatchet fish in a couple of the stores. 

I also got a lot of my fish and stuff from club meetings and auctions, matter of fact I didn't buy any dry foods for over a year because I would win some in raffles at meetings. I will be glad when clubs can start meeting again regularly, but my local club is having a swap meet in May that I am looking forward to. Not only to sell off some of my excess fish, shrimp and plants I have bred and grown in last several months, but yo get some new stuff as well.