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

[Boomer52]

I live a little over two miles from a good size store that has tons of coral, and four miles from a smaller one that has a fair amount of coral.

Seaside Tropical Fish is my go to store because they take extra care in mixing their salt water for water changes. It is always 1.024 on the button and that is over a period of years. They also have a good selection of saltwater fish, inverts and corals. Buy my frozen foods there too. Very customer friendly and they run weekly sales on fish and inverts.

The other store, Tongs Tropical Fish, is larger and has a huge selection of coral. Many are colony size. They are however, a little on the pricey side. I frequent them for harder to find equipment items that I need now and an occasional frag that catches my eye. Never had much luck with fish I have purchased there so I no longer buy from them.

 

[a.t.t.r]

Closest to me is professional fish keepers about a 2 minute drive away. I drive 30 minutes to go to a store whose frags I don’t find pest on every time I buy…. Wish they would trade locations.

blue seas aquariums in broward Fl has good prices and rather healthy stock but it’s almost entirely frags.

 

[Karen00]

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.

Thanks for this! I have all of these on my list to visit so I'm glad you recommend them and I'm glad I haven't missed any! Personal recommendations go a long way for credibility! I have gone to Big Al's for my freshwater stuff but have recently looked at their saltwater livestock. Candy Corals is great. They have an amazing selection of everything! I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

 

[KWT]

I live less than 5 miles from 2 different LFS, and another is about 10 miles. There are 3 more that I know of, that are farther out, and another one that close which was about 15 miles away that closed this year.

I forgot about the Petco 3 miles away, but that place usually covers the dog’s wants.

 

[Tyler Flynn]

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!

I’m 2.5 hours away in swift current

 

[Jedi1199]

The nearest LFS I can get SW livestock from is about 45 miles North, and the best coral shop nearby is 52 miles South. The next closest place to get SW livestock is about 72 miles...

 

[jacalhou]

200 yards from the ocean but 120 miles to Norfolk- nearest Saltwater Fish Store and nearest airport.

My fish and coral buying experience is at the mercy of FedEx and UPS. You can probably imagine how that has gone.

Looked at where you are from and love it. My stomping ground beaches when I grew up in VA were the OBX. Mainly Nags Head and KDH, where my parents currently have a cottage. I’ve fished Avon and Frisco Pier before as a kid. It’s making me all nostalgic just thinking about it. But yes, there’s not much mainland access to much of that area. I love that it’s fairly untouched from much commercial growth because it’s just a strand of land. It’ll be a sad shame when it’s all covered up one day. I pray that’s a lonnnngggg time. Already had enough on 12 when there’s a storm.

 

[jacalhou]

I’m fortunate to live in Central Florida, so I’m half hour away from @WWC @Living Reef Orlando and @TopShelfAquatics. It’s a reef paradise down here in FL. My wife tells me the LFS is my second home lol.

 

[DJ Lone1]

I put 6-25 miles. I live less than a mile from a Petco that has salt water fish, and a quarter mile from an aquarium store that has some saltwater stuff but is mostly freshwater (they just recently opened and don’t have a lot of SW stock), but it’s around 15 miles to a dedicated SW/Reef store, and then there’s another one that’s roughly 20 miles away.

You have many options, that's awesome, I'd be shopping every day.

 

[shunshindev]

I’m in queens New York. So a lot of people automatically assume somewhere in Manhattan would have saltwater fish or a Petco. But there’s one less than 10 minutes away from where I live. That’s about 2 miles driving lol. It’s called New York Reef Aquatic. Love their prices, inventory. Frag specials every time I walk into that shop.

 

[StewL6]

My wife and I spent the past weekend and Friday in Lancaster Pa and spent three hours in That Fish Place. I live in Auburn Mass. and we treated it like a mini vacation about a 5 hour drive. Always has treated me real well for on line orders and hardly any DOAs . Also have a small coral and Marine fish store about 4 miles away Fish and Frags. The kid that runs it works his butt off and I try to support him when I can the local Petco half mile away is a complete disaster. I usually buy dry goods carbon and the like when I can’t get it from Fish and Frags. They send me these surveys entitled Petco Listens No they don’t.

