Recommended LFS to buy fish

[Indeco]

I went to a few of the LFS to check out the fishes and so far I feel that SAS and Sea life aquarium their fish look quite healthy and "promising"

Once my cycle is done I going to kick start the tank with 3 to 5 fishes so will like to know is there any decent LFS I can get my fishes?

I'm a newbies so wanted to find a more stable LFS to start with else I scare my mortality rate will be super high...

[soggycookies]

I went to a few of the LFS to check out the fishes and so far I feel that SAS and Sea life aquarium their fish look quite healthy and "promising"

Once my cycle is done I going to kick start the tank with 3 to 5 fishes so will like to know is there any decent LFS I can get my fishes?

I'm a newbies so wanted to find a more stable LFS to start with else I scare my mortality rate will be super high...

I would recommend Iwarna. They also openly place many of their fishes in a copper treated system which could help to minimise the risk of you bringing lethal diseases like marine velvet and uronema home.

 

For variety, I used to go to Pacific Reef(Ah Beng). Some folks have said fish from there aren’t healthy and rumors are that many are caught with cyanide but hey, if it’s true, then it’s probably also true for other LFS as long as the source supplier was from parts of Indonesia/Philippines.

 

Personally, I’ve not had many issues from Pacific Reef’s livestock that differ much from other LFS I’ve gotten my fish from. In the past I’ve bought from places like Aquamarin Aquatic Pets, Coral Farm, Pinnacle Aquatics, the Fish Channel, and Jireh Marine.

 

Bought enough to ultimately realize that it’s really more up to your care of the fish and careful selection/acclimation and quarantine procedures than it is which LFS you get it from. After all, we as the end buyer can’t determine exactly how the fish were caught, handled and shipped. It’s up to us to trust whichever LFS we want and do our own part to make sure the fish gets into our system as healthy as possible and stays that way.

 

Personally I QT all my fish for a minimum of 2 weeks before placing them in my main system. I’d say if you lack a quarantine tank, go for iwarna or an LFS you know you can place a deposit for and let your fish sit in quarantine and get if after a week or 2 to see for yourself if it’s healthy.

 

Fishes from SAS are much pricier from what I’ve seen, but their establishment does seem a lot more reliable in terms of fish health(they probably quarantine a lot and accept nothing but the most premium shipment(just my assumption). They also seem to cater to the more upper-class crowd.(Just my observation)

 

For variety I’d still say Pacific Reef and Iwarna. Coral Farm has fishes in very poor condition from what I’ve seen many times. I’ve bought Clownfish from them that never survived more than a week despite quarantine. But that said, I also got a marine betta from them that survived marine velvet. So yeah hope you get the point. With no clear idea of where individual fish are specifically sourced, you can never be 100% sure.

 

Lengthy post but I hope this helped.

 

 

 

 

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[aquagem]

Depends on the type of fishes you're chasing. From my observation, there are only 2 LFS which cater to the premium market and, they are Iwarna and SAS. Having said that, it's your duty to observe the fishes and most importantly go QT them yourself be it cheap or expensive. If you look back, There's was a brief discussion by members on last week on premium LFS livestocks.
My thoughts, Please don't rely on LFS to QT the fishes! Also let us be realistic, no matter which premium LFS you patronise, they will not provide a quarantine period for any livestocks, not at least if they've collected adv payments from the customer, correct me if I'm wrong. Quarantine process takes a Long time and there are risks involved. Livestock being perishable, any LFS main priority is to make the sale as quickly as possible. Just a simple thought, if LFS do practice Quarantine processes, does that suggest that the livestock will be cheaper on the day of arrival, and can only increase in prices after the quarantine periods are over? Put it bluntly, the so- called quarantine fishes are livestock that they are unable to sell fast enough. So hence, to sound attractive, they will just indicate to you the livestock are being quarantined. During this period where the livestock are waiting to be sold off, they are fed and monitored healthy, hence the so-called quarantine process. To me this is just a gimmick!!! Anyone can let us know, which LFS can provide Quarantine without payment in adv, and I Guess members will gladly patronise the shop paying a premium. Ultimately it's the buyer due diligence to quarantine the livestock.


