Jump to content


Tips For Finding Interesting Fish In Pet Stores


23 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_butch_*

Guest_butch_*
  • Guests

Posted 24 September 2007 - 06:00 PM

Ok I got tips for you guys for find something very interesting in tanks at pet stores. Like bluefin killies and other cool native fishes. You need to look closer to tank and not to be overlooked or else you will missed a single bluefin or others. They can be found in:

Feeder Guppies
Feeder Rosy Red Minnows
Feeder Goldfish
Feeder Gambusia (through they will probably killed other species but then there's melanistic males..)
Feeder Platy
Ghost Shrimp
White Cloud Mountain minnows
Sailfin, Dalamation and Speckled Mollies ( I found baby dollar sunfish with the sailfin mollies)
And sometimes danio which they mixed with porthole livebearers.

So far I found a bluefin, a golden killie, a dollar sunfish, a wild swordtail, a melanistic male gambusia, pair of swamp darters and lots of western gambusia. Used to have porthole livebears long time.

You will never know what's inside of those tank I mentioned and it can be nice surprise for you.

#2 Guest_killier_*

Guest_killier_*
  • Guests

Posted 24 September 2007 - 06:30 PM

add
plant tank
and I've found sunnies in with african cichilds

#3 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

Guest_Brooklamprey_*
  • Guests

Posted 24 September 2007 - 11:00 PM

One of the best ways to find interesting fish at an LFS IMO is to find one with a stream behind it and check the stream :P

#4 Guest_Mysteryman_*

Guest_Mysteryman_*
  • Guests

Posted 25 September 2007 - 09:39 AM

LOL!

Yeah, that should do it, alright.

Anyway, I've always found the best stuff in thebig "Plant tanks" found in some shops. If you find a shop which keeps a few big tanks set aside just for holding lots of plants, then take a good look. Lots of fish tend to come in with the plants either as eggs or as fry, and they get ignored until before you know it they are nice killies or daces. In my area, bluefin killies are very commonly found in such plant tanks.

#5 Guest_TurtleLover_*

Guest_TurtleLover_*
  • Guests

Posted 25 September 2007 - 01:06 PM

Man, I'm jealous. I can't wait until we move from this town because our LFS never has stuff like that.

#6 Guest_sumthinsfishy_*

Guest_sumthinsfishy_*
  • Guests

Posted 25 September 2007 - 07:39 PM

One of the LFS commonly gets in 4" longnose gars with the needlenose and rocket gar.
they also get in green sunfish with the tadpoles.

#7 Guest_killier_*

Guest_killier_*
  • Guests

Posted 25 September 2007 - 08:01 PM

this is awsome I just got a call from a friend of mine who works for petsmart
he has
3 bluefins
2 fff
1 sailfin shiner and most of all an extra orange spot male for me

I'll get pics soon

#8 Guest_NativeLover_*

Guest_NativeLover_*
  • Guests

Posted 26 September 2007 - 11:12 AM

The only thing my store offers is albino channel cats. I asked them if they ever got natives in, and the guy told me it's illegal to sell natives. I told him it wasn't with the appropriate license, and he said I was wrong. :angry:

#9 Guest_flamingo_*

Guest_flamingo_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 September 2007 - 04:56 PM

Just look at their distributors lists :rolleyes:

The lfs I work at is a small operation, in the middle of Wisconsin. We can still get in quite a few NA fish though. I can't imagine what it would be like in Florida, or a similar area.
Peacock bass, three types of sturgeon/sterlet, 4 types of gar on occasion, channel catfish, etc.

You need to ask if they have a newer list available, and your bound to find something.
Just remember though, they up the price around 200-300% when it enters their door :) .

#10 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

Guest_Brooklamprey_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 September 2007 - 07:11 PM

Just look at their distributors lists :rolleyes:

The lfs I work at is a small operation, in the middle of Wisconsin. We can still get in quite a few NA fish though. I can't imagine what it would be like in Florida, or a similar area.
Peacock bass, three types of sturgeon/sterlet, 4 types of gar on occasion, channel catfish, etc.

You need to ask if they have a newer list available, and your bound to find something.
Just remember though, they up the price around 200-300% when it enters their door :) .


Peacock bass are from South America (They are Cichlids and not Centrarchids BTW.)..Most but not all sturgeon..(whites, greens, lakes and shovelnose do show up) found in an LFS will be Eurasian species or cultivated Eurasian hybrids and not North American species...

