Quality of your LFS

moorjames · Feb 18, 2021

Just curious to see what the quality of your LFS is when it comes to corals and/or fish. Just asking because I know they buy from vendors and I assume it’s hard to keep everything at bay- but mine lfs has a pretty bad problem with bubble algae, aiptasia and vermetid snails. I went to the one other fish store across town and they were battling a pretty hefty hair algae outbreak. Is this pretty common?

((FORDTECH)) · Feb 18, 2021

Mine is all green and brown zoas and partially dead fish and I’m not talking about petco

moorjames · Feb 18, 2021

Me either- I actually didn’t know they sold saltwater lol

zalick · Feb 18, 2021

I'm lucky and have pretty good LFS. Of course there is occasional aptasia or bubble algae at some of them. But overall my two main ones have great livestock and corals.

Gtinnel · Feb 18, 2021

I am unlucky in that the only store near me that sells saltwater is petco. The petco near me isn't as bad as some of the others that I've heard of. When I go to a store that focuses on reef tanks it is a 10 hour round trip, so I only go once every month or so, but their tanks are immaculate.

X-37B · Feb 18, 2021

3 lfs within 4 miles.
All have their own style and are decent as I buy from all 3.
Petco is a mile away and I would not buy cat food their.

Jose_Padilla · Feb 18, 2021

Mine is excellent for freshwater, koi, and reptiles; but their marine selection is very limited as he hasn't had much demand for it, and there is competition from Petco. I have to travel 3 hours (either north or south) to get to a city that has decent marine and reef stores.

Gtinnel · Feb 18, 2021

90's reefer said:
3 lfs within 4 miles.

I'd be broke and divorced if I had 3 good stores that close.

S.Pepper · Feb 18, 2021

Fortunately, the quality of my LFS is incredible. All fish and corals are quarantined. Probably one of the best in the country.

lpsouth1978 · Feb 18, 2021

I think we have it pretty good here. There are a number of stores in the area and only one seems to have pests in their coral tanks. They have the best fish selection though.

Crashnt24 · Feb 18, 2021

There are a lot on the front range for me to choose from. They all are pretty decent. They all lack corals though. The only store near me that specializes in coral has nothing but ugly common softies and zoas.

I wish they would up their game and start farming some higher end lps and sps.

JosephM · Feb 18, 2021

I'm pretty lucky with mine. To date I haven't had any pests or bacteria or anything in any fish or corals I bought. I don't have the means to quarantine so until I run into something I won't buy fish from anywhere else. And I know they don't run copper in their systems like other stores do because they house inverts in the same systems as everything else. Their prices are a little steep but I feel like they get to do that with the selection and quality they offer.

MichaelReefer · Feb 18, 2021

moorjames said:
Just curious to see what the quality of your LFS is when it comes to corals and/or fish. Just asking because I know they buy from vendors and I assume it’s hard to keep everything at bay- but mine lfs has a pretty bad problem with bubble algae, aiptasia and vermetid snails. I went to the one other fish store across town and they were battling a pretty hefty hair algae outbreak. Is this pretty common?

I dont care what anyone says, EVERY LFS has things like that. Imagine how many thousands of coral go through there weekly. You cant avoid it.

seahorsebill · Mar 10, 2021

moorjames said:
Just curious to see what the quality of your LFS is when it comes to corals and/or fish. Just asking because I know they buy from vendors and I assume it’s hard to keep everything at bay- but mine lfs has a pretty bad problem with bubble algae, aiptasia and vermetid snails. I went to the one other fish store across town and they were battling a pretty hefty hair algae outbreak. Is this pretty common?

