Anyone know if the calgary LFS have a website?

chicki · #1 11-06-2002, 05:32 PM

I've been told that Picsus?? has blue spotted jawfish for 70$?? I'd like to look at their website?? or any other good Calgary store
thanks!

Canadian Man · #2 11-06-2002, 06:21 PM

Wai's has a website as well.

Seriak · #3 11-06-2002, 06:30 PM

But none of them are very good. Wai's is no longer updated from what I can tell. I have never seen a product list on any of them.

AJ_77 · #4 11-06-2002, 07:04 PM

None of the local stores have updated livestock photos or livestock lists. I could be wrong, but I think the only picture you're going to find will be elsewhere on the web.

Seventy dollars is a fair chunk o' change, but Pisces isn't known for great prices (or holding facilities either). Normally the advice is to watch them in the store for a time, but in this case I'd say get it out of there quick. I've "watched" certain fish in their care go from a great specimens worthy of interest, to withered and doomed.

From years ago, the best luck I had there was if I saw a particularly good fish come in, I would grab it immediately. I assumed I would acclimate better than they would, and give the fish a better chance of long-term survival. OF course, some would dispute this approach, but it seemed to give me a better chance. If you look at their holding tanks, they aren't maintained.

Good luck with this one,

Aj

Delphinus · #5 11-06-2002, 07:51 PM

Hi,

Having had a yellow-headed jawfish (aka pearly jawfish), I would just want to urge a tiny bit of caution with this fish. They can be very nervous and tend to jump when unsettled. So two things are important with this fish: an enclosed canopy (at least for the first week or so until the fish has an established burrow where he can be happy), and two, a decent spot where he can create a burrow where he can see 360 degrees panorama around him. If he can't see 360 degrees around him, there is the possibility that he will remain a little stressed (these are very nervous fish).

I guess there is a third thing (I never said I could count real good, eh. My English is more better.

). They need a deep sand bed, the deeper, the better, and a steady supply of larger (ie., 1/2" to 1") sized chunks of rock or crushed coral, as they are constantly "renovating" their burrow.

They're fantastic fish. I wish I still had mine, but, my tank setup was not 100% correct for him. As such he was constantly burrowing and tunneling under the rocks and there was the occasional topple. I think that's what did him in, unfortunately. One day he was just gone, never to be seen again.

BTW, consider against getting any kind of burrowing fish if you have a plenum. My sand bed looks to be about 3"-4" deep but in reality it's much less since I have a plenum (I set this tank up in the days when plenums were still in fashion...

). Burrowing down to the plenum is a sure-fire way to defeat the de-oxygenated areas in the sand bed (thus reducing, or perhaps even eliminating, a tanks ability to reduce nitrates). My tank had constantly high nitrates when I had this fish, as he had indeed, burrowed down to the plenum. This is probably a moot point nowadays since hardly anyone has plenums anymore. But still worth mentioning.

If you have the right setup for them, they can be a fantastic addition to your setup. Good luck, with whatever you decide.

EmilyB · #6 11-07-2002, 05:37 AM

I was at Pisces today. One of the corpses may have been a bluespot, but it was too late to really tell....

Most places (?) would put a jawfish into a holding tank with some substrate....(doh)..

However, if you have ever seen Pisces unpack (and ACCLIMATE ??) their fish..you would wonder why ANY survive.

:x

chicki · #7 11-07-2002, 01:22 PM

Didn't want to drive the 3 hours anyways!LOL Thats too bad. I was told by someone here that you guys have really good fish stores! I don't know where he's been shopping

andestang · #8 11-07-2002, 02:56 PM

as I asked before, where is a good LFS in this city or is it best to mail order only?
ande

Bob I · #9 11-07-2002, 03:41 PM

Quote:

However, if you have ever seen Pisces unpack (and ACCLIMATE ??) their fish..you would wonder why ANY survive.

I have seen them give each fish a freshwater dip. It is like any other LFS, when you pay minimum wage, you get minimum wage staff.

AJ_77 · #10 11-07-2002, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andestang

as I asked before, where is a good LFS in this city or is it best to mail order only?
ande

For some, MO is the only way to go - if you find an outfit that you trust, and is shipping only fit specimens (ask EmilyB).
For others here, a LOT of care is needed to select your fish. Unfortunately even after following "safe shopping" procedures, it's still a crap shoot. A healthy, eating fish may drop dead a week after you bring it home from organ failure (cyanide caught). Or from other problems...

As mentioned above, I once had good success intercepting exceptional fish as quickly as possible, before the LFS had a chance to harm them further. Rather than acclimate in their crappy, crowded systems I would get them home where I could dote on them.
That defeats the "watch them in the store for 3 weeks" rule of fish shopping, but typically the nice ones don't stay in the stores that long, and if they do they go downhill while there anyways.

So, try Seacare of J&L or be diligent with the local shops. There is a TON of good advice on the boards re: fish buying.

Aj