# Who has the healthiest fishes?



## Ibrat82 (Jan 13, 2016)

I'm trying to look for a good fish store one that's trusted and has healthy fish in the gta? Any recommendations?


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

Uh oh ... this outta be interesting


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## Ibrat82 (Jan 13, 2016)

I've had success with only one store in the gta but there selection is very limited so I'm trying to find a place that had both good selection and healthy fish.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Yeah this will be a touchy situation....


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## CartoonJustice (Feb 1, 2016)

Canada Corals isn't bad, except for their return policy.

https://www.canadacorals.com/

Carl was good to deal with, don't expect an updated fish list. Friendly, and decent prices.

http://carlsaquarium.com/index.html

Otherwise I do Big Al's or gtaa/kijiji.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Honestly, none of them I have been too. (Not every store) Everyone appears to be in it for the fast buck. Who can blame them?

They get a shipment in and bam there's a stampeded to the place and everything is sold the first week. No one wants to wait everyone has tons of cash and they're spending it freely.

Back in the old days 20+ years ago you could go to a store see a fish and the next month go back and see the exact same ones.

I used to hate this


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## twobytwo (Oct 25, 2014)

I don't know about the "healthiest" fish... But I know where, IMO, the LEAST healthy fish are. There's one store I will never ever buy from again. It's hard because the prices are very tempting, but I've been burned a couple times.

The best protection is that no matter where you get your fish, they should all be QT'd.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

twobytwo said:


> I don't know about the "healthiest" fish... But I know where, IMO, the LEAST healthy fish are. There's one store I will never ever buy from again. It's hard because the prices are very tempting, but I've been burned a couple times.
> 
> The best protection is that no matter where you get your fish, they should all be QT'd.


Was at that store last weekend looks like they maybe closing down. Almost every tank was empty and the corals almost all gone.


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## amps (Feb 24, 2015)

Can I get a heads up? I'm setting up my stocking plan and want to get the best fish I can.


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## Bassick (Nov 19, 2014)

So just out of curiosity why is everyone so hush hush about this? If there is a store selling poor/unhealthy livestock why would you not say the name? IME I have had good luck with Kraken's, Reef Boutique, and Coral Reef shop and I would not buy anything from Big Al's. Again just my two cents but I never understood why people are hesitant to out bad business.


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## CoralConnoisseur (Mar 5, 2014)

"Healthy fish" is very different from species to species. Clowns or damsels that have massive immune systems seem never to die. Step up to tangs and yellows, kole tangs, anything in that kind of family seem to be fairly hardy. But a "healthy" powder blue? Powder brown? Achilles???? These fish seem to have a much higher mortality rate and will require heavy quarantine or tank transfer method.

IME it is not necessarily the store, it's the person buying and the type of fish. You could buy 2 fish from the same store, one dies in 2 days, the other is still rocking out 2 years later.


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## powder blue (Mar 24, 2012)

I bought all my fishes from Seaumarine and more than 90% survived and most of the time i don't even quarantine (except for powder blue and powder brown). The other 10% died after a month or so because I didn't have time to feed them live food or frozen food.


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## aspiro (Jan 28, 2015)

Not necessarily a guarantee on health but I find it good practice to

1)visit a store regularly especially during non-peek times to see how their fish are doing when not under the spotlight

2)always ask where their stock came from (ie. locally bred, wild caught, Germany, Asia...you get the picture)

3)ask what their (the stores) quarantine practice is. Regardless of their practice I always ensure I quarantine my fish.

Understand that LFS are businesses and like any business as costs go up (ie. water, hydro, currency costs) they have to find way to lower expenses and sometimes that means bringing in cheaper stock. Cheaper stock, not always but often is correlated to poor quality (ie. colours, hybrids) and often less healthy stock.