 

[Tyler Flynn]

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

They do both. Google them up. Give them a call if you have any questions. They are all very knowledgable there

 

[Maddlesrain]

Catalina?

I live on Vashon Island in WA. The mileage includes driving time as well. We're not far from the mainland, but round trip it takes about 3 hours just to get off and back on the island.

 

[bnord]

Man, I am surprised at the findings here. 66% of us are within 25 miles of the reef shop. I feel myself to be extremely fortunate that within 5 miles I have a small but very well staffed fish and coral shop and 7 to 8 miles to another place with some fish - poor coral but tremendous dry goods.

then another 35 to 40 miles two outstanding fish and coral shops who seems to do a fair bit of importing. So I felt lucky but it looks like the clear majority of us are in the same position

 

[MrTPlush]

I have a Petco about a half mile away. They look like they care for the stuff decent…though right now they have a coral beauty with a messed up eye, sad.

I have a hardware store that has a pet section some 5 miles away. They have a bit of a selection of saltwater fish and some frags. However their fish can have visible ich and have fish bearing up on each other. It’s mostly damsels and clown fish. However they have zero returns/guarantees on fish/corals…so no thanks.

My closest store that actually puts a lot of knowledge/effort into reefing would have to be easily 60+ miles away.

I’m new, but I plan to just buy all my fish online from decent sites. It is just easier, probably cheaper, and arguably less stressful for the fish. Also an easier guarantee. When I start adding corals it will be a tougher call. Then I may go the distance for a reefing store.

I won’t lie though. Petco is great for getting food. The hardware store has a great selection of meds, phyto, or other nessesities I may need in a pinch that I can’t wait for shipping.

 

[Its only Money]

My 42 miles is a half day ordeal, unfortunately I buy most supplies online.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

There are at least 4 good LFS within 20 miles of my house. I do not include PetCo. My favorite is 13 miles away. It used to be only 6 miles away and was located next to best Buy and Cosco. It was so convenient. Now it takes me a good 30mn to get there due to traffic. I bought all my fish and inverts there, and they have been very healthy. I do not buy corals, but they have tons, and they look great. However I would like to grow macro algae, and no store carry them. It is a shame, as I like to see what I get and do not trust pictures too much.
So ordered some macro algae online very recently. packaging and timing were good, and algae look healthy at arrival. However not all of the algae are doing well and I wish I could ask advice from a LFS store.

 

[Tate1213]

Average distance is 56-60 miles for me, between merrillville and Lafayette. northwest Indiana here. Wish I had closer shops but they have all closed up and gone away.

 

[UK softy bloke]

Thanks to @CanuckReefer for the QOTD idea today!

CanuckReefer - "Just thought to myself, as I was dreaming of a future cabin way out in the woods. Oh yes, the peacefulness lol. Many of us are lucky enough to live reasonably close to LFS or ability to have shipping overnight thankfully...however, what about those in extremely remote locations? How do they manage? Who on the site worldwide is the most remote and what do they do in terms of attempting to mitigate a problem if one arrives? Is there a reef in Antarctica, the far north of Norway, Canada etc that is hours and hours away from assistance on the site?"

Let's talk about this today!

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

2. If you live FAR away how FAR are you?

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?

We used to have three shops within a 30 minute drive but they have stopped selling marines and one closed. The one that is a 10 minute drive away is dire, Wiltshire in England is a saltwater shop desert, sad as even though I have no more room for any stock I miss going to have a look.

 

[>>klong<<]

Aquarium Center?

Nope. Hidden Reef. It’s not that close, but worth the drive. I think the last time I bought the big Red Sea blue bucket there it was under $50. BRS sells it for $80.