# stores that buy fish??



## Nicole29 (Aug 5, 2006)

Are there any stores in the GTA that are known to actually buy fish from hobbyists??
Thanks


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

The two places that I personally deal with for cash/credit for my client's fish are:

Menagerie Pet Shop
549 Parliament St (S of Wellesley)
(416) 921-4966
Contact: Harold- he's away on holidays until Aug 21 I think.

Finatics Aquarium
599 Kennedy Rd (S of Eglington)
(416) 265-2026
Contact: Mike

There is also Aquatic Designs and Kumlin's Tropicals, fellow GTAA sponsors, but I have never dealt with them before on this issue.

HTH


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Almost any fish stores buys from hobbiest. You just have to work up the courage to ask about it. I usuaslly wait until it's not busy and buy something from then and ask about it when I am paying. That usually put me in a slightly advantage position because they still stuck in the "be nice to your customer mood", even though the positions have reversed.

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## KATA (Jun 6, 2006)

I would ask a couple different stores, find which one is best for you, it's not always about who will pay more, also private fish stores not the big ones also can cut you better deals sometimes, also most will only give you store credit, good luck and remember they where all hobbyist at one time themselves.

Kevin


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Zebrapl3co said:


> Almost any fish stores buys from hobbiest. You just have to work up the courage to ask about it. I usuaslly wait until it's not busy and buy something from then and ask about it when I am paying. That usually put me in a slightly advantage position because they still stuck in the "be nice to your customer mood", even though the positions have reversed.


You have to work up some courage to say "You guys want some (blank) fish?"


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I always have to work the courage up.... LoL


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## Space_Cadet (Sep 2, 2006)

Just so everyone knows, the store that I work at (Super Pet Kennedy Commons) does not buy fish from hobbyists. This is mainly because there is no way of knowing what kind of fish we are buying in terms of health and longevity. You can usually drop off fish to us, but even that we don't do much anymore because recently someone dropped off koi for our pond and about half the koi have died from a horrible bacterial infection.


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## Canadiancray (Apr 27, 2006)

Superpet does buy fish from hobbiests. Just most hobbiests don't bother because all purchases have to go throught the head office.


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## Space_Cadet (Sep 2, 2006)

And then the guy who runs our department will tell head office where they can put those fish


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## Canadiancray (Apr 27, 2006)

Then the guy who runs your department shouldn't be. I would be far more likely to purchase fish that have been bred locally than any fish from a farm out of country. Most of the Superpets from Mississauga to Hamilton area purchase from local breeders because they are FAR more healthy fish. If you manager can't tell the difference he shouldn't be managing. Just my opinion.


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## Aquatic Designs (Apr 2, 2006)

Aquatic Designs always supports the local breeder.

Jason
647-298-7663


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## kweenshaker (Mar 11, 2006)

Canadiancray said:


> Then the guy who runs your department shouldn't be. I would be far more likely to purchase fish that have been bred locally than any fish from a farm out of country. Most of the Superpets from Mississauga to Hamilton area purchase from local breeders because they are FAR more healthy fish. If you manager can't tell the difference he shouldn't be managing. Just my opinion.


It wouldn't surprise me that the Kennedy store doesn't buy locally. The fish there are often pretty sad looking....I guess it's hard to keep the gravel clean too because sometimes I see bacterial blooms in the tank. Nearly every time I've gone to buy fish there, there have been dead or sick specimens in the tank. I guess big stores really should go bare bottom (but they could still keep the nice setups in the middle of the store running).


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## Space_Cadet (Sep 2, 2006)

The tank have gotten much better in the past few months. 

The reason our manager doesn't buy from hobbyists is because they can't give a guarantee. His crazy fish contacts overseas give him good guarantees on all his fish so when we do lose fish we don't lose money.

Hard to keep the gravel clean because there just aren't enough hours in a day with the amount of tanks that we have. We get about 30 done a week, though.


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## Canadiancray (Apr 27, 2006)

I find that hard to beleive. I have NEVER seen a wholesaler over seas that will guarantee anything once its left the store.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Hmmm SP there does get refunds on fish shipped to the store.. but they are not refunded by the overseas suppiler. Once they have hit the store and are sold on our behalf its SP who does the replacements/refunds.

