Today i had a bit of an outing and visited 5 different aquariums.

As I am still new to fish keeping, i wanted to find an LFS for myself.

I was wondering, what factors do you guys constitute to going back to a store?

I crossed out one because i saw dead fish in alot of tanks.

However the other 3 were pretty good.

Do you base it on customer service etc..? What separates your LFS from the rest?

I think you've already mentioned one very important point. It is nothing worst than going into a fish store and seeing dead fish. Obviously fish are going to die, especially if they've been transported all around the world. However, there is absolutely no excuse to leave them in the tank, especially if you've got customers walking in and out.

If you walk into a store and the tanks are filthy , I would advise anyone to walk straight back out again, they obviously don't take lots of care with their fish and the chances are, you would probably end up buying a diseased fish and then introducing something nasty into your own tank

A friendly reception is always something that will make me return to the shop. People who have a good knowledge about the fish they are selling. People who go out of their way to help you if you have problems, such as take fish of your hands if you can no longer cope.

I like fish shops that do sell a large variety of goods, account stand it when you go into a shop and they've got hardly anything of use

And if they give you a little bit of discounts, that makes me even more happy to use them on a regular basis

I wasnt sure out of the three which to make my LFS

Shop 1
was friendly, shop wasnt too bad. and the lady had some knowledge of oscars.

shop 2
wasnt very friendly, shop was VERY clean, and the guy said oscars diet can consist of anything.

shop 3
wasnt very friendly, shop was not too bad, guy said 6.4ph was too low for oscars

haha its all like a big puzzle !

I don't want to sound like I'm really up myself but lots[not all] of the people who work in the shops haven't got the slightest idea about Oscars. Okay, they might sell them, however they haven't got the experience of keeping them like many of us on here have. You're better off using us for advice and using them just to buy your supplies, don't bother asking their advice, you'll just get confused.

regard the shops you visited

shop 1 sounds okay

shop 2 isn't a place I would visit if it isn't friendly. However, telling a neweby to Oscars that they will eat anything is not a helpful answer.

As for shop number three, don't bother asking Oscar advice, the guy hasn't a clue what he's talking about when it comes to Oscars. However, it's unfair of me to criticize somewhere that I haven't actually visited in person.

Thanks for the advice.

I think your right, its best to ask this forum for advice, and just choose my fish basing on the fact that the fish i buy will be free from disease.

Do i really need to have a LFS to which i go to? when perhaps this forum is all i need in terms of knowledge?

I buy all my products online, i find it to be MUCH cheaper than the pet shops.

I think it would probably be rather arrogant of me to say we have all the answers, I'm afraid nobody has all the answers, apart from the world's best school cheat of course . However, quite a few of us have got some good experience of keeping Oscars so are able to help out when we needed.

Just do not ask me anything about keeping saltwater fish, catching them, yes, keeping them, no