Fish: Re: [tropical fish club] buyer beware

Had read this when it was first posted, but then put it on the back burner, to get "right back" to it. As "right back" has long passed < g >, I thought I'd post the input I had on it then, at this time. I'd just like to mention that many PetsMart outlets notoriously do not get pure Rainbowfish species, but instead offer hybrids. As many of us are probably aware, all PetsMart stores get their fishes from certain Florida Fish farms, which they have contracts with. In fact, none that I know of will ever buy locally raised fishes from breeders as they're prevented from doing so by corporate headquarters. These Florida farms that they buy their Rainbowfish from are reputed to raise hybrid Rainbowfish, and while not all of these Rainbowfish species they raise are hybrids, many are. The Neon Rainbowfish being sold by PetsMart are indeed a species, and while the hybrid Rainbows look very nice in most cases, their Maccullochi Rainbowfish may not necessarily be a true species all the time -- depending upon which farm they get them from.

Larry, it looks here like you appreciate the Seven-Line (Macculloch's) Rainbowfish, and it's one of my absolute favorites too. I got my first ones from what was one of the most premier fish stores -- Aquarium Stock Company -- back in 1953, which maybe some of the readers here will remember as having a hugh block long store in New York City and another large store in Los Angeles up until about the late 1970's. I've seen other Maccullochi Rainbows since then, but few that could have compared to those early ones I had got.

Reason being, Melanotaenia maccullochi is found in a number of different places, some of them quite distant from one another -- as are many other Rainbowfish. As such, their coloration and pattern can be quite different depending on where they're found. While several locations of Macculloch's Rainbowfish are found in Australia, several others are found several hundred miles across the Pacific Ocean on New Guinea. The best ones by far come from the Cape York Penninsula of northeastern Australia, in the Jardin River. Other locations may not be nearly as colorful. Just wanted to point this out to you as you continue to be on the lookout for them. Best of luck on the Goldfish if you get them.

Ray

--- In tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com, Larry Blanchard wrote:
>
> On 02/17/2013 09:48 PM, Donna King wrote:
> > What a pain! You'll be lucky if the fish haven't infected your tank with some horrible disease. I sure hope not. I would never buy anything live from either petco or petsmart.
>
> I did check the store invoice to see how long Petco had had them - over
> a week. And the 5 I still have are healthy.
>
> We've had three aquarium stores go out of business in the last year or
> so. The chains are about all I've got left unless I want to buy sight
> unseen and pay enormous shipping charges. I have had pretty good luck
> at our PetsMart, probably because the manager is a fish nut and knows a
> lot. Of course, that means when something good comes in, he usually
> buys it himself :-).
>
> A few years back corporate sent him some Macculloch's Rainbowfish
> (**http://watershed3.tripod.com/rainbows.html#auzmac) and he grabbed
> them quick - we both keep watching for more but no luck yet.
>
> I'm currently cycling a 29 gallon. I may go over to the dark side with
> this one. Petsmart has a couple of calico ryukins that are about the
> best I've ever seen. If they're not gone by the time I get the tank
> cycled ...
>
> P.S. Any responses claiming I need 50 gallons per goldfish will be
> totally ignored :-).
>
> Larry B
>
> --
> It's turtles, all the way down.
>