Do you leave your local fish store disappointed? Why is that?

[MightyMO]

My local fish store is good... Marine Solutions in St. Peter's, Missouri

 

[BradB]

1. I bought a pair of clownfish and immediately my Harlequin tusk (not reported to be incompatible) killed one and was trying to catch the other. I returned the live fish within two hours of buying it. The LFS would accept the return, and when I said I had no where else to put the fish where it wouldn't be killed, they just said "not my problem". I eventually got them to keep it, but they any money returned was out of the question. That is what really turned me away from buying fish there, although I do occasionally browse if I happen to be in the neighborhood for something else.

2. Coral prices. Why do so many stores have large areas dedicated to coral, clams and anemones at 4x Internet prices? And Frag swap prices are typically less than half Internet pricing. Is this only for people who don't go to frag swaps and can't google search? Do they ever actually sell anything? I understand they are in business to make money, but this takes retail space and maintenance and that has to cost them a lot. I doubt they make up the difference on the 40000% profit margin on an occasional millionaire reefer making an impulse buy who doesn't care what the price is.

 

[mindme]

It's an awesome thing to have a local fish store that carries healthy fish, beautiful coral and all the supplies that you need! But in reality this isn't a reality for must of us. We all know there are MANY of these amazing local fish stores in the world, they exist, but for most of us it's not the truth. So what is so disappointing about a lot of these stores? Let's talk about it today!

1. What are the most disappointing aspects that make a local fish store bad or makes you leave disappointed? (no names please)

2. Do you have an amazing LFS near you and if so why are they great?

@TopShelfAquatics store

I have a nice variety of fish stores here on the west coast of Florida. The closest to me is just an entire pet store, not just fish store. The most disappointing part of it is the selection isn't always great. Their tanks could be a little cleaner also.

They carry general things as a rule. They'll have the occasional hippo or yellow tangs, but I'm not going to be finding many rare types of fish. Occasionally they do. Great prices on their stuff, very friendly.

But then I have quite a few other fish shops near me for the rare stuff. Also great prices.

And as I said in another post, there is always Orlando if I feel like wasting my money.

 

[BZOFIQ]

high prices, sickly fish.

 

[Devin_Tesla]

Most disappointing is I don't have one I'm looking at 1.5 hours back to my old LFS to get anything.

 

[Ken Maulik]

We have two awesome LFS’s in Minneapolis. They are both full service stores that do maintenance and retail sales. I feel fortunate as both of them will special order what I’m looking for and I appreciate them and want to give my business to them rather than going to Amazon.

 

[justarex]

I've got to say how blessed I am living in Virginia Beach. We have a huge network or shops and an even greater community. I always forget not every area is blessed like we are.

 

[jeffrey750750]

I have 4 lfs within 20 to 40 minutes away. Each one carrying specific brands, some are better than others with fish stocking. Pricing on fish is usually ok but coral prices are ridiculous. I'll be an online shopper for my corals from now on, which is sad. I want to support my lfs but at least be competitive.
I do have tropicorium about 50 minutes away which has alot of fish, literally tons of nice seasoned live rock but limited on coral.
I know some of you are going hate this but I do have cherry corals about 45 minutes away. A bit pricey but wow they have the nicest stuff.
So I voted disappointing most of the time due to prices, selection and seeing ich on fish

 

[Jax15]

In San Diego, there are a couple great shops. AquaSD has the top shelf frags, but the prices are pretty high. Still, it's good to have it nearby! Aquatic Warehouse has a great stock of fish, and good deals on frags - but they're not the really high end stuff usually (which is fine, and frankly appreciated sometimes. The owner is a good guy).

Big shout out to my favorite LFS when I was in San Jose - Neptune Aquatics. Huge $10 frag tanks with seriously awesome corals! Also, a really great series of show tanks. Ah, I miss that place. If you're in SJ area, you should definitely check it out.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

This has me pining for the "good old days". Early 1970's, Ann Arbor, Michigan - six high quality aquarium retail stores, an exotic animal wholesaler, a dry goods wholesaler and Pablo Tepoot's huge fish wholesale company (Omega Exotic Fish). I worked at most of them at some point. Now days? a smattering of chain pet stores and one tiny fish-only shop, and that's in neighboring Ypsilanti.

