Hi,
I'm looking at setting up a couple of aquariums for tropical freshwater fish. I have not found any good places around here (Baden) and am thinking about buying the kit and the fish from Germany.
I would not be buying any fish out of the ordinary, but I wondered if anyone had any experience good or bad with bringing fish through the border. Is there anything I should know?
Any tips on shops etc would be much appreciated.

Not sure if there is a Hornbach hardware store near Baden (they are actually in Germany and Switzerland as far as I can say), and they have a pretty good selection of aquariums and fishes.
There is also a more specialized shop (probably better for you) in Villmergen (http://www.aquarium-shop.ch/), which is about 25 Kms from Baden.
Finally, in some Qualipet shops (not sure if all) they have some limited selection of aquarium and fishes, but I frankly haven't bought anything from them yet.

Other than that, I haven't bought fishes crossing the border (in my case, the closest one is France), so I don't know the customs implications. I would suggest you to but the aquarium first, set it up with the gravel, plants and water, and in the following weekend to go and buy the fishes so you allow some time for the aquarium to stabilize chemically and biologically.

and Hope this helps, yopo

Hi,

Have you not got a Qualipet by you? They stock some nice tropical fish. I am in the process of sorting out a tank and some neons etc.

Darcy

I can't comment on bringing fish etc in from Germany but I can highly recommend Aquarium and Teich in Villmergen as linked above.

We have bought a lot of stuff there over the past six years without any problems what so ever, they have just expanded the shop into the next doors basement with some large tanks specifically for discuss and downstairs they created a massive new koi tank last winter.

If German is not your strong suit Christian speaks english.

I've bought a few fish in the past from Qualipet but the quality really depends on the store, some Qualipets don't look after their tanks well and some others are decent.

Hi,

The Qualipet stores I use are Meilen and Dietlikon. Hopefully they will be ok. Won't comment on their small pet section, feel the staff leave a lot to be desired in that section lol.

Darcy

Hi all,
Thanks for the information. I'll get on the case asap.
I wanted to thank you for your posts but this feature seems to have been disabled...

No, that's because you have less than 10 posts..


I don't know how experienced with tropicals you are, but when setting up a new tank, please leave time for the water to settle and chlorine to evaporate before putting the fish in.

Also, be choosy about where you buy your fish and plants from. If there is any sign of disease or stress in any of their tanks, go somewhere else.

I see, 10 posts, thanks anyway.

I'm pretty experienced in fish stuff although I have had no tank for the last 6 years. The most important phrase these days seems to be fishless cycle. Used to just call it setting up your tank for 2 weeks before adding fish.
Need to renew my Practical Fishkeping subscription...

Good luck with your new aquarium! You certainly know what you are doing then. Let us know how it goes once you have it up and running.

Previousy friends brought some fish from CZ the price is very different 1 Apisto cost 9 CHF there and here about 26 CHF so in case somebody buys bigher quantity it can be solution when coming from holdays. the negative aspect is that from one kind of fish died 2 females (after 12 months in AQ) and only 4 females remained and we can not find the same color variation here in CH. I have 3 aq focused on south american dwarf cihlids and I^m looking for aqua friends around zug or cham - so let me know. there is excelent big shop directly in cham colled aquatrend (they do not have web page) 50 metres from trein station cham alpenblick. they have for next 2 weeks exposition in emmen center in luzern. owner has basic knowledge of Eng and one of the guys there is fluent in Eng.

Germany is much cheaper for tanks and fish alike than Switzerland, Qualipet is horribly expensive and the fishes aren't always the best quality (not very resistant).
Aquarium Seerose in Zürich is very good, but I'd either consider making 2 trips to Germany to get the tank/sand/plants first and then a month later the fishes, or buy from private fellow Aquarium-freaks at www.aquarium.ch if you speak a few words of German, lots of ads there!

Can anyone recommend a good place for salt water fish? I'll be living in the Zug area.

Simon: what are the places in Germany that you would recommend?

Anyone? Any suggestions would help.

Sorry, I don't have any specific recommendations for you, but I would ask your question at Aquarium.ch in English, or German if you can write it a bit. They know everything, and the price difference for salt water aquariums will be huge and well worth the trip over the border.
For example, look at this beauty for sale on the forum, just 1'500.-


http://www.aquarium.ch/forum/showthread.php?t=58580

Thank you Simon

There's a huge Qualipet in my area and I like it. They have a large selection of fish, plus molluscs (such as water snails and bivalves) and plants... sometimes even frogs and turtles too. Unfortunately it is kind of expensive and I often get the impression that the store clerks don't know much about fish... But then, this is a common problem: usually clerks in such shops don't keep aquariums themselves (unless it's a small shop owned and managed by some hardcore aquarium enthusiast) so they lack first hand experience. As such, asking them questions is usually pointless.
What I find particularly disturbing in such shops is that clerks fail to even detect and ID diseases in fish. I've seen snails with badly damaged shells due to acid water and recently fish with fins damaged by what looked like an untreated bacterial infection. But then, it's a common problem when you buy fish from shops as opposed to buying them from a trusted aquarium enthusiast... I've seen worse at Manor.

Aside from that, though, the guys at my local Qualipet are polite and nice to deal with. You just have to do your own homework, and know beforehand what you need and what you should look for.

My partner and I are planning on setting up a second aquarium, a tropical one (we keep coldwater fish now) and I will most likely get my new fish from Qualipet.

In danger of repeating myself, I think you should give this forum a try: www.aquarium.ch even though it's in German. There are just so many good offers both from prof. sellers and private people who really know their stuff, quality is mostly better than from stores like Qualipet as these fishes didn't have to endure long transporation and mass breeding.