Like anything else, do your do diligence.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

powder blue said:


> I bought all my fishes from Seaumarine and more than 90% survived and most of the time i don't even quarantine (except for me powder blue and powder brown). The other 10% died after a month or so because I didn't have time to feed them live food or frozen food.


I'm sad to say that I have less than 50% success rate from Sea U Marine, and by success I mean livestock that lasts more than 6 months in my tank.

Discounting CUC like hermits and snails, my first purchase was a pair of cleaner shrimps. One of the shrimps died the very next day, but the other lived almost a year.

Next purchase was a fire goby that also lasted almost a year.

Then I purchased 3 ocellaris clowns. All died within a week, and even sickened and killed the clown that I had for over 2 years.

Then I bought a lawnmower blenny, and it lasted less than 2 months.

Final purchase I made was another pair of cleaner shrimps, and they've been doing well so far. This was about 3 months ago.

Keep in mind that all this was over the course of 4 years.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

solarz said:


> I'm sad to say that I have less than 50% success rate from Sea U Marine, and by success I mean livestock that lasts more than 6 months in my tank.
> 
> Discounting CUC like hermits and snails, my first purchase was a pair of cleaner shrimps. One of the shrimps died the very next day, but the other lived almost a year.
> 
> ...


How long did the other fish you purchased from other stores last?


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

TBemba said:


> How long did the other fish you purchased from other stores last?


2 ocellaris clowns from that Reefquarium, lasted over 2 years.

Two 3-stripe damsels and two 4-stripe damsels from Big Al's, over a year and ongoing.

4 golden gregory damsels from BA, also about a year ago, 3 still doing well.

1 fire goby from BA, lasted a 2-4 months.

3 talbot damsels, also from BA, lasted around 6 months.

A couple of procelain crabs, from BA as well, no idea when they died as I almost never saw them.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.


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## Ibrat82 (Jan 13, 2016)

since everyone is spilling beans lol, My first ever fish i bought from nafb was a pair of clowns. They were tank raised looked fine in the store didn't know about qting so i dumped them in my brand new tank. Second day i notice ich like dots. 3 days after it went away. I did my research and i thought it was fungal. The dots never appeared again bought some more fish from them qt'd them for 4 weeks all seemed fine then put them in dt. Next day they have ich. 

Turns out the clown did have ich and gave the new fish ich. What are my chances? The first fish i buy has ich. Now i'm very hesitant to buy from them even though they do have better selections than most stores.


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## carl (Feb 11, 2010)

Ibrat82 said:


> I'm trying to look for a good fish store one that's trusted and has healthy fish in the gta? Any recommendations?


IMHO Carls aquariums has some pretty good fish but then I am somewhat bias


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## Bassick (Nov 19, 2014)

I also would never buy fish from NAFB, coral yes but not fish. They're tanks always seem dirty with at least one dead fish per tank (when they are fully stocked)


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## carl (Feb 11, 2010)

CartoonJustice said:


> Canada Corals isn't bad, except for their return policy.
> 
> https://www.canadacorals.com/
> 
> ...


Yes, we are slow to update the list, it's best to phone me


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

I've actually had great results at the Big Al's in Newmarket. The guy running the fish section is super helpful and very fair.


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

Norman said:


> I've actually had great results at the Big Al's in Newmarket. The guy running the fish section is super helpful and very fair.


Chris, who now runs the Newmarket fish room used to run the Barrie Big Als fish room and I agree. He was fair, up front and excellent to deal with.


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## powder blue (Mar 24, 2012)

CoralConnoisseur said:


> "Healthy fish" is very different from species to species. Clowns or damsels that have massive immune systems seem never to die. Step up to tangs and yellows, kole tangs, anything in that kind of family seem to be fairly hardy. But a "healthy" powder blue? Powder brown? Achilles???? These fish seem to have a much higher mortality rate and will require heavy quarantine or tank transfer method.
> 
> IME it is not necessarily the store, it's the person buying and the type of fish. You could buy 2 fish from the same store, one dies in 2 days, the other is still rocking out 2 years later.


