LFS in the area

[MrWrasse]

Hey all,

Was just wondering what your favorite LFS where in the area. I will drive up to 3 maybe 4 hours for a good one. Personally I have been to 7. Here is what I thought of them.

#1. Harrisonburg-PETCO: Not alot of selection of additives or fish. Hate to go there unless I absolutely have to.
#2. Staunton-Pets-N-Pals: A little bit better than PETCO, but usually never go there.
#3. Winchester-Winchester Aquarium and Pet Center: Poor additive selection, but much better variates of livestock. IMO there tanks where not as we keep as I would like.
#4. Charlottesville-Pet Forum: Vary good variety, but not all that impressed with the quality, or the prices. Also not to upset anyone, but my wife has nicknamed it the Pot Forum. You can take a guess about the staff with that statement.
#5. Lynchburg-Pet and Aquatic Warehouse: By far my favorite so far. The staff seems very knowledgeable. Great selection of additives, lights, and accessories. Tanks are very well kept. Not to bad of a livestock selection. Somethings can be a bit pricey, but I have found some vary reasonable items.
#6. Roanoke-Something Fishy: This place is so so IMO. Very little in accessories, additives, etc.... They seem fairly knowledgeable. They do sell uncured LR, but only purchase it if has just arrived. I got 12 lbs of caribbean that I was very disappointed with. They have an ok selection of livestock.
#7. Roanoke-Pet City: Not a bad store. Many accessories, additives, etc.... Good livestock selection, and tanks aren't to bad. They had a pretty significant red algae problem last time I was there. If your willing to pay $5.99 for cured LR then they are your best choice. Its probably my second favorite.

This is just my opinion. I'm still a beginner in SW, but I used to keep FW tanks. Would love to hear your comments on these and and others that I may not know about. I hope this helps you guys in case you haven't driven as much as I have. The wife and I have alot of spare time during the week.

Scott

[fishfreek]

I have about the same views.

Petco is just another one of those large chain stores with large chain store live stock and large chain store selection for drygoods. Mostly stuff I dont want to buy.

Pets-N-Pals just got back into salt about 6 months ago so they can have some ok supply or can be fairly limited. Really depends on what day of the week you go in. There are reports that they are building a larger fish room in the back of the building that will be opening up at some point. Dry goods can be a bit pricy.

Pet Forum, Never really liked that place. The coral tank had alot of asptasia in it last I looked and some of the live stock looked ok. I agree I dont think much with their staff.

Pets and Aquatic Warehouse in lynchburg has been a fav of mine for a while now. I have heard that their tanks have gone a bit down hill recently but I have not been there myself in over a year and half.

There is another pet store in staunton that just moved to a new location. I need to go check them out again. I forget the name of the store at this point.

[alarmguy66]

The Warrenton Pet Shop is pretty nice, but he owner (who was real nice) just sold the place so I dont know what is gonna change. Not a huge store but nice variety and 2 big (200+ gallon) tanks in the front with lots of corals for sale. Pricey place, but very nice.

The Pet forum in Harrisonburg is 100 times better than the one in Manassas. I went there yesterday and HLLE was rampant, as was ich.

Im gonna have to check out the store in Lynchburg, how would I get there going down rt 29?

[a71skunk]

I'm in Charlottesville and really hate Pet Forum. I actually drive a little over an hour to Richmond to go to Fish World. Prices are on the high side (like everywhere else). I honestly can't say anything bad about the store though. Joe the owner is great and always willing to talk/help. Awesome selection too - he gets some real rare items. Only does SW livestock and limited supplies.

[MrWrasse]

Well against my better judgement I went to the Pot Forum last night(lol). I was very surprised to see that they had cleaned up the tanks since my last visit. Their stock in there wall tanks looked pretty healthy, however their tank setup near the reptile end had some lower quality fish. They had just received a new shipment today and they had quite a good selection. There prices were comparable to Liveaquaria to my surprise. Anyway I found an anemone that the wife had to have. It looked very good IMO, so we got it along with a pair of clowns. We also got a cleaner shrimp which appears to have eggs. I posted a pic in the ID section to confirm. The anemone is in the pic as well. Here were the prices on the items I purchased:

Med Cleaner Shrimp-$20.00
Pair of Med Clownfish-$26.00
Sm Bulb Anemone-Red-$22.00

It was actually rather pleasant shopping there for once. The sales KID (looked to be 14) was very knowledgeable compared to his other counterparts I have talked to. I asked him questions that I knew the answers too just to check. I will have fishfreek verify the quilt of the purchase when he picks up his sand. I'm still new at this, but feel fairly confident that I did well.

Scott

[fishfreek]

The clown fish price was for the pair or each? If it was for the pair thats good price. Good price on the cleaner aswell.

Ill call you later today to verify the arrival of the sand and firm up a timeframe for me to swing thru your area.

[MrWrasse]

Yes it was $26 for the pair. $13 dollars each.