Best fish stores?

[howieumd]

There's quite a few, but here's some of my favorite that I work with off and on, some more than others. They all have VERY good shipping practices and seem to all take very good care of their fish, plus have great prices. Some have free shipping, others don't. However, you can't beat their prices on some of the rare fish they have, so even when you factor in shipping it's still a lot less expensive than some of the larger places.

ZoaCollector - http://www.zoacollector.com/ - Colin runs this. He has awesome deals quite often on pretty rare fish species, but doesn't keep the website up to date with all of them. Keep an eye out on his sponsor thread on reef2reef or his Facebook page, or e-mail him and tell him what you want and he'll track it down if it's currently obtainable. He's very responsive via e-mail and text and you can ask him anything, best way to QT specific fish species you get from him, etc.

Among The Reef - https://amongthereef.com/ - Slow website, not really kept up to date, but if you e-mail Jordan he's very responsive and will track down almost anything you want as well. He's also very helpful and well informed.

NYAquatic - http://www.nyaquatic.com/ - Usually keeps website up to date. Brings in a lot of rare stuff and very low prices. Also Michael is very responsive via e-mail and also posts often on reef2reef and Facebook when new arrivals come in. When you check out your cart on his website, it includes shipping cost. You need to e-mail him since we're in MA and he'll credit back the shipping afterwards, as it's only free to the Northeast.

ReefWise - http://reefwisesales.com/ - Another good vendor who is very responsive. They tracked down a few hard to find wrasses I was looking for at very good prices, communicates best through reef2reef PM's. Website, Facebook, and reef2reef sponsor forum are kept pretty consistently updated.

Pieces of the Ocean - http://www.piecesoftheocean.com/ - Kenny is another one who is responsive over e-mail. They have a very good fish conditioning program, but I still always do full QT anyways. Not a lot of fish options, but he posts them on Facebook and the reef2reef sponsor page. Usually great rare coral deals.

Azure Aquatics - https://reefs.com/forum/azure-aquatics/ - I keep an eye on their weekly new arrival forum. They don't mention they ship, but are based in NY and will ship on a case by case basis. Usually if you spend $150-$200+. You just need to PM through the reefs.com forum and let them know what you want. Check out those prices!

KP Aquatics - http://www.kpaquatics.com/ - They are very helpful. They don't stock a lot, just stuff you can find off the Florida Keys. They have the best prices I've ever seen on Scarlet Reef Hermits (the only type of hermit crab I'd use ). I got a bunch of those from them as well as my Swissguard Basslet, which again was the lowest price I found on one of those because it's coming directly from them.

Diver Tom - http://www.divertom.com/ - He's another who hand collects Caribbean fish and has great prices. I bought Scarlet Reef Hermits from his as well, as well as other stuff. You can message him what you want if it's not listed as currently available and he'll find it, as long as it's something in the Caribbean of course.

 

[AlbertG]

nice list . thanks

 

[Archit]

I can attest for zoa collector as well. a bunch of my fish came from there. Would def stay away from NyAquatic though.

All that being said, keep in mind the challenges that come with owning a store before deciding not to support them because they don't meet some standards. For online, you only see what they want you to see, where as in a store, you see stuff how it really is. 1 or 2 bad shipments, and you're stuck with not good looking inventory for months! And those bad shipments happen quite often, regardless who the supplier is. With online, you see a 30 second clip of when the fish looked at their best, with no algae in the tank, etc. With a store, people are already turned off of they see a sick or unhealthy or dead fish in any system.

But, I do wish more local stores had some sort of a QT system. Even if not to treat every single specimen (next to impossible considering how expensive real estate is in Boston area, the added costs incurred from maintaining multiple QTs, casualties, and the fact that majority of reefers in Boston area are bargain hunters), at least a separate system where they could move the sick fish into.

I am not one who is nervous about picking up a sick fish because more often than not, I am able to get them happy enough in my system to fight it off. BUT, the fact remains that usually sick fish stress other fish out (IME) and should be isolated somehow.

