A few weeks ago, I bought 10 rummynose Tetras from a very nice local pet shop. It was my first time visiting there. Then, I was in a Petco and saw these rummynose for $4 each. I'm trying to understand the price gap here – it seems very hard to justify spending double just to shop locally. I know some people say that stores will medicate fish for potential parasites and other things, but I don't think this one does that, considering they'll post on their Facebook page telling everyone about what shipments are coming in that day for you to go and buy them right away. So, that would mean there's no quarantine or preventative care to justify the price gap. Can someone help me understand?
Posted by ZookeepergameReal174
16 Comments
The mega corporation who can take losses on fish charges less for them? Say whaaaat
Jokes aside, Petco like many mega corporations knows that they arn’t going to make much on certain items and way more on others, like the supplies and upkeep essentials
Most of their products that you have to continuously buy (food, treats, etc) are conveniently expensive af, because thats where they actually make money at
The fish are to get you to come back and buy the other items
Just game the system and price shop, buy where you want, or keep mom and pop shops open
Box stores make a lot more money in a lot more ways. Small fish shops need the profit from the fish while a box store can afford to not profit and make it up in supplies. This is why small businesses are as good as dead. Nobody wants to or can afford to pay extra to support them.
My lfs does a run of medications and quarantine before selling the fish. They also feed high quality foods- so the fish from their are healthy and hardy. The box store will sell you fish they just unpacked.
The LFS charges 3x more. Totally worth it for me.
My LFS charged also charged $4 for my Rummy Nose back in the summer. High quality fish too. Not sure if he’s making no profit. I know he does some breeding in the store, but usually that’s just cichlids, so not sure how he’s making any profit on them.
As someone who has ordered fish before, these big box stores can also negotiate contracts to get much better deals on fish. If I ever ordered rummynoses I got like a dozen at a time, maybe once every other week. Whereas petco can say those the wholesalers they talk to that they will buy (just a ballpark) 10000 rummynose tetra every other month. They’re going to get a much much better deal on those fish.
This is in addition to what other commenters have said. Most LFSs will have like 80 to 90 percent of their sales come from livestock. I know for my store the average markup on fish was 3x the cost of what we paid.
I find livestock from big box stores is way crappier quality. Iwould rather pay double for fish that wont die within weeks or spread some nasty infection to the whole tank
Besides many others have pointed out, big box stores would order in much larger quantities than a lfs would. The big box stores could sell their fish cheaper cause they would make the profit in volume.
True that not all big box stores are a bad place to get your fish from and many of them would have the same distributors with your lfs, but once they get there, the fish might receive different treatment/care.
I prefer to get my cardinal tetras at like a chain pet store. 2.69 compared to 4.99
Same goes for otocinclus. My LFS is selling them for $7/ea and my local Petsmart had them for like $2.49/ea.
I love shopping local and supporting big business but if I can buy a whole school of them at Petsmart for the cost of 3 at my LFS, I’m tempted to go for the lower cost ones and gamble that they don’t have diseases.
Petco makes mad money on non fish related stuff, a lot of people get all their pet meds/food/etc there, and that stuff has great markup for a big box retailer. A small fish specialized store gets less customers, has less stuff to sell, and relies purely on month to month sales to pay rent and employees etc. If any given petco goes in the red for a couple months, the rest of the corporation can carry it through. If a small pet store does this, they can lose their business. The trade off you should get for going to the lfs is you should be dealing with a more knowledgeable and passionate sales crew. Operative word being should there.
Chain pet store animals are much more likely to introduce diseases. You’re supposed to quarantine animals before introducing them to a community for a few weeks. I would double that for anything bought at a chain pet store. Also, at a local fish store the employees know what they’re talking about and can give you correct advice on tank size, cycling, and stocking. Anyone over the age of 18 can get a job at Petco.
I buy big box then quarantine
Big savings
Our LFS quarantines before sale, feeds good quality food, and does regular water changes. Their staff actually know about fish and are able to recommend friendly/compatible tank mates. Their male bettas are kept in a more humane arrangement than teeny cups of fetid water. They carry more niche species and tank breed some types so that they’re less prone to disease and other issues.
Their prices aren’t that much higher than the big box stores, and I don’t feel sad when I look at the livestock.
You get what you pay for.
In reality you’re not spending that much more if the ones from your big box come in so sick you’re replacing them much sooner, just saying.
It really depends on where you live here in Brooklyn lfs is actually a lot cheaper then big box stores with only few exceptions, for example I can find peapuffer, Neo shrimp, amano shrimp and galaxy danio all for around 4-5 for $10