Ok, I'm prolly going to regret posting this but...
Whats is the difference between buying a clean-up crew, corals, or fish livestock? How is one good and the other is bad? My snails are offended. As far supporting our local retailers I personally drove 50+ miles Friday to go up north and spent over $120 on less than a handful of fish. I could have bought them online but I liked being able to see them eat, swim, parasites etc...
I ask what the difference is because a few years ago I was talking to a friend about going to a certain type of bar for a bachelor party. This friend is religous and asked me if I would take an 8 year old to that "certain type" of bar. I of course said no and he asked me why I wouldnt. "because its a bad place for an 8 year old." He then made what I thought was a good point and said well at what age does bad turn to good? Same thing with this, Frags and snails and skimmers and salts are all ok to buy from drsfostersmith.com and other non-local retailers when did buying fish become "bad?"
Having said that, I'm glad I bought the fish locally that are all eating and doing great, but if some of us want to take a chance going a different route then...