Coming back to the point, I can assure you those online vendors won't be of much help when some crucial element in your tank fails (or your dog eats all the fish food and you have nothing left to feed the fish). So if you broadly decide to boycott and not support LFS, please don't expect them to answer your phone during closed hours, and come to the store to get you that 1 critical element and help you out.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

 

[STiTCH87]

A few personal observations (I've never been to Tropical Isle- so no comment).

1) Underwater World has a great selection, and while they aren't the most outwardly friendly crew (who can blame them, they're in a mall and the vast a majority of foot traffic is "just looking" or kids pounding on glass), they're good and helpful. Underwater World is the place to go for rare/unusual fish. They've had some Rays on display for months, and a number of sharks, as well a some hard to find angels and other unique fish. My only gripe is that because of the amount of livestock they keep, I've spotted a lot of unhealthy looking fish (thin mandarins, lots of ich, etc.). QTs are important regardless, I still buy fish from UW, but be vigilant. Their live rock selection leaves a lot to be desired. The coral selection is good, but other places are better (and healthier, IMHO).

2) The Coral Reef is outstanding for both coral and fish. It's also one of the few places that is exceedingly honest and won't sell you something you shouldn't have in your tank. They say it themselves, but they're hobbyists first. Someone else already mentioned it, but a lot of the livestock on display isn't for sale. It's a great store and you can expect healthy livestock and expert advice. It's not the type of place you're going to find exceedingly rare, controversial, or hard to keep fish.

3) Love the Reef is the best (by far) when it comes to coral. It's pristine, and Yorgos and his team knows their stuff. There's an excellent variety, good equipment (not much of a markup). Again, I have yet to see a place that has a better variety of coral, or healthier coral. They have everything from $10 frags to healthy, pricey colonies. I've had fewer pests on my coral from LTR than from anywhere else. They've also adjusted to my system faster than coral from anywhere else. The selection of fish is OK (though they had a lot of great designer clowns when I've been) and what they do have is healthy.

I also feel like I've got to mention Animal Instincts in Fall River. They're not huge (lots of FW and reptiles), but they have a decent selection of healthy fish and some of the best premium Live Rock I've purchased anywhere in the area (all sorts of good hitchkers- even small Zoa polyps and a mushroom). They're also good with special orders. The staff in the aquatic area are all hobbyists and know what they're doing (one of the guys recently had the contents of his home tank on display in the store because he had a crack/leak at home). It's not a huge operation, I don't know that it's worth a long drive by itself, but it's worth a stop if you've made the drive to see Underwater World and the Coral Reef since it's in the area.

Speaking of rare/unique fish, I stopped into the Petco in Woburn (Commerce Way) on Friday. They had a ton of fairly unique fish- some I've never seen in a store before. Unfortunately, many looked unhealthy (some very dead fish on the bottom of some of the tanks), and the tanks were wildly overstocked. I guess Petco either owns or has a partnership w/ LiveAquaria so I think a lot of the petco stores will start carrying a wider variety of fish. It's sad because they don't have the knowledgeable staff to care for them. This is the worst I've seen it yet.

Having personally worked for Animal Instincts for a few years, and having known what goes on behind the scenes, markups, and the condition of their system and how careless the owner and other works are as well as inexperienced, I would STRONGLY advise against doing business with them personally. Call me bitter, but I have a shopping list of fair reasons.

 

[jfoahs04]

Having personally worked for Animal Instincts for a few years, and having known what goes on behind the scenes, markups, and the condition of their system and how careless the owner and other works are as well as inexperienced, I would STRONGLY advise against doing business with them personally. Call me bitter, but I have a shopping list of fair reasons.

Interesting. Care to share anything in particular? I shop around a bit and feel like the prices are pretty standard. I don't know the owner, and I haven't seen what their system looks like (although the reef display tank zapped one of the guys last time I was there). There are two guys I usually run into that are both hobbyists and are pretty knowledgeable.

