Who lives the closest & farthest from a saltwater fish store? What do you do if you live FAR away?

[SC017]

Just far enough to not be viable to walk to.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

1. How close to a saltwater fish store do you live? Tell us about it!

My closest saltwater fish store is about 70 miles and has very limited hours and very limited stock. He is in the process of moving to a new location so I'll have to see how things have changed but I'm under the impression that he's more about setting up and maintaining tanks than regular retail. Last time I was in his shop you couldn't hardly see into the tanks but his livestock didn't look unhealthy. There used to be a second store in the city but they switched to all freshwater.

2. If you live FAR away how FAR are you?
Other than the one place in the city (I live very rural) I'm not even sure where the next nearest LFS is except that it would be far enough that you'd have to make a mini vacation of it.

3. For those that live too FAR away from a LFS to drive or to even get an overnight package how is reefing effected by the distance?

It's all about the shipping. How much and how long to get here. And when it comes to livestock I have to trust the places I do business with. It can be hard when you don't need much and end up paying more in shipping than the item you're ordering cost. Emergencies suck. If a pump goes out it might be two days to a week before it gets here. And there aren't any other reefers around to trade with. But it's kinda like this for any specialized hobby I get into out here so I'm used to it!

 

[14 foot reef]

A store ? Or the store you trust and shop at........ That's 2 different questions.

 

[davidcalgary29]

1. How close to a saltwater fish store do you live? Tell us about it! ~6,200miles and at least 3-4 flights spanning about 24 hours or more depending on flights. It's a tiny little island out in the middle of the western Pacific.

2. If you live FAR away how FAR are you? ~6,200miles.

3. For those that live too FAR away from a LFS to drive or to even get an overnight package how is reefing affected by the distance? It is tough sometimes, particularly getting any equipment sent here.

Please tell me you're a castaway on Henderson Island or the Chatham Islands. I've always wanted to visit them.

 

[dkfrosty1]

I have a ten-hour round trip drive to Edmonton for the closest LFS -- about 1000km of driving for mysis and the like. The only way to do this is to make a day of it, but I still end up driving in the dark on two lane highways with logging trucks and moose, which is certainly not ideal, and especially in wintry weather. In addition to Human Emergency Equipment, I always travel with Fish Emergency Equipment, including styrofoam coolers, heat packs, extra bags, and I even have a small pump with a USB port.

Now that’s dedication!

 

[Sunny in Miami]

I'm very fortunate to live about 6 mi. from my LFS here in Miami Florida. For some reason most of the fish stores here in West Kendall are on Bird Road ( S.W. 42nd Street) going east to west. So you can shop all the fish stores driving east to west. If one doesn't have something I go to the next one LOL. But I usually visit my favorite one every other Friday for natural sea water for my 29 gallon mini reef. They have a very beautiful clean and well lighted coral display and fish.

 

[P-Dub]

Please tell me you're a castaway on Henderson Island or the Chatham Islands. I've always wanted to visit them.

Can't do that. Wrong hemisphere. Here those are two beautiful places.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Now that’s dedication!

Or desperation.

 

[Honeyberg]

I'm a 3 hour drive 1 way to my closest LFS. So yep you guessed it. I DO A LOT OF ONLINE SHOPPING!

 

[czoolander]

Bayside Corals in Saskatoon, SK Canada. They have an awesome selection of corals and have a good aelection of fish and inverts. About a 10-minute trip for me, but always well worth it!

Any idea if they ship corals to BC and do they have a online site to order ?

 

[CanuckReefer]

1. How close to a saltwater fish store do you live? Tell us about it! ~6,200miles and at least 3-4 flights spanning about 24 hours or more depending on flights. It's a tiny little island out in the middle of the western Pacific.

2. If you live FAR away how FAR are you? ~6,200miles.

3. For those that live too FAR away from a LFS to drive or to even get an overnight package how is reefing affected by the distance? It is tough sometimes, particularly getting any equipment sent here.

Holy smokes!!! We may have a distance winner here?!? Congrats on being able to maintain things. I take it you have some backup stuff that would be most common or critical to fail on hand? Curious as to how you manage that way.... perhaps your name is MacGyver?

