I thought it would be a good idea to share my experience on a recent trip I made to Houston, Texas on January 30 and have been really nervous about putting this together. I tried to do my best but this is literally the first time I have ever done something like this, so take it easy on me. 
I am not a professional photographer, not a professional writer, at no where CLOSE to a a video expert, clearly as you will be able to see, but I feel like we should have a dedicated section where people can post their experiences when the visit LFS around the country, so maybe @revhtree or [HASH=1]#reefsquad[/HASH] could put something together on this. This may be in the wrong section, so mods feel free to move this where necessary.
Fish Gallery
My first thought when I entered the store is WOW! This place was amazing, and it easily had the biggest and best layout of displays and tanks of all the stores I visited. I was overwhelmed with the set up of options that were available, and I noticed right away they were a Waterbox dealer (This may very well be my next tank), so I could not wait to get through the store and get to the marine section. I instantly got greeted by one of the employees and they asked me if they could help me find anything. I kindly responded, "no I am here to just take my time and look around." Directly to the left when you walk in is a great selection of tanks and stands of all sizes and shapes, which is accompanied by a set up couches where you can thumb through tons of pictures of installs they have done for previous customers to design your dream tank, all while looking at this MASSIVE bowfront tank on the back wall filled with freshwater gems. I noticed that they also had a specific room set up for kids to go play in while mom and dad designed their tanks, and it had a bunch of interactive things that revolved around aquariums and fish stuff so we were certainly off on the right foot. There was an awesome cylinder tank that divided that section with the main room that was stuffed full of awesome cichlids. After walking through the center of the store towards the back, I could see them working to redo the lighting on a reef tank. The gentleman told me they had just starting selling AI stuff, and were switching out all the radions they had for AI's. I finally found the section I was hoping for, but to my surprise, they had 1 tank set up with some frags and a few clown fish, and a very small selection of livestock in general for salt water. One of their guys told me there were in the process of redoing that entire section, so maybe there is more to come there and a follow up would be necessary. In the back of the store was a great section of freshwater fish, which were even labeled from aggressive on down to docile. Walking back towards the front of the store was a special section you could walk through with pond (full of koi and a turtle) and outdoor aquariums layouts where you could stick your head inside the bubble for a picture as if you were actually inside the tank! For the size of the store, I thought the options of drygoods was a bit small, but they seemed to have all the normal stuff so as a whole, this was a great store, very large in size with a ton of aquariums and stand set ups to look at. I was a little disappointing personally simply because I am a reef tank owner, and would have like to of seen a bigger marine section, however all in all a very solid experience.
FJW Aquarium - Dennis Hoang, Owner
When I walked into this store, I was immediately greeted by the owner Dennis, who was super friendly and asked me if there was something he could help me with. I was the only one there at that particular time, so he was very interested in learning about my system, and the types of things I liked. I thought this was very cool, and appreciated his interest in trying to learn more about things he might be able to steer me towards for live stock. This store was PACKED full of great stuff from corals, to fish, to dry goods, and it was certainly my idea of a "saltwater" store. This ranged from an awesome Dragon Eel, to a Gem Tang, to a ton of high end torches, SPS and what seemed to be an endless array of frags to choose from. I am always spending money on this hobby, as we all do of coarse, so I was super excited about the possibility of walking out of this place with some stuff be shipped home. This was literally the only negative part of my experience here was Dennis sadly let me know he does not ship!:mad: I had already picked out 3 or 4 torches and some SPS for him to bag up, so I was bummed, but only for a second. Overall, I was very impressed with the overall layout of the store as all of the tanks were on the walls to the right or left giving the middle of the store ample room to walk around. A super selection of livestock on all fronts was very impressive, and to top it of Dennis seemed like a super guy and a great shop owner. Will return here for sure.