That being said, it looks like the two guys I deal with are specifically aquatics people. Some of the other staff seem to be more reptile/bird people and have no clue what they're doing (one identified a sixline wrasse as "that fat rainbow fish"). So I assume if one of the other guys isn't available it can be a Petco-esque experience. The other thing I've noticed- and this is typical for a lot of LFS- is that they assume the customer knows what they're doing/looking for. I was in once and they got a call from an angry customer who put a clown fish in a fish bowl on the kitchen table and put table salt in the bowl when they googled it and found out it was saltwater. I feel like it's important to ask customers those questions beforehand. You don't need to grill someone, but you can casually ask "what kind of system do you have?" or "what will the tank mates be?" to get a better feel for your customer. As ridiculous as it is to us to think of a clown fish in a fish bowl, a lot of customers assume you can do it. It's not fair to the Nemo/Dory loving kids or the livestock to go through that type of experience. The guy played it off as "stupid customer," but it could easily have been avoided altogether with a few simple questions. While Underwater World in Taunton has better variety, I feel like I see more unhealthy fish there than I do at Animal Instincts (I had a coral beauty die in QT from velvet- it was in an incredibly crowded tank and I should have known better). And while a few of the guys there are pretty knowledgeable if you press them, I've yet to see them ask about a customer's setup. They also charge a lot for some pretty common fish ($20 for <1 inch Ocellaris).

I'm definitely curious about the system, what was wrong with it? Now you've got me nervous lol.

 

[reefercorey]

For online coral shopping legendary corals is the way to go. I got hooked on them when they did a live sale earlier this summer. Got a bunch of frags for a decent price and got a couple high end zoas for $1 and $5. Even won a $100 gift card for participating. Since then I've ordered two more times.

 

[STiTCH87]

Interesting. Care to share anything in particular? I shop around a bit and feel like the prices are pretty standard. I don't know the owner, and I haven't seen what their system looks like (although the reef display tank zapped one of the guys last time I was there). There are two guys I usually run into that are both hobbyists and are pretty knowledgeable.

That being said, it looks like the two guys I deal with are specifically aquatics people. Some of the other staff seem to be more reptile/bird people and have no clue what they're doing (one identified a sixline wrasse as "that fat rainbow fish"). So I assume if one of the other guys isn't available it can be a Petco-esque experience. The other thing I've noticed- and this is typical for a lot of LFS- is that they assume the customer knows what they're doing/looking for. I was in once and they got a call from an angry customer who put a clown fish in a fish bowl on the kitchen table and put table salt in the bowl when they googled it and found out it was saltwater. I feel like it's important to ask customers those questions beforehand. You don't need to grill someone, but you can casually ask "what kind of system do you have?" or "what will the tank mates be?" to get a better feel for your customer. As ridiculous as it is to us to think of a clown fish in a fish bowl, a lot of customers assume you can do it. It's not fair to the Nemo/Dory loving kids or the livestock to go through that type of experience. The guy played it off as "stupid customer," but it could easily have been avoided altogether with a few simple questions. While Underwater World in Taunton has better variety, I feel like I see more unhealthy fish there than I do at Animal Instincts (I had a coral beauty die in QT from velvet- it was in an incredibly crowded tank and I should have known better). And while a few of the guys there are pretty knowledgeable if you press them, I've yet to see them ask about a customer's setup. They also charge a lot for some pretty common fish ($20 for <1 inch Ocellaris).

I'm definitely curious about the system, what was wrong with it? Now you've got me nervous lol.

Owner is rude and arrogant. Buys livestock that either won't sell, isn't healthy, or that he doesn't have the capability of caring for (octopus, pipefish, that kind of thing) and they die there.
As you said, most systems have old equipment that causes electrical shock. Bad for people and livestock alike. Salinity swings constantly throughout the week along with all other params.
They do not dose their coral tanks at all and once a month or so test Ca and Alk if your lucky, and even then they rely on API test kits.

What two guys are you speaking of? Mark (if still there) is good with freshwater but that's it. Dan used to work there and is fairly knowledgeable in SW and has a tank at home, but he doesn't work there fulltime if at all anymore.
The setup through the building is old and falling apart. Leaks, they still use bioballs, they quarantine only select fish and in tanks with no heater or chiller upstairs. Everything is dirty and falling apart.

When I worked there I strived to fix everything and when I advised Bob of any issue with anything he got all upset about it like I was bashing hsi store. I'd tell him not to buy NPS coral or hard to keep fish because we couldn't keep them alive and that it was iresponsible and unlikely that even a customer had the means of caring for NPS or hard to keep fish. We'd get copperbands and pipefish so often, along with NPS gorgonians and cuttlefish and i'd say 75% of it wouldn't make it to the customer. Not to mention the waste of money in dying livestock.