 

[czoolander]

I love how people are answering in that they have a store down the street or 5 minutes away. Not really the point of the question I think he was looking for actual distances from LFS LOL

3.5 hour round trip for myself . However they do deliver to me once a month which is amazing !!!

 

[Jackcarp]

1. How close to a saltwater fish store do you live? Tell us about it!

My closest saltwater fish store is about 70 miles and has very limited hours and very limited stock. He is in the process of moving to a new location so I'll have to see how things have changed but I'm under the impression that he's more about setting up and maintaining tanks than regular retail. Last time I was in his shop you couldn't hardly see into the tanks but his livestock didn't look unhealthy. There used to be a second store in the city but they switched to all freshwater.

2. If you live FAR away how FAR are you?
Other than the one place in the city (I live very rural) I'm not even sure where the next nearest LFS is except that it would be far enough that you'd have to make a mini vacation of it.

3. For those that live too FAR away from a LFS to drive or to even get an overnight package how is reefing effected by the distance?

It's all about the shipping. How much and how long to get here. And when it comes to livestock I have to trust the places I do business with. It can be hard when you don't need much and end up paying more in shipping than the item you're ordering cost. Emergencies suck. If a pump goes out it might be two days to a week before it gets here. And there aren't any other reefers around to trade with. But it's kinda like this for any specialized hobby I get into out here so I'm used to it!

You must be near Billings too.

 

[s_spowart]

Holy smokes!!! We may have a distance winner here?!? Congrats on being able to maintain things. I take it you have some backup stuff that would be most common or critical to fail on hand? Curious as to how you manage that way.... perhaps your name is MacGyver?

Wow, here I am wondering how to get tank bred livestock dreaming of what i see for sale in the USA, and someone has to travel further than I would to go there and buy my livestock lol. Think i would have either given up or only ordered stuff on line if it was that far away. Wonder what UK customs would say if I went to the US and came back with several fish for my tank lol.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

You must be near Billings too.

Haha yes!

 

[CanuckReefer]

Which one do you go to? Candy Corals is the closest one to me in Toronto.

I've visited site sponsors @gtareef , and @Fragbox Corals a few times, both in North York area, I have nothing but great things to say about them. NAFB in Scarborough, is a go to for supplies and the odd time a coral. Its a good longtime small family run shop. Two brothers and their Dad. Then the big chain... Big Al's mainly in Scarborough, I have a good relationship with both the fish room manager and the parts dept. They try. And are willing to haggle. Whitby is closest to me ( 40 minutes drive), and to be honest, they are way overpriced so I try to avoid unless an emergency. I intend to try Candy Corals when out in Mississauga one day.

 

[jaganshi066]

I live on an island that has only one general pet store—they do have some frozen food options, but no livestock of any kind. I need to board a ferry to reach the mainland and then it's a bit of a drive from there. Overall, it's about 35 miles to a LFS, but it can be a time consuming trip because of the boats.

Catalina?

 

[davidcalgary29]

Catalina?

Wouldn't it be 26 miles across the sea...and not 35?

 

[bergerman]

I live at least 150 miles from a store, but live in the Florida key west 5 miles to a reef

 

[davidcalgary29]

I've visited site sponsors @gtareef , and @Fragbox Corals a few times, both in North York area, I have nothing but great things to say about them. NAFB in Scarborough, is a go to for supplies and the odd time a coral. Its a good longtime small family run shop. Two brothers and their Dad. Then the big chain... Big Al's mainly in Scarborough, I have a good relationship with both the fish room manager and the parts dept. They try. And are willing to haggle. Whitby is closest to me ( 40 minutes drive), and to be honest, they are way overpriced so I try to avoid unless an emergency. I intend to try Candy Corals when out in Mississauga one day.

Candy Corals is great for weird inverts that you won't see anywhere else in Canada. They have fire urchins for sale! And keyhole limpets! And sponges!

They're also very nice to deal with. I'm not sure if they run meds in their tanks, though, because a fish started to flash shortly after arriving (and infected another fish, as well). I managed to treat it, but nonetheless.