How to find a good fish dealer

Question
Hi Nathan,

I hope you'll be able to help me. My local pet store sells fish, but they obviously don't know how to take care of them well. It's a family-owned store, ad I've always read that those are good, but this isn't the case for me. The fish don't seem very healthy, and the store isn't very clean. Whenever I want to buy a fish, the employee takes almost 5 minutes to catch the fish, and even injures some of the other fish in the process! I sometimes end up with sick and dying fish from this store. The employees can't answer my questions, and they say that my fish are sick because I don't have an air pump (and of course, they point me to the most expensive air pump they have).

I really want to know what pet stores are good, and do I need an air pump?!?!

Thank you so much!

Answer
Hi Nathaniel,

What a disaster. Your local pet store completely fits all the 'Warning Signs of a Terrible Fish Store'.

What's worse, they even recommend ridiculous things just to get you to buy from their store!
You DON'T need an air pump! The reason that the fish are sick is because they were already sick from the store!

Employees that take forever to net their fish (and injure fish in the process) definitely don't have experience with fish.

Here's my advice: DON'T BUY FROM THAT STORE!!!

Instead, try and find another business near your area, or better yet, a large chain store like Petco and PetSmart. It's true that most family-owned stores are better, but this just isn't the case in many areas. PetSmart has some great employees that actually know what their talking about.
Another good store is Mr. Pet's.

You can find their websites at

Petsmart.com
Petco.com
Mrpets.com

If you cannot find a store near you, ordering online at liveaquaria is a good option. They provide high-quality fish.

Good Luck, and Happy Fishkeeping!