Tested their TDS on their RZO water once and it was about 85ppm! Told Bob and he swore up and down I was wrong and bad mouthing his business and scaring away his customers. He said he tested his water every week. Well, turns out by test he meant nitrates and such. Didn't test TDS because after arguing for a week, he checked with my TDS meter and another one, and sure enough 85ppm. We had so many customers with algae issues and instead of testing our TDS, he sold them algae blennies, snails, nudibranch, and I swear to god he sold a sand sifting starfish to EVERY CUSTOMER!!! Regardless of tank size.

They also sell goldfish to people with 5g tanks knowingly, and "allergy suckers" to anyone with a freshwater tank even down to 10g. Any store who hears you have a 10g and then sells you a Pleco is just bad business.

Maybe they finally got better workers, but after myself and Dan left about 3 years ago, I didn't expect their SW side to ever recover.

I can't even tell you how many people came in asking me if they could put a clown in a bowl or use table salt. I would educate them as I am a hobbyist first (did I mention I worked there for free on weekends? No?) not just try to make a sale.
Everyone else just wanted to make a sale, to be fair they were told so by Bob. I had nothing to lose as it wasn't my main job and wasn't afraid to get fired so I told the customers the truth and proper husbandry. "Well why did so and so say this?" Well, for the money...

Phew, that was my rant, sorry if that got a bit personal!

I do agree UW struggles often with fish and it is hit or miss, but I bought the healthiest solar wrasse i've ever seen from there earlier this year. Their corals are also hit or miss. Saddens me because I know they have good stuff sometimes and know what their doing and i'm good friends with most of them, so it stinks to see it not in top notch shape. I don't see $20 expensive for an Occ though TBH. The issue is the other stores (AI and fish bowl) selling things for unfairly cheap. Makes it hard for responsible stores to stay in business.

At least we can all agree not to shop at Fish Bowl, lol.

I will be fair though, and say all of my ranting is from 3 years ago, and I haven't been there in 2 years, so there is certainly the chance that the store is run better now, TBH.

 

[dz6t]

I will like to give a little bit personal prospective on LFS about selling saltwater fish:
It is not a easy task and I doubt it can even be profitable at all.

1. With new wild caught fish come and go weekly, the fish system can turn into a disease and parasite cesspool quickly. Healthy fish got drop into the cesspool will get infected too. The worst part is that a lot of new fish do not shown symptoms until later and make timely treatment difficult. So the best way is to order a fish and pick it up BEFORE it got drop into the system.

2. A customers armed with smart phone will show you what the same fish costs on liveaquaria (without the shipping cost) with their 14 days guarantee and ask if a LFS can match that.

3. The shipping cost from wholesalers (they are mostly from LA as LAX is the common entry point of importation) is very high. With properly packed fish (say 1/2 gallon water per fish), you are looking at about just $10 to $15 for each large fish. Al-cheapo fish just packed like sardines to save cost, so they arrived in poor condition as usual.

4. Death rate of fish is very high after all the shipping stress, so scooping out dead bodies is a daily job for LFS, preferable before the door is opened every day.

So a $10 fish on wholesalers list will become $30 after the shipping cost and death, then it is listed at $35 which still not counting employee salary and other cost.

If a LFS put this fish in proper QT for a month, they are looking at a total loss in terms of money.

 

[dz6t]

Then why LFS still sell fish? It is the accessories, food, hard wares that make up most of the profit.
Why Petco still carry saltwater fish? Because they make profit out of cat and dog food.

 

[jfoahs04]

Owner is rude and arrogant. Buys livestock that either won't sell, isn't healthy, or that he doesn't have the capability of caring for (octopus, pipefish, that kind of thing) and they die there.
As you said, most systems have old equipment that causes electrical shock. Bad for people and livestock alike. Salinity swings constantly throughout the week along with all other params.
They do not dose their coral tanks at all and once a month or so test Ca and Alk if your lucky, and even then they rely on API test kits.

