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As soon as you hit the floor of your local neighborhood fish store, look down...

If the floor hasn't been swept in a dog's age and there's dirt and dustballs throwing a party, leave.

Or, you can walk up to the cashier and ask why the floor looks like a war zone. If you get a weird look, leave.

Or, you can ask for the manager and if they ask "what manager??", leave.

Or, if you're not that fussy about walking through a bacterial danger zone, stay.

If you've made it to the fish area without suffering a sneezing and coughing fit, your immune system may be better than the fish they're selling.

Once in the fish area, look down. Be aware of anything that may be slippery and wiggling, tail up. If unsure of what you just stepped on, leave.

Now that you've been looking down more than up and you've made it to the ten gallon holding tanks, look up.

If the water supply to the tanks coming out of the overhead plumbing is rusty, leave.

If the supply water looks drinkable, look straight ahead.

Now, gaze into the tanks. If there's more fish laying on the bottom than swimming, leave.

If there's Piranhas in with Neons, leave.

If you spot finless guppies, leave.

If the names of the fish are written on the glass and crossed off, leave.

If you see fish in quarantine tanks when all other tanks are empty, leave.

NEXT: Watch and study.

--garyroland.

We've got a couple of fish stores here just like that and one really clean one that I'm sure the tank water is drinkable Strange (or is it!) how most fish deaths I've had were fish purchased from those dark, dingey old run-down stores!

it can be deceptive tho, i've had infected purchases from one of the better stores in Sydney. I've had healthy fish from mediocre stores too.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett