Pete's Aquariums??

piranhaman00 · Mar 1, 2021

Yellow Tangfish or Yellow Tang | Pete's Aquariums & Fish

The Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma Flavescens) is a saltwater fish species of the family Acanthuridae. It is one of the most popular aquarium fish, all of which are taken from the wild, as it is not possible to breed them commercially. Adult fish can grow to 7.9" inches in length, and 0.39–0.79" inches...

www.petesaquariums.com

Anyone use this place?

01xp · Mar 1, 2021

I have. Pete is knowledgeable but his employees are so so. The last 3 fish I got from him all had ich and passed within 72hrs. Since then I've been using aquariumsolutions101

Fish & Aquarium Store | Wappingers Falls, NY | Aquarium Solutions 101

Aquarium Solutions 101 sells everything you need for your aquarium, from saltwater & freshwater fish to coral colonies. We also setup & maintain fish tanks.

www.aquariumsolutions101.com

Emiliano is a awsome guy. A few weeks ago he told me his system got ich in it and he was treating with copper, BUT while doing so refused to sell fish until completed treatment. All around he's a great knowledgeable hobbyist with a nice store. Long story short I'm never going back to Pete's again...

piranhaman00 · Mar 2, 2021

Ok thanks.

nbooks · Mar 24, 2021

ive been to both petes and aquarium solutions.

petes seems dirty and a little off putting, but its the only place locally my fish have survived from. Currently have a goby and 3 chromis from him. Aquarium solutions is nicer but seems to never have anything in stock anymore, but he also mentioned hes moving a few doors down so.

amoore311 · Mar 24, 2021

Pete's is terrible. It's an ancillary side business for the owner, he makes his money with a string of mechanic shops in other towns, and it shows.

Aquarium Solutions has decent fish, coral prices are ridiculous. I got Tail Spot Blenny and Royal Gramma from there that are still doing great 2 years later. Pricey though even for fish, so I don't get my higher dollar fish from here.

I use Hudson Valley Fish N Reef and Chris's Coral Care for my fish. I quarantine everything prior to it going in my systems so I don't mind getting it right from the wholesaler. All of the shops in the area are using the same wholesaler, Merrit Imports. Merrit is a fantastic wholesaler, nice facility and very good quality fish from what I have experienced.

I tell em what I want, they go down to the Merrit in NJ and confirm its there. Confirm the price, place the order via text and they deliver it to my house a few hours later. They are pretty anal regarding quality of the fish they chose at the wholesaler, if it's not healthy or eating they don't offer it. It's like concierge fish buying, can't beat it lol.

ingchr1 · Mar 24, 2021

amoore311 said:
...I use Hudson Valley Fish N Reef and Chris's Coral Care for my fish...

Anyone have anything to add on these two? Including coral, equipment, food and other goods.

amoore311 · Mar 24, 2021

ingchr1 said:
Anyone have anything to add on these two? Including coral, equipment, food and other goods.

HVFNR Carries Hikari, Reef Roids, and Sprung Sea Veggies. He matches online price no problem.

coral wise they have phenomenal value compared to aquarium solution. Better suppliers and cleaner corals also. Both are appointment only though.

chris’s coral care is more concierge. Tell him what you want and he’ll get you a price. He does stock salt for sure but it’s mostly instant oce

equipment I don’t have any experience. I get most of my stuff online

HVFNR is getting an indo shipment Sunday coral wise if you’re looking to shop. Chris had some very nice Aussie Fungia a few days ago as well.

ingchr1 · Mar 24, 2021

I have a place in NJ I go for coral and food, about an hour drive for me. I visited many many shops in the area and it's the one I've chosen to use. Would be nice to have a trusted source closer. I've heard of HVFRN somewhat and Chris I've never heard of. Although I've passed a small sign in Plattekill on my way to work that I was curious about, must be him.

Right now I'm in need of some LRS Nano, Reef Nutrition phyto, oyster fest and a couple of corals to fill out my tank a bit more. Also have a long spine urchin I'm looking to rehome.

Fish wise I'm not quarantineing myself any more, so I plan using TSM going forward. My last two fish came for there.

BuBBlyFish&Corals · May 3, 2021

piranhaman00 said:
Yellow Tangfish or Yellow Tang | Pete's Aquariums & Fish

The Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma Flavescens) is a saltwater fish species of the family Acanthuridae. It is one of the most popular aquarium fish, all of which are taken from the wild, as it is not possible to breed them commercially. Adult fish can grow to 7.9" inches in length, and 0.39–0.79" inches...

www.petesaquariums.com

Anyone use this place?

I just placed an order for a Purple tang and a melenarus wrasse from Pete's aquarium 6 days ago. When I placed the order the wrasse was in stock now 5 days later it says that it is not and still no idea on when they plan to ship and waiting for the repose on whether it will be shipped this week and if they are illegally selling things they do not even have in stock. I would hold off on ordering anything from them till I update this especially after reading all the bad reviews on this place folks.

Thaxxx · May 3, 2021

I won't deal with any online vendor that doesn't have a phone number for communications. Do they have a way for you to call?

albano · May 3, 2021

BuBBlyFish&Corals said:
When I placed the order the wrasse was in stock now 5 days later it says that it is not and still no idea on when they plan to ship and waiting for the repose on whether it will be shipped this week and if they are illegally selling things they do not even have in stock.

‘Illegal’ to sell something that is out of stock?
Happens on every website, especially with livestock.
Can’t you cancel and get your $ back?

amoore311 · May 3, 2021

BuBBlyFish&Corals said:
I just placed an order for a Purple tang and a melenarus wrasse from Pete's aquarium 6 days ago. When I placed the order the wrasse was in stock now 5 days later it says that it is not and still no idea on when they plan to ship and waiting for the repose on whether it will be shipped this week and if they are illegally selling things they do not even have in stock. I would hold off on ordering anything from them till I update this especially after reading all the bad reviews on this place folks.

this guy can barely keep fish alive in the store. He'd be the last person I trusted with shipping fish.

