overpriced fish stores!

dorabaker

both my lfs's are HUGELY OVERPRICED. how on earth am i going to afford everything i need for my 15 gallon south-east asian biotope?

ok so i just rang up the two fish stores i've been to recently. the first one didn't have crypts (which i wanted), didn't have dwarf chain loaches (had pakistanis instead) and their cherry barbs were $7. SEVEN DOLLARS? how am i supposed to afford a shoal if they are that much each
i also wanted some 2 mm gravel, they sold 3 mm gravel for $3 a kilo. thats ok i guess..

second store had crypts, but they were $10 - and i wanted six of them!
they had cherry barbs for $3 but were out of stock (doesn't matter much as i won't be getting any for a while.)
they also had dwarf loaches but were also out of stock. those were $5 i think...
i also wanted fine gravel and the second store only sold 20 kilo bags of that for like $30 or something!

anyway, i am feeling very discouraged. especially about the crypts, i really wanted them! so i thought i'd ask, does anyone know any good sites for buying live plants off, preferably under $6? i thought there might be something on ebay, but there wasn't. oh and it has to be able to ship to australia, or preferably based in aus..
thanks

burnsbabe

I don't have any online suggestions as my LFS is excellent. I did want to suggest though that $30 for a 20 kilo bag is not that bad for the gravel. You won't use quite all of it, but the odds that you get a second tank eventually are high, right?

Also, $5 for the Dwarf Chain Loaches is a good deal. At least here in the States. I have a shoal of 6 that cost me $60 and that was a 6 for $60 special. They were individually $12.95 I want to say? The Dwarf Chains are just expensive fish.

$7 for cherry barbs is a bit crazy. $3 isn't so bad.

That's just my $0.02US. Dunno what that is is Aussie money.

dorabaker

haha 2 cents is probably about the same in aus dollars...exchange rate usually isn't too bad.

come to think of it, i'm not sure whether the guy said $5 or $35 for the loaches it had better be $5 or i'm doomed...

kitten_penang

try to source them from malaysia.the shipping is expensive but the livestock if not stated in USD is dirt cheap

dorabaker

the loachies you mean? or the plants? any online store u would recomend...

kitten_penang

opps i replied in you other thread =p

ElectricBlueJackDempsey

sweet aquatics is my favorite place to buy live plants online.

Aquarium Plants Pond Plants From Sweet Aquatics

dorabaker

yeah i found that and i was like 'hooray!' and then i saw they only shipped to the US...

kitten_penang

dora i think you need to see this Bay Fish | Aquarium Fish Wholesalers - Australia , Tropical Fish Dealers - FAQ about Buying Tropical Fish and Goldfish. , Aquaculture Australia =) looks good to me.

dorabaker

thanks, the second last one has loaches for $5. what do u know about zebra loaches? they look nice.
i think if they are under $6 ill just get fish from my lfs, its plants that are the problem really