I Must vent so bear with me Every time i go browsing the LFSs Im very disapointed to keep finding a lack of keepable fish and nothing but a bunch of tiger shovelnose and redtail cats that are very attractive juviniles, however i know for a fact that there are not very many people that can keep them for maturity. Then we end up with a scene like i found yesterday. A 2.5 foot redtail bumping the galss in a 100 gal tank with a $99 pricetag. Skinny as a rail as that guy can eat you out of house and home. Im sure not too many people looking for a 2.5 foot redtail to take home letalone for $99! There are so many species of catfish that are keepable 6 - 10 inches that i can rarely find yet redtails at every corner LFS. Is there some logic in this? Aparently the LFS just dont care and the buyers are ignorant. Why not sell fish that a majority of people can actually keep in the average 55 - 100 gal aquarium for the rest of that fishs life instead of having to orphin him in a year. To me my fish are my pets and I fully intend on giving them a good and comfortable life just the same as i would my dog. They are my responsibility as well as my friends that i spend alot of time caring for as well as observing, and I am rewarded with a greeting at the glass when i walk upto there sanctuary. It just peevs me because the LFS owner / operators should know better!
Absolutely. Did you tell them this? It sounds like they really need to hear it! And you've inspired me to do the same at my local. We want sustainable fish, not some poor creature that gets passed back to the lfs because it doesn't fit the average tank.
Yes I have actually started doing that. I find it good to lead into it when im requesting a lookout request for a certain species. I casualy mention that they should stock more species along the paramaters that im looking for as oposed to regularly ordering tankbusters. I have had some postitve results at a few locations and others just seem to disreguard. Probibally beating a dead horse in those situations. However I would think that they would rather stay away from being stuck into offering room and board to gigantic catfish but aparently my logic isnt the popular belief. Then what of the fish that people dont take back to the LFS? Walking catfish in florida is a current problem I have read about, along with a healthy oscar population and snakeheads are another. Some people would rather just dump them into the lake or river than look foolish returning a fish. If it wasnt for the climate im sure that there would be massive amounts of Redtails and tiger shovelnose cats thriving in the mississippi river basin. I would bet the farm that there more large fish imported than there are capable keepers where do they go?
Every time i go browsing the LFSs Im very disapointed to keep finding a lack of keepable fish and nothing but a bunch of tiger shovelnose and redtail cats that are very attractive juviniles, however i know for a fact that there are not very many people that can keep them for maturity. Then we end up with a scene like i found yesterday. A 2.5 foot redtail bumping the galss in a 100 gal tank with a $99 pricetag. Skinny as a rail as that guy can eat you out of house and home. Im sure not too many people looking for a 2.5 foot redtail to take home letalone for $99! There are so many species of catfish that are keepable 6 - 10 inches that i can rarely find yet redtails at every corner LFS. 