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[aquagem]

I went to a few of the LFS to check out the fishes and so far I feel that SAS and Sea life aquarium their fish look quite healthy and "promising"
Once my cycle is done I going to kick start the tank with 3 to 5 fishes so will like to know is there any decent LFS I can get my fishes?
I'm a newbies so wanted to find a more stable LFS to start with else I scare my mortality rate will be super high...

My experiences, Try Iwarna/the fish channel for more premium fishes. They may be more straight forward in prices and may assist if questions are promoted to them. As for SAS, shall not comment much myself. It's for one to judge. There's enough discussion on their premium livestock by couple of members.


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[Solo77]

Nowadays, not many lfses going through QT in separate system. For QT, if you are in this hobby long enough, there was a lfs that qt fishes in weeks and do proper recording for almost each fishes(not damsel, chromis, et). The easy way is using copper system but they cannot 100% guarantee survival. Hence depends on your belief. Quality of fishes can be contributed by many reasons especially how their suppliers handle the fishes, transportation, etc. hence yr likely will slowly develop. Just go and buy at place where you feel comfort. 

[Indeco]

Thx for the advice given bros...

Will go to Iwarna and fish channel to take a look...

Do understand that as reefer I need to do my due diligent to QT the fish but i just afraid that due QT i will kill the fishes because of my inexperience. Hence, wanted to look for a stable LFS...

Seem like SAS is quite a hot topic among reefer... haha...

[aquagem]

Thx for the advice given bros...

Will go to Iwarna and fish channel to take a look...

Do understand that as reefer I need to do my due diligent to QT the fish but i just afraid that due QT i will kill the fishes because of my inexperience. Hence, wanted to look for a stable LFS...

Seem like SAS is quite a hot topic among reefer... haha...

 

If the fish is not going to survive QT, chances that it will not survive in DT. Personally, I rather it not making it in QT rather than DT. Yes previously, there was a discussion about their livestock.

 

They do also carry premium hardwares, however, no one yet to chime in. Still waiting for services for hardware Feedback it will be good to know.

 

 

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[Indeco]

I actually gotten the quote from them to setup a complete 5x2x2 tank which is 9 to 12k....

really too premium for me... haha...

but they do provide good pre-sales services...

[soggycookies]

Thx for the advice given bros...
Will go to Iwarna and fish channel to take a look...
Do understand that as reefer I need to do my due diligent to QT the fish but i just afraid that due QT i will kill the fishes because of my inexperience. Hence, wanted to look for a stable LFS...
Seem like SAS is quite a hot topic among reefer... haha...

It’s alright bro, if you are new the urge to get everything done quickly is definitely there. Even seasoned hobbyists sometimes cannot wait hahahaha. But with time you’ll realize the importance of quarantine. It can determine whether your entire tank crashes or not in the worst cases


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[Indeco]

19 minutes ago, soggycookies said:

It’s alright bro, if you are new the urge to get everything done quickly is definitely there. Even seasoned hobbyists sometimes cannot wait hahahaha. But with time you’ll realize the importance of quarantine. It can determine whether your entire tank crashes or not in the worst cases


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haha... yeah the excitement is there...

but don't worry I will not take short cut will be doing my QT right from the beginning for the sake of myself and the fishes...

[aquagem]

I actually gotten the quote from them to setup a complete 5x2x2 tank which is 9 to 12k....
really too premium for me... haha...
but they do provide good pre-sales services...

Wow! That's indeed extremely very dirt cheap!!!! Having said that, its the after sales services which you should be considering and not the pre sales


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[Solo77]

From my experience, not all fishes need to go through QT after buying from lfs. Big angel is a must....lol. Maybe u want to do good acclimatization. Whether u want to use copper, do read up more. For me, at times, the more you do, the faster the fish died on you... Not sure how many succeed in reviving a fish, all the medication etc are stress the fish further causing faster death. Learn how to buy stable fishes and increase chance of survival. Lastly, yr tank must be stable and season enough for fishes. 

