Show off your LFS!!! Post up a pic (or maybe a few of them!) and tell us about why you frequent this shop!

[tony'stank]

Pet Connection in Livonia. I bought my first tank there over 30 years ago. I bought my last tank 6 years ago. Ken is one most knowledgeable people about reef tanks that I know

 

[homer1475]

I'm in Rochester, NY. Unfortunately, there isn't a single good LFS here.

What?

I drive 4 hours one way to go to Caribbean Forest, and The Reef Shoppe right there in Rochester. Nothing like either one of those around my parts.

I will often travel the extra distance to go to @A Reef Creation. All three are great shops IMO.

 

[X-37B]

Norcal Corals in Redding Ca.
500 gallon display tied into frag systems for 2000g's.
Friendly people that know what their doing.
Its worth a stop if your passing through. Its right off I5/Cypress ave and you can see it from the freeway.

Pics of 500.

 

[14 foot reef]

Went to Nemo's in Charlotte NC today as I was in Charlotte on business. What a great store !!!!
Fabulous employees !!!! The store was so clean and organized. The owner could not have been more humble and very appreciative of me making the trip to his place.

 

[mbmax]

Ok here ara some pictures of my favorite LFS that some of you requested.
Reefco in greenbrook NJ

 

[PeterReefer]

I am so lucky to have @tsmaquatics , as my FAVORITE place in the continental US (never bought fish from elsewhere), to buy fish from!!!
No photos of their facility as it has been curbside only except for the 1st time I ever went there.
But all my favorite fish have been from them. I will not add another fish, to any of my 4 tanks, that is from another LFS. Their quarantine process is NO JOKE!
July 2020 was my first time there, and I was SO impressed with their facility. As soon as you walked into their warehouse style facility (just past a small front desk and foyer) you were face to face with 2 stunning bandit angels.

Definitely a cool place! Every time my son has a hockey game down there, I look forward to stopping in.

 

[coral_joe]

Eat your heart out - Acan Lovers! The price is per frag, not per polyp. I love these guys.

 

[armani4o3]

Man, I used to live in cherry hill NJ back in 90’ s and bill’ s wonderland of pets was the bomb- sadly I moved too far away in Pennsylvania and I got nothing now ugg!! Used to have Reeftorift but now gone as well with Covid bs shutdowns- now, the nearest lfs is 1 1/2 hrs away and is good (The Hidden Reef

Not sure where In pa you are. But did you check out coral reef connection

 

[armani4o3]

Man, I used to live in cherry hill NJ back in 90’ s and bill’ s wonderland of pets was the bomb- sadly I moved too far away in Pennsylvania and I got nothing now ugg!! Used to have Reeftorift but now gone as well with Covid bs shutdowns- now, the nearest lfs is 1 1/2 hrs away and is good (The Hidden Reef)

Not sure where In pa you are. But did you check out coral reef connection

 

[Reefvision]

I’m in Sellersville (about 1hr west of Philly) gonna look up coral reef connection as I never heard of them.

 

[Reefvision]

Not sure where In pa you are. But did you check out coral reef connection

Thanks for the heads up! Gonna check them out!

 

[Gtinnel]

It's not local to me but out of all of the reef shops I've been to Nemos Reef in Charlotte is my favorite. Great selection, friendly staff, and good prices. I fairly regularly make the 9 hour round trip just to go there.

 

[chegz]

Gee marine in Brisbane Australia is one of the best lfs stores in Queensland. Always top quality corals etc.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I may not have the best LFS, but I bet I have one of the biggest, if not the biggest. lol

Their new building takes up almost an entire block.

They recently put a video of a quick tour of their facilities on their facebook page.
doesn't show much (anything) of the actual LFS, but lots of the other behind the scenes stuff they do.

LFS tour

They started out as a water feature/pond installation company and recently expanded into the aquarium biz. They opened the LFS just before the pandemic hit. They are by far the best place to go locally for aquarium supplies, and one of the only LFS's around here that sells saltwater fish. Most LFS's around here are freshwater only. not many carry saltwater unless you want to drive 2+ hours. For only being in biz for 2 years, they seem to be doing much better than any other LFS around here. They are pretty new to corals... they only have a couple frag tanks, and don't grow out anything themselves yet...

