Hello from S. Windsor

[ericwithac]

Hey All! Stoked to be here! Glad to see other CT folks in here. Just getting into the Hobby.

If you could post where your are from, and which LFS you favor, that would be neat! Thanks!

E

 

[Mike_Diako]

Welcome,

Alex's Advanced Aquatics in Enfield is great, and so is WetPets in Vernon.

 

[Skydvr]

I work in South Windsor. West of 91, towards Bloomfield.

There are a few shops in the area. All with different pluses and minuses. They all seem to carry a diffeent variety of equipment. I just started a thread in the CTARS section seeing if people would be interested in bi-weekly or monthly meet-ups at local stores.

There have been a bunch of store closings in the area over the past couple of years, but a few new ones have popped up over the past six months or so.

Not sure what you consider local or a reasonable ride. There are 13 that I can think of within 45 minutes or so from South Windsor, I think. I haven’t visited most of them leaving from South Windsor, so the travel time is a guess. Not all of them are really worth the trip if you are only into reef tanks. A few aren’t really worth stopping by unless you happen to be driving past the area, though a couple of those do have pretty cut throat pricing on hard goods and take orders.

Blake’s Aqua Den - Merriden. Pretty well taken care of and greatly expanding the coral selection. The fish appear well cared for. Fair prices. Carries blackworms (difficult to find in the area).

Aquatic Wildlife - South Windsor. Moved a year and a half ago to a more expensive storefront and the prices reflect it. They do have a decent selection of smaller fresh water fish and should be getting back to having a good selection of plants. They typically have dragonetts and some smaller saltwater fish that can be hard to find. Not sure how the prices are on the larger fish as I run nanos.

Wet Pets - Vernon Rockville. Haven’t checked it out since they had a fire and moved a couple doors down. Some people swear they are the greatest store in the area, others think they are atrocious. I need to stop by sometime soon to see for myself. I last stopped by when the new owners took over, long before the fire.

Animal City - Vernon Rockville. I haven’t set foot in the store since the first time several years ago after swearing to never return or support the store in any way. Nobody seemed to care about the aquarium section, which looked like it hadn’t been serviced since the store first opened in the 30’s. There was some seriously vintage aquarium products from the 70’s and 80’s, which was the only interesting thing about the store. You couldn’t see into most of the tanks. Arawana in 10 gallon tanks. The staff seemed more interested in the other pets they carried, but they had birds in glass tanks and most of the cages needed serious attention.

Alex’s Advanced Aquatics - Enfield. A fairly small location, so stock is somewhat limited, but the owner is a really good guy and can get anything from BRS for less than buying online (he uses other suppliers as well). Orders in by end of business Monday are available for pickup on Wednesday. He’ll work to get you what you are looking for for livestock. Usually has several types of live pods available.

Emmon’s Tropical Fish - Simsbury. Haven’t stopped here yet, trying to plan a meet-up there later this week or next week.

Harris in Wonderland - Used to be a really great store from what I have heard, but the son took over a while back and has a bigger interest in snakes, large insects, spiders, lizards, etc. Things were in decline when I stopped by a year and a half ago. In an older building that did not have proper ventillation for what he was keeping in there.

School of Fish - Springfield, MA. Moved recently and the tanks have not recovered. They had some big dreams for the move, but it feels like a bunch of things fell through. I haven’t seen any of the staff from the old location (a few miles away). Not sure if they left or are just working different hours. The coral tanks have been struggling. Just about everything looks like it belongs on the $10 frag rack. The two display tanks are the only tanks that are in good shape. They always have tons of clowns now if they are your thing (located in a mall now, so they need to carry “Dorys” and “Nemo fish”).

Fish Frenzy - South Hadley, MA. Was hoping things would get better after he moved a few years back, but he is a hoarder in a smaller space. If you can’t deal with clutter, don’t stop here. The tanks aren’t in the greatest shape and I wouldn’t risk putting any of the corals in my tank for fear of algae outbreaks. He will beat just about every online price from what I have heard. Some interesting products that you won’t find elsewhere.

Aqua Dreams - Agawam, MA. Some amazing coral pieces. Large colony prices are reasonable, but frags are rediculous. They do run specials frequently, which is about the only time I end up picking up corals here. They do aquaculture a majority of the frags (or they used to, not sure if they still do). The corals are healthy and they recently cleaned the frag tanks up. They do have really good prices on hardware, which makes up for the frag prices. They carry some higher end tanks and equipment.

Reef Junkeez - Worcester, MA. Opened during the summer. Fairly small shop focused predominantly on corals. Decent prices and they carry some things others aren’t like Fritz products. Some interesting corals I haven’t seen anywhere else. Named corals for no-name prices.

