Where do I get my fish? I get that question a lot. Some of my fish come from crosses I have done in my fish room but all my fish originally came from somewhere else.
I am blessed to have three good local fish stores (LFS). Unfortunately the past couple years have been really bad for livebearers. I have found LFS livebearers to be drab and often sick. In fact, I had a case of Ich for the first time in years recently and I can track it back to a pair of fish I picked up at the LFS. There are great finds to be had if you make frequent trips and have a good eye for what is possible. Keep in mind when visiting the LFS that the fish are likely stressed and possible not feeling well. A couple weeks of tlc can make a world of difference. I look for unique traits with potential when visiting my LFS. Nice large fins or clean solid colors are examples of what I look for.
The best place to get great and rare livebearers is Aquabid.com. There you can take advantage of all the hard work others have done. I have purchased some really nice fish from Aquabid and hopefully have improved upon them since.
In my opinion there are two sellers (not including myself) who consistently have great livebearers. They are:
Pete Mang, aquabid user name: Lotsoffish. His auctions can be found by clicking his username.
Jeff Hiller, Aquabid user name: JeffHiller. His auctions can be found by clicking his username.
There are other great sellers out there, many of which I have bought from as well.
The other question I get a lot of is how much for x fish?
I don't do a lot of direct sales from this site. I much prefer to sell via auction on Aquabid. I sell when I have too many fish of a particular strain to raise them all to healthy adults. I do heavy culling so I rarely have a lot of any one fish on hand.
I don't know the value of most of my fish. I have an idea, but I would prefer to let the market determine what it is willing to pay for my fish. I start all my auctions at one dollar with no reserve. This way, I get what someone is willing to pay. My auctions can be found under the username Yimes.
If you absolutely have to have one of my fish, you can do one of two things. Ask me if I will post an auction for what you want. Or make me an offer. If I have enough to spare, I will do what I can to give you the opportunity to receive some fish.
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