Am I overreacting about LFS?

[ScottyD36]

So I have been desperately trying to find a local fish store that I am comfortable making purchases from and giving my business to. I decided today I would go on a adventure and visit as many store as I could to kind of get a feel for it. The nearest places to me are each about 30-40 minutes away. I know this sounds dumb but as a first time Saltwater keeper and only been doing it for 6 months I figured it be the best way so I can figure out what is best. So today i took my kids to two fish stores. The first store we went to was nice but pricey. The big draw back for me is I want a place where I can buy corals. This place had beautiful corals. Inside the frag tanks though was aptasia everywhere all over the frags and rack. I decided not to get any corals from here because I didnt want to have to deal with the problem of aptasia being new to hobby. Now my question for other reefers is that normal for most LFS to have aptasia in their display tanks and I am just over reacting? The second fish store I had to walk right in and out they only had one Saltwater tank and it had nothing in it just the rock.

 

[SaltyT]

I think you’re right to be cautious of a LFS that lets aiptasia grow all over their frags. To me that says they don’t really care.

 

[emilio365]

I believe that the LFS should combat all pests that are most common in the hobby. There are many ways of doing that. For me it always a reg flag when I see stores that let their tanks get filthy or covered in pest. I try to buy from the places that their tanks look clean, it might be a bit more expensive to buy from those places but at least I know what I’m getting myself into for the most part.

 

[pseudorand]

Aptasia specifically are very common, so it's a good chance that if you don't see any it's because you didn't look hard enough. If they're everywhere that's one thing, but a few wouldn't stop me.

I've seen both aptasia and a few dead fish in the tanks of the LFS I frequent most. I still go there. They've been in business a long time. They have the best selection. Their tanks don't look clean, but they do look vibrant and full of life. I do quarantine, and I have bought fish from them that ended up having ich. I've bought fish from other stores that looked much cleaner that also died for other reasons. My latest round of aptasia also came from frags I got from another hobbiest in town. Finding a source with zero aptasia is hard.

That said, I'm pretty convinced that the LFS business model is simply not a realistic. They've all sold me fish with Ich or told me things widely accepted to be untrue on R2R forums or things like that. I don't think they're bad people, just that to stay in business you have to sell fish and corals. If they steered everyone in the direction of keeping everything they buy alive, customers' tanks would be full and no one would need to come back. Knowingly or not, I think they steer customers towards dead livestock so they come back for more -- or they go out of business. More often then not, I suspect they run their tanks and give advice based on their own experience rather than advice on R2R forums and similar -- and running a high volume, high turnover set of tanks for a profit as a full time job is a different problem than maintaining a single, pristine display in your spare time with your spare $.

So buy from wherever. Go slow. Be patient. Quarantine. Expect some losses.

 

[Rmckoy]

If there is only 1 or a few
I would buy it .
but inspect before buying .
as soon as getting it home , i blast them with kalk paste after 15 mins in coral dip

 

[Crustaceon]

It’s hard to find a LFS that doesn’t have issues. For example I just left the best one in my area empty handed not because I saw a few dead fish. Not because they have a few QT tanks on display with really sick tangs. Not because I literally just minutes ago picked up a harlequin tusk that went rubber mat surfing and threw it back in its lidless tank. No, I left empty handed because I wanted to buy all of their stuff and decided against it because honestly, i don’t NEED to set up another tank for the clowns living in my sump. The fact is, I always expect any livestock to need immediate care when I buy it, whether it’s to address hitchhiking pests on a frag or some form of lurking illness in a fish. Pretty much every LFS that is managing to stay afloat is doing so by constantly moving inventory. This means they’re taking in whatever they can just to “stock shelves” and that merchandise is typically stressed to the max and coming from filthy conditions before it even reaches the store. The tank of a diligent and experienced reefer is a MASSIVE upgrade in environment and level of care.

 

[davidcalgary29]

I assume that any livestock that I buy is infested with some pest, so it's not a big deal: I quarantine it all. I was taken aback when I bought some macro that was infested with aiptasia, but it really was a great lesson: you can get hitchhikers on anything live.

 

[Fish_Sticks]

Should be qting corals for 2 weeks regardless. No fish store will have clean frags ime.

 

[blasterman]

I Rarely see big tanks in stores that don't have a few aiptasia around. They do it to themselves. They put corals in standard size tanks and its a PITA to pull them and go after pests. Big infestations make me avoid the tank.

Smart stores stick to shallow frag tanks for a reason. You can quickly look down and see any pests. Aiptasia has no chance vs an insulin syringe full of vinegar and a big, shallow frag tank can by covered pretty quick by a reef rat and good eyeballs. Put that aiptasia infested frag at to bottom of a 90 gal where I have to haul a step ladder out and reach 2 feet underwater and I would say screw it. Not paid enough.. The best LFS store in my area has their staff spend X time each day looking for pests. Some stores hire workers that dont care because the owners don't.

Aiptasia can go dormant for months and is immune to any dip.

 

[redeyejedi]

So I have been desperately trying to find a local fish store that I am comfortable making purchases from and giving my business to. I decided today I would go on a adventure and visit as many store as I could to kind of get a feel for it. The nearest places to me are each about 30-40 minutes away. I know this sounds dumb but as a first time Saltwater keeper and only been doing it for 6 months I figured it be the best way so I can figure out what is best. So today i took my kids to two fish stores. The first store we went to was nice but pricey. The big draw back for me is I want a place where I can buy corals. This place had beautiful corals. Inside the frag tanks though was aptasia everywhere all over the frags and rack. I decided not to get any corals from here because I didnt want to have to deal with the problem of aptasia being new to hobby. Now my question for other reefers is that normal for most LFS to have aptasia in their display tanks and I am just over reacting? The second fish store I had to walk right in and out they only had one Saltwater tank and it had nothing in it just the rock.

I think suppliers of live stock should be obligated to insure that there are as little pests as possible.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I feel fortunate to live near WWC and Top Shelf Aquatics. In looking at thousands of corals, I have never seen a single Aptasia at either place.

 

[landlubber]

my take, no i'm not buying coral from an aptasia filled system.
as for pricing, you can save half of what the lfs sells corals (if not more) if you buy corals within the local community around you.
fb isn't for everyone but it is great for fish and coral groups and should be considered

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Well luckily its 2021 and there are online vendors that take better care of their systems. Yes you are overreacting, you should be QT anyways.