How much does our hobby need local fish stores?

[monique265]

Where i live in northern ontario canada i cant get live product shipped in. My local guy is 400 miles away. Sudbury ontario. My son lives there so when I visit my son I shop. I would not have a 265 gal reef tank or any tank at all if LAND AND SEA was not there. So for me the little guys are great

 

[MasterClassReefs]

I don't really have a good LFS near me, but I do have a couple. I can get fish but coral is basically online or other local hobbyists. Where there aren't a lot of hobbyists near me, noisy all of my corals have come from online besides a chunk from Cultivated Reef whom I have been able to go to in person a few times.

Back story aside, I think maine is a prime example of what it's like with no good LFS around. There's a few of us reefers around but we are few and far in between.

Where I live in California its a 1 hr drive to any fish store, 3 hours to a good one. I shop online a lot.

 

[JonoH]

Essential...the amount of times i've had something stop working, or a sensor gone, or a transformer blown, and they have been able to pull a spare part from a new one to replace it immediately to get me back up and running has been amazing.

If i had to wait for postage, in Aus it can take a week or two just to get parts in.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Where I live in California its a 1 hr drive to any fish store, 3 hours to a good one. I shop online a lot.

That's about where i'm at, besides a petco 30 minutes away but their marine section leaves a LOT to be desired. My "good one" is only 2 hours away but its not even great. It just actually stocks hanna reagents and maybe one or two hydros items. Has one 4x8 frag tank and everytime I've made the trip its only 1/4 stocked. That said, I drive out once or twice a year and sometimes work brings me to the neighborhood so I make a special trip

 

[MasterClassReefs]

Where I live in California its a 1 hr drive to any fish store, 3 hours to a good one. I shop online a lot.

That's about where i'm at, besides a petco 30 minutes away but their marine section leaves a LOT to be desired. My "good one" is only 2 hours away but its not even great. It just actually stocks hanna reagents and maybe one or two hydros items. Has one 4x8 frag tank and everytime I've made the trip its only 1/4 stocked. That said, I drive out once or twice a year and sometimes work brings me to the neighborhood so I make a special trip

The things we do for our tanks . Its okay though it gives me another reason to visit my friends in LA.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

I have been pretty lucky in the life span of being in this hobby. I’m in the Orlando area and we have it pretty good with the LFS.
I would have a hard time buying corals and fish online. I’ve tried in the past, at least 10 years ago, I had horrible luck. So I’ve just kinda swore it off.
Plus, your LFS is kinda personal daycare.

 

[PhishEDELIC]

I’ve know two LFS that closed after many successful years of business only because they owners wanted to retire and nobody wanted to take them over. One was primary freshwater fish and would really bring in oddball fish you’d rarely see anywhere else. The other was saltwater dominated store that I bought my first saltwater tank from. The owner would buy in bulk to the point he could out price most online stores. I miss going into those store and talking to the staff. As much as I love online chats like here on R2R it’s nice to have a trusted source to walk in and talk to when facing a problem. Someone who been down the same road.

 

[LongWayHome]

Essential! I'm not a fan of getting live animals shipped since we're in Vegas (the extreme heat being a factor just stresses me out). They're also local businesses that support the local economy so it's a win-win.

 

[Aquarist76]

I've been in this hobby for over a decade and have gotten by without LFS for most of that time; mostly due to living in remote locations. They're definitely nice, but not essential. The one LFS I did frequent was run by a crazy, delusional con-man so that might influence my opinion somewhat. LOL.

 

[commod0re]

I put “essential” but my position is slightly nuanced

I think it is essential that LFSes exist and the more the better

I don’t necessarily think it is essential to shop at one that is actually local to you, to enjoy reefing

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I think they are important for the hobby. Sure, it’s easier to get everything online these days, but what about the people who don’t shop online? What about those Individuals who just want to go talk to local reefers (without a club meeting). It’s almost as if we are saying there’s no more pet stores, you have to do all of that online now. A lot of people would be mad and leave the hobby if this was the case.

 

[Will-BRS]

I’d say it’s essential for the hobby as a whole, but not important for some people. The hobby gets new hobbyists through local stores and public aquariums. It’s where a majority of people’s interest starts. Someone wanders into a store and gets inspired, or is in an aquarium and thinks “I wish I could do that”. For some, that leads to online research, but for a lot of people they want to walk into a store and be told how to do it.

Just like we talked about at RAP @revhtree it’s really the cornerstone of our hobby and without local stores and local clubs, I think many people would simply fade away from the hobby when challenges arise. Sustainability in our hobby comes in many forms, and keeping people IN the hobby, and bringing new people into it is one of the most important aspects!

