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

vetteguy53081 · Nov 17, 2022

One of mine have a large cement display. Honestly often I walk in and forget its there

tmc13 · Nov 17, 2022

Here in Ct. one of my LFS's has a 1,200 gallon tank that has all the potential in the world to be awesome. Unfortunately, the owners don't care about it and if they did, they don't have any employees with enough knowledge to care for something of that size. Too bad, because it really could be incredible.

i cant think · Nov 17, 2022

Peace River said:
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!

In the UK, if you have a building big enough for a 6’ tank, I’d say that’s large so yes. My LFS has a large aquarium that was set up (torn down to get rid of a 10’ tank but now that’s fine it’ll go back up as an SPS reef).

Crustaceon · Nov 17, 2022

I see it both ways. If they have a huge display tank, it'll draw more people but it will cost more in maintenance hours and supplies/electricity, not to mention many of those "customers" will just be visitors bringing their kids to the "zoo" and won't actually buy anything. I'm LESS likely to buy something in a busy LFS because I feel like I'm not getting the chance to thoroughly inspect what i'm looking at without distraction or feeling rushed. If they don't have a huge display, the store will be a little less exciting but will have more floor space for sellable merchandise and less operation cost.

Lowell Lemon · Nov 17, 2022

Our LFS has large show tank with a very lazy shark. Kind of boring to be honest. Would look better as a reef tank with no shark.

trmiv · Nov 17, 2022

My LFS is the WWC Superstore. So yea.

StatelineReefer · Nov 17, 2022

I would much rather my LFS have no display tank to distract them from the health and welfare of the livestock I'm actually putting in my tank. Time is a resource, they're only open certain hours of the day, and if you're spending an hour on a display tank I'm not buying out of, what are you neglecting on the system I AM worried about.

My two cents, adjusted for inflation.

Waters · Nov 17, 2022

My LFS has quite a few show tanks from full reef to fish only. While they are all labeled display only, they will still sell out of them if it is feasible.

Acroporaguy · Nov 17, 2022

I feel like they are not as good as they once were. Days where I could walk into an LFS and see monster colonies in a display are over. I remember seeing basketball sized euphyllia colonies and clams well over 1.5 feet in length. There are definitely still stores like this out there, but not as abundant in my opinion. Plenty of huge fish only displays, but monstrous reef displays are few.

Aspect · Nov 17, 2022

Gtinnel said:
Where is the option for I don’t have a lfs?

My favorite not so local fish store that I love to visit has several large show tanks.

Same

nearest "fish store" is Petco and it's nearly 45 mins away.

SaltwaterandLime · Nov 17, 2022

My most local LFS has a fairly large show tank that is mostly LPS and zoas and it is really awesome to look at, but one of my favorite things about it is they have all the sump and equipment open and visible as well and use it to show off options and plumbing and servicing and it was really helpful to me when I first got started

RavenSharpe · Nov 17, 2022

I love the display tanks! They show what you could do and help me dream up future tanks. They also show fish at their adult size and form which I think is really valuable.

RocketEngineer · Nov 17, 2022

My LFS is Pacific East Aquaculture. However, a couple years ago they had a fire damage their store and since I was between tanks I haven’t seen the new setup. Now that I’ve restarted, I may head up there. I might even see if my wife wants to come as well. That could prove interesting.

HankstankXXL750 · Nov 17, 2022

Even though it’s a long way from home. My LFS in Omaha has three 4 display only reefs and a predator tank. NFS. Great corals and unique special species of fish. Have a baseball sized turbo snail. My daughter finds it almost every time we visit.

unchaotic · Nov 17, 2022

Crustaceon said:
I see it both ways. If they have a huge display tank, it'll draw more people but it will cost more in maintenance hours and supplies/electricity, not to mention many of those "customers" will just be visitors bringing their kids to the "zoo" and won't actually buy anything. I'm LESS likely to buy something in a busy LFS because I feel like I'm not getting the chance to thoroughly inspect what i'm looking at without distraction or feeling rushed. If they don't have a huge display, the store will be a little less exciting but will have more floor space for sellable merchandise and less operation cost.

On the flip side of that is my "Local" Fish Store has an SPS dominant 300-something gallon display and they frag and sell from those colonies. Sometimes all they do is gather up pieces that are naturally fragged and glue them to a plug, then it's off to the frag tanks.

Reefer Matt · Nov 17, 2022

No lfs in my county.

Sasquatchv · Nov 17, 2022

One of 6 stores local(under 30 minutes drive) to me has 400-500 gallon tank, but it's mostly tang keeping tank with handful of softies and LPS frags dotted about. Other 5 set up most expensive displays, like £6000 for 500 liter freshwater tank, lol.

Gtinnel · Nov 17, 2022

Aspect said:
Same nearest "fish store" is Petco and it's nearly 45 mins away.

I do have a PetCo that is only 15 minutes away but it’s poorly ran and I wouldn’t buy fish from there. There is a PetCo about an hour away that is really nice though.
I actually do have a local pet store that does occasionally get saltwater fish in. Their selection is awful but when they get something in their prices are unbeatable. The owner actually wans to stop selling saltwater fish but the name of the store has “reef” in it so he said he won’t completely get rid of them. They’re starting to get them in a little more frequently but it used to be that the store would go months with no saltwater fish.