Many people that enjoy cichlids will quickly want to start keeping them and are currently thinking about buying cichlid fish online.
Even if the regular way to handle the situation is to buy from local fish stores there is the chance that they do not sell such fish.
A lot of pros and cons can be mentioned when buying both online and at local stores and in order to know what you should expect we need to analyse online cichlid fish buying.
There are a number of advantages to buy cichlid fish online.
The most important is the huge selection available.
Basically you can find any fish species that you are looking for.
Also, you will surely see that prices are usually lower than those that you find in local stores.
The one important factor that you need to take into account is that you will pay for handling and shipment expenses.
In the event that you are considering buying more fish the prices for delivery are to be minimized.
The problems associated with online purchases of cichlid fish are fewer than you might imagine.
The most important one is that the cichlid cannot be checked in order to make sure that its health is good.
Also, some species find shipment to be quite stressful.
The only alternative to buying online is going to local fish stores.
As we are sure you already figured out, the main advantage of doing this is the fact that you can see and personally check out the fish.
There is no shipping tax but on the whole everything might be more expensive.
Also, you might just not find cichlid fish to buy at a local fish store.
You do have to buy only from people and stores that have a proven track record of properly taking care of fish.
This immediately rules out the major chain stores.
You can have a fish that is contaminated and/or infected and can lead the disease to other fish in your home aquarium, so do not buy from stores that are large as they do not care about fish health.
To sum up, research is needed whenever buying cichlid fish online even if this is the best possibility that you have.