Jay

 

[Ippyroy]

The nearest is 2 hours away. It is small with little to no selection. They try to lease and maintain reef systems more than anything else. 5 hours away from Salt Lake City and they have some very nice stores. Neither are LFS though, I have had great luck purchasing online and will continue to do so.

 

[saltnut]

Honestly there are at least 6 decent stores about a 45 minute drive from my home. Right now it is a little hit or miss for a specific fish search because of Covid-19. My 2 favorite stores always have tons of amazing corals but they are very expensive. You have to stop by often to find a nice deal. Also I was very disappointed when I got 4 zoanthid frags supposedly on sale but to me they were not real bargains just discounted 10%. Then while in QT I found zoa pox on all of them.

 

[karees]

I have been in the Hobby for five years now. My dissatisfaction with my LFS began very early in my journey in the hobby. I have a 120 gallon DT and had a custom-made stand and hood that was priced $3000 over what I later observed available online. That was disappointing but quite frankly that’s a matter lack of due diligence in my research. But then again I really didn’t have a reason to question the local guy

I had some brief experience with saltwater fish 45 years ago when all we had was subgravel filtration. He knew that I was a novice to the hobby. The proprietor sold me anything that I pointed out in the store. At least 30% of the livestock I purchased was rated at expert level of experience suggested. I have occasionally return to the store to purchase livestock. I may just be paranoid but one of the seven most recent purchases survived my quarantine tank. I don’t think he’s pleased that I’m not a regular customer.

 

[TheOldSalt]

Our local shops situation is so bad that a bunch of us are forming our own co-op store. Want something done right? Do it yourself. In our case, ourselves.

We only have one big independent non-chain shop in this city. The service is... not great. The selection is large, but the quality is terrible. The prices are ridiculous.

We decided that something had to be done, and we're doing it.

 

[bkhunt]

Other - I chose other because it depends on what LFS I would happen to walk into. The dedicated saltwater store is always good for coral selection sometimes low on fish depending on there shipments. The one usually has a decent selection of fish but virtually no coral. Another has decent fish and some overpriced frags. Finally the chain store are the chain stores.

 

[tony302]

It's an awesome thing to have a local fish store that carries healthy fish, beautiful coral and all the supplies that you need! But in reality this isn't a reality for must of us. We all know there are MANY of these amazing local fish stores in the world, they exist, but for most of us it's not the truth. So what is so disappointing about a lot of these stores? Let's talk about it today!

1. What are the most disappointing aspects that make a local fish store bad or makes you leave disappointed? (no names please)

2. Do you have an amazing LFS near you and if so why are they great?

@TopShelfAquatics store

 

[pbmahaffey]

Being new to the hobby, the LFS I go to mostly has been mostly great. The only disappointment has been low stock on things I think they should have. They are very helpful and always willing to educate me. Will need to travel a bit to get to any other LFS.

 

[Silent]

No LFS. There was one but it closed down 8 years ago due to owner retiring.

 

[hey_hey_heeyyyyyy!]

I’m completely disappointed with my local one. They used to be great but have apparently declined over the years.
Frags from $59.99 to $179.99 with a generous helping of aiptasia!

From a business perspective, you can't be both expensive and offer lower quality products. Especially with so many great options online. I've purchase thousands of $ worth of coral from 5 different online retailers in the past month. All more colorful, in better health, and cleaner than my local stores... at a fraction of the price.

I'm most disappointed with the store where this pic came from. They have rows of saltwater tanks and they look like hair algae farms. Aiptasia everywhere. One tank so full of it, they had to hide it, but they all run on one system, so it's everywhere.

 

[GrapevineReefs]

I live right around Sacramento, California. We have at least 5 non big box stores that sell nice-ish corals and a lot of saltwater fish. Out of those 2 are really worth while. “Your Reef” is here locally and John has some stunning stuff in his shop. I definitely feel fortunate to live with such options as I’ve spoken to fellow reefers who have to drive quite a ways.