Archivarium 2004

[nick000000]

I am going to walmart tomorrow and to get some new fish. can anyone tell me all the fish they have at walmart
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thanks for your replys

[SLACkra]

if you buy walmart fish you really must not care about the quality of fish you are purchasing. walmart really should be discuraged from selling any thing that is alive there just not good at it. that is my personal opinion. you would be better off going to a small petshop. a good way to tell if a shops a good one is ask one of there workers some questions about keeping fish that you know the answer too.

andrew
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32g planted community
7.5g Nano Reef
1 four legged wonder napper
2 winged demons

[debk]

At the Wal-Mart in my town they only sell fish that need a minumium of 40 gallons, most need 180 gallons so be careful and make sure you know what you are getting first.

DEB
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1 ten gallon empty for qu, 1 32 gallon tank cycled with 5 peppered cories and 1 whiptail catfish

[White Lightning]

SLACKra, it really depends on the store. One Wal-Mart had extremely good quality employees and fish, and a week later in a different one half the fish were dying and the employess treated me like an aquidiot. (Like my new word? aqua + idiot = aquidiot)
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Niveus Levitas, Niger Phoebus

[Doosharm]

I agree with Flamethrower, not all Wal-Marts are bad. I used to work at a Wal-Mart and the department manager was very good with the fish. All of the tanks were clean and the fish were healthy. Thats more than I can say for some of the LFS's around here.

Anyway, to answer nick000000's question: The fish stock in Wal-Mart is a constantly changing thing. They get in fish like they get in all of their other merchandise. Basically the people at the Home Office in Arkansas decide what the best sellers in that area are and then ship the appropriate fish to the store. For instance, one store around here has tons of apple snails while the one only 15 minutes down the road has none.

In general Wal-Mart has three sections, goldfish, tropical, and tropical aggressive.
The goldfish can be anything from a common goldfish to koi. I don't really know too much about them so I'll stop there.
The tropical fish are typically platies, mollies, swordtails, cories, neons, gouramis, CAE, and plecos. Those seem to be universal in my area. I have also seen many kinds of catfish, tetras, barbs, etc.
For aggressives they typically have mixed African cichlids. I have also seen Oscars and Red Bellied Pacus.
Other things you may find are assorted snails and maybe some ghost shrimp.

But, like I said, each Wal-Mart is different. And although not all Wal-Mart stores are bad, many of them are. Most of the employees that work in a Wal-Mart are not trained on how to handle the fish. It's not about the fish, to them, its about the money.

And just as a warning, the little information tags are typically wrong. They often give the wrong common name for a fish, show a maximum size that is WAY off, say that they are not aggressive when they are, etc. It is best to learn about the fish FIRST and then go shopping. You can't really rely on what the workers tell you, nor can you rely on what the info card says. The same is true for some of the LFS's you might go into.

Once you know something about the fish you can tell if it is healthy or not. Take your time and shop around. Buy the healthiest fish you can. It'll save you time and money in the long run.

[Syno]

I agree with Slackra, don't buy your fish from Wal-mart. Go to an Aquatics store (which specialise in selling fish). In most cases you will get better quality fish, and better advice. Wal-mart and similar stores should be discouraged from selling fish.

[jbtalt6]

I disagree with SLACkra and Syno, and I'm suprised that they would answer the way they have.

SLACkra you are the first to jump on someone when they exhibit signs of being a "Fish Haver" rather than a "Fish Keeper". I would think you would be the first to recommend buying fish from WalMart so that the fish can be bought and put into a healthy tank and not live their life in misery in a WalMart tank. Doesn't that make more sense??

nick000000

My advise to you would be go to WalMart and look at the selection they have. Make yourself some notes on which ones you like, come back home and do some research on compatability, and then make your decision.

If you already have an established tank with other fish, make sure the ones you select are compatable. Also, if you have a quarantine/hospital tank, it would be advisable to put the new ones in there for a period prior to placing them into your established tank. Good luck

JM2C

J.B.
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[White Lightning]

However, at some wal-Marts you really can't see the selection, because many wal-Marts mislabel their fish. (I once saw a pencilfish labeled as a zebra danio. I'll admit the patterns are a bit similar, but... )
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Niveus Levitas, Niger Phoebus

[@-McP]

thats why you go and research after looking and then go back and buy what is a logical purchase. I'm not saying I've never made an impulse buy but 90% of the time you regret them. but then again there are the times when you can go and see a fish, find out that it is mislabeled and get one heckuva a deal on it because the workers don't know the difference between a danio and a cichlid

[Doosharm]