[aquagem]

From my experience, not all fishes need to go through QT after buying from lfs. Big angel is a must....lol. Maybe u want to do good acclimatization. Whether u want to use copper, do read up more. For me, at times, the more you do, the faster the fish died on you... Not sure how many succeed in reviving a fish, all the medication etc are stress the fish further causing faster death. Learn how to buy stable fishes and increase chance of survival. Lastly, yr tank must be stable and season enough for fishes. 

That's perhaps there's copper in the LFS, however there are risks involved when your luck runs out will you rather let your fish die of diseases or treat it periodically and Aim to stabilise your livestock after treatment.

I've known of a premium LFS which indicated to me before they've never practiced using copper. Sad to say, through observation, it's the opposite now. The reason why LFS will tend to sway away from recommending copper , sad but true to be said, consumer livestock survivability was never on their priority list. When you ask query them, there's a chance that some irresponsible LFS will just tell you not to add fishes for some time till it stabilised. With casualty, one can only refresh their livestock with them.

Given the multiple xchg of livestock before it reaches end users, there are bound to be copper at one stage!


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[soggycookies]

That's perhaps there's copper in the LFS, however there are risks involved when your luck runs out will you rather let your fish die of diseases or treat it periodically and Aim to stabilise your livestock after treatment.

I've known of a premium LFS which indicated to me before they've never practiced using copper. Sad to say, through observation, it's the opposite now. The reason why LFS will tend to sway away from recommending copper , sad but true to be said, consumer livestock survivability was never on their priority list. When you ask query them, there's a chance that some irresponsible LFS will just tell you not to add fishes for some time till it stabilised. With casualty, one can only refresh their livestock with them.

Given the multiple xchg of livestock before it reaches end users, there are bound to be copper at one stage!


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Thankfully if you’ve read other forums and feedback on copper treatments, the market standard of cupramine is for now(and been for some time)less volatile than some of the older copper treatments that are more toxic to fish.


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[aquagem]

Thankfully if you’ve read other forums and feedback on copper treatments, the market standard of cupramine is for now(and been for some time)less volatile than some of the older copper treatments that are more toxic to fish.


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Marketing gimmick! To me, Cupramine is just like any other copper treatment. Thks to their marketing dept, the brand is widely accepted I really doubt any fish shop uses Cupramine in their system, even though they may be carrying seachem products can't Imagine LFS/farms spending countless amount of money just on Cupramine, while others will work as similar at a way much cheaper cost. Perhaps the more premium LFS uses cupramine hence livestock are more expensive. , that may be a possibility! If most LFS can keep their livestock alive by not using cupermine, why can't the consumer do likewise . After all, their priority is to keep the fish alive prior to sale.


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[aquagem]

By the way, I was once given a ridiculous advised. "More water chg to buy my safety". And "can't be liable for the fishes that they did not supply". Never once copper treatment was pushed forward to be introduced or even QT. After this incident, it was clear to me that in this manner, the only way to push their livestock was upon consumer expenses for livestock casualties. That's the marketing strategy of the company. They do carry cupramine, however my Guess was, it was never their intention to push the products as livestock will provide them with a greater margin. Please please chose your LFS very very wisely be supportive to those who are genuinely to assist and earn a living and not reaping people who are new to this hobby. Pay a couple of visit to different LFS and ultimately, choose the LFS which you feel best to work with in the Long run. Hence to me, having paid premium prices don't justify the survivability of the livestock if we get such nonsensical responses and actions.

 

 

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[soggycookies]

 

Marketing gimmick! To me, Cupramine is just like any other copper treatment. Thks to their marketing dept, the brand is widely accepted I really doubt any fish shop uses Cupramine in their system, even though they may be carrying seachem products can't Imagine LFS/farms spending countless amount of money just on Cupramine, while others will work as similar at a way much cheaper cost. Perhaps the more premium LFS uses cupramine hence livestock are more expensive. , that may be a possibility! If most LFS can keep their livestock alive by not using cupermine, why can't the consumer do likewise . After all, their priority is to keep the fish alive prior to sale.

