Ethical Treatment of Fish at LFS's

[Bolivian Ram]

Hey guys,

I was at an LFS yesterday and I saw something that made my blood boil. There were purple tangs on sale for full price like $120 CAD for small and $150 CAD for medium large tangs. All of the ones on sale have some degree of HLLE/are pale from a mild case to extreme. They all looked healthy when I saw them over a month ago. It made me disgusted that the tangs were taken from the Red Sea and now at the LFS, after having them for a couple months, they have HLLE. Like seriously. Such beautiful fish are now wasting away. :furious:

It honestly seems unethical. The fish are suffering and on top of that charging the customer full price for a fish which is diseased and has been mistreated. Will not be taking my business there anymore.

My question is that is it common for fish like tangs to be mistreated like this at LFS's? I only frequent a few LFS and this is honestly the worst case of HLLE at an LFS I have seen.

[ichthyogeek]

Not really. When I used to frequent my LFS, I didn't see signs of HLLE or anything. Other fish, that are more specialized feeders like seahorses and mandarin dragonets, tend to be more mistreated more often due to lack of food. When I talked to an employee that I have a good relationship with, he gave me this answer: The fish are usually at the fish store for a small amount of time, so why bother when somebody else (who's hopefully more educated and knows what they're doing) will pick them up quite quickly? Additionally, LFS' tend to be businesses, and they need to able to turn a profit. Yes, more healthy fish should be offered for more money, but again, the LFS employees point^. And raising/culturing the foods required/even offering the kinds needed, can be a bit hard when it's much easier to just toss flakes into the tanks twice a day.

And from what I hear, most LFS' get their money from other things, not fish...which of course means they don't bother as much with livestock.

It's not ideal I know...