buy BUYING SHRIMP - SHOP OR MAIL ORDER

[sdlTBfanUK]

This is a topic which has been discussed at length in this house over the years between friends and I but would appreciate any feedback from others.

Is it better to buy from a fish/aquarium shop or better to buy on-line through the post? There is a bit of cross over which we will get to as well, ie from a shop through the post?

Bear in mind this is my thoughts from here in the UK where it is obviously easy enough to get delivery next day as UK is a lot smaller than other countries and that needs to be taken into account.

BUYING FROM A GENERAL PET, FISH & AQUARIUM SHOP  

This is where I got my first cherry shrimps and these didn't do well, though a lot of that would be down to me not knowing what I was doing back then, it was my first aquarium ever.

Shrimps will go from a breeder/expert probably keeping them in ideal parameters, to the general shop where they will probably be kept in not ideal parameters usually, if they are kept in tanks all linked together with the other fish etc, this is how it seems to be done over here anyway? Even if they are is a separate rack of just shrimps they are usually linked together and therefore in the same water even though the different types have different parameter requirements! If they survive that then they will go from the shop parameters to the purchasers tank parameters which I am assuming are ideal parameters similar to the breeders. Therefore the shrimp have probably had to adjust twice to different water and been moved twice in quick succession so no wonder they get stressed and don't do well!

BUYING FROM A SHRMP SPECIALIST STORE

This one probably  has the greatest number of variables.

If you are buying through the post then the same as the above 'pet, fish ad aquarium store' applies but is likely to not have the water parameter differences (it shouldn't anyway) but if they get them from a breeder there are still the 2 steps/moves.

If they breed their own then there is one move less so that should be better and similar to 'buying from a hobbyist' as below.

BUYING FROM A HOBBYIIST ONLINE

I have done this about 10 times in the past via ebay (next day by 1pm delivery) and not had a problem with any, not a single dead shrimp dead on arrival.

If the hobbyist is selling shrimps that they have bred, they almost certainly know what they are doing and the parameters etc are likely to be good/perfect, and these only face the one trip and need to adapt to a very slight change in parameters if the purchasers know what they are doing and therefore have similar parameters to the sellers. 

What do others feel about this topic as I would very much like to know, even/especially if they disagree?

Simon

[kms]

There is no way to buy online in Hong Kong, Hong Kong does not have a online market compare to the UK, US or Australia for live stock, So we only rely on specialist store or just a ordinary store, specialist store is Hong Kong demand high prices for shrimps.

The advantage of getting them from a normal shop in Hong Kong, you get to choose what you want and they are very cheap, I can get good quality CRS with full color, and solid red for only 10GBP for 20 shrimps, I don't think you can get shrimps this cheap at a bargain price.

[sdlTBfanUK]

The quality and price of the shrimps you have got so far way outweighs any 'getting through the post' advantages by a log way! It is worth the risk/gamble at those prices and such great colour/quality!

Hope the chiller is still working well, it is so autumnal here I can't even think about getting a chiller at this stage, only 20 degrees indoors......

Simon

[kms]

Still holding around 25.1-25.7 degree Celsius, so it seems good.

I still want to add some micro crabs, I'll see if.I can get some in taiwan  they should be able to sort out any necessary paper work.

Edited August 17, 2019 by kms

[Cesar]

IME, the healthiest and highest quality has always buying directly from hobbyist, usually a small setup in their garage or fish room. Next was specialty store/importer, last is the local TFS, both often having stock that has been imported, transported and kept in less than ideal conditions...

Buying directly from hobbyist has always produced the best results for me...

[sdlTBfanUK]

Thats interesting that you feel the same in USA with it being a much bigger country, I had thought that maybe it was a lot more difficult/risky transporting live shrimps because of that, and assumed it takes longer, or is ridiculously expensive?

Thanks for that, most interesting.

Simon

[Blue Ridge]

Having owned a fish store and being a big shrimp hobbyist, my perspective on the matter is that so much depends on where the seller (whether local fish shop or online vendor) is getting their own stock. Here in the US, most shrimp available at either place seem to be imported into the country. Better sellers will mark their shrimp as either "home bred" or "imports." With drip acclimation into the best aged tanks, imported shrimp are still hit or miss. Unfortunately, most varieties I am looking for are unicorns to find home bred. But if you can just get a few to survive to breed, following generations prove sturdy.

Ornamental aquarium shrimp are fragile and don't ship well compared to most fishes. If all else was equal, I would prefer to buy them from a shop who has absorbed most of the losses. That's just rarely an option in my area.

[sdlTBfanUK]

Interesting to get a different perspective from someone who has sold them in the past! 

I think we are very lucky in that we are a small country and there are always about 20 people (hobbyists mainly) selling on ebay and when I used to buy that way I never had a single death but they would always arrive in less than 24 hours so barely had time to get too stressed. The 2 recent orders for my new setup bees was from an online specialist and with that I got 1 DOA of the 18 so that's 'acceptable' to me, I think some have died when in the tank subsequently but there is no way of me knowing whether that was the shrimps or the tank as the tank is being a real pain in the ar*e this time for some bizarre reason.

Thanks for your views.

Simon