Should I get a fish from a show or auction?

Should I get a fish from a show or auction?

Marc Grover (Professional Aquarist) gives expert video advice on: Is it a good idea to buy a fish online?; Should I get a fish from a show or auction? and more...

If you get a fish from a fish show or an auction, typically what you're going to find is the care that's gone into that, is going to be very similar to what a professional aquarist would do. Most of them come from societies, and they really take this stuff seriously. They're not going to put a specimen out there or an animal out there that in any way, shape, or form is going to reflect badly on them, or their organization. So the chances are, you're going to find a very high-quality fish specimen. Hopefully you'll also get the expertise to go along with it, but at least from a specimen standpoint, the quality is probably going to be very high.