another lfs out of business

[dropin]

To all reefers in delaware, newark tropicals has gone out of business, while the not the most beautiful place to shop, at least their prices weren't bad, looks like we only have one left in the state. Now, we are gonna have to go out of state or depend on mail order.

 

[ronert]

one? in no articular order:

fishman (blech)
williams greenbank
just fish
the one in rehobeth (reportedly also blech)

we have more than one in state. and more that are EASILY drivable

 

[gillianandjoe]

Just a quick defense on behalf of the one in rehobeth, Pet safari, though not a "reef store" has far better selection than say, the fish bowl in Dover. Their tanks are not immaculate, but then, neither is mine. They are however, willing to answer questions, most of the time correctly, and seem to be honest people. Just my .02, but I like their little place.

Joe

 

[kaptken]

Yes,.. I dropped by tonight to verify. shelves empty and tearing down the racks. I'm sorry they had to fold. i liked the Brothers working there and their Father who used to run the place. One less place in the area is our loss . I always liked to stroll through onch a week, and just browse. I'm not much of a buyer. but I did find nice fish deals and occasional corals and inverts I liked.
I think they were more successful in the old, smaller store. the bigger place with lots more tanks to run and light probably got too expensive with the recent electric rate increase.

I hope they got a Plan B.

 

[Gordonious]

I went in pet safari today to see how it was and surprisingly the tanks were not over run with algae. Most of there sick were breathing pretty heavy and the selection was limited. I still don't understand why they get in huge fish all the time, but I suppose someone is buying them.
As far as Newark Tropicals I just wished they have found a way to put lids on the tanks or pick up the dead decaying dried out fish between the tanks. Really in the last 6 months or so it was obvious they were on there way out.

 

[RBTA]

Also I would strongly advise against shopping at Greenbanks unless you know your stuff. I was listening to a conversation one of the workers was telling this lady who didn't know much about saltwater. Either he didn't know much himself or was only trying to make a quick buck. Also whenever I go in there I always hear some sort of foul exchanging of words, not a kid friendly environment. Plus their coral prices have sky rocketed up a bit more again.

I went to newark tropicals every now and then, and while yes, some stuff wasn't at its prime, there were small treasures like these brilliant green and orange fungia that were really healthy. All in all it was a decent store.

 

[mbbuna]

i hate to see them go also, but i have to admit we haven't purchased anything from them in quiet some time. we used to stop in at least twice a month and get corals and fish but it seamed like every time we went it got a little bit worse, less stock, dirtier tanks. i could never understand why more then half of there tanks set up for salt water were empty, still had the lights running and had cyano in them.

i dont mean to sound mean but i think alot of this was brought on by themselves. there would be 4 or 5 people working there and maybe 5 people shopping and the people working there would all be standing at the register. why not have one guy at the register one picking up jumpers, one cleaning cyano ect...

we definitely lack quality LFS's in De. and i dont see that changing anytime soon but i must say i was surprised the last time i went to just fish with there new tank set up. there making a step in the right direction, but they have a ton of wasted space in that other room and now the fish room is very tight and bordering on a fire hazard.

i wish the people that run all the fish store's would go to all there competition and some other stores out of the area to see what there up against and start to compete and upgrade there own stores instead of being stuck in a rut and leaving us stuck there too

 

[wds21921]

Without adding to the comments I would say I very strongly agree with RBTA and I also agree with mbbuna's comments as well.
I do like the direction Just Fish is going and while it's not yet perfect (what is?) they are making strides and it's showing.


Newark Tropicals demise was a self-inflicted wound just as described. IMO

 

[firecrackerbob]

Pretty bummed myself about NTs... I stopped by every week on friday on my way home from work-- good start to the weekend... as others have said, the tanks were never very clean and the fish were often sick, but I have gotten some really killer coral and invert deals there that I havent seen anywhere else. I was always able to get frags for rock bottom prices and nurse them back to great health... I'm not sure how much stuff I will be buying going forward without a store with prices like NTs...
I also agree with the store selection in DE-- pretty much junk- I think Bills is OK but expensive and limited selection; I rarely buy anything there. The owners/workers at just fish have been rude to me several times and I refuse to shop there plus the prices are outragous. same thing for east coast...
Pretty much only leaves that pet place in my book....

 

[cmondo]

Bob, you should check out exotic aquatics in maryland, it is about an hour away from newark.

Chris

 

[firecrackerbob]

Yea I was down there a while ago and it seemed really nice... its been too long for me to have an opinion on it.. sounds like its time for a road trip!

 

[tom-annette]

Sorry to see the store closed. The father was a very nice guy and I enjoyed going when he was running the show. I stopped going due to the son's attitude.

For the future we do have East Coast Aquatics to go to and it is about 40 mins away in PA.