 

 

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Possibly. lol @ the jokes on premium LFS using cupramine hahahaha. And like you mentioned before, the main idea is to sell the fishes off as quickly as possible. It’s a fundamental business model for livestock like the fishes we get.

 

That’s probably why they seem fine at first but who knows what they’ve been through in the process of getting to us. A few weeks down the line in another different environment and they might not look so good because of “unknown reasons”. This is why I believe in QT so much, at least you can observe them for an extended period instead of risking your entire DT

 

Also IME I’ve treated fishes with copper with no issues. Fishes are more likely to die in QT due simply to stress, improper acclimation to copper-treated water or an uncycled QT that doesn’t receive water changes.

 

The reason I mentioned cupramine is I know from personal experience that it does not kill the beneficial bacteria involved in cycling a tank. I haven’t tried too many brands of copper treatments but I know cupramine doesn’t destabilize my cycled QT so I continue to use it(and no I’m not a promoter of the brand just a humble consumer who has had success with the product lol )

 

 

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[aquagem]

Possibly. lol @ the jokes on premium LFS using cupramine hahahaha. And like you mentioned before, the main idea is to sell the fishes off as quickly as possible. It’s a fundamental business model for livestock like the fishes we get.  That’s probably why they seem fine at first but who knows what they’ve been through in the process of getting to us. A few weeks down the line in another different environment and they might not look so good because of “unknown reasons”. This is why I believe in QT so much, at least you can observe them for an extended period instead of risking your entire DT Also IME I’ve treated fishes with copper with no issues. Fishes are more likely to die in QT due simply to stress, improper acclimation to copper-treated water or an uncycled QT that doesn’t receive water changes.  The reason I mentioned cupramine is I know from personal experience that it does not kill the beneficial bacteria involved in cycling a tank. I haven’t tried too many brands of copper treatments but I know cupramine doesn’t destabilize my cycled QT so I continue to use it(and no I’m not a promoter of the brand just a humble consumer who has had success with the product lol )

 

 

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Everyone will have fear in administering copper for the very first time. It is just very wise of seachem to aggressively market it as a safer compound. There are tons of articles whereby cupramine went wrong as well that particular "safe" statement caused consumer to use cupramine as their first choice. It worked for them and hence the continuation. One will never change their methodology if it all works well.. e.g if you started off with an unknown brand which comprise of copper , and if it works, you will stand by it! Hehehe maybe consumers should query if the premium LFS which carries cupramine uses it themselves. And perhaps they are using cupramine and hence the premium in prices Most will be very honest while I strongly believe a very small handful may not (eg just like how one recommended me more water changes to stabilise the situation )   On another note, theoretically if copper will destabilise bacterial growth, that being the case, good luck to those newly establish LFS as I will be very wary of them  

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[soggycookies]

Everyone will have fear in administering copper for the very first time. It is just very wise of seachem to aggressively market it as a safer compound. There are tons of articles whereby cupramine went wrong as well that particular "safe" statement caused consumer to use cupramine as their first choice. It worked for them and hence the continuation. One will never change their methodology if it all works well.. e.g if you started off with an unknown brand which comprise of copper , and if it works, you will stand by it! Hehehe maybe consumers should query if the premium LFS which carries cupramine uses it themselves. And perhaps they are using cupramine and hence the premium in prices Most will be very honest while I strongly believe a very small handful may not (eg just like how one recommended me more water changes to stabilise the situation )   On another note, theoretically if copper will destabilise bacterial growth, that being the case, good luck to those newly establish LFS as I will be very wary of them  Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app
 
 
 
 
 

That’s why it’s called personal experience hahaha. Never try, never know. Either you trust what others say completely or do it yourself heh 🤷🏻‍♂️

[aquagem]

That’s why it’s called personal experience hahaha. Never try, never know. Either you trust what others say completely or do it yourself heh 🤷🏻‍♂️

Unfortunately, before I didn't have the time and was naive to trust what the other party mentioned. There are more to this with their premium hardwares as well! Over promised and under delivered.


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[ladynano]

any type of fishes in particular u looking at?