Not meaning to be picky it is just that these fish are not NA natives.

#11 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

Guest_Brooklamprey_*
  • Guests

Posted 27 September 2007 - 07:25 PM

One of the LFS commonly gets in 4" longnose gars with the needlenose and rocket gar.
they also get in green sunfish with the tadpoles.


Sorry but I have to question this...How would longnosed gar be mixed in with a South American Tetra and Asian Needlefish??? None of these fish are even aquacultured or collected in the same area... If your LFS commonly messes up ID this much and that horribly bad they need to go out of business. That or there supplier needs to stop smoking crack before identifying and picking out fish...These are very very different fish that I can see no reason to misidentify for anyone even slightly experienced.

#12 Guest_flamingo_*

Guest_flamingo_*
  • Guests

Posted 28 September 2007 - 10:04 PM

I was just pointing them out, seeing as they are found in NA, introduced or otherwise.
I honestly didn't feel like going into detail, when it wasn't needed.

#13 Guest_haruspicator_*

Guest_haruspicator_*
  • Guests

Posted 13 October 2007 - 01:18 PM

One of the best ways to find interesting fish at an LFS IMO is to find one with a stream behind it and check the stream :P


You don't want to look in the stream behind the pet stores in Vegas. Lots of scary things in this urban jungle, specially if you look between the foot of blue-green algae goo and the concrete. There are special kinds of needle fish here. :shock:

shawn

#14 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

Guest_Irate Mormon_*
  • Guests

Posted 14 October 2007 - 05:48 PM

Shawn, I am trying to figure out your avatar - it looks to me like a wizard with big bushy eyebrows.

#15 Guest_butch_*

Guest_butch_*
  • Guests

Posted 14 October 2007 - 10:21 PM

You don't want to look in the stream behind the pet stores in Vegas. Lots of scary things in this urban jungle, specially if you look between the foot of blue-green algae goo and the concrete. There are special kinds of needle fish here. :shock:

shawn


There's fishes in manmade creek behind Vegas pet shops? Yikes! Now I don't want go behind the pet shop anymore because some of workers might dump unwanted fishes in that creek. You meant special kinds of needlefish in that creek behind of the pet shop?

#16 Guest_TurtleLover_*

Guest_TurtleLover_*
  • Guests

Posted 14 October 2007 - 10:50 PM

Seeing as how it's Vegas and the creek is full of goo, I think he means a special kind of "needle" fish in reference to Vegas lifestyle, Butch.

#17 Guest_butch_*

Guest_butch_*
  • Guests

Posted 15 October 2007 - 12:07 AM

I wonder what's that species of "needle" fish that would live in that ditch full of goo. Maybe someone should collect these fish and take a photo of them then post it here then we will know what species is this fish. I doubt true needlefish would live in Vegas creek unless it has three eyes. I'm actually curious about "needle" fish.

#18 Guest_schoolofperch_*

Guest_schoolofperch_*
  • Guests

Posted 15 October 2007 - 12:31 AM

a hypodermic needle fish

#19 Guest_sumthinsfishy_*

Guest_sumthinsfishy_*
  • Guests

Posted 16 October 2007 - 07:54 PM

Sorry but I have to question this...How would longnosed gar be mixed in with a South American Tetra and Asian Needlefish??? None of these fish are even aquacultured or collected in the same area... If your LFS commonly messes up ID this much and that horribly bad they need to go out of business. That or there supplier needs to stop smoking crack before identifying and picking out fish...These are very very different fish that I can see no reason to misidentify for anyone even slightly experienced.




I'm not sure if they get the gars in with the needle noses, they just have them in the same tank, so they could come with something else.
They also could be special orders that were canceled at the last second.

#20 Guest_haruspicator_*

Guest_haruspicator_*
  • Guests

Posted 19 October 2007 - 10:26 PM

a hypodermic needle fish


That's what I was referring to :D I was being illogical as usual.

I wish there were real needlefish, one of my favorite fish! Unfortunately all the concrete channels in Vegas has to offer are diseased gambusia. There used to be Las Vegas dace, I think Rhinichthys Deaconi (ii?) , or R. osculus deaconi, but those were extirpated as the groundwater was pumped mid-century (or prior). Then we lost a lot of the Colorado River stuff when Hoover Dam was built. Now you need to travel 50+ miles to get a native fish, with the exception of a few lingering razorback suckers.

Later,
shawn



Reply to this topic



  


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users