Fishy Frags - Worcester, MA. Opened right before the Indo ban, so struggling to get into full swing when I stopped by a few weeks back, but should be getting shipments again. Friendly guy that used to work at a Worcester shop that closed last year. He is looking to keep the hobby going. Big plans on expanding once the tax returns come in.

Purrfect Aquarium - Old Lyme. Newer shop that opened withing the last few months. I haven’t checked it out yet as I only heard about it a couple weeks ago.

There are a few more further south, but I don’t make it out that way often. If you want to go for a ride, OSA (Ocean State Aquatics) is in RI. Well worth the trip. The owner, Scott, started Keep On Reefing. Hoping to make the show this year.

I recommend checking out Frag Farmer’s Market in March. It is an amazing one day coral show out by UConn. The guy that runs the show, @fitch4, is a teacher at the high school where the show is held. The event raises money for the school’s system and to develop scholarships for some of his students (some of them are doing research that goes well beyond a lot of the under grad work I saw in school). The show has become so large that he is able to help start systems in other schools. $5 admission, spouses and kids are free. Tables are cheap enough that there are plenty of hobbiests running tables and vendors can afford to sell show pieces at wholesale prices. Bring twice the money you think you want to spend, but plan on only spending half. That way you’ll have the funds to pick up those few extra pieces you just can’t leave without.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[ndrwater]

Welcome to R2R!!! You'll like it here!!

 

[Fotocha]

I work in South Windsor. West of 91, towards Bloomfield.

There are a few shops in the area. All with different pluses and minuses. They all seem to carry a diffeent variety of equipment. I just started a thread in the CTARS section seeing if people would be interested in bi-weekly or monthly meet-ups at local stores.

There have been a bunch of store closings in the area over the past couple of years, but a few new ones have popped up over the past six months or so.

Not sure what you consider local or a reasonable ride. There are 13 that I can think of within 45 minutes or so from South Windsor, I think. I haven’t visited most of them leaving from South Windsor, so the travel time is a guess. Not all of them are really worth the trip if you are only into reef tanks. A few aren’t really worth stopping by unless you happen to be driving past the area, though a couple of those do have pretty cut throat pricing on hard goods and take orders.

Blake’s Aqua Den - Merriden. Pretty well taken care of and greatly expanding the coral selection. The fish appear well cared for. Fair prices. Carries blackworms (difficult to find in the area).

Aquatic Wildlife - South Windsor. Moved a year and a half ago to a more expensive storefront and the prices reflect it. They do have a decent selection of smaller fresh water fish and should be getting back to having a good selection of plants. They typically have dragonetts and some smaller saltwater fish that can be hard to find. Not sure how the prices are on the larger fish as I run nanos.

Wet Pets - Vernon Rockville. Haven’t checked it out since they had a fire and moved a couple doors down. Some people swear they are the greatest store in the area, others think they are atrocious. I need to stop by sometime soon to see for myself. I last stopped by when the new owners took over, long before the fire.

Animal City - Vernon Rockville. I haven’t set foot in the store since the first time several years ago after swearing to never return or support the store in any way. Nobody seemed to care about the aquarium section, which looked like it hadn’t been serviced since the store first opened in the 30’s. There was some seriously vintage aquarium products from the 70’s and 80’s, which was the only interesting thing about the store. You couldn’t see into most of the tanks. Arawana in 10 gallon tanks. The staff seemed more interested in the other pets they carried, but they had birds in glass tanks and most of the cages needed serious attention.

Alex’s Advanced Aquatics - Enfield. A fairly small location, so stock is somewhat limited, but the owner is a really good guy and can get anything from BRS for less than buying online (he uses other suppliers as well). Orders in by end of business Monday are available for pickup on Wednesday. He’ll work to get you what you are looking for for livestock. Usually has several types of live pods available.

Emmon’s Tropical Fish - Simsbury. Haven’t stopped here yet, trying to plan a meet-up there later this week or next week.

Harris in Wonderland - Used to be a really great store from what I have heard, but the son took over a while back and has a bigger interest in snakes, large insects, spiders, lizards, etc. Things were in decline when I stopped by a year and a half ago. In an older building that did not have proper ventillation for what he was keeping in there.

School of Fish - Springfield, MA. Moved recently and the tanks have not recovered. They had some big dreams for the move, but it feels like a bunch of things fell through. I haven’t seen any of the staff from the old location (a few miles away). Not sure if they left or are just working different hours. The coral tanks have been struggling. Just about everything looks like it belongs on the $10 frag rack. The two display tanks are the only tanks that are in good shape. They always have tons of clowns now if they are your thing (located in a mall now, so they need to carry “Dorys” and “Nemo fish”).

