# What does your fish go through before arriving home?



## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

*PetSmart*
Dr. Nick St. Erne, the aquatic health vet for PetSmart, shows how any given fish travels through the world from initial hatching location to your tank in an interview....

First, the fish are bred on commercial fish farms, in Florida and Asia. Then they are shipped into one of the five distribution centers in the United States. 

Once they arrive at the centers, they are unpacked and placed in aquariums. To give you an idea of how many fish are going through these systems, the average center contains 50 to 60 thousand gallons of water (the largest center has 80,00 gallons). The average number of aquariums is 4000. That's a _lot_ of fish going in and out, in waters of varying quality. 

At the distribution centers, fish are given the okay to be shipped out yet again to the actual stores. They're unpacked and placed in yet another new tank...

...and that's how you find your fish, ready to be sold. 

*What about your LFS? *

Instead of distribution centers, there is often a middle man, or fish wholesaler, such as http://www.aquariumfish.net/ which imports or ships fish in from farms in America, Asia, etc. 

In the wholesalers' facility, the fish are marked up in price and then shipped out to the fish stores. 

*or...*

A local breeder sells the fish to the LFS. Then the LFS marks it up and sells it to you. I know a couple of fishy friends who sell their fry to their local fish shop for store credit. This is slightly less stressful for the fish because the water parameters are often very similar, but still, any move is a shock. 

*And then probably the rarest way new aquarists obtain fish*, is from the breeder straight to you. I have a neighbor who breeds Discus. I could probably walk over with some $20 and walk back home with several nice Discus. Heheheh.

So now you know how the average fish ends up in your tank! There's a lot of shuffling and moving and netting and dumping and not-so-ideal water conditions involved, and it's no wonder why a new fish can be so out of sorts. 

I hope this was interesting.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Andthis s why you always need to quarantine new fish, inverts or plants! I had all but one of my SW fish die because of a contaminated cleaner shrimp. (I still need to medicate the one survivor, but that means I need to catch it first!) Let me tell you, lesson learned! :smile:


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## Bettawhisperer (Oct 1, 2010)

So humdedum your point would be what? Fish can survive a lot more then poeple give them credit for.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

another thing to consider about the local breeder and local stores is this...
stores will pay $2.00 each for fish from a wholesaler that they know there is a risk of diseases or parasites...but they will not pay the breeder that brings him bigger healthier fish of the same species....usually he will only offer about 50 cents...
he sees it as some dummy had his fish spawn on him and he doesn't know what to do with the offspring...that is often right ; but no reason to cheat folks..if they do take the fish ; they will give you store credit...ok for some ; but pretty much a rip off..if he offers store credit tell him you will trade "retail for retail"..... you will pay retail price on what you want and he will give you the retail price he charges for the fish...that is a fair trade...
i have had store owners tell me they would pay what i was asking..then would offer way less when i brought the fish in..i would not barter..i would tell him to go to sears and tell them that you will give them 5 bucks for that 20 dollar pair of jeans..and i would take my fish home...
one of the best ways for shops to get quality fish is to buy from local breeders...
for the person that has 1 or 2 tanks and has a fish spawn doesn't have the space for rearing the fry..so they get rid of them right away...the shop will give you a little tin of flakes and you go home happy...that works too..

always remember...the less moving around a fish does ; the less stressed and healthier he is going to be...
this includes the goofballs that keep playing around with their tanks changing everything....


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Bettawhisperer said:


> So humdedum your point would be what? Fish can survive a lot more then poeple give them credit for.


It's still interesting to know where our fish are coming from! Thanks, Humdedum. 



> always remember...the less moving around a fish does ; the less stressed and healthier he is going to be...
> this includes the goofballs that keep playing around with their tanks changing everything....


That's why I've decided that now is the perfect time to change the substrate in my 10 gallon. Half the population of that tank is already being quarantined in another tank... Otherwise, I might not consider it. I learned a while ago that changes, or my hand rummaging around in the plants more than necessary, can be really stressful.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Its painfully easy to saturate a market. You can 10 stores and they each take 6 fish and give you wholesale price in store credit which you spend on stuff at retail (twice what you pay online) and then you can't give away the rest. In 1982 I could get $2.00 ea. cash money for cichlid fry, now you get $1 store credit. Not really worth feeding them. The only way to make money is to ship fish out on aquabid to people who will pay for quality fish and even pay for shipping. And I'm not even supposed to sell more than a few 'pets' because the puppy-mill laws apply to 'ornamental' fish in GA. Stores cite the law to defend the store credit policy. 

Retail is no picnic either. People shop in stores and then go order the stuff online for the wholesale price. Just heard another LFS (one of few to still have FW) in town is closing. 

We need to start a org. to promote small, tropical fish as a edible delicacy. Promote eating beautiful fish as a upscale trend like gold flakes in liquor. People eat these fish in their home countries, why not here? Fish for human consumption fall under the department of agriculture and are not required to be treated humanly. Only not fed known carcinogens and the like.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Uuhhmm... okaaaay..

I'm seriously trying to figure out how to convert all those atlantic lionfish into a steady stream of cash. I think I've almost got it, but alas, it takes money to make money, and I'm broke.
They taste like grouper. Very yummy.


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

Most my fish spend 8 hours in a bag going through the local fish society auctions. As far as the hobby depends on the type of fish. If your selling run of the mill guppies and such then yeah I would not expect much of anything for them. Crazy thing though is show-quality guppies that are local bred can go for $20 or more a trio around here. What your breeding has big merit along with demand. Petsmart, petco, even my LFS rarely ever carry a single fish I am interested in. The local society gives much less common fish, prices are low, and quality is better then the shop. From this last auction I made two impulse buys 4 Lima Vittata and 3 Ameca splended both are wild type livebearers without any of that silly artificial selection. Not quite sure what I think of them yet. The adult male Ameca is quite pretty in his own way, I had to relocate the two juvie amecas to a different tank as they did a good number on my boesemani rainbows tails. Never expected two 1.5" livebearers to be able to keep up with 3" rainbowfishs let alone tatter the tail fins of all six lol. 

Great thing about local bred fish though is what's usually raised around here will breed VERY easy compared to the same species from Florida or imported.


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Psh I wish I could get half of the selection and quality that you lower 48rs get....grrrr


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

As much money as you Alaskans make, why are there not any decent fish stores?


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## Skorpy (May 1, 2011)

lol

I am quite lucky with our fish store, called watermarque. They do a wide range of all fish. Coldwater, freshwater, saltwater, pond...with all assessories.

Fish are more hardy then people give them credit for. The only fish I have had trouble with keeping, is guppies


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

Not enough sales volume, TOS. Then they only get the "bread and butter" fish, and don't get fish the accomplished aquarist wants. An emperor 400 filter sells for like $45 online, and they want $200 for them in the stores. I want them to make a profit, but that is crazy. Anything I want, I get shipped up from friends in the lower 48 or off aquabid.


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