no more LFS for me.....

[Dr.Nate]

Well, I haven't been to my LFS in a long time because they never have anything I really want, their prices are way too high, and their advice is horrible. I have been ordering everything but salt online for the last 2 or 3 months.

Well, I was bored yesterday and went to Petco....all their fish had ich really bad....particularly a powder blue tang....looked like he was on his last leg...really sad.

Then I went to the other mom and pop LFS in town that is better than Petco. I was talking to the lady there who usually helps me and I thought you might enjoy hearing some of her comments as we talked about ich and other things about my 55 gal.

1. "If a fish has ich in any tank, then somebody is harrassing somebody in there"
2. "You could easily put a lemonpeel tang in a 55 gal....when he gets big, just buy a bigger tank"
3. "Damsels are not aggressive and are very ich resistant....try a neon blue damsel"
4. "You shouldn't keep ordering fish online, you never know how healthy or sick they are...when are you gonna learn?!?!"

Then she realized I wasn't gonna buy anything from her and she left me alone. Needless to say, that will be my last visit there. No more curiously going over to see what they have. It seems like they continually contradict everything I read on here and it just frustrates me, so I'm done with them.

sorry to rant.....

 

[Fluff]

Wow. That would be laughable if it weren't so sad. And typical.

 

[jhoelter]

That's too bad, and quite typical of Petco. I actually have a very local LFS (freshwater only) that is quite good and knowledgable especially for being very small and super-mom-n-pop.

Around Baltimore, MD, there are two other stores within 20 minutes that are pretty good...one is The Aquarium Center http://www.aquariumcenter.com/. They're alright but have been going downhill a bit lately - the store just doesn't LOOK too good, but their selection is alright.

The best one around me is House of Tropicals http://www.houseoftropicals.com/. They have a pretty good selection and their staff isn't too bad - of course not everyone is a saltwater expert - you can't expect great saltwater tips from an 18 year old kid who just got hired. But they have an incredible selection of anenomies - better than even the National Aquarium here in Baltimore. I'll be headed there tomorrow to get my light fixed....

Jeff

 

[nycfatcow]

sorry have to vouch for petco once...thers one by long island tahts pretty good....healthy fish, never seen ich on them before. In the matter of fact i know one of the guys...very smart and informative....Never seen a dead fish in a tank.

 

[Nøjo]

That sucks, yet at the same time makes me more appreciative of the stores I have in my area. Other than my aquarium equipment, I buy everything locally just because of the great advice and service that I get, even though sometimes it's twice as much. I am usually as quick as the next guy to save a buck, but it's just that they are THAT good at helping me out and spending time with a lot of questions. If they were complete muppets, it would be a different story. When I start buying corals though, I may look online just due to the fact there is that much more diversity to shop through.

 

[proverbs]

i just started this hobby 3 weeks ago, and have a LFS that i go to for everything. the guy's been in business for about 5 years and i'm guessing he knows his stuff. but there are times where his information and the information that i read on here are quite different. i think the information and advice on here gives the safest way to do something and takes extra precaution.

i'm just curious, do you guys think a guy that's been in the fish business for 5 years might still give bad advice? there were a lot of times where what he said did not match what the people in these forums were saying.

 

[Genix]

i've noticed that you don't usually get just one opinion from this forum. in fact, one of the points of a forum is to get different opinions. sometimes users on this forum will contradict eachother.

there will always be bad fish stores. and there will always be stupid people to keep them in business. you should use the knowledge you gain from here to help you choose a good one. i dunno about you, but i like to see what i'm buying!

 

[Dr.Nate]

I'm not sure exactly how long this mom and pop store has been in business, but I know it's been at least 5 years, and probably much longer than that. Some of their information is just dated, and some of it (as you can see above) is just plain wrong.

I, too, prefer to look at before buying, but even then there's no guarantee it's healthy....and this LFS gives no guarantee at all after it leaves the store.

 

[Hara]

One thing to keep in mind is that no one here will profit from the advice given. That does not mean that everything a store tells you will be wrong, but rather they will be telling you things that are designed ultimately to get you to spend money, or they will not be in business. Whether that means chemicals sold, or replacement fish due to bad advice, they still are there to make money. Some bad advice is given out of ignorance and some out of hopes of profit. Only you can decide which you got and how moral your LFS owner is.