Some local stores can be lame, or even a negative experience. But just like any hobby store, those most likely won’t last long without changing, and the good ones will stay. Building a rapport with your local store or community can literally save your aquarium one day, so I recommend everyone get out there and try to do so! You can also get some great deals by being friends with stores

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

going to go on record by saying that more LFS need to quarantine their livestock with copper before selling. Charge extra for the process. So many people do not qt (I used to not) at home. Not sure how hard this would be for a small store but it would of course be ideal and keep more people in the hobby imo.

 

[commod0re]

going to go on record by saying that more LFS need to quarantine their livestock with copper before selling. Charge extra for the process. So many people do not qt (I used to not) at home. Not sure how hard this would be for a small store but it would of course be ideal and keep more people in the hobby imo.

At least one of the stores near me does QT most of their fish, they will even do it for special orders, and I really appreciate it because I don’t currently have a setup for it at home

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

At least one of the stores near me does QT most of their fish, they will even do it for special orders, and I really appreciate it because I don’t currently have a setup for it at home

same for me

 

[Quietman]

Need? Since I've never bought anything from my LFS for my reef tank in over 6 years I'd say almost not at all. I do like visiting and I will buy fish/inverts/plants for my freshwater. Freshwater livestock is much more affordable at LFS. I do sell my extra anemones at my LFS so I'll rate somewhat important as that's a nice service.

 

[ColorMeGone]

They still have those? Not around here they don't. lol

 

[Billsfish24]

The biggest problem with most LFS’s in my area, is that they are all absurdly overpriced. I worked at one of them and know how much they mark things up. It’s honestly criminal. If they weren’t so greedy I’d try and support them more often with my limited income. I’ve given up on buying coral from any unless I won a gift card to one of them from a club meeting. The hobbyists here have a better and healthier collection for a fraction of the cost. A few LFS are still reasonable with their fish/CuC pricing, and carry some of the better food products and pods/phyto so that’s what I stop by for.

I definitely agree their pricing is insanely retarded and he is right they double and triple the cost on items but a friend of mine who managed a fish and reef store told me what they paid and sold items for he also said the reason was they lost a lot of stock due to death but I got everything at cost so my tank when I lived on long island in New York was insane but there were local fish stores everywhere

 

[Dan_P]

The pet shop is a relic of the past, maybe supplying one thing the internet doesn’t: nostalgia. The aromas, sounds, and conversations of local get togethers that are no longer part of our lives can still be found here.

With supplies available online, local fish stores aren’t essential. Even their expertise is no longer needed when the internet can supply the same information.

The hobby will live on without them.

 

[fish_collector]

I find shopping at a good fish shop to be one of the more pleasant experiences in our hobby. I go out at least once a month with my fish buddy and make the rounds. Not only do we get some good conversation in the car, we see things that spark our interest while in the shops, fish we've never seen before, odd corals, a tank of chromis with uronema that we poke fun at, a tank that we ponder if it would fit in that unused space in our homes, and once in a while we stumble upon that one fish that's been on our want list that we have to take home. More often than not, we meet other hobbyists that are also there for the same reasons we are and have some quick conversations with them, it's magical. Our fish shop outings are a great way to escape from home and family for a day and do something we are truly passionate about. If we didn't have them we wouldn't be in the hobby, the internet just doesn't fill the void.

Just yesterday we were out making the rounds at one of our favorite shops and I brought home a juvenile French angel, it was a toss up between the small French that they had or the Queen that was also available. In the end the small French was not seen nearly as often so that's the one I bought. We also do our own QT, it is another avenue of the hobby and gives us more control over the outcome. My shopping partner picked up a smaller powder blue tang that was on his list of fish he wanted. So we had a productive day.

We are a bit spoiled living in Phoenix, we have a handful of top notch fish shops less than an hour away. About the only place I can think of that may have a better selection would be the Florida fish shop scene. There are tons of good fish shops but are spread out and unfortunately some areas are quite far from them.

On a different topic but related, I want to start photographing some of the more impressive fish that we find while we make our local fish shop tours and start a thread for them here. You know there's always a fish that you see that's a spectacular specimen, maybe not for it's rarity or price but just because it's a spectacular fish. Yesterday we saw a Acanthurus maculiceps tang (I've only seen 2 in my life), we saw a Barien tang, some captive bred Flagfin angels no bigger than your fingernail, a foot long Blueface angel etc. I think a thread for such fish would be fun and spark up some good conversation here, stay tuned.