What two guys are you speaking of? Mark (if still there) is good with freshwater but that's it. Dan used to work there and is fairly knowledgeable in SW and has a tank at home, but he doesn't work there fulltime if at all anymore.
The setup through the building is old and falling apart. Leaks, they still use bioballs, they quarantine only select fish and in tanks with no heater or chiller upstairs. Everything is dirty and falling apart.

When I worked there I strived to fix everything and when I advised Bob of any issue with anything he got all upset about it like I was bashing hsi store. I'd tell him not to buy NPS coral or hard to keep fish because we couldn't keep them alive and that it was iresponsible and unlikely that even a customer had the means of caring for NPS or hard to keep fish. We'd get copperbands and pipefish so often, along with NPS gorgonians and cuttlefish and i'd say 75% of it wouldn't make it to the customer. Not to mention the waste of money in dying livestock.

Tested their TDS on their RZO water once and it was about 85ppm! Told Bob and he swore up and down I was wrong and bad mouthing his business and scaring away his customers. He said he tested his water every week. Well, turns out by test he meant nitrates and such. Didn't test TDS because after arguing for a week, he checked with my TDS meter and another one, and sure enough 85ppm. We had so many customers with algae issues and instead of testing our TDS, he sold them algae blennies, snails, nudibranch, and I swear to god he sold a sand sifting starfish to EVERY CUSTOMER!!! Regardless of tank size.

They also sell goldfish to people with 5g tanks knowingly, and "allergy suckers" to anyone with a freshwater tank even down to 10g. Any store who hears you have a 10g and then sells you a Pleco is just bad business.

Maybe they finally got better workers, but after myself and Dan left about 3 years ago, I didn't expect their SW side to ever recover.

I can't even tell you how many people came in asking me if they could put a clown in a bowl or use table salt. I would educate them as I am a hobbyist first (did I mention I worked there for free on weekends? No?) not just try to make a sale.
Everyone else just wanted to make a sale, to be fair they were told so by Bob. I had nothing to lose as it wasn't my main job and wasn't afraid to get fired so I told the customers the truth and proper husbandry. "Well why did so and so say this?" Well, for the money...

Phew, that was my rant, sorry if that got a bit personal!

I do agree UW struggles often with fish and it is hit or miss, but I bought the healthiest solar wrasse i've ever seen from there earlier this year. Their corals are also hit or miss. Saddens me because I know they have good stuff sometimes and know what their doing and i'm good friends with most of them, so it stinks to see it not in top notch shape. I don't see $20 expensive for an Occ though TBH. The issue is the other stores (AI and fish bowl) selling things for unfairly cheap. Makes it hard for responsible stores to stay in business.

At least we can all agree not to shop at Fish Bowl, lol.

I will be fair though, and say all of my ranting is from 3 years ago, and I haven't been there in 2 years, so there is certainly the chance that the store is run better now, TBH.

Wow, thanks for the detailed response.

I'm not disagreeing with you - you've got a much better perspective on it than I do. Until last spring, I had been out of the hobby for over 10 years. So what I'm basing my experience is about the last 6 months. I have no doubt that it was awful when you were there, and I'm not necessarily sure it's any better now. When I say they have healthy livestock, I'm only seeing what they have out on display. Everything looks OK when I go in, and they haven't had anything particularly unusual in the past 6 months. Maybe the owner took the hint and realized he was losing a ton of money on expensive livestock that A) was hard to keep and B) nobody bought. Or maybe he's still doing the same thing and the livestock isn't lasting long enough for me to see on display when I go in. I'm not so good with names, so I don't know their names, but one of them is a little larger, probably early-mid 40s, bald with some pretty big arm tattoos and the other one is slimmer, 30s, dark hair, and pretty enthusiastic (he's the one who was zapped). Both of them have reef tanks at home and I've chatted with them about their livestock and setups quite a bit. The younger guy questioned me about my setup when I first went in and even warned me about how my tank was trending "aggressive" and it would limit my choices for livestock (which I knew/planned on, but it was good to hear).

