Bay Area LFS List! :D

[jedininja]

Been there. Not great in terms of corals, but they do get in some less common fishes every now and then. The prices are pretty high, but they will bargain there which makes the prices a little better but not great.

Worth a visit if you are in the area, but not worth a long drive.

 

[Mr. Ugly]

Been there. Not great in terms of corals, but they do get in some less common fishes every now and then.

They have a nice golden puffer right now, and I think a guinea fowl puffer. I think those have been there for a while.

I saw several really small anglers there about a year ago. Last month they had a red orange wartskin angler and a hairy striatus angler. The striatus was still there last week.

The prices for the fish were higher than I wanted to pay. I did get this candycane from them for a good(?) price. 12 heads, 4 were dead, and had hair algae, but 2 of the dead ones came back pretty fast.

 

[dhnguyen]

Expensive is right. They (Octopuss Garden) charged me $20 for a peppermint shrimp grrrr..... wished I looked at the receipt before leaving.

 

[mel077reef]

Wow it has been awhile since I heard of McClouds. That was the first store I been into when I used to dream about saltwater tank

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Seascapes was a nice store. Today, it's just not worth visiting for a serious reefkeeper. I like going to Natural Life Aquarium on this side of the bay and if I feel like making a trip, I'll go to Aquatic Gallery. When I first started in 1997, T&T in San Jose was an interesting place to visit. I liked the Wiener Schnitzel across the street. I haven't been there for awhile though. I miss McCloud's. Anyone here have some good history on that line of shops?

Up in the city, 7th Avenue's philosophy is shove as much livestock in a tank as possible and try to move it at a low price. Nippon seems like a nice clean place with a lot of stuff. I have a lot of respect for anyone working in or running a lfs. I have enough issues and spend enough time just with a single 150-gallon tank. I can't imagine running a whole shop full of tanks.

 

[mel077reef]

Yup! I remember that one...

Charles,

I think the last and biggest Mclouds was in Newpark Mall on one of the outlying buildings near Toys R US.

Man those were the days LOL.

 

[reefkeeper1]

Sewage leak shuts down Seascapes

Sewage leak shuts down Seascapes

What an ignominious end to a pet store! It's somewhat old news at this point, but this really "stinks".

Sewage leak shuts downtown buildings

This is my favorite line from the story:

"Unfortunately, all this accumulation of grease and human waste under the building now has created a hazardous situation," said Geary.

Last I checked, they were packing up everything in the Seascapes store.

 

[reef-freaky]

Packing up to move or packing up to close shop?

 

[lukasnca]

Why is this not stickied anymore?

 

[teachermark]

This thread contains valuable information. Moderators or whomever please make this a sticky again.

 

[omzz]

Fish Tank - Sunnyvale

Fish Tank - Sunnyvale

Looks like the Fish Tank in Sunnyvale is under new ownership (I pick up Oceanic there due to it being close to my house). Talked briefly with the new owner, and looks like they are going to make it a reef centric establishment. I will keep the thread posted on its transformation

 

[omzz]

oh, its off Mary and Fremont.

 

[mel077reef]

oh, its off Mary and Fremont.

Oh I remember this Fish Tank when keith used to be the owner and there is another on in Calaveras Blvd in Milpitas that was burned down.

 

[GreshamH]

Re: Fish Tank - Sunnyvale

Re: Fish Tank - Sunnyvale

Looks like the Fish Tank in Sunnyvale is under new ownership (I pick up Oceanic there due to it being close to my house). Talked briefly with the new owner, and looks like they are going to make it a reef centric establishment. I will keep the thread posted on its transformation

His name is Pete, and he used to own a store in Santa Cruz that was pretty run down that he sold in the last few years to a gentleman named Rod.

 

[lukasnca]

Well he can't make the store any worse than it already was can he?

 

[Thales]

This thread contains valuable information. Moderators or whomever please make this a sticky again.

Hey guys,

I had this thread unstickied because we are putting an accurate list of LFS's on the BAR website where it will be easy to find up to date LFS info.

Sorry I jumped the gun before the roll out of the list.



RR

 

[Phillips]

Don't forget to ask for better deals, but...

Don't forget to ask for better deals, but...

