A note/question on chain stores and fish age

Hi,

Someone had mentioned in a thread about my ever growing Sailfin Pleco,
that the chain stores do often go out of their way to point out things
like: "Hey you realize that fish will grow to be a foot or longer...How
big is your tank?"

I have since found a good fish-specialty store (a chain too, but much
more learned and caring...they check you out to make sure you are buying
what you want).

Anyway, my comment or question is that I believe that some fish I've
gotten from big pet chain, were actually quite old. That is fine for a
long living fish, but not for something like the swordtails I bought. a
couple of which just seem to die of old age after 4 months. They were
quite large when I bought them, I later realized they could've been
fully grown. So how is one to know how old a fish is then at these
stores? I guess do the research on size and make sure they are not
quite fully grown?

Some other swords (although a different variety) were a lot smaller when
I bought them at the proper fish store. In fact they seem to get better
stock, and in general the fish with short life spans (1-2 years) seemed
to be selling at a younger age than the big chain. Some of their prices
are a bit more but it is usually because the stock is better or the fish
strains of the more fancy variety.

Does this sound familiar and a fair observation?

Cheers,

TS

--
Trevor Stenson

http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Digs.html
http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Blog/Blog.html