LydiaGreen
Aquarium Advice Regular
When I was in the city (Thunder Bay), their SuperPet was out of live food for my geckos so, I had to call around to all of the LFS' there hoping to find someone who carried lizards as well as fish. I had stopped at a couple of smaller LFS' the previous day and hadn't been impressed by any of them so, I wasn't keeping much hope. Well, I found one place that had live food and we stopped there on our way out of the city.
My "quick stop" turned into a couple of hours! The store is called Tropical Fish and Pet Supply... it's on Red River Rd. for any of you that get into Thunder Bay (Ontario, Canada) and it is much larger than most of the LFS' we get up here. There is one floor for your run-of-the-mill cat and dog and rodent stuff and then there is one entire floor of FISH!!!!!!
The tanks were all homemade by the owner... large enough for the fish that were in it, CLEAN, not a dead fish in site, and there was NO smell. You can tell if an LFS actually CLEANS tanks on a regular basis if there is no ammonia smell.
I knew I was in a "good" LFS when I walked in and saw the first display tank. Right away, I was telling my mother, "An arowana!" and the girl working came over and said, "He's for display only, we don't sell fish like this to customers because they get far too large for a home aquarium." WHAT
An LFS that actually cares where their fish end up They had the arowana in a 200 gallon tank by itself - it was only about a foot long but SO beautiful.
They had 55 gallon tanks with hoods, a large aquaclear filter, and a bunch of other accessories for only $260 (that's Canadian folks) and I can tell you that is a GREAT deal up here. I restrained myself but, I could FEEL the credit card itching in my wallet. I really need tanks much larger than 55 gallons at this point. They had frozen foods that I had only DREAMED of (all I can get in my town is bloodworms and I had to request that before they started carrying it) so I stocked up!
I asked about bichirs (my dream species) and not only do they get them in... she QUIZZED me about tank sizes, grow-out tanks (it's recommended you keep them in smaller tanks and upgrade size as they grow, otherwise they have trouble finding food), feeding, and FILTRATION!!! She actually asked me about FILTRATION
When I asked about purchasing larger tanks... she recommended that I go with the custom tank I had a quote on from one of my local autoglass businesses to SAVE MONEY!!!!!
They had freshwater rays, ropefish, and a ton of other species that I have never seen before (except on the internet). There were a couple of saltwater tanks as well, but she also helped me talk my mother out of getting a SW set-up because of the HUGE expense. (And she thought I spent a lot on my FW tanks
)
Yes, I can tell you I definitely have a new favourite store. Clean, well-stocked, and KNOWLEDGEABLE staff that actually care about the fish. I am SO impressed.
My "quick stop" turned into a couple of hours! The store is called Tropical Fish and Pet Supply... it's on Red River Rd. for any of you that get into Thunder Bay (Ontario, Canada) and it is much larger than most of the LFS' we get up here. There is one floor for your run-of-the-mill cat and dog and rodent stuff and then there is one entire floor of FISH!!!!!!
The tanks were all homemade by the owner... large enough for the fish that were in it, CLEAN, not a dead fish in site, and there was NO smell. You can tell if an LFS actually CLEANS tanks on a regular basis if there is no ammonia smell.
I knew I was in a "good" LFS when I walked in and saw the first display tank. Right away, I was telling my mother, "An arowana!" and the girl working came over and said, "He's for display only, we don't sell fish like this to customers because they get far too large for a home aquarium." WHAT
An LFS that actually cares where their fish end up They had the arowana in a 200 gallon tank by itself - it was only about a foot long but SO beautiful.They had 55 gallon tanks with hoods, a large aquaclear filter, and a bunch of other accessories for only $260 (that's Canadian folks) and I can tell you that is a GREAT deal up here. I restrained myself but, I could FEEL the credit card itching in my wallet. I really need tanks much larger than 55 gallons at this point. They had frozen foods that I had only DREAMED of (all I can get in my town is bloodworms and I had to request that before they started carrying it) so I stocked up!
I asked about bichirs (my dream species) and not only do they get them in... she QUIZZED me about tank sizes, grow-out tanks (it's recommended you keep them in smaller tanks and upgrade size as they grow, otherwise they have trouble finding food), feeding, and FILTRATION!!! She actually asked me about FILTRATION
When I asked about purchasing larger tanks... she recommended that I go with the custom tank I had a quote on from one of my local autoglass businesses to SAVE MONEY!!!!!
They had freshwater rays, ropefish, and a ton of other species that I have never seen before (except on the internet). There were a couple of saltwater tanks as well, but she also helped me talk my mother out of getting a SW set-up because of the HUGE expense. (And she thought I spent a lot on my FW tanks
)Yes, I can tell you I definitely have a new favourite store. Clean, well-stocked, and KNOWLEDGEABLE staff that actually care about the fish. I am SO impressed.
