How was your last LFS experience?

[sfin52]

Depressing. I've wondered how the gm and onwer could let it get to that point. It use to be a great place to go.

No appropriate coral lights for the tanks
They Don't sell reef lights
The stands and floor has rust shop has mold issues.
Water levels low because they aren't being topped off.
Anemone and coral tanks have Marineland freshwater lights on them.
I walk out depressed.

 

[snorklr]

the last one i went to was a nail salon when i got there

 

[JCM]

The Canton/Tyler area is worse, Petco, PetSmart and petland are the only ones I have found close by.

I'm far west DFW so you can probably get to the Dallas stores as fast as I can.

 

[NashobaTek]

I'm far west DFW so you can probably get to the Dallas stores as fast as I can.

Possibly, I have been toying with the idea of driving to North Dallas aquarium to check them out, but it's a good 2-3 hr drive one way for me. Lol

 

[JCM]

Possibly, I have been toying with the idea of driving to North Dallas aquarium to check them out, but it's a good 2-3 hr drive one way for me. Lol

I haven't been in a few years but remember it being nice. You're a bit further, it's only 1.5 hours from me.

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Hi Blaine I bet you've already been to the LFS' around here since we live pretty close but for the others
•Seattle Corals
•Sierra Fish and Pets (Technically a pet store, but they have a dang good fish section)
•Barrier Reef like Blaine mentioned (although I haven't been there in a while unfortunately)

Specifically Seattle, they get some of the weirdest fish in. I just went Saturday and they had a Fu Man Chu Lion along with a ton of mini Christmas Tree Rocks. Equipment, they've got you. Fish, they've got you. Testing kits, food, coral, inverts, THEY'VE GOT YOU . The new staff are really awesome as well, but if you're in the Bellevue area, 100% check them out

 

[zukihara]

My closest LFS seems to just talk amongst themselves and do not do much helping. I seem to be bothering them when I go in.

I have spent a ton of cash on reefing in the past 6 months and I honestly don't think they care if they get a share of it or not.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

They had an ASD HG torch for $1600 and I spent a long time admiring it. They truly are exceptionally pretty. Just not $1600 pretty.

Drop a zero from the price and I'm interested

 

[blasterman]

Dinging a local retailer because they sell a $400 light for $10 more than online shops is petty. You obviously don't run your own business nor understand on prem over head.

My local LFS stores are pretty good, and their staff more helpful and happier than online drones. They also have a living, breathing owner to work for and not an algorithm that dictates how many times they take a bathroom break.

If their livestock is full of aiptasia move on.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I live in the San Fernando Valley and let's just stay all my experiences have been terrible here. All they only care about is selling fish for profit without providing useful information. They don't care about the wellbeing of these fish and actually educating their customers or guiding customers in the right direction. Whatever they guide you to is always so they can make money. So please do your research. I onetime saw a whole entire isle of tanks completely empty due to ich outbreak because I was told by a newbie employee. Only to ask other employees and being lied to. “Oh we haven't been receiving new shipment in”, “Oh we had a big alge problem, so we needed to clear out the tanks” every employee I ask was a different story. I will never buy livestock from these lfs again.
San Diego is where it's at! They are very friendly, they provide you with the right info, live stock is very healthy, tanks are always clean, and prices aren’t crazy high even when considering buying costly things and to even that they will advise whether or not it is necessary. Unfortunately it's not often I'm down there.

Come over to Simi Valley. The Aquarium Connection is spot on. Family owned and operated. Peter is Great and knowledgeable. You won't find the world's best selection of high-end corals and fish stocked but will find healthy fish and corals at good prices. They go to the fish market every Wednesday so thursday is the day to go.

I feel you about the valley though. I'm dealing with a velvet outbreak now that started from a Desjardini from the chop shop called Aquarium City. I called and talked to the owner a few days later and he told me " I expect 3 out of 4 fish to die if you don't immediately medicate them, we sell 25 boxes a week."
to say I was gobsmacked would be an understatement. I was horrified. They run 100% quantity not quality. Vivid is terrible customer service and over priced 10X.

 

[Fennel]

I am one to immediately say before we get into this thread that I 100% support my LFS no matter what!

Now that I got that point across lets get into what the thread is all about; lets talk about your LFS in your surrounding area, and how was the last trip you had there?

I have in my opinion 3 stores in my area that I can head to whenever I am in need of food, CUC, or other aquarium related things! Of course with the increase of Amazon being so simple and having next day free shipping... I sometimes will grab filter floss, tubing, and other basic materials from them just because of the sheer convenience and on top of it I don't have to deal with... THE PUBLIC...

