Lets talk about your LFS

[besskurz]

My personal opinion:
If you care about posting prices, you are primarly price oriented. So, just buy online from big retailers. LFS is not your primarly source for dirty cheap frags.


Friendliness
- I'm buying where I feel welcome, confortable and well received.

Same idea when you go to a pub, dive bar or restaurant. If the guy in the bar is cool, give you some suggestions, talk about whatever... does not make the experience better?

I feel that some other services around are so ahead in customer service than LFS that this could be a good benchmark on how to welcome new customers and retain them.

I like and I want to support local businesses but im not doing for a grumpy ppl.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I have one lfs and while it’s great they are really expensive! I’ve gotten to know the owners and they are very knowledgeable and have a great selection. But they keep cooper in their fish systems which they don’t tell anyone about or advertise. This suppresses any diseased fish and may kill any inverts if someone doesn’t know not to put their water in their tank. On the other hand I have a great Petco with a big saltwater selection and frag tank. I don’t consider it a lfs but I can order a wide variety of fish and inverts such as lionfish and pufferfish. My issue with them is all their tanks have ich. So when I order from them I specially order fish or take it right off the truck.

 

[Brandont21]

None of my lfs list names or prices which is kind of annoying. I have to constantly ask about prices on things. Also, none of them open up until 12-1pm. Which is less than ideal because id like to get my shopping done while the kids are in school. Seeing as the closest is an hour away.

 

[brandon429]

If I could change one thing about my lfs, River City Aquatics in Austin TX, it would be the simple request that their premium premade salt mix is the same salinity each batch. Some batches when I take it home I have to add 2 cups per five gallons of my Kent salt to bring it to .025

some months it's .025 out of the tap at their store, inconsistency is for the cheap mixed water: premium should equal premium effort at the mixing station. = annoying.

imagine how simple it would be for 1 tech there to calculate the known volume of their holding vat, and add a pre measured amount of Red Sea salt to simply arrive at .025 vs guessing/winging it on alternating months the last year straight. the wide variance in salinity means they're simply guesstimating each round.

 

[brandon429]

River City employees if you're seeing this, bro, please mix the salt consistently or reduce the price of the premium mix to match the non premium IO vat of water. you sold me ten gallons of .019 last week. now it's half Kent, half Red Sea premium water, which isn't premium. The store owner should simply verify each batch

 

[Sdot]

Ive been pretty lucky, I live near one of the best Aquarium galleries i think ever. The shop always looks amazing... their display tanks are drop dead gorgeous. I also love the fact they separate the gallery from the area where you pickup supplies, fish food, and holding tanks. It keeps the gallery area really clean. Its nice... so nice in fact, some people treat it like a public aquarium rather than an aquarium store (take pix, bring the kids....etc), which speaks volumes. This is the only place i currently buy my corals from.... unless a buddy is trading or something of the like.

 

[dstockwell]

I have one LFS I have bought small things here and there food, chemicals, and three Chromis but for the most part they aren't worth the visit. Tanks with corals that are for sale really look miss managed, lighting poor, algae, etc. I will stop in and look once in awhile but it usually ends in just walking out.

 

[brandon429]

I love when LFS have huge tanks of items not for sale, for any price

 

[52728299]

Ive been pretty lucky, I live near one of the best Aquarium galleries i think ever. The shop always looks amazing... their display tanks are drop dead gorgeous. I also love the fact they separate the gallery from the area where you pickup supplies, fish food, and tanks that hold the fish until they are sold. Its really nice... some people in fact treat it like a public aquarium rather than a fish store, which speaks volumes. This is the only place i currently buy my corals from.... unless a buddy is trading or something of the like.

That looks expensive heh

 

[Keko21]

The big stores are near me here in Orlando (WWC and Top Shelf) are in my opinion the gold standard in terms of quality of what you are buying even if it does come with a bit of a premium.

My local LFS gets some interesting things in and is willing to negotiate price which is nice, and they have a pretty good loyalty reward system. That said their coral tank is over run with GHA and god knows what else... When I buy any pieces there it's a process to clean everything up while I am dipping. But I haven't had any issues yet. The fish seem healthy and they run copper in the system which I appreciate.

With online vendors I've had success with getting in touch with owners and talking about their systems and QT procedures and I've been largely happy with anything I have gotten from Corals Anonymous, Reef Beauties, Aqua SD, and auctions from POTO.

 

[RichReef]

I am lucky with LFSs because of my location and willingness to drive.

I have no problem driving 2 hours in one direction for a good store. My stores are anywhere from a 15 minute drive up to and hour and a half. They all have something to offer. All have corals and supplies. Some even have top tier equipment. They all have their pros and cons.