Buy from Michael at NY Aquatic if you want something shipped from a NY shop. He's been doing it for over a decade.

Double monti 61 · Aug 13, 2021

All the places in this area suck I purchased some decent coral from petco in Poughkeepsie a few years ago that are thriving but the quality of the coral has declined over the years.I have visited the other retailers and have not been impressed I mean if I see aptasia growing on a coral I would like to buy or algae why would I purchase it? Okay why would I purchase a fish out of a tank with 3 dead fish in the tank!

TwinDad · Sep 9, 2021

As I am just getting back into the hobby I have not purchased anything from the area. I have been into Pete's quite a few times just to look. I would never EVER buy something there. he is clearly doing a large business online but the state of his tanks are terrible.

As far as Aquarium Solutions, I stopped in about a week ago as he was posting he was getting a shipment. He was very apologetic telling me he was looking at moving locations. However he said he was not moving for another 6 mos. I know he is just trying to get started and seemed very knowledgeable however I wont 100% quarantine anything coming out of there. I saw quite a bit of Dyno in his display, which always puts my hackles up when that is how they treat their own tank.

nbooks · Sep 9, 2021

TwinDad said:
As I am just getting back into the hobby I have not purchased anything from the area. I have been into Pete's quite a few times just to look. I would never EVER buy something there. he is clearly doing a large business online but the state of his tanks are terrible.

As far as Aquarium Solutions, I stopped in about a week ago as he was posting he was getting a shipment. He was very apologetic telling me he was looking at moving locations. However he said he was not moving for another 6 mos. I know he is just trying to get started and seemed very knowledgeable however I wont 100% quarantine anything coming out of there. I saw quite a bit of Dyno in his display, which always puts my hackles up when that is how they treat their own tank.

I had an initially good experience with Aquarium solutions about a year ago, but last i was in most of his tanks were cleaned out and "preparing for reptiles" and then it was " preparing for the move"...and then i heard from someone local his system was being treated for ich.

ive since given up on anything around here, get all my frags/cuc online and go down to absolutely fish in clifton for livestock.

i currently have 4 healthy fish in my tank from petes that have been in about 8 months, nothing i got from solutions survived more than month (coral included)

ingchr1 · Sep 9, 2021

I've been to Aquarium Solutions a few times since they opened, and unfortunately for a couple of different reasons I will not be going back as well. Was there last week and noticed fish with ich and what appeared to be flukes.

A new shop should be opening in the next couple of weeks in Kingston, Chris Coral Care. Never dealt with him, lets hope for the best.

Places "relatively" close that have worked for me are Iconic Aquariums (got most of my coral form here), Sea Level Aquarium and Absolutely Fish.

TwinDad · Sep 9, 2021

ingchr1 said:
A new shop should be opening in the next couple of weeks in Kingston, Chris Coral Care. Never dealt with him, lets hope for the best.

This is good to hear, I feel like the area could have a nice one, there does not seem to be any competition especially if you pair it with a good home maintenance business

amoore311 · Sep 10, 2021

Buyer beware at Chris Coral Care. I did business with him a few times, he's been working out of his house forever. You say one thing the guy doesn't like and he flies off the handle at you like a maniac. You can actually find some of my posts from earlier this year in this thread lol.

He sent me a picture of a common blue acro I didn't want to spend $85 on. I told him thanks I'll pass.... he went off for 30 minutes via text calling me cheap. This was after spending $1500ish total over a period of a couple months and multiple trades. Completely out of the blue. Not someone you want in your home maintaining your stuff.

I'm going to try Aquarium Solutions again soon, I haven't been over there in a bit. Emeliano and his Dad are on the expensive end, but they are nice people at least. These last couple posts are not instilling confidence though. Mikey at Hudson Valley Fish N Reef is who I get my fish from, he buys from the same place Emeliano and Chris do. Unless Emiliano switched to importing direct to save money, which would explain his fish all dying or being diseased. Mikey is exclusively out of his home shop though. He doesn't stock too many fish its usually concierge type service. He sends me a list of fish Sunday, he goes to Merrit Tuesday. If the fish I want is up to his standards of health he delivers to me and whoever else orders fish that day.

I don't get to see the fish first, but he's got a good eye for healthy fish and I quarantine all my fish first anyway so it's of no issue. I've bought probably 20ish fish from him and only lost 3 in quarantine. Merrit supplies some big industry names with livestock (Ocean State Aquatics being a big one), I like purchasing from stores that use them.

Chessmanmark · Sep 13, 2021

This summer I ordered from a big online fish website offering great deals if you spend x amount of dollars and got tiny fish that died within a month’s time.

So I went to Aquarium Solutions, Pete’s and PetCo in Danbury. I bought fish in all three. I got to see good sized fish and haven’t lost one yet.

Aquarium Solutions and Pete aren’t the closest for me, but I’m glad we have businesses in the area where we can actually see what we are getting.

For years I have been soaking all my frozen food in selcon. Recently I started adding L Plantarum probiotics after reading about the benefits toward fish. If your fish aren’t surviving it’s a cheap investment to improve gut bacteria and strengthen the immunity in your fish.

One more thought, check the salinity of the bag when you bring your fish home. Some of these stores keep the salinity very low to hold back diseases and when you raise the salinity problems show up. A fish may not do well if acclimated too quickly. If the salinity is very low then having a QT or holding tank that matches that salinity which can be raised up to meet your display SG over a longer time frame can make a difference.