Vacation to Houston

Andreass · Jun 29, 2017

Hi guys. I dont know if this is the right place to post it but me an my famaliy are traveling to Houston in december and when im there i want to go to some shops and see whats there is and maybe have a chat with some reef people. so do anyone here recommand or can tell me some good place to visit?

brett_schn · Jun 29, 2017

@infamous aquatics

Humblefish · Jun 29, 2017

These are the ones I've been to:

Aquarium World - This place is just awesome! They've got a massive f/w display tank and waterfall right in the middle of the store! Awesome selection of s/w fish, a little light on the corals.

The Fish Gallery - Very nice store, massive cichlid display tank.

City Pets - If you are looking for cheap, this is the place for you. Really good prices on dry goods (I bought 3 buckets of salt for cheaper than I could buy online), and really good prices on some of the livestock. But the fish can be in pretty bad shape, and the "$10 coral frags" are mostly softies you don't want anyway. Awesome selection of dry goods/equipment.

Infinity Fish & Houston Aquarium Warehouse: These two LFS are side-by-side in an out of the way, industrial-like building. Infinity is the SW shop (nice coral selection), while Aquarium Warehouse is all FW (mostly Discus - good prices).

The local club's website is here: http://www.marsh-reef.org/forum.php

d2mini · Jun 29, 2017

Aquarium World and Fish Gallery are good for sightseeing. Impressive displays, although neither is geared as much to saltwater as they are freshwater.
And both are very expensive. Fish Gallery does some pretty huge installs and maintenance for some very wealthy people. Best shop for sightseeing though.
As stated above, City Pets is good for cheap dry goods. They got new management a couple years ago and IMO, livestock went downhill, and it wasn't all that great to start with.
I have never been to Infinity or HAW.
My favorites are FJW Aquarium and Ocean Life Aquariums.
FJW is a small store in a ghetto little shopping center but Dennis knows his stuff and the place is packed wall to wall with coral and fish and dry goods.
OLA is newer and more organized and they too have a lot of nice stuff.
Both have very fair prices and are run by fellow hobbyists. Both are located pretty central to Houston downtown.
On the west side, another shop that has been around for quite some time is TNT Fish and Reef.