OceanLife Aquariums
I will disclose that I have been here before, as I goto Houston for work once a month and do seminars at the restaurant on the opposite corner of where this store is located. I have always felt comfortable going here, since I have been here before, I pretty much knew what to expect. This place has awesome life stock! I always get greeted by someone behind the counter when I first walk in, but this trip was a bit different. First I noticed that there was construction going on to the left where there was another room basically which in the past had a few odds n ends in, but no real displays to speak of. When I asked what was going on, I was approached by the gentleman who was writing things on the center display tank, who told me they were "downsizing." That was my first chance to actually talk with the owner, Nick. He also, of coarse, asked me if he could help, and since I had never bought anything there before my first question was, do you ship? To my delight, Nick said yes, on Tuesdays for Wednesday delivery as they are closed on Mondays. I said perfect! He asked me if there was anything in particular I was looking for, and had a few questions for me about what was in my tank, what my tank size was, what kind of things I liked, etc. The best part was I told him I wanted to look around, and he said awesome, just let me know if I could help and left me alone. Sometimes you can get some pushy people to steer to things that they want to sell, or maybe something they are looking to get rid of, but I liked the fact the Nick just let me be. I even mentioned to him that I was planning on doing a small write up here about my store visits, and he said cool. This store is also packed with a ton of livestock, and specifically had a ton of fish options. This store had more fish options than most stores I have ever been to. They were all super healthy looking eating, all very active and colorful, just like you would expect from a good store owner. They have a tank that takes up the entire back wall, which has a shark in it, so I spent a good 5 minutes just staring at this tank thinking, man I wish I had a shark! The main focus of this store however, is the massive center DT that is LOADED full of awesome SPS! If your a stick head, you for sure want to visit this place. Nick had just done a bunch of fragging, so when I mentioned he was writing on the tank earlier, he was actually putting the names and prices of all the frags that were ready to be sold. This is when we talked a ton about what i was looking for, and just like Dennis at FJW, Nick had a vested interest in really trying to help me, which I appreciated. He specifically spent time going through the names of dozens of SPS frags he had just cut, and showed me on his phone pictures of even more SPS and Euphillia he had for sale. He said that was his "high end" stuff for sale if someone was interested as his wife only lets him keep 1 tank at home.
Needless to say, my trip to these 3 stores was awesome, and if you are in the Houston area I am sure you already know this, but if your not, hopefully this will give you some insight on my experience. Thanks a ton for checking out my write up, and remember what I said in the beginning, I am no expert, but here is my attempt to put together the videos I took while there. Enjoy!
I am not a professional photographer, not a professional writer, at no where CLOSE to a a video expert, clearly as you will be able to see, but I feel like we should have a dedicated section where people can post their experiences when the visit LFS around the country, so maybe @revhtree or [HASH=1]#reefsquad[/HASH] could put something together on this. This may be in the wrong section, so mods feel free to move this where necessary.Fish Gallery
My first thought when I entered the store is WOW! This place was amazing, and it easily had the biggest and best layout of displays and tanks of all the stores I visited. I was overwhelmed with the set up of options that were available, and I noticed right away they were a Waterbox dealer (This may very well be my next tank), so I could not wait to get through the store and get to the marine section. I instantly got greeted by one of the employees and they asked me if they could help me find anything. I kindly responded, "no I am here to just take my time and look around." Directly to the left when you walk in is a great selection of tanks and stands of all sizes and shapes, which is accompanied by a set up couches where you can thumb through tons of pictures of installs they have done for previous customers to design your dream tank, all while looking at this MASSIVE bowfront tank on the back wall filled with freshwater gems. I noticed that they also had a specific room set up for kids to go play in while mom and dad designed their tanks, and it had a bunch of interactive things that revolved around aquariums and fish stuff so we were certainly off on the right foot. There was an awesome cylinder tank that divided that section with the main room that was stuffed full of awesome cichlids. After walking through the center of the store towards the back, I could see them working to redo the lighting on a reef tank. The gentleman told me they had just starting selling AI stuff, and were switching out all the radions they had for AI's. I finally found the section I was hoping for, but to my surprise, they had 1 tank set up with some frags and a few clown fish, and a very small selection of livestock in general for salt water. One of their guys told me there were in the process of redoing that entire section, so maybe there is more to come there and a follow up would be necessary. In the back of the store was a great section of freshwater fish, which were even labeled from aggressive on down to docile. Walking back towards the front of the store was a special section you could walk through with pond (full of koi and a turtle) and outdoor aquariums layouts where you could stick your head inside the bubble for a picture as if you were actually inside the tank! For the size of the store, I thought the options of drygoods was a bit small, but they seemed to have all the normal stuff so as a whole, this was a great store, very large in size with a ton of aquariums and stand set ups to look at. I was a little disappointing personally simply because I am a reef tank owner, and would have like to of seen a bigger marine section, however all in all a very solid experience.
