fish from garden centres

[craig mason]

has anyone ever bought any fish from a garden centre ?

 

do you have any storys about garden centre fish?

[Elton]

Whilst I have no doubt that there are some garden centres that specialise in pond fish, I'd steer well clear of those that just have them 'because people might buy them'.

 

I have seen some dreadful fish in garden centres.

 

Like I say, though, there are those that specialise and you'll spot those ones a mile off.

 

Elton

[craig mason]

the best place that i have found is stapley in chesire i try to get there twice a year if i can but its about 100 miles away from were i live in derbyshire but they have some exellent fish on sale so i always end up buying somthing when i visit.

 

Has anyone else visited it or has anyone been to any aquatic outlets in the north midlands that they would recomend to me. ?

[John S]

Firstly, I will agree with Craig; Stapely are (IMO) beyond reproach....

 

I will never buy fish from a garden centre, buy instead from a bona fide fish specialist (and I don't mean a pet store either!). And once you have found your supplier, keep going there for all your fishkeeping requirements. If they are any good, they will soon learn what type of fish you keep and will be able to advise you on future purchases/problems.

 

Also, having kept tank fish of various types for almost 2 decades before getting a pond, I know the value of an isolation tank. Try to set aside a small area (a large indoor tank or small holding pond for eg) to keep your new purchases in. That way, any infections will become apparent before you add them to the main pond.

[chesters1]

our local one is useless , when i asked what geophagus variety it was he didnt know ,bloomin spotty oiks, didnt even know the ph of the south american stream it came from :cool:

the "manager" asked me if i kept fish (trying to be smart and snidey) when i told him i had the complete "old" fisharium from that particular shop before they "downsized" to 20 tanks he shut up . the shop goes through more staff than a case of legioneers desease

 

[ 17. January 2003, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Bradford Angler]

spent the first few years buying cheap fish from Garden centres and receiving, look what we bought for you from the Garden centre . . . most of them are now skeletons in the bushes next door

 

or have been so "vacinated and treated" they can live in anything

 

then found a quality koi centre . . well that's not true I work about 30 seconds from it and have for 20 years, but it has always been pricey .. 35 quid for a four inch fish.

 

My pond was somewhere for me to listen to water, drink a beer by in summer and be perch on the edge of whilst barbeques . . . I did not want to set up the equivalent of an oxygen tent for fish

however,

 

I mentioned this to the chap at the koi centre and he advised me. For a pond, unless you are mad keen on showing . . buy ugglies. These are fish where the colours all merge and there is no sharp point where the colours merge.

 

eg red to pink to orange to yellow then to white

 

buy koi which go change straight from a white bit to a deep red cost mega bucks

 

I bought top flight (well I hope they were, they were in the same tank as the rest ) for a fiver each and they were 7 inches long . .

 

the show men and real carp worshipers won't touch them . . apparantly grading is not such a fine art . . .

 

I now buy all my fish from him

 

the other trick is find the times they call there seasons . . good places close down fish sales areas over winter (cowboys don't) . . then go a week before . . they have stock that they need to sell to make year end . . . just like all businesses . . .

 

otherwise they are on the books for another x months and need care, attention and investment.

[Hereford_angler]

I stay well clear from 'Pets at home' (Pet Smart) but go to a pond centre. They have loads of good quality fish. Where pets at home have loads of orfe in a long bucket type thing?!

[MrWiggly]

When I first set up my pond some six years ago I went to my local garden centre and picked up six "Runt" goldfish. As far as I was concerned these were expendable, and their purpose was simply to test the water quality of my pond.

 

Now having bought, and lost, numerous fish in the meantime ... guess which fish are still happily swimming around my pond six years later.

 

Yep ..... The original six Goldfish !

 

Go figure ..... :confused:

[peter mccue]

Mr W,

 

That amused me

 

Natural Goldies can be practically bomb proof!

[Nick South East]

the show men and real carp worshipers won't touch them . . apparantly grading is not such a fine art .

 

In response to Bradford Angler I can assure you picking and grading koi is an art, especially to select the highest show quality fish. Retailers spend a huge amount of money travelling to Japan to pick out the best of the crop.

 

The problem with the survival rate of Koi is that most poeple buy young fish, ie below 10" these fish are under 2 years old and therefore quite week and are especially suseptable to changes in thier environment. If you bought 10 4-5" koi i would expect in an average pond to lose maybe 50% of those by the time they reach maturity. If by the same token you purchased 10 18" koi I would expect only to lose 10% of those fish. The bigger and older they are the stronger they will be.

 

John S mentions in his post about a quarantine facility, I have my own views on this, with regards to cold water outdoor ponds. but I would be interested to hear thoughts from others?