As with most LFS, I do occasionally see a fish with ICH in their tanks, so I be sure to QT anything I get from them.. but compared to most other saltwater LFS here, they have a good selection and GREAT prices. much cheaper than other stores for fish. They also build custom acrylic tanks and now make complete systems with stands and tanks and also do custom acrylic tanks/systems.

few pics (stolen from their facebook page)

At Bluethumb, they take blue very seriously... the lights are blue, the shirts are blue, thumbs obviously, and even the hair is blue at Bluethumb. lol

Custom acrylic tanks built in-house.

many of their display tanks were built in-house. Like this reef drop-off tank.

Or their freshwater plant tank.

Building some giant tanks and stand combos for some customer... (Four 96"x36"x16" coral frag tanks w/ overflows)

I love Blue Thumb! One of my favorite shops. I live just north of Flint, MI, so regularly shop all over the place. I was at Blue Thumb basically every weekend while I was still living full time in the US. One of the associates, Brandon, is a really nice guy to talk with.

I also regularly go to Sunset Corals in Linden (lots of nice corals, but lower selection of fish) Moby Dick Petstore in Waterford (decent fish and coral selection, always healthy fish, but kind of pricey), and Stingray Bay in Eastpointe (much farther drive, but great prices and great fish selection, not so much coral, but at least it's healthy). Occasionally I go to Preuss as well, but the past few times I went, the fish selection has been rather dismal and the prices on everything but used equipment made me want to walk right out the door.

As for the rest of the saltwater stores in the Southeast and Mid-Michigan area, the last 2 years or so every time I've gone into any of the 4 or 5 within 1.5 hrs of my house I've just been disappointed. Extremely high prices on a dismal selection of obviously sick fish, and insane prices for half dead corals covered in pests. One shop has a 1000 gallon reef where the fish have visible ich and flukes, all the tangs have HLLE, and the majority of the corals have been replaced with majano nems, which they then try to sell on chunks of rock as "mini-bubbletip anemone rocks" for $50-75...

 

[OrchidMiss]

Man, I used to live in cherry hill NJ back in 90’ s and bill’ s wonderland of pets was the bomb- sadly I moved too far away in Pennsylvania and I got nothing now ugg!! Used to have Reeftorift but now gone as well with Covid bs shutdowns- now, the nearest lfs is 1 1/2 hrs away and is good (The Hidden Reef)

I remember Bill's!! We used to go there all the time when I was younger. That, and there was another one not too far away. Bill's moved several years back, just down the road. But they haven't had SW fish or supplies since they moved. I do still go there for my other pets though.

 

[Reefvision]

Yep,Bill’s was really cool- he had amazing coral,fish equipment ect .. sigh,those good old days.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Aquarium Care Center in New Jersey is incredible! They recently moved their store to connect with their sister freshwater department. It currently has about a third of the livestock they used to have, but I’m sure it will take some time as the new location develops. The customer service is always incredible, and they are the primary location that I purchase my livestock from. They never disappoint!

Old store:

New place:

 

[mpatient]

My favorite is Cuttlefish & Corals in Portland, Oregon. Great selection of corals & fish, super friendly & knowledgeable staff, and they do a ton of good in the local community and for our local reefing club. Here are some pre-pandemic photos from a Cinco de Mayo celebration they held in 2019:

What is the red beauty in the
3rd pic?

 

[fishface NJ]

Aquarium Care Center in New Jersey is incredible! They recently moved their store to connect with their sister freshwater department. It currently has about a third of the livestock they used to have, but I’m sure it will take some time as the new location develops. The customer service is always incredible, and they are the primary location that I purchase my livestock from. They never disappoint!

Old store:

New place:

I miss the quantity of fish they use to have

 

[Sharkbait19]

I miss the quantity of fish they use to have

Me too! I feel like they also used to have a ton more corals, and also some really impressive deals…

Hopefully they eventually restock. I’m sure it will take a little while.