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how do you give/sell your fry/ juvenile fish to the lfs? Has anyone tried in california/petco?

call them or stop in and see if they want them or will even take them. Some shops won't take outside fish due to the risk of disease.

Some shops won't take outside fish due to the risk of disease.

you know what i think thats funny most of there fish are already diseased!

It is always terrifying adding new fish to a healthy tank because you just don't know what you are getting sometimes, no matter how hard you try.

Some local pet stores will take fry and trade-ins, but I've found that most chain stores do not..not only not for store credit, but not even if you're giving it to them free.

one small pet store took hamsters from us twice (once we though that our hamsters were too young, so they lived in the same cage, the second time we don't know how the female got pregnant, maybe there was a jailbreak or something)

I am pretty sure your Petco will not take fry in that would favorable to you (i.e. not give anything in return). The LCS's here will not give any store credit/cash where I am at (Petco and Petsmart). But they will take "donations."

On the other hand a locally operated FS here will give 50% store credit of what they charge the public for the same fish. They sell there male and female guppies at $3.99 each. So when you turn in guppy fry that have reached about 1\2", they give a store credit of $2.00 on each. It's a good way to get/stock up on new equipment. Sure you pay more there for equipment, but when you turn in 50 guppies that originally cost $8 then figure in food and electricity for those, which is very little, but I will at least say $10 for 6 months. That's not a bad return every 28 days on just the initial $18.00 or so.

My advice then would be to find a locally operated FS and bargain with them. Don't take less that the 50% of what they sell the fish for. At that rate they will still make money from your fish. For such little effort in return of your store credit you might feel guilty walking out with a couple of heaters and bio-wheels, but remember they usually jack those prices up. No matter what they will still be making money from you. Why can't you make a little from them?

[span class="edited"][Edited by JediDragon 2004-08-11 14:59][/span]

Don't take less that the 50% of what they sell the fish for

Don't take it to my lfs, lol. He gives like 10%... and his prices are 30% higher than anywhere else so he's still up 20% when you use that store credit, lol. I'd only take stuff to my lfs if I had no room for something, it was an emergency, etc. Not all lfs are crappy though, so it's worth checking into.

As a standard rule, you're lucky to get 25% of the value for credit. So anything more is pure bonus. That $2.00 per guppy thing I will be trying that with a lfs manager I know, trying to convince her to let me fill one tank (with some really unique guppys) for $4.00 apiece, I get $2.00 in either cash or credit, she pockets $2.00 hope she goes for it If Big Als sold guppys like mine they'd prob charge $5.00 per.

ps - pics comin soon !!! Got a digital camera finally !
Been dyin to share some pics with everyone.

The Amazon Nut...