100% agree


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## corpusse (Jan 3, 2011)

All fish come from the same ocean(s). If you are getting relatively new arrivals they should be in similar shape. Most / all stores run some level of copper and or lower salinity to mask illness (not treat). The fish that look good in the store and more importantly are treated properly when brought home into qt are the ones that do best. You can add a healthy fish to a reef where he will get beat up and starved or is fed poor quality foods or and that's worse than a sick fish being properly treated and isolated to adjust to captivity with a well balanced diet and become comfortable being in a glass box prior to being introduced to your reef where they may get beat down anyway but have the strength to take it and adjust to their level on the pecking order.


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## mattdean (Oct 23, 2010)

To me, the stores I trust are the ones that tell me NOT to buy a fish. Red at Coral Reef Shop has refused to sell me fish because he felt they weren't health enough. So, that is where I shop. But as it has been said, if you buy a fish the day it arrives, you take a risk. No store can know whether a fish is healthy a day after it comes in.


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## Yellowtang (May 26, 2015)

*Who has the healthiest fishes.*

I only purchase fish from two places, the coral reef shop in burlington is one of my favourite places to buy fish. Red who works there is a very honest person who at times has refused to sell me fish because the fish shipment had just arrived and he wanted to make sure that the fish are hearty and eating. The second is big al's in mississauga, they also have refused to sell me fish from a shipment that had just arrived. I have never had a problem from either store.


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## mmatt (Feb 12, 2012)

As far as I am concerned its a gamble. If the fish is wild caught it has been stressed out from being caught and what ever journey it has taken to the store then to your tank. 

Then we are so cautions when putting our fish into our displays with drips and dips and quarintines and treatmeants that I'm surprised that any marine fish survives. And let's not forget about any other natural diseases the fish may contracted. These fish are coming from all the freedom in the world into a little box. 

Best placeto get fish would be a fellow hobbiest. Generally they are well taken care of and have been in a tank for a while. But sometimes that just isn't possible so
I will look at any store and look at the fish to see if they are healthy (fat, active, and eating) Then ask how long they have had it in their system. Then make my decision. 

I've had good and bad experiences when buying fish at the above mentioned stores. Deaths and survivals. 

There is nothing cheap or inexpensive or easy about this hobby. If you want that then stick with fresh water 

Hope that adds to the confusion.lol


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## zk4444 (Mar 8, 2012)

Is it then safe to assume that the healthiest fishes would be the ones we own and have thrived in our tanks for at least a year or so?

If so, will someone please sell me their melanurus wrasse as I've been hunting one down the past few weeks


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## Vinoy Thomas (Jan 4, 2013)

mmatt said:


> There is nothing cheap or inexpensive or easy about this hobby. If you want that then stick with fresh water


It doesn't have to be!


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## one90gallontank (May 29, 2012)

Tavis said:


> So just out of curiosity why is everyone so hush hush about this? If there is a store selling poor/unhealthy livestock why would you not say the name? IME I have had good luck with Kraken's, Reef Boutique, and Coral Reef shop and I would not buy anything from Big Al's. Again just my two cents but I never understood why people are hesitant to out bad business.


I have had good luck with fish from Kraken's. I bought a few tangs and a orchid dottyback from Kraken's more than 6 months, and all of them are still healthy and fat. No ich or any sign of sickness. in the past, I always made sure I quarantine fish, but now I don't practice it for the fish from Kraken's.

Even a few times i quarantine the new fish bought from some stores, the fish died in a few days and didn't make it to the display tank. It could be my 40 gallon quarantine tank is too stressful to the new fish.

I have never been to Coral Reef shop or Reef Boutique. I don;t buy fish from Big Als which is a little over price.


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## kouma (Jan 21, 2014)

carl said:


> IMHO Carls aquariums has some pretty good fish but then I am somewhat bias


not biased at all lol


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