While I'd put myself squarely in the "novice" category, I know enough to identify unhealthy fish/problems with the tank and I know enough about most common SW fish to identify issues with how they're being cared for. I don't need them to ask me questions because I know beforehand when I go in whether the fish I want is likely to be compatible with my setup and whether or not it's difficult to keep (though I won't purchase one without watching it eat at the store). From what I've witnessed there, they don't pry. If you go into the Coral Reef in Seekonk, they'll ask you a ton of questions about your setup. Not so much at AI (hence the fish bowl/clown fish fiascos). That bugs me. They also seem to push unnecessary accessories on unsuspecting customers (the guy buying the beta for his 4yo doesn't need a $70 LED lighting setup), but I don't know that that's all that uncommon. So my guess is that maybe Bob smartened up (which one is Bob, is he ever there?) and realized that buying rare/expensive/hard to keep fish isn't a good strategy for a business that's not equipped to keep/sell them. Judging from what I've also seen, he probably pushes his staff to make sales regardless of whether or not the customer is equipped to take care of their purchase. Clearly, the focus of the place is more about reptiles than fish. That's part of the problem.

I feel like I'm hard on UW, and you're right. They do have good stuff and they're able to keep difficult livestock healthy. The fact that they have had a pair of rays for months in a floor tank that any visitor can just reach into with their filthy hands (I've seen kids do it and there are a lot of kids- it's in the mall and parents treat it like a free aquarium trip), is impressive by itself. I do wish they'd maintain the tanks a bit better. The coral and frag tanks are a mess. I bought my first coral- a small zoa frag (also on the pricier end- $20 for a few heads pretty common green Zoas) from them and the amount of pests that came off when I dipped far exceeded anything I've seen to date. That being said, they've still got some beautiful pieces in there. Their equipment is good and most of the guys know their stuff (there's one guy, and I'm sure you know who, who is relatively new and not particularly knowledgeable). I carpool a lot using that park and ride, so I pop in once a week usually. If I was in AI as frequently as I was in UW, I'm sure I'd see more that bothers me too.

 

[dz6t]

About buying fish online, there are three kinds of sellers:
1. Online store like Liveaquaria in California that can drop ship fish from their wholesaler which eliminated one disease and parasite cesspool as well as save a lot of capital cost to hold fish.
For Liveaquaria, due to their very large shipping volume, they get unbelievable discount from UPS (can I say shockingly cheap?) so that they can ship fish in a lot of water in big boxes. Which results in very competitive price on healthier fish and still make a profit. If you can pool orders from them and get free shipping, there is no way to beat that along with the two weeks guarantee they give.

2. Liveaquaria Diver's Den: QT fish which is very expensive. For some high price fish, it is worth to get from there.

3. Online stores that have to buy from wholesalers and hold their fish and sell again: These are the online stores to avoid.

 

[howieumd]

There's some great online stores as I mentioned that fit in what you would categorize as # 3 that have very good QT and shipping practices. These ones are no different than local fish stores on how they obtain their fish, but put a lot more effort into keeping the fish healthy. Also, all they do is fish/corals (no supplies) and mostly just sell online. Some don't even have a store front, and probably do it out of their house with no employees, so a lot less overhead as well. Yes, you can't see the fish in person and might get short clips of video's if you ask, but reputation on providing quality product is what they live by. Some of them bring shipments in directly from various islands, rather than the large wholesalers which most stores buy from. It all depends on the type of license you have and the relationships you can build with divers in specific locations. They are able to provide prices that LiveAquaria and local fish stores can't even touch in these cases.

LiveAquaria doesn't have great prices. They give "free" shipping and a guarantee, but raise their prices to mask those fees. They do drop ship from their wholesaler in CA, whereas their Divers Den fish/corals ship from their facility in WI and is WYSIWYG, and mark-up for it, but the health of the fish are generally better than the ones coming directly from the overstocked tanks of their wholesaler. I can't knock them, I've bought quite a bit from them, but pricing wise, and a lot of times health wise, there's much better online options.

 

[dz6t]

It depends on what type of fish you are buying.
For Caribbean fish and some Hawaii fish, getting supply from divers is the best way to go. But for fish that come from Fiji, southeast Asia and Aussie, big wholesalers are the only way to go.

 

[STiTCH87]

Wow, thanks for the detailed response.

