A massive aquarium in your local fish store: Is that still a thing?

[Coral-vault]

Rift 2 reef had a massive tank and a huge beautiful clam, and I loved seeing it. I heard a rumor the tank collapsed, because that tank was just gone one day! They moved locations now, but always remember that tank!

If you are ever on our side of town we have a clam sitting a little over 14" currently if you ever want to see it. There are also 2 500g displays but they are still cycling.

 

[miltonkl]

The entire reason I'm in this hobby is because my local pet store growing up had a reef display tank. They might be less important at a dedicated saltwater fish store because people are already there for that purpose, but I think they'd be hugely valuable in a mixed freshwater/saltwater store or a general pet store as they work great for converting new hobbyists.

My current LFS has a few display tanks that are great for helping me get ideas for how I might want to scape my tank or to see some corals grown out beyond the size of the tiny frags so that I have a better understanding of what they might look like down the road, which I think is another very valuable function of display tanks in-store.

 

[Feeshrfriendsnotfood]

I wouldn’t call my LFS’s tanks massive but they have a 200ish gallon FOWLR on each end cap with larger tangs and angels and maybe a 250 in the back for corals. But my favorite is the 10-15 (nobody knows the exact size) cylindrical reef dominated mostly by mushrooms and zoa’s, but has a few torches and the back wall is covered in GDP

 

[Feeshrfriendsnotfood]

I wouldn’t call my LFS’s tanks massive but they have a 200ish gallon FOWLR on each end cap with larger tangs and angels and maybe a 250 in the back for corals. But my favorite is the 10-15 (nobody knows the exact size) cylindrical reef dominated mostly by mushrooms and zoa’s, but has a few torches and the back wall is covered in GDP

Stupid autocorrect. GSP not GDP

 

[Dr4gula.f32]

One of my local fish stores has a giant saltwater tank with 2 sharks in it. They are at least 5 feet long, the sharks. Across the walkway they have another giant tank with arowanas and other large fish. Next to that tank is an indoor pond about 15 feet in diameter that has numerous Koi and a duck living in it.

 

[Koral King]

It used to be that many local fish stores (LFSs) had a massive aquarium in their store and that was intended to be an attraction for people to marvel at the tank and watch the fish. With the cost of real estate going up, profit margins getting thinner, and culture changing, is it still a thing for LFSs to have monster tanks? Does your LFS have a huge show tank? Do you care? Tell us what you think about the importance or impact of a large show tank in your LFS in the thread below!

Here is a video of the 1500 gallon show tank at @WWC's mega store:




It should be mentioned that this large show tank is not just a beautiful and mesmerizing, it is also a “working” tank where the corals are regularly fragged and sold. One of the many benefits that this provides is that we get to see many large coral colonies!

We have a 700 gallon display tank cycling for SPS dominant system here at the koral king shop!

 

[Hobineros]

I think most LFS are actually exist to satisfy the owners urge to keep a huge fish tank. Lol. The retail business is just to keep the significant other happy.

 

[CC_N]

my lfs doenst have a huge show tank but its still beautiful though. its only abt 150 gallons whole

 

[Fishfreak2009]

My LFS has a few show tanks, but nothing special. The big one behind the counter has some big arrowana or something in it... and a few oscars. Just a few rocks and a few big freshwater fish. Seems pretty meh to me, but I'm not a freshwater guy.

Then they built a big custom acrylic tank that is several hundred gallons in size, but they simply use it as a giant frag tank. Giant tank in the middle of the store... you can walk all around it but it has nothing but frag racks in it and frags... So the biggest tank in the store is just used as a frag tank not a display tank.

They have another "drop-off" type reef display tank. I'm pretty sure it is under 100 gallons, but they made it into a nice reef display tank. has some nice corals and some nice fish in it and won't sell anything out of it.... display only.

They build acrylic tanks in-house, so I'm not exactly sure why they don't have a little nicer display tanks set up.

Sounds like you're describing Blue Thumb in Saginaw Michigan?

 

[Mperry622]

Not my LFS but I made the drive up to Tropicorium in Michigan. Absolutely awesome place, Ray (Owner) has 6 2k gallon ponds where he grows coral with natural sunlight and breeds sharks. Wish I lived closer.

I live in Michigan where is this place you speak of!!!

 

[Aspect]

I live in Michigan where is this place you speak of!!!

Romulus. It's on Google as well