Back to the LFS though.. My go to LFS (Barrier Reef Aquariums in the Seattle area) is an amazing shop! Usually they bring in really nice corals and their fish selection is usually diverse and keeps me interested. The last run I made there (actually two days ago) was to snag some frozen Cyclopods to introduce into my fishes feeding arsenal. While there I talked shop with one of the managers, saw some really brilliant fish, and got EXACTLY what I was looking for! Now I understand this is not always the case so I wanted to start this thread to reach out and see all of your typical experiences at your LFS!

Last point and I will say it again... SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FISH STORE!! Now lets start the discussion!

Awesome place, great peeps, cool place.

 

[fish farmer]

The last LFS I entered last week was Petco. I bought frozen food and checked out what they had for SW which wasn't much. Looking for some decent snails like turbos which they sometimes have.

The next LFS I visited probably over a year ago (1 hour drive), don't think I bought anything. Sometimes they have a frag or two that I'll buy. They do other pet stuff as well like lizards, birds and creepy crawly things.

The "best" LFS which is all SW is 1.5 hours away over hill and dale. I went there once in April 2018, bought a couple of WWC frags at WWC prices, good selection of WWC frags, but the guy is a little intense...I think ADD. I haven't been back because he keeps weird hours and does a lot of service calls. But he does have some nice looking display tanks.

I'm waiting for the weather to warm a bit more for the world wide web LFS to open me to all the colors of the rainbow. Although current shipping issues may keep me from buying too much.

 

[BelieveInBlue]

I went in for some glue and rocks. Came home with a captive bred mandarin and a frag... And it only stopped at one frag because the power went out and they had to rush me out. Since the power was out they offered to let me pay next time but I had cash.

 

[KrisReef]

I stopped at a fish store in the neighborhood I was working in today. It's not my buddy's store (my true LFS) but it is a store I have visited many times over the years. Mike was busy with another customer so I looked really quickly at the current coral selections and then ducked out the door, no purchases, just enjoying the sites!

Their current high end frag selection looked very nice and they had some lovely anemones and fish that need a new home. So glad that there are fish store options available where I live and work.

 

[Lemon]

it sounds like the Seattle area is really good when it comes to fish stores. they have aquarium co-op too I'm so jealous

 

[KingTideCorals]

the last one i went to was a nail salon when i got there

This is by far my favorite response so far LOL

 

[T-J]

Dinging a local retailer because they sell a $400 light for $10 more than online shops is petty. You obviously don't run your own business nor understand on prem over head.

@blasterman You may want to re-read my initial post. I said 4 Radion XR15 DIFFUSORS, not lights. They were selling them for $33, online is $23. If my math serves me correctly, that's a 30% difference. Not petty in my book.
I won't try to insult you as you tried to insult me ("You obviously don't run your own business...")

Moving on...

My local LFS stores are pretty good, and their staff more helpful and happier than online drones. They also have a living, breathing owner to work for and not an algorithm that dictates how many times they take a bathroom break.

Congrats! Sounds like you have a great LFS. I'm not so fortunate. And the times I've had to contact the online stores I shop with, I received fast, accurate responses. I'm pretty sure that even the online stores have a living, breathing owner to work for.
Oh, and no, I'm not talking about shopping with Amazon. Nice try though.

 

[Maritimer]

I was there over the weekend ... Greenwich Aquaria in CT.

They were having a sale.

Brought home more fish, corals and LRS than I really should have ...

Among it all, possibly a solution to my long-time majano problem. I dropped some into my QT, and this little lady has been givin' em what-for:

~B.

 

[JeffBoyt]

Good for me bad for my bank account. Lol

 

[Habibi Brizzy]

Come over to Simi Valley. The Aquarium Connection is spot on. Family owned and operated. Peter is Great and knowledgeable. You won't find the world's best selection of high-end corals and fish stocked but will find healthy fish and corals at good prices. They go to the fish market every Wednesday so thursday is the day to go.

I feel you about the valley though. I'm dealing with a velvet outbreak now that started from a Desjardini from the chop shop called Aquarium City. I called and talked to the owner a few days later and he told me " I expect 3 out of 4 fish to die if you don't immediately medicate them, we sell 25 boxes a week."
to say I was gobsmacked would be an understatement. I was horrified. They run 100% quantity not quality. Vivid is terrible customer service and over priced 10X.

Definitely have to check it out. What was the store?

And sorry you have to deal with that, terrible. I bought a orange spotted goby from there and it was already stressed out before buying. 3 days later it died. It's a shame because I traded a very healthy clown fish for him too.