I'm not disagreeing with you - you've got a much better perspective on it than I do. Until last spring, I had been out of the hobby for over 10 years. So what I'm basing my experience is about the last 6 months. I have no doubt that it was awful when you were there, and I'm not necessarily sure it's any better now. When I say they have healthy livestock, I'm only seeing what they have out on display. Everything looks OK when I go in, and they haven't had anything particularly unusual in the past 6 months. Maybe the owner took the hint and realized he was losing a ton of money on expensive livestock that A) was hard to keep and B) nobody bought. Or maybe he's still doing the same thing and the livestock isn't lasting long enough for me to see on display when I go in. I'm not so good with names, so I don't know their names, but one of them is a little larger, probably early-mid 40s, bald with some pretty big arm tattoos and the other one is slimmer, 30s, dark hair, and pretty enthusiastic (he's the one who was zapped). Both of them have reef tanks at home and I've chatted with them about their livestock and setups quite a bit. The younger guy questioned me about my setup when I first went in and even warned me about how my tank was trending "aggressive" and it would limit my choices for livestock (which I knew/planned on, but it was good to hear).

While I'd put myself squarely in the "novice" category, I know enough to identify unhealthy fish/problems with the tank and I know enough about most common SW fish to identify issues with how they're being cared for. I don't need them to ask me questions because I know beforehand when I go in whether the fish I want is likely to be compatible with my setup and whether or not it's difficult to keep (though I won't purchase one without watching it eat at the store). From what I've witnessed there, they don't pry. If you go into the Coral Reef in Seekonk, they'll ask you a ton of questions about your setup. Not so much at AI (hence the fish bowl/clown fish fiascos). That bugs me. They also seem to push unnecessary accessories on unsuspecting customers (the guy buying the beta for his 4yo doesn't need a $70 LED lighting setup), but I don't know that that's all that uncommon. So my guess is that maybe Bob smartened up (which one is Bob, is he ever there?) and realized that buying rare/expensive/hard to keep fish isn't a good strategy for a business that's not equipped to keep/sell them. Judging from what I've also seen, he probably pushes his staff to make sales regardless of whether or not the customer is equipped to take care of their purchase. Clearly, the focus of the place is more about reptiles than fish. That's part of the problem.

I feel like I'm hard on UW, and you're right. They do have good stuff and they're able to keep difficult livestock healthy. The fact that they have had a pair of rays for months in a floor tank that any visitor can just reach into with their filthy hands (I've seen kids do it and there are a lot of kids- it's in the mall and parents treat it like a free aquarium trip), is impressive by itself. I do wish they'd maintain the tanks a bit better. The coral and frag tanks are a mess. I bought my first coral- a small zoa frag (also on the pricier end- $20 for a few heads pretty common green Zoas) from them and the amount of pests that came off when I dipped far exceeded anything I've seen to date. That being said, they've still got some beautiful pieces in there. Their equipment is good and most of the guys know their stuff (there's one guy, and I'm sure you know who, who is relatively new and not particularly knowledgeable). I carpool a lot using that park and ride, so I pop in once a week usually. If I was in AI as frequently as I was in UW, I'm sure I'd see more that bothers me too.

Bob is the guy who owns the place and looks like Tommy Chong. At UW I may know who you speak of if it is a younger kid, but he is also a good kid and a member on here.
Maybe i'll cut my grudge and visit AI to see how things are going. It would be a breath of fresh air to see them doing well. I really cared for that place back in the day and it hurt to see it suffer.

Dartmouth PETCO used to be decent too. Then ironically they redid their fish section a few years ago, expanded the SW area, and got a crashed frag tank and less healthy than ever fish and corals.
I got my picasso clowns from there just over 5 years ago for $150 for the pair which was VERY cheap 5 years ago and they are crazy healthy.

 

[howieumd]

It depends on what type of fish you are buying.
For Caribbean fish and some Hawaii fish, getting supply from divers is the best way to go. But for fish that come from Fiji, southeast Asia and Aussie, big wholesalers are the only way to go.

ZoaCollector as well as several others gets them directly from contacts they have in Vanuatu, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Japan, etc. His pricing is incredible. LA and the other larger companies who get from wholesale can't touch them in terms of price and health, and the fish usually arrive and are eating right out of the bag.