Frags2Fishes
Greenbank Aquarium.
Aquarium World.
That Pet Place.
Something Fishy.
The Hidden Reef.
Pet Kare.
Fish Factory.
Petco. Christiana (a good one)
Mini Reef
TSM Aquatics
Pacific East Aquaculture

There is a handful more but I can't visit everyone and my routine is set.

 

[face]

Mine always had visible pests like aiptasia. If I see them in your displays im out no telling what other pests are lurking.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I wish my LFS would post both the price, as well the name of every coral. With prices, I could quickly narrow in on the ones that were within my budget. With the name, I could quickly look up care requirements for them online with my phone. Sure, the LFS owners are great and will answer questions when asked, but there are always other customers and I prefer the range of information I can find quickly online.

I despise this method of selling

 

[RandomUser7]

Just wish mine had a bigger selection. There are more freshwater fish being sold here nowadays, so I'm not too upset about the shrinking saltwater section. Personally I prefer buying fish small so I can watch them grow overtime.

 

[52728299]

I live 15 mins from 3 lfs and I'd say they are all above average. Fair prices, clean stores knowledgeable staff, good stock. Nothing super fancy but good livestock for the most part.. most days they are open 11-7 so I guess it would be nice for them to be open longer.. more sales would also be nice.. more variety in coral? Idk I'm pretty happy with what I have and if one doesn't have something it's easy enough to go to another.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

If I could change one thing about my lfs, River City Aquatics in Austin TX, it would be the simple request that their premium premade salt mix is the same salinity each batch. Some batches when I take it home I have to add 2 cups per five gallons of my Kent salt to bring it to .025

some months it's .025 out of the tap at their store, inconsistency is for the cheap mixed water: premium should equal premium effort at the mixing station. = annoying.

imagine how simple it would be for 1 tech there to calculate the known volume of their holding vat, and add a pre measured amount of Red Sea salt to simply arrive at .025 vs guessing/winging it on alternating months the last year straight. the wide variance in salinity means they're simply guesstimating each round.

If I give you $10 will you wait in line and grab me some Franklins and deliver it to me in Fort Worth?

 

[exnisstech]

I love when LFS have huge tanks of items not for sale, for any price

They're called display tanks. Many owners (at least around here) are hobbiest as well and those tanks are their personal DT. Also they are usually the first thing you see and it's gets people oohing and awing and wanting a tank as beautiful. I think they help people become interested in the hobby.

I find it odd that so many people are saying items aren't priced or named. All of my lfs have prices marked and usually names on everything. If I had to ask how much everything is I probably wouldn't shop there. I'm a bit anti social and try to avoid in person social interactions as much as possible. When I see something for sale and not priced I just tell myself it must be too expensive to show the price and I move on.

 

[flashsmith]

I've come to the conclusion that all of the shops around me are ordering livestock from wholesalers on the west coast. So I don't have a problem buying fish online as that's what every shop does anyway. There are some and we know who they are I avoid 100%. Overall compared to buying local I feel I've been more successful with direct ordered fish.

 

[jkcoral]

The big stores are near me here in Orlando (WWC and Top Shelf) are in my opinion the gold standard in terms of quality of what you are buying even if it does come with a bit of a premium.

My local LFS gets some interesting things in and is willing to negotiate price which is nice, and they have a pretty good loyalty reward system. That said their coral tank is over run with GHA and god knows what else... When I buy any pieces there it's a process to clean everything up while I am dipping. But I haven't had any issues yet. The fish seem healthy and they run copper in the system which I appreciate.

With online vendors I've had success with getting in touch with owners and talking about their systems and QT procedures and I've been largely happy with anything I have gotten from Corals Anonymous, Reef Beauties, Aqua SD, and auctions from POTO.

TSA and WWC’s WP location are my local stores. I’ve been a customer of TSA since their opening day. The retail staff (most of them) are really great/helpful and nice to interact with. However, in my opinion, the quality/health of the fish in particular has declined over time to the point that I pretty much only buy fish from WWC. They have healthier fish, but man, making a deal is nearly impossible there. It’s a little less frequent these days, but TSA will definitely “take care” of you every once in a while and hook you up.

Given the size of both businesses, I really wish they’d both be able to order in specific fish (when they are in season) for long time customers instead of the whole “we will add you to a list and call you if we ever get one in.

Either way, we are certainly lucky to have them in our area, and are much more “blessed” as far as LFS go compared to many reefers!

 

[GARRIGA]

Ive been pretty lucky, I live near one of the best Aquarium galleries i think ever. The shop always looks amazing... their display tanks are drop dead gorgeous. I also love the fact they separate the gallery from the area where you pickup supplies, fish food, and tanks that hold the fish until they are sold. Its really nice... some people in fact treat it like a public aquarium rather than a fish store, which speaks volumes. This is the only place i currently buy my corals from.... unless a buddy is trading or something of the like.

I'd buy from that store.