Fish Frenzy - South Hadley, MA. Was hoping things would get better after he moved a few years back, but he is a hoarder in a smaller space. If you can’t deal with clutter, don’t stop here. The tanks aren’t in the greatest shape and I wouldn’t risk putting any of the corals in my tank for fear of algae outbreaks. He will beat just about every online price from what I have heard. Some interesting products that you won’t find elsewhere.

Aqua Dreams - Agawam, MA. Some amazing coral pieces. Large colony prices are reasonable, but frags are rediculous. They do run specials frequently, which is about the only time I end up picking up corals here. They do aquaculture a majority of the frags (or they used to, not sure if they still do). The corals are healthy and they recently cleaned the frag tanks up. They do have really good prices on hardware, which makes up for the frag prices. They carry some higher end tanks and equipment.

Reef Junkeez - Worcester, MA. Opened during the summer. Fairly small shop focused predominantly on corals. Decent prices and they carry some things others aren’t like Fritz products. Some interesting corals I haven’t seen anywhere else. Named corals for no-name prices.

Fishy Frags - Worcester, MA. Opened right before the Indo ban, so struggling to get into full swing when I stopped by a few weeks back, but should be getting shipments again. Friendly guy that used to work at a Worcester shop that closed last year. He is looking to keep the hobby going. Big plans on expanding once the tax returns come in.

Purrfect Aquarium - Old Lyme. Newer shop that opened withing the last few months. I haven’t checked it out yet as I only heard about it a couple weeks ago.

There are a few more further south, but I don’t make it out that way often. If you want to go for a ride, OSA (Ocean State Aquatics) is in RI. Well worth the trip. The owner, Scott, started Keep On Reefing. Hoping to make the show this year.

I recommend checking out Frag Farmer’s Market in March. It is an amazing one day coral show out by UConn. The guy that runs the show, @fitch4, is a teacher at the high school where the show is held. The event raises money for the school’s system and to develop scholarships for some of his students (some of them are doing research that goes well beyond a lot of the under grad work I saw in school). The show has become so large that he is able to help start systems in other schools. $5 admission, spouses and kids are free. Tables are cheap enough that there are plenty of hobbiests running tables and vendors can afford to sell show pieces at wholesale prices. Bring twice the money you think you want to spend, but plan on only spending half. That way you’ll have the funds to pick up those few extra pieces you just can’t leave without.

Pretty much nailed these places to a “T”

I will add, after recent visits to a few (based in Hartford)

Wet pets in Vernon on my last visit (last week) looked much better. I can tell the owner has but a lot of focus on clean upkee as of late and it shows.

Aquatic wildlife in Windsor has a good selection of supplies and dry goods and half of his store is fresh water. But as mentioned pricey. He focuses on small nano tanks and does some good getting new people into the hobby. But he’s a salesman, so do your homework lol

As mentioned Blake’s in meridian added a ton of new frag tanks. At the time I went most of these were under stocked ( seems to be carrying quite a few rare zoas though). but I think it was because they were just added. I noticed he keeps a great selection of anemones and seems to carry pods and chaeto when many places are out.

Alex’s in Enfield just as an FYI has odd hours during the week like 2pm -7:30pm

 

[Fotocha]

@Skydvr I would be interested in the meet up, although I’m not a member, but I’ve considered joining once your officers get filled, hopefully soon

 

[Skydvr]

The idea for the meet-up wasn’t restricted to CTARS members. The stores I was considering organizing trips to just covered the northern range of where most of the CTARS members come from. There is a club that covers the CT/NY border, but I am not sure how active that club is.

CTARS is working on restructuring a bit and isn’t collecting dues until everything gets settled. No point in collecting dues if the club ends up getting dissolved in a month (it looks like people are working things out right now, so this ‘shouldn’t’ happen, but it is still a possibility)

 

[Dburr1014]

Hey All! Stoked to be here! Glad to see other CT folks in here. Just getting into the Hobby.

If you could post where your are from, and which LFS you favor, that would be neat! Thanks!

E

Hey there, I'm in haddam. I like wet pets in Vernon and blake's aqua den in Meriden. Both are good for live stock. I get my fish in Meriden and coral in Vernon.
A must go to is the frag farmer market. It's coming up soon!

 

[ericwithac]

Hey there, I'm in haddam. I like wet pets in Vernon and blake's aqua den in Meriden. Both are good for live stock. I get my fish in Meriden and coral in Vernon.
A must go to is the frag farmer market. It's coming up soon!

wet pets is my jam