Fish con scams!

[toothgrinder]

I attended a freshwater convention this past weekend, in Iowa, and ended up paying for culls! I was able to get some gorgeous gold laser cories, 9 of them for the price my LFS charges for one (50$), along with some good pleco caves and plants. So mostly a good experience, but, I also purchased 2 bags of blue angels for a very low price. Fish are hard to see well in bags, and I guess it’s my fault for assuming most people within the hobby would be on the up and up, so I purchased them without scrutinizing too much. I was given no indication they weren’t any good until I put them into a bare 40 breeder at home to check them out. They all have at least one or multiple genetic faults. Short, wide spread ventral fins, uneven fins, ugly top fin, pointy heads, stripes messed up, one even has a dented in looking head.

The convention was fun, and I suppose I have learned not to be so trusting of other hobbyists! Has anyone else experienced a scam or anything like that at a show?

Side question, would eating angelfish be harmful to an aperensis (sp?) or jelly catfish? 😉

They look even worse out of the bag in the tank.

Very pretty young gold lasers my lady picked up.

Edited February 23, 2021 by toothgrinder
Ventral not central dang phone

[FrozenFins]

I had an angel with a uneven venteral/ pectoral fin. After a while the venteral fins grew to the same lenght, perhaps this will happned with you.

None the less beutifal angels and corys.

[OceanTruth]

It would be nice if all fish hobbyists were “good people,” but that isn’t realistic, unfortunately. The gold lasers look really good, at least! Cute little guys.

[WhitecloudDynasty]

Every fish deserves a good home, but not every fish deserves to breed on. You got some angels for your aquarium for a decent price, unless you planning on breeding them, i believe you still won at the end. ..

Some people don't believe in cull killing so they have to off load somewhere..hopefully they are improving and not breeding more culls year after year.

I do get requests for my culls also, but they are sold cheap or free under 2 condition. 1 they can't be bred using my name, 2 they can't be resold. Normally a buddy just pick them up as mosquito control for his pond.

Edited February 23, 2021 by WhitecloudDynasty

[MDoc]

1 hour ago, toothgrinder said:

Fish are hard to see well in bags

I understand that some times things are tough to see, but you actually got to hold and evaluate the fish before buying. It's not as if you were buying online and they showed you pictures of the top grade quality but shipped you lesser quality.  Or show you one fish and send you a different fish completely. Or send you all females if you ordered males or whatever. 

I definitely wouldn't consider you buying the specific fish you were looking at in a bag a "scam".

[Eric R]

I'm sorry that you were disappointed in the fish you received. I also don't want to pile on criticism, but you mentioned that you paid what you felt was a very low price for the 2 bags of angels. Perhaps that's why these were priced so low, because they weren't of the highest visual quality? I would feel differently if you were sold diseased or unhealthy fish, but hopefully they are healthy, and you can find a good home for them if you don't want them. If you didn't overpay, I don't know that you were conned.

Nice laser btw.

[CorydorasEthan]

I second @WhitecloudDynasty and @ererer on rehoming the fish if you don't want them.

[toothgrinder]

17 hours ago, MDoc said:

I understand that some times things are tough to see, but you actually got to hold and evaluate the fish before buying. It's not as if you were buying online and they showed you pictures of the top grade quality but shipped you lesser quality.  Or show you one fish and send you a different fish completely. Or send you all females if you ordered males or whatever. 

I definitely wouldn't consider you buying the specific fish you were looking at in a bag a "scam".

 

17 hours ago, ererer said:

I'm sorry that you were disappointed in the fish you received. I also don't want to pile on criticism, but you mentioned that you paid what you felt was a very low price for the 2 bags of angels. Perhaps that's why these were priced so low, because they weren't of the highest visual quality? I would feel differently if you were sold diseased or unhealthy fish, but hopefully they are healthy, and you can find a good home for them if you don't want them. If you didn't overpay, I don't know that you were conned.

Nice laser btw.

I suppose I have higher standards than some, if I was told they were culls that’s one thing, I agree it’s my fault for buying crappy fish, I just didn’t expect them to be sold! Anyways I am not mad, I am just curious about other shady things people might be doing at these shows. 

[Brandy]

I think the reason people think you sound mad is the intimation the there is something "shady" happening. I will be the first to admit that it can be hard to translate emotion in text format.

Once, I ordered some fish online. They did not show up. I notified the seller and they were reshipped. When they arrived, they looked pretty bad. I was dissapointed, and felt the fish in the sale post might have been photoshopped, but I reserved judgement, and kept feeding them. 2 days later I got another package with gorgeous fish. The fish I initially received had been in the mail for over 10 days, and it is a credit to their excellent packing that they survived at all. With time and food they have recovered.

Most sellers are not trying to rip anyone off. If you wanted angelfish for breeding then I suppose you might feel frustrated, but given the story as you have related it, I don't think the seller was out to mislead you. Some people do not euthanize animals for not being perfect breeding specimens--they still make excellent pets, as @WhitecloudDynasty points out. 

I bought an angel from Aquarium Co-op. He was in a big tank with 20-30 other large angels. He had the color I wanted but his fins were a little jenky due to scrapping with his tank mates. With time alone and good food his fins are now long and glorious, and I love how he ended up. I am sure someone will want the angels you have if you decide you don't want them. 

I am sorry you are frustrated, but I do think we all have different goals for our fish, and you might want to give that seller the benefit of the doubt. I am sure there are bad actors out there, but mostly I have found them to be few and far between.

 

[toothgrinder]

3 hours ago, WhitecloudDynasty said:

Every fish deserves a good home, but not every fish deserves to breed on. You got some angels for your aquarium for a decent price, unless you planning on breeding them, i believe you still won at the end. ..

Some people don't believe in cull killing so they have to off load somewhere..hopefully they are improving and not breeding more culls year after year.

I do get requests for my culls also, but they are sold cheap or free under 2 condition. 1 they can't be bred using my name, 2 they can't be resold. Normally a buddy just pick them up as mosquito control for his pond.

Yeah, I totally understand people gotta get rid of them, but the buyer should be aware in my opinion at least that they are definitely culls. The “good price” was heavily influenced by the convention almost being over, and he knocked off a little more cash when I told him I don’t need any more angels at home. I looked at the fish (beer in hand) for a moment and said why not. 
 

This one might need a helmet 😂

[gardenman]

Angelfish often outgrow wonky fins and other issues. Give them some time, good food, good water and you might be surprised how good they turn out.  In my experience they have weird growth spurts and sometimes during those spurts hey can look a bit off. They ultimately tend to grow into nice fish though. If you look at some very beautiful adult humans and see them as kids you're shocked at how they started and how they ended up. It can be the same with fish. Barring grossly obvious issues (missing fins, bents spines, missing eye, etc.) they'll likely turn into a pretty good, if not exceptional fish.

[WhitecloudDynasty]

@toothgrinder you are right he should atleast said these are culls. I'm not a shame of my culls but not everyone feel the same way. 

[JettsPapa]

12 hours ago, toothgrinder said:

Yeah, I totally understand people gotta get rid of them, but the buyer should be aware in my opinion at least that they are definitely culls. The “good price” was heavily influenced by the convention almost being over, and he knocked off a little more cash when I told him I don’t need any more angels at home. I looked at the fish (beer in hand) for a moment and said why not. 
 

I have also bought things "beer in hand" that I might not have bought if I was just drinking water, and was later disappointed.  I figured it was my fault.