 

[Jasonanatal]

I find that hilarious since the Petco by me has the same Ich problem with their Tangs as well and all their tanks are infected. The don't even pass the trouble to label the fish under observation and are still trying to sell them. I complained to their corporate office. You just can't find good places to get your fish nice and healthy except for one place that I go to in Manhattan.

 

[Brenden]

Here is my LFS.
http://features.aroundcarolina.com/greendale/
This is the only place locally I will buy fish and corals. The people who run it actually care about the fish. There prices on livestock are actually only around 5 dollars more than online so they are cheaper if you count shipping. There dry goods are marked up big time so I get all that online.

 

[DragonForce]

I think the fact of the matter at most LFS is that they need to make sales to stay in business.

I am lucky enough to have a great shop called the sand bar pet store down here in southern cali. The people there are really informative. The only people I need to watchout for is the old man, and his wife. They sold my mom some kind of blue nudi(diet consists of worms) an orange linka, and a valintini puffer. I promptly returned them for her becuase they were BS sales. Honestly, he owes us like 20 dollars in hermit crabs and snails that the puffer ate. He told us the puffer would not bother any of them. He also stated that the nudi will eat algae. Well I did some research and found out otherwise.

Needless to say they don't try and BS us anymore.

I actually had a clown die shortly after purchase and I bought another one and one of the guys gave me a discount. I paid 13 for a true percula clown, and 13 for a 6 line wrasse, both of which are looking beautiful.

 

[proverbs]

Here is my LFS.
http://features.aroundcarolina.com/greendale/
This is the only place locally I will buy fish and corals. The people who run it actually care about the fish. There prices on livestock are actually only around 5 dollars more than online so they are cheaper if you count shipping. There dry goods are marked up big time so I get all that online.

WOW. that looks like an awesome fish store! has anyone seen a fish store like this in so.cal by any chance?

 

[DragonForce]

Here is my LFS.
http://features.aroundcarolina.com/greendale/
This is the only place locally I will buy fish and corals. The people who run it actually care about the fish. There prices on livestock are actually only around 5 dollars more than online so they are cheaper if you count shipping. There dry goods are marked up big time so I get all that online.

WOW. that looks like an awesome fish store! has anyone seen a fish store like this in so.cal by any chance?

There is a place in fountain valley called pacific reef that has decent stuff. Some of the guys there don't know **** though. One guy told me to buy a couple of yellow tangs.

 

[Ricky@3rdshift]

I just recently went to work for my local Petco, and one thing I realize is hardly anyone they hire has SW experience except the managers. this was a plus for me since I actually have some experience. the fish locally seem decent usualy. Bigest problem it appears is mixing fish that shouldn't be.

 

[dianeww]

Brenden, that's a fantastic looking store! How far are you from it?

 

[bamaboy2go]

I am lucky in that I 6 LFS with in 30miles of Orange Beach. I just have to shop for the best price. One will sell snails at $3.00 and the other one $1.00 each. One guy has tangs at 22.00 and ones at 34.00 for same size. I have never had much luck with mail order fish. :?

 

[ashobson]

THere is a lfs here that told me those little white spots are just beauty marks the more they have the brighter the fish will get. No Joke the owner actually told me that. I have not been in there since. I travel about 80 miles to get my corals and fish now. I have found a couple nice shops in lousivle KY. So when time allows I just go down south about 80 miles and pick up some great deals on some nice frags.

 

[Brenden]

It is about 15 minutes away. Just went there today a got a flower leather. They have nice corals. If I have a fish or coral etc. I want to get rid of she will sell it for me and give me all of the sell as store credit. Not a bad deal.

 

[haus]

I went to my lfs today to look and see what they had. The guy that works in the sw area showed me the coral beauty that they just got in a few days ago. I told him the tail looked a little nipped on, probably by the clown that was in with it. He told me that I can't have it anyways, because he noticed some coloration on it that looked wrong. He said come back in a week or so and see how it is doing. Not that I was going to get ti because of the tail anyways, but I like the fact that because of something that I didn't see right away, he wouldn't sell it to me. I will go back in a week or two to see how it is doing.