Poor Quality LFS

[Victoria M]

I love my local fish store. The people are great.

 

[mrniceguy]

Thanks for all the replies. I dont mean to bash them they have good quality tanks normally but just the past couple months have been in a spiral. They are overpriced because they are the only saltwater fishstore around beside in dallas 2 hours away. I was buying from my local petco but their tank light went out 3 months ago and the still yet to fix them. All the fish sit in darkness all day besides sunlight.

 

[Krzydmnd]

I have quite the opposite situation I'm about an hour from That Pet Place in Lancaster, its the largest pet store in the world, and provides over an hour of entertainment when I take the wife and kids there because of all the variety, its almost like going to the Zoo. I also have a choice of a pretty good local Petco that I'll hit for sales, or common stuff that's competitive to online, I also have a local place about 30 minutes away. That place has always had staffing issues, they'll have a really good individual who will keep things cleaned, and really taken care of then in a few months they might be gone, and things will all change. I think staffing is probably the biggest problem, and retention.

Where are you located, what is the other shop half hour from you?

 

[drstardust]

Poor quality LFS are just that. Most reefers would happily support local business if the quality is there. But if it isn't, pity points will only get you so far in capitalism. I certainly wouldn't buy fish covered in velvet or frags smothered by bryopsis just for the sake of supporting local.

 

[Dom]

It's not hard at all to blow a couple hundred dollars on 5 frags that would barely fill a red Solo cup. .

Yikes! Where are you buying your frags???

 

[Tallison]

What Fish stores are you going to in Dallas?

 

[cracker]

I support mt LFS as much as possible. It's to my benefit to help keep his doors open . Lately his fish have been looking poorly but his corals look real good & not priced sky high. I go to another shop on the other side of town for fish. My local has a great selection of dry goods & equipment. If I need something "now" I'm confident he has it in stock. If fact he just expanded which tells me he's doing well. As for the First pics there must be some thing going on. Even the unknowing beginner would shy away from that.

 

[mrniceguy]

Yea it makes me not want to buy any and that's the reason why my tank is bare still. I don't want to buy online and spend 50 $ in shipping. So I will make a drive every month or so to buy supplies and corals. Tho I have been very tempted to order so from here there are some perfect packs that I would love. I go to Dallas North Aquarium in Dallas they have great prices and they are very very knowledgeable and helped me out.

 

[CLynn]

I'm from Tyler also. Our Petco is not even an option. It's awful. I only go to our other store, the one mentioned here, and usually they are pretty good but I noticed just a few days ago that things had deteriorated quickly. I like buying local so hopefully they will pull things together.

 

[CLynn]

Sorry. Posted twice. Not sure how to delete. New here.

 

[ducklady]

My tank on it's worst day still looks better than my lfs.

 

[ducklady]

My tank on it's worst day still looks better than my lfs.

 

[mrniceguy]

Yea idk what's happened the tanks and corals looked great when I start this hobby and now idk what's happened. I will just make the sacrifice to drive to dallas once a month

 

[Amado]

I think the future of this hobby will go to local home frag growers. I am from NJ and I have a lot of good local shops. I have one two lights away from my house. But at this moment I get the most of my coral from other hobbyists.
I was at reef a poloza and I actually didn’t buy anything at the show. But I did spend money buying coral from a few local growers at the parking lot of the show.

 

[ReefWithCare]

This Petco puts most LFS to shame - including the LFS near me



Right now I have exclusively purchased from LA Divers Den.

I would purchase from hobbyist - until many of them scared me off when they said they don’t QT corals [emoji24]. I have recourse if a retailer screws me over but not with a local hobbyist [emoji28]

 

[408Dartfish]

My LFS was nice for quite awhile but new management has driven it down. I go there still for little things here and there. Drive north 70 miles and there’s a real nice LFS founds a few weeks ago, very clean kinda pricey but get what you pay for. Dustin

 

[squampton]

You cant blame the internet for a business failing, if you arent online (even if its just a presence on ebay) you are missing a massive potential for sales.

So true. My LFS saw the internet as an asset and went online in like 1999 or 2000.... I am not in the US so LFS is still the place to go for most things and live stock.

 

[Sshannon]

Local hobbyists are ruining the lfs industry. Why would I go to a store to buy a Duncan for $5-8 a head, when I can get a 19 head colony for $30 through a local Facebook marketplace group? I can get corals and equipment for much. Heaper through hobbyists nearby than at my lfs.

 

[EW_Fish]

That sucks. That doesn't look well at all. My LFS just closed and another is also closing. The only 2 left will be one that is 200% over priced and one that isnt all that great. Both in my opinion not that great and dont know how they are still in buisness with the prices they have listed in mari sps. (200$ and up)

 

[mrniceguy]

Local hobbyists are ruining the lfs industry. Why would I go to a store to buy a Duncan for $5-8 a head, when I can get a 19 head colony for $30 through a local Facebook marketplace group? I can get corals and equipment for much. Heaper through hobbyists nearby than at my lfs.

This local lfs charges 40$ for a single head Duncan. So they are way overpriced for the quality they are trying to hand out. I'm new to this hobby but not foolish.

 

[LadyMac]

I know how you feel. My only local fish store has two salt tanks, never coral or decent fish (though I can say I got a lovely pistol shrimp for free) and hardly any salt. The one store that’s nice is three towns over, I don’t drive, and none of my family save my husband, and he’s very busy with work so we can’t go out that way too often. It’s a shame marine isn’t more popular.