 

[jfoahs04]

Bob is the guy who owns the place and looks like Tommy Chong. At UW I may know who you speak of if it is a younger kid, but he is also a good kid and a member on here.
Maybe i'll cut my grudge and visit AI to see how things are going. It would be a breath of fresh air to see them doing well. I really cared for that place back in the day and it hurt to see it suffer.

Dartmouth PETCO used to be decent too. Then ironically they redid their fish section a few years ago, expanded the SW area, and got a crashed frag tank and less healthy than ever fish and corals.
I got my picasso clowns from there just over 5 years ago for $150 for the pair which was VERY cheap 5 years ago and they are crazy healthy.

I know who Bob is then. Yeah, he's usually there, but it doesn't seem like he's too into aquatics. I've never seen him back with the tanks. Honestly, I trust your judgement over mine. Maybe it's worth looking if you're in the area, but you know more than I do about how the place operates.

The guy I'm thinking of at UW isn't a young kid (but I do know who you're talking about). He's older (long hair) and he told me he just started a few weeks ago. Really nice guy, but I don't think he's got much experience with saltwater fish.

I agree re: Petco in Dartmouth. Now it's not so good. I think they're battling some disease. Everytime I'm in there, half the tanks are dark/empty and like many Petcos, it doesn't seem like anyone really knows much about marine fish/coral. Petco in Taunton is adding a saltwater section again as we speak. They had one when I was in the hobby years ago, but are only fresh water now.

 

[STiTCH87]

I know who Bob is then. Yeah, he's usually there, but it doesn't seem like he's too into aquatics. I've never seen him back with the tanks. Honestly, I trust your judgement over mine. Maybe it's worth looking if you're in the area, but you know more than I do about how the place operates.

The guy I'm thinking of at UW isn't a young kid (but I do know who you're talking about). He's older (long hair) and he told me he just started a few weeks ago. Really nice guy, but I don't think he's got much experience with saltwater fish.

I agree re: Petco in Dartmouth. Now it's not so good. I think they're battling some disease. Everytime I'm in there, half the tanks are dark/empty and like many Petcos, it doesn't seem like anyone really knows much about marine fish/coral. Petco in Taunton is adding a saltwater section again as we speak. They had one when I was in the hobby years ago, but are only fresh water now.

Good to hear (well, kinda, lol) about PETCO Taunton adding SW again. Granted yeah it's a PETCO, but I have to say that back in the day (maybe 8-10 or so years ago?) when they had SW it was actually surprisingly decent for them.
If they can find a knowledgeable worker then that'd be great.

The trouble is, most people who can afford reef tanks need to make more than minimum wage part time... LMAO.

Haven't met the new guy at UW yet, but i'm sure they'll train him daily. I think the best shops are the ones out of peoples houses. IE back when Archit sold out of his basement. That was the bees knees lol.
Dong comes to mind too.

 

[Joe C]

I was a Unique guy forever, followed B through all of his moves. I recently went to Love the Reef in Wilmington the staff was great, easy to get a hold, knowledgeable, and if you want something they will get it for you. I always like to support the LFS so they can keep the doors open for all of us, otherwise I am forced to drive miles out of my way to get some good advice.. Just my thoughts.

 

[s_kelley]

Underwater world in the taunton silver city galleria is my store, the guys are very knowledgeable, they keep various livestock, corals, and equipment on hand, and can order anything you need or want. It also doesn't hurt that it's a 5 minute drive from my house.

 

[FishHead]

Their equipment is good and most of the guys know their stuff (there's one guy, and I'm sure you know who, who is relatively new and not particularly knowledgeable).

regarding UW. there are 4 people that work there. they have all been there at least around a year. what does he look like? each one that works there has their specialty with the older guy having the least overall knowledge. the other 3 will have more info/knowledge with at least 3-4 specialties than most people would even be able to comprehend.

as far as setups: UW treats the FO system on the right and half on the left. there is the part on the left back wall thats not treated. i dont know why.

AI- from what i believe treats the whole system - copper. I dont think as far as i can remember i have really ever found ich on the fish there (been there many times). pricing can be great to above average. just depends.

coral reef is a real odd ball type of place. amazing you could get (jeremy?) to have any kind of discussion. nothing really for fish but used to have some super nice frags.