FJW Aquarium - Dennis Hoang, Owner
When I walked into this store, I was immediately greeted by the owner Dennis, who was super friendly and asked me if there was something he could help me with. I was the only one there at that particular time, so he was very interested in learning about my system, and the types of things I liked. I thought this was very cool, and appreciated his interest in trying to learn more about things he might be able to steer me towards for live stock. This store was PACKED full of great stuff from corals, to fish, to dry goods, and it was certainly my idea of a "saltwater" store. This ranged from an awesome Dragon Eel, to a Gem Tang, to a ton of high end torches, SPS and what seemed to be an endless array of frags to choose from. I am always spending money on this hobby, as we all do of coarse, so I was super excited about the possibility of walking out of this place with some stuff be shipped home. This was literally the only negative part of my experience here was Dennis sadly let me know he does not ship!:mad: I had already picked out 3 or 4 torches and some SPS for him to bag up, so I was bummed, but only for a second. Overall, I was very impressed with the overall layout of the store as all of the tanks were on the walls to the right or left giving the middle of the store ample room to walk around. A super selection of livestock on all fronts was very impressive, and to top it of Dennis seemed like a super guy and a great shop owner. Will return here for sure.
OceanLife Aquariums
I will disclose that I have been here before, as I goto Houston for work once a month and do seminars at the restaurant on the opposite corner of where this store is located. I have always felt comfortable going here, since I have been here before, I pretty much knew what to expect. This place has awesome life stock! I always get greeted by someone behind the counter when I first walk in, but this trip was a bit different. First I noticed that there was construction going on to the left where there was another room basically which in the past had a few odds n ends in, but no real displays to speak of. When I asked what was going on, I was approached by the gentleman who was writing things on the center display tank, who told me they were "downsizing." That was my first chance to actually talk with the owner, Nick. He also, of coarse, asked me if he could help, and since I had never bought anything there before my first question was, do you ship? To my delight, Nick said yes, on Tuesdays for Wednesday delivery as they are closed on Mondays. I said perfect! He asked me if there was anything in particular I was looking for, and had a few questions for me about what was in my tank, what my tank size was, what kind of things I liked, etc. The best part was I told him I wanted to look around, and he said awesome, just let me know if I could help and left me alone. Sometimes you can get some pushy people to steer to things that they want to sell, or maybe something they are looking to get rid of, but I liked the fact the Nick just let me be. I even mentioned to him that I was planning on doing a small write up here about my store visits, and he said cool. This store is also packed with a ton of livestock, and specifically had a ton of fish options. This store had more fish options than most stores I have ever been to. They were all super healthy looking eating, all very active and colorful, just like you would expect from a good store owner. They have a tank that takes up the entire back wall, which has a shark in it, so I spent a good 5 minutes just staring at this tank thinking, man I wish I had a shark!
The main focus of this store however, is the massive center DT that is LOADED full of awesome SPS! If your a stick head, you for sure want to visit this place. Nick had just done a bunch of fragging, so when I mentioned he was writing on the tank earlier, he was actually putting the names and prices of all the frags that were ready to be sold. This is when we talked a ton about what i was looking for, and just like Dennis at FJW, Nick had a vested interest in really trying to help me, which I appreciated. He specifically spent time going through the names of dozens of SPS frags he had just cut, and showed me on his phone pictures of even more SPS and Euphillia he had for sale. He said that was his "high end" stuff for sale if someone was interested as his wife only lets him keep 1 tank at home. Needless to say, my trip to these 3 stores was awesome, and if you are in the Houston area I am sure you already know this, but if your not, hopefully this will give you some insight on my experience. Thanks a ton for checking out my write up, and remember what I said in the beginning, I am no expert, but here is my attempt to put together the videos I took while there. Enjoy!