Stay out of local fish stores. Buy your livestock on line it’s much cheaper. Also try codes get10off and 10off when checking out sometimes it works

mdb_talon · Mar 10, 2021

seahorsebill said:
Stay out of local fish stores. Buy your livestock on line it’s much cheaper. Also try codes get10off and 10off when checking out sometimes it works

That is a very broad based statement and far from accurate in some cases. Personally i have around a half dozen LFS within 40 miles. 2 of them consistently have much better prices than you will find online.

seahorsebill · Mar 10, 2021

mdb_talon said:
That is a very broad based statement and far from accurate in some cases. Personally i have around a half dozen LFS within 40 miles. 2 of them consistently have much better prices than you will find online.

I shop around online and look at dozens of sites before I make my purchases. No LFS in Indiana can touch the prices of online store.
LFS have to pay for the livestock (yes they get them wholesale) but then pay shipping pay their light bills, rent, employees, health insurance, etc. so in my area LFS is much higher for same quality of fish. Probably exact same fish. So buy as you will buy my fish come to me in water provided by seller and do not have to go through the process of acclimating at the pet store being bagged a second time and having to acclimate in my tank. I have had awesome luck with online buying and will stick to getting my fish that way.

mdb_talon · Mar 10, 2021

seahorsebill said:
I shop around online and look at dozens of sites before I make my purchases. No LFS in Indiana can touch the prices of online store.
LFS have to pay for the livestock (yes they get them wholesale) but then pay shipping pay their light bills, rent, employees, health insurance, etc. so in my area LFS is much higher for same quality of fish. Probably exact same fish. So buy as you will buy my fish come to me in water provided by seller and do not have to go through the process of acclimating at the pet store being bagged a second time and having to acclimate in my tank. I have had awesome luck with online buying and will stick to getting my fish that way.

LOL i was not trying to convince you not to... just pointing out you were making a broad based judgement of which you clearly dont know enough about.

FYI many(maybe most) online stores also have physical retail locations. In multiple cases i have been to the physical stores and found prices to be the same or less.

As for overhead do you not think they have light bills, rent, health insurance,etc. In some cases it can be less. They also pass on higher shipping costs(shipping a fish or two to each customer costs a lot more tham an LFS ordering dozen or more fish at once), higher merchant transaction fees for online shopping, higher DOA claims, etc.

I am not saying buying online is a bad thing, but blanket statements that either one is always better or cheaper is nonsensical.

Gtinnel · Mar 10, 2021

seahorsebill said:
Stay out of local fish stores. Buy your livestock on line it’s much cheaper. Also try codes get10off and 10off when checking out sometimes it works

I travel hours each way to go to fish stores, and the ones that I frequent usually have better prices than I find online, and many times much better prices. I also prefer to have the ability to look at a fish and see if it looks healthy before purchasing it.

For corals Ive started purchasing most of those from users on here or Facebook groups and that is often a much, much cheaper way to get corals.

Which websites do you buy your livestock from? Maybe the websites I visit are just overly expensive.

Rubberfrog · Mar 10, 2021

seahorsebill said:
I shop around online and look at dozens of sites before I make my purchases. No LFS in Indiana can touch the prices of online store.
LFS have to pay for the livestock (yes they get them wholesale) but then pay shipping pay their light bills, rent, employees, health insurance, etc. so in my area LFS is much higher for same quality of fish. Probably exact same fish. So buy as you will buy my fish come to me in water provided by seller and do not have to go through the process of acclimating at the pet store being bagged a second time and having to acclimate in my tank. I have had awesome luck with online buying and will stick to getting my fish that way.

You do you. If I was in the middle of a corn field somewhere, I would probably do the same. I live in a major metropolitan area with a dozen lfs a available. I would never pay online prices for fish (plus shipping!). Everything I get is way cheaper and healthier.

stanleo · Mar 10, 2021

There are two that I frequent and both of them are great. The one furthest has a great selection of plants for freshwater and marine fish and inverts but there is sometimes an inordinate number of sick looking fish. Usually only get inverts, coral and plants from there. The other store does not have as big a selection but everything always looks healthy so I get most of my fish from them. Each has aiptasia and algae but that doesn’t bother me as long as have those issues controlled in my tank.