Quality of your LFS

[Gtinnel]

I live in a major metropolitan area with a dozen lfs a available. I would never pay online prices for fish (plus shipping!).

Rub that in why don't you. I'd love to have one good lfs within an hours drive of me.

I still find it cheaper to drive out of state and go to a lfs than to buy online. Plus I'd much rather support a small business that cares about the animals than some large online seller that doesn't.

 

[Rubberfrog]

Rub that in why don't you. I'd love to have one good lfs within an hours drive of me.

I still find it cheaper to drive out of state and go to a lfs than to buy online. Plus I'd much rather support a small business that cares about the animals than some large online seller that doesn't.

I'm sorry

 

[ZoWhat]

Too much profit in selling $80 bags of premium organic dogfood to give a crap about having a decent saltwater area

You know there's money to be had when piggy Rachael Ray has her own line of dogfood

 

[Rubberfrog]

Too much profit in selling $80 bags of premium dogfood to give a crap about having a decent saltwater area

I don't buy from a pet store. Like I said, I have multiple dedicated lfs in my area. If I lived where I didn't have them, I too would be forced to buy online.

 

[Tamberav]

We have decent LFS.

One fully QT everything in back for 28 days before offering for sale and the fish are displayed in large tanks with natural hiding spots and sand and they look really good but you do pay more because of the QT process. They have an okay coral selection, not great but they grow some stuff out. They also have tons of freshwater.

Another does not QT at all so you must QT your own fish but prices are low (cheaper than online and you can see the fish you are buying) and they get rare stuff in that other stores do not. Like the type of stuff that would go on Divers Den. They also drive live rock back from florida from the gulf a couple times a year and they take coral trades for store credit. They have a better coral selection but they also sell freshwater so it's not as many as a dedicated reef store.

The others are 'ok' and not terrible, worth looking at if you are in a fish store mood.

 

[Imaexpat2]

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?

In my experience Yes! We have two places with in driving distance that has really nice corals available, and while they do the best they can, I wouldnt put nothing from one of their systems in my tank until its have been thoroughly QTed! Some do better than others.

Thats why I prefer fresh cut frags over ones mounted on a frag plug and will pay extra if I have to. Thats why I also usually try to break a fresh frag off a plug before putting it in QT. I want to minimize the chance of anything nasty getting in my tanks.