St. Louis Fish Stores

[Karegg]

Anyone else from the STL area? Thought I would start this thread as I begin going to check out some stores in the area. Any suggestions?

Today's post is for my visit yesterday to Tropical World Pets on Watson. Online reviews were pretty good, but I wasn't too impressed. They had dead fish in the majority of their tanks (especially ones with smaller fish). Some of these tanks had more dead fish than live ones. Most were overstocked. They had about 15 bettas in what looked like 1/2 pint bowls. I'm pretty sure half of them were dead.

They did have a pretty good selection of hardware and other products, but it definitely didn't seem like a place where I'd want to get livestock.

Is this really typical?

[Fishyfanatic]

I am not a fan of Tropical World Pets. The store is always 100 degrees and the employees are not very knowledgable. Not to mention their prices are insanely high. I have yet to purchase anything fromt hat store. And yes, the dead fish issue is common at TWP. We always go there when we go to Pet Market Place which is maybe a mile or so down Watson across from the new QT. For African Cichlids I go to Malawi Aquatics up in Florissant. It's an old run down building. The tanks aren't even set up in an appealing way, but their staff is top notch and the quality of fish is amazing. Not to mention the selection of Africans. We go to assorted stores in the area on occasion but primarily stick to Pet Market Place and Malawi Aquatics. Belt's was a HUGE disapointment.

I'm moving this to the regional forum. Since MO doesn't have one I'm putting it in the IL forum since it is closest to STL.

[Karegg]

Today was our visit to Aqua World on Gravois. The tanks (and fish) were in a lot better shape than at TWP. Only a couple tanks had dead fish at all, and there were only one or two dead in each. At TWP, I'd say about half the tanks had dead fish, and of those the majority of the fish in them were dead. Gross.

And not only did they have fish, but you could purchase plants being kept in the tanks as well. I'm not sure how they rank as far as prices go since I haven't been enough places to know what's cheap. If I had to guess I'd say it was pretty expensive. They had some discus at $90 each. Yo-yo loaches were 10.00 (and so were neon tetras!).

[Erok7620]

Im from Illinois but I have been to TWP, agreed its overpriced and service leaves something to be desired but I did like their selection and their display tanks are awesome. Im interested to know what the best SW store in that area is. I also have to add The Fishman in Springfield may seem a little over priced especially on accessories but as I have dealt with many stores in the area I have never been misled on advise or bought a poor piece of livestock from them. I cant say that about many other LFS's (pekin, bloomington) (one store in pekin compleaty took advantage of my newbeeness and another store sold me a sick fish and then forgot I was even in their store. At the fishman stock can be hit or miss, in the SW section especially, but its a good store none the less.

[roka64]

Take a look here:
Fish Store Review dot com - Local Fish Stores and Aquarium Shops in Illinois

[CatatonicBug]

Originally Posted by Fishyfanatic

For African Cichlids I go to Malawi Aquatics up in Florissant. It's an old run down building. The tanks aren't even set up in an appealing way, but their staff is top notch and the quality of fish is amazing. Not to mention the selection of Africans.

Does Malawi Aquatics sell plants too? Florissant is close enough to me so I could go on my lunch break, so I would love to check them out. Where abouts are they?

[Fishyfanatic]

I'm not sure if they sell plants, you may want to give them a call. They are located in an old strip mall at 11619 W Florissant Ave. When you drive up to it you'll be tempted not to even go in, I almost just left because I thought it looked too run down to be a quality fish store.

[CatatonicBug]

I visited today, and you're right about the appearance of the place. It definitely needs some better lighting. They have some really impressive fish in there though!! No plants, but lots of rock. They definitely have a nice selection of fish in there too!
Thanks for the address.

[Fishyfanatic]

You are right about that. Their selection is amazing. They have the Africans that you won't find anywhere else in the area and the prices are very reasonable. We sell our fry to the owner.