I dunno what you are expecting out of SC Cray... But with a huge corp like Hagen SP/PJ's... one empolyee will not be able to sway the whole shabang.. 

Its not like its her own personal store in which she can do what ever she wishes.. Take your gripes to the headoffice.


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## Canadiancray (Apr 27, 2006)

I NEVER once said I had any ill feeling towards SuperPet. Show me where I said that. All I said was that many hobbiests won't deal with the company because payment must go through head office & that always takes longer than most are willing to wait. Also I stated that most fish room managers know that locally bred fish from known breeders will always do better when sold to customers than fish born overseas in waters unlike our own. I also said any fishroom manager that says local breeders fish are less healthy isn't knowledgable enough to do their job & if they took a goldfish or a koi at the end of the summer which obviously came out of a pond deserves whatever happens. Most stores have signs up saying they will not take koi because they know better.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Hmmm Gripes=concerns?

I'll tell you i sold my two 1 foot id's to that same store and got money that day.
They just cash it out and send it in later?... I never once had an issues with it. ...but who knows?


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## Canadiancray (Apr 27, 2006)

Im not talking about someone bringing in a couple of fish. Im talking breeders bringing in hundreds of fish worth hundreds of dollars.

This practice has acually started within the last few months. Before that it was easy to deal with that chain. There are a few breeders I know that took more than 1 month to get their money.


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## Space_Cadet (Sep 2, 2006)

Actually, the fish we get from overseas are cheaper and healthier. It's the local fish that always end up dying. Plus they cost twice as much money.

Example: We buy betta's from singapore at 80 cents a pop. None of them die, male or female. We buy betta's from a breeder in the west end at $1.35 and ALL the females got fungus, spread it to the other fish, and wiped out a tank's worth of stock. 

Another reason we don't buy from hobbyists is because they simply can't provide the numbers of fish we require. Most hobbyists just don't have the time or space to breed hundreds of fish each week for pet stores. That's why they are hobbyists and not breeders.

Our fish manager has been working with fish his whole life so he knows what he's doing. He may not have the best people skills but he knows his fish.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Well... In whatever situation at least we've got jason and the other few who will willing buy from you if you need to sell your fish. 

I know Mike from Finatics gets his bettas in from a breeder and they are always wonderful. Huge too!

LOL Space... I will agree with you on the people skills thing ..rofl.

Thanks for the info Craig! I am gunna have to get refreshed with my supervisor at work as well just so i know. I usually send everyone to adam anyways..


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## Space_Cadet (Sep 2, 2006)

Mike has such an awesome store  A customer was looking for something the other day so I sent him to Finatics, then he drove all the way back to super pet to thank me 

North American Fish Breeders might buy fish, but I'm not too sure.


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## sharon (Oct 2, 2006)

Pablo said:


> You have to work up some courage to say "You guys want some (blank) fish?"


haha Pablo!I can just see someone going up to a pet store owner and asking"hey do you want some f**king fish"? I think I know what they would say...


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## nightowl1350 (Mar 19, 2006)

Non chain stores tend to buy fish from the local breeder more than bigger chains. They will also pay a more fair price. (about 1/4 to 1/3 what they sell them for)

Some of the bigger chains will, but the price they can ship them in for is very low and you won't get what you deserve for your stock. 
An example would be a blue ram they want to buy for less than $2 but will trun around and sell them for $10-12. Doesn't sound fair to me  I would rather sell my rams for $3.50 on forums. I get more and the people who buy them get quality rams at a great price.


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## Aquatic Designs (Apr 2, 2006)

I buy both local and imported fish. I have also, bought fish thru the same supplier as Superpet. (BTW I actually used to manage scarborough superpet). And the fish from that company are horrible. Not always but most of the time. SP Head office does get refunds from them but that is because they know that the stock is sub par. And it is only for a 24 hr period after the fish have been delivered to the store not when the customer buys it.

LOCALLY BRED FISH ARE FAR HEALTHIER AND FAR MORE HARDY THEN ASIAN IMPORTS, PERIOD. That's just common sense.


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