Probably best to stay away from DNA, they have similar issues to your LFS and are overridden with aiptasia in their frag tank and I can't name the last time I went in and didn't see a dead fish. I can't recommend Fish Gallery enough, Meredith is super knowledgeable and I've never seen a sick fish in their tanks
Poor Quality LFS
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mrniceguy
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Yea with being my first time in there I want able to look that longs when I walked in tanks did look clean and healthy for the most part. I wanted to go to fish gallery bit we were running short on time. I will definitely have to check it out next time I'm there. Good selection and pricing??
Rispa
Valuable Member
Have you tried Salt and More? I got some really nice stuff from him recently.So I live in tyler texas and there is only a few choices for saltwater in this area. I try to stay away from big corps like Petco do to their poor quality tanks they have. But my main other store has been letting me down. I walked in to pick up some salt and a couple frags and I seen this. I guess I will have to keep making a trip to dallas every couple months to get what I need. I just wish I could have good lfs in my area.
Rispa
Valuable Member
Salt And More Saltwater Specialty Store, 2819 34th St, Lubbock, TX 79410
Also if you come to Houston look up the Z Marsh group. They recently had a thread with fish stores listed because someone else was going to be passing through.
You can't beat the selection and price, they update stock on their website as soon as they get them in so you can call ahead and put your fish on hold. DNA has a better selection on coral but are generally overpriced and ridden with pest so I'd go online for coral. Aquarium Boutique also has a great selection with the cheapest fish I've been able to find
This is one of my LFS. I'm located in Dominican Republic but I wanted to participate.
Those clams have been there for 2 months, highly overpriced and slowly dying. The same for most of the corals. Fish are also highly overpriced and frequently come in with ich and most of the tanks have dying fish, local and imported.
I started my own business around 9 months ago. Here we don't have those Online Retailers that ship to your door, the hobby is still growing, but I don't think people will join if you show then those dirty tanks with dying fish.
Also, the owner is like Mr Krabby, if you ask an employee for a price it could be 30-50 bucks lower than if you ask the owner, great, right?
Sent from my Moto E (4) using REEF2REEF mobile app
Those clams have been there for 2 months, highly overpriced and slowly dying. The same for most of the corals. Fish are also highly overpriced and frequently come in with ich and most of the tanks have dying fish, local and imported.
I started my own business around 9 months ago. Here we don't have those Online Retailers that ship to your door, the hobby is still growing, but I don't think people will join if you show then those dirty tanks with dying fish.
Also, the owner is like Mr Krabby, if you ask an employee for a price it could be 30-50 bucks lower than if you ask the owner, great, right?
Sent from my Moto E (4) using REEF2REEF mobile app
ReefWithCare
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I’d rather buy from a hobbyist vs an LFS - most LFS are chop shop and I rather have us promoting aquaculture. Usually they are pulling frags from a stellar display tank which I prefer over the buy in volume from overseas, chop, and sell
BestMomEver
2500 Club Member
One of my LFSs looks like your picture. In addition, there is disease of some sort in every system they have. It’s because of poor management and a lack of concern. Which came first, I don’t know. I only shop for dry goods there.
LuizW13
Well-Known Member
I don't think Dallas North Aquarium is worth that drive to be honest. It's too big of a store to have nice conversations with people who work there, especially since there's so much more going on then just saltwater, plus mostly everyone working there are teens, who from my experience don't seem to know much.
The only other shop isn't worth going to from that distance.
Apex aquariums used to be nice, but they wen't out of business a few months ago.
I still go to the local stores here from time to time but only because i live in the area. And now that WWC has a sweet membership deal...I get it, stores are difficult, but they have to put more effort into competing with online retailers. Especially since the hobby will start seeing less older folks and more younger people who are comfortable with buying things online.
Dennis McGrath
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I make almost all of my dry good purchases online, except for salt. I have never and probably will never buy a fish or coral online. I like seeing exactly what I'm getting before laying out cash, plus I know how things get knocked around in shipping.
Sadly that's the future we're facing in the hobby.
I get the fish for my store from Florida and prior to my first shipment, when I was only a hobbyists I used to think the same.
I've received a lot of good quality fish and inverts, some undersized, some 2-3" bigger than expected.
As an online retailer you can keep your facilities with the necessary equipment instead of getting a fancy store to receive clients.
In my country we don't have those problems since most of the LFS are usually 20 minutes to 1 hour from your home, but eventually it will happen here too.
I have a pretty good LFS near me, and a really well run Petco as well. There are two Petco stores in my area. One looks like a lot of these horrible LFS pics that are in this thread. The other is very well run, very clean, and well stocked. It’s not as well stocked as an LFS, but not bad for the amount of space that the company allows for its saltwater fish. If your ever in Brick, NJ stop by their Petco and you will be surprised.
Neptune 2k
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Poor upkeep, and unhealthy specimens, are a no brainer when I comes to weeding out bad LFS. Adaptation is all relative. I never caught on to people who were disappointed in how “knowledgeable” a staff member is when making my purchase, especially in the days of google. 3/4 of the hobbyists now would be lost without it, so I’m indifferent in what a student knows about keeping SPS, etc. I come in to many of my purchasing situations buying with the confidence of doing my own research. I don’t need to be sold. I can only speak for the many LFS that’s came and went over the past decade or so in my area(DMV), but the demise is pretty simple. There’s no real need to carry most of the dry goods, food being an exception. All the .coms have that area covered. The markup on dry goods is very small anyways. It’s also not uncommon in my area to see customers, and employees turn into vendors overnight. Every one and their aunt “knows” an owner, or only buys “wholesale”, etc. About half the hobbyists believe they could run an LFS, or at least do a better job than X,Y, and Z. Craigslist, social media, and Reef forums are the new LFS. Commercial real estate is INSANE in my region. Overhead is a killer. No matter how many koi tangs, and Walt Disney frags you got, if they don’t sell, the rent is still due. Hard to gamble 1000s monthly on a business where a pic of an algae bloom in one of my tanks could put my whole livelihood in jeopardy..
Ferrell
Valuable Member
Just made a run to several “local” stores in the next town over min 60 miles. 1 st one was not open at prescribed time so he must’ve been on a maintenance run. That’s ok I should’ve called first. Great or store small but well kept and good selection. Second one a little further away, fish looked poorly kept with hair algae and red algae everywhere. Some Corals were from a well known supplier and but still we’re not in a clean frag tank. This was a multi pet store so it gu SE the fish were secondary. Moving on to the third in a different state 90 miles total was a gem. Well kept heathy fish, great coral display and could really see they took pride in their work. Spent my money in here and will go back again when I need some more fish.
Neptune 2k
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... remember when arcades were a thing...?