Octopus's Garden can be expensive. BUT you gotta ask what the price is BEFORE you buy, AND if you ask if they can give you a better deal, they usually will. If something is way too expensive I just don't buy it & I have never paid $20 for a peppermint shrimp! I don't find these pricing policies too different than anywhere else, especially Tropical Paradise. There the quotes vary from person to person, and day to day, and are almost always more than I am willing to pay. Corals at OG & TP are way overpriced considering how much great stuff you can get in the Bay area by trading or buying from other reefers.

I stop by OG on a regular basis to check their inverts. They keep the invert tanks salinity at 1.023 so I can be pretty sure none of them have suffered from poor acclimation procedures. They get interesting stuff. I have bought fish there, because they have been treated for parasites and I don't have a quaratine tank like I should, but again, I don't buy the overpriced fish.

Also Erin usually gives me discounts without my asking just because I'm in there so often.

But I really don't like this "Let's Make A Deal" attitude. I want to see the price on the tank, and not have to be someone's preferred customer to get a great price. A few years down the road, when my tank is full of grown-up corals, I'm not going to be anyone's preferred customer, because I won't have room for for more corals or fish! I'd rather trade or sell cheap to fellow reefers and spread the wealth!

Ok...sorry for the rant...I'm stepping of the soapbox now...

 

[dhnguyen]

Re: Don't forget to ask for better deals, but...

Re: Don't forget to ask for better deals, but...

Agreed that being charged $20 for a peppermint shrimp was largely my own mistake. I hadn't realized how much they charged me for it until I got home and got to thinking about how I thought the total was a bit high and looked into the receipt. While not expecting a store to go out of its way to give me a first time customer a "deal" on its merchandise. I feel that I should not have to ASK for the store to charge a decent competitive price for the item. $20 for a peppermint shrimp is in no way decent nor competitive considering how many good LFS there are in the Bay. In fact it's practically highway robbery.

As a business, you would think that these stores would want to treat their customers so that they will come back again. I mean isn't repeat business the bread and butter of all? How would they expect me to return to their store after finding out I got shafted in the first place. As with anything, first impression counts more than anything I think. That said I will as a consumer take my buying power elsewhere.

Isn't capitalism grand? LOL

Sorry for the ranting, it's time for bed I think.


D.

Octopus's Garden can be expensive. BUT you gotta ask what the price is BEFORE you buy, AND if you ask if they can give you a better deal, they usually will. If something is way too expensive I just don't buy it & I have never paid $20 for a peppermint shrimp! I don't find these pricing policies too different than anywhere else, especially Tropical Paradise. There the quotes vary from person to person, and day to day, and are almost always more than I am willing to pay. Corals at OG & TP are way overpriced considering how much great stuff you can get in the Bay area by trading or buying from other reefers.

I stop by OG on a regular basis to check their inverts. They keep the invert tanks salinity at 1.023 so I can be pretty sure none of them have suffered from poor acclimation procedures. They get interesting stuff. I have bought fish there, because they have been treated for parasites and I don't have a quaratine tank like I should, but again, I don't buy the overpriced fish.

Also Erin usually gives me discounts without my asking just because I'm in there so often.

But I really don't like this "Let's Make A Deal" attitude. I want to see the price on the tank, and not have to be someone's preferred customer to get a great price. A few years down the road, when my tank is full of grown-up corals, I'm not going to be anyone's preferred customer, because I won't have room for for more corals or fish! I'd rather trade or sell cheap to fellow reefers and spread the wealth!

Ok...sorry for the rant...I'm stepping of the soapbox now...

 

[Phillips]

dhnguyen-

Well said. If they overcharge you the first time, why would you want to go back??

I don't understand the mentality of these stores unless they are making enough money by catering to a select group of preferred customers.

 

[dhnguyen]

The thing is I would have become a regular customer at their shop hadn't I been over charged in the first place. Yes I do live in Suisun (about 40 miles away) but I do work in the Berkeley/Emeryville area and often verture into LFS in the area.

D.

dhnguyen-

Well said. If they overcharge you the first time, why would you want to go back??

I don't understand the mentality of these stores unless they are making enough money by catering to a select group of preferred customers.

 

[wolfpackgrl]

Hey I'm in the Bay area for the week. What reef stores should I see. Looking for large selection of fish (just to look at) and cheap dry goods.
Thanks