# Best find?



## TTTT (Dec 13, 2008)

Anyone ever found any really rare fish at Big Chain pet stores like PEtco/Petsmart or at walmart?
How about at your LFS?

At Petsmart they once had a Silver Arowana, labeled as a Blood Parrot. I have no idea how or why it was in there, but it was the most pathetic arowana you ever saw. About five inches, bone thin, and cowering in the corner.

At my LFS, they have a great selection. Moray eels, Arowona, freshwater stingrays, HUGE Piranah and Zebra Pleco (Only one). Also they have many turtles, newts, and Alligators. I really like them because they don't sell Pacu.

What's the rarest fish you've ever seen?


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## Guest (Dec 16, 2008)

ive seen some saltwater sharks, a really red silver arrowana which was absolutely beautiful one of the only really beautiful red silver arrowana which i have ever seen, some very rare saltwater puffers, some lungfish, and some rare cichlids


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

lol... I always have rare finds at my LFS

Never anything at Petco or Petsmart... really RARE is a relative term...

when I worked at Petsmart, we had to stick strictly to planogram... the "rarest" thing we ever got was female dwarf gouramis

Petco it was a little bit more liberal, I guess it would have been the "rare" sand perch we got in instead of the goby we ordered.

Right now at my LFS
we have:
A walking batfish
a rare wobbiegong that uses its tail to attract prey
Cirrhilabrus cf lanceolatus 
mowbrayi basslets
gem tangs
Mccullochi Clownfish


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

a friend of mine had a pair of albino lungfish.
i recently picked up 25 poecilocharax weitzmani;commonly referred to as black darter tetra...i had never seen them for sale before.they are a tetra....but they are cave spawners and the male guards the eggs and fry just like cichlids.very unusual behavior for a tetra.this is not my pic;but it is the best one i could find.


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## TTTT (Dec 13, 2008)

Those are awesome, Iochata! Where did you find them?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

are they an adipose fin lacking tetra?


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## Delthane (Sep 2, 2008)

lohachata said:


> a friend of mine had a pair of albino lungfish.
> i recently picked up 25 poecilocharax weitzmani;commonly referred to as black darter tetra...i had never seen them for sale before.they are a tetra....but they are cave spawners and the male guards the eggs and fry just like cichlids.very unusual behavior for a tetra.this is not my pic;but it is the best one i could find.




If anybody wants some of those extremely colorful lil guys, i actually found someone selling them on Aquabid

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcharacins&1229643196

I dont have the space or money for them myself, but i thought id post them for the people that might


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

My LFS had _a whole tank of these_:









I don't know what it is, but oh man, it must be worth thousands.


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

Fishfirst said:


> lol... I always have rare finds at my LFS
> 
> Never anything at Petco or Petsmart... really *RARE is a relative term*...


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Indeed it is!

In San Angelo, where the only LFS is now SW, rare is finding:

[1] some very young Red Phantom Tetra's juvies at PetCo without spending a fortune ordering them;

[2] a male and three female Guppies at PetSmart which were half way close to show quality grade without spending another two fortunes on procuring a trio from an Internet vendor and then paying the shipping costs; or

[3] several very distinctively marked young juvie Silver Dollars at PetCo which I had never seen on the Internet before (of course at approximately 2" this strain became way more than typically flora voracious and in a matter of a couple of weeks my first very nice planted tank went away [alas just one of my many adventures in fish keeping]).

TR


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## TTTT (Dec 13, 2008)

shev said:


> My LFS had _a whole tank of these_:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What are those? I've never seen them! Must be hard to keep


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

my version of rare is 1-1000 TOTAL animals IMPORTED/year


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

TTTT said:


> What are those? I've never seen them! Must be hard to keep


Neon tetras. Lately quality has been lacking, they have been very hit or miss. Known to get "neon tetra disease" and just die. Weird. Awesome fish.

I prefer Cardinal Tetras. Seem to be more hardy, and are the same price. Pretty readily available everywhere, both of them. Awesome planted tank fish.

Cardinal Tetra


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## Sea-Agg2009 (Aug 2, 2008)

Man J, I could sniff that sarcasm from a mile away...

My version of rare is fairly broad. When I ask someone at a major chain store what something is, and they simply shrug their shoulders... that works for me. That is generally anything that isn't a guppy, but it is still somewhat amusing.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

I got an endler once, that sneaked in a shipment of platys.

I saw German Blue Rams and Kribs at Petco last time I dropped in, which is pretty rare for them...


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

My PetCo had peacock cichlids labeled as africans for $1.50


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## fishboy689 (Jul 16, 2008)

My lfs sucks, they have the same old fish everytime I go there.


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## fishboy689 (Jul 16, 2008)

Then again I live in Bangkok which has one of the craziest markets, Chatuchak.
You never know what you will find there.


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

justintrask said:


> Neon tetras. Lately quality has been lacking, they have been very hit or miss. Known to get "neon tetra disease" and just die. Weird. Awesome fish.
> 
> I prefer Cardinal Tetras. Seem to be more hardy, and are the same price. Pretty readily available everywhere, both of them. Awesome planted tank fish.
> 
> Cardinal Tetra


Could you also identify this guy for me?







\

I'm worried because he's been lethargic and doesn't seem to eat any of the food I give him.


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## TTTT (Dec 13, 2008)

justintrask said:


> Neon tetras. Lately quality has been lacking, they have been very hit or miss. Known to get "neon tetra disease" and just die. Weird. Awesome fish.
> 
> I prefer Cardinal Tetras. Seem to be more hardy, and are the same price. Pretty readily available everywhere, both of them. Awesome planted tank fish.
> 
> Cardinal Tetra


i was joking 
and shev those are nearly IMPOSSIBLE to keep1


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