In Pitt w/ 4 hours to kill what LFS?

[Gordonious]

I'm at 699 Rodi road and have 3-4 hours to kill what is a good LFS or two to visit. I have never been to Pittsburgh stores. I am from Delaware.

If you coul please post mailing address as I am on a cell phone and it can be a pain to look things up.

Thanks,
Jon

 

[NaClH2Opgh]

Elemer's Aquarium is the closest.

4005 William Penn Highway
Monroeville, Pa. 15146
Phone
(412) 372-6535

 

[Gordonious]

Thanks.

Of course I ended up with no time today. If I found more time on Monday What would be the top two must see stores in the area? (I'm more of a rare coral guy then a fish guy. Would rather find a rare treasure and talk to a knowledgeable owner then see a shark tank as a display and be looking at brown leathers)

Thanks,
Jon

 

[cloakerpoked]

Aquaworld has the nicest selection of coral, although I've seen a lot of people recently post that they've gone down hill. I think the sticky on the top of this board has all of the LFS addresses. Honestly, we don't have a store that I feel has a good selection of rare corals in a nice store (Aquaworld had the best high end stuff, but the store was kinda messy and all-around uninteresting to me.) and nobody else in the area sells high-end stuff. Elmers has some nice no-name corals and nice looking clams...if I could only go to one, being into both coral and fish, Elmers would be my choice.

 

[bmiller1234]

I am still new to corals and what not but stopped at aquaworld for the first time today and he seemed to have a nice frag selection and some clams. not sure of rareity and what not but had some really neat stuff.

He had an acrylic tank that was a flow over, really cool, kinda like an infinity tank, he was saying it eavporates fast and makes 2 sides of glass to keep clean!!!

 

[TomNeely]

"if I could only go to one, being into both coral and fish, Elmers would be my choice."

+1

 

[bmiller1234]

Anyone remember the good oldays with an elmers on mcknight...

 

[raynist]

Anyone remember the good oldays with an elmers on mcknight...

I do!!

You would think as busy as McKnight is that it could support a reef store. That area of the North Hills has nothing to offer for reefing.

 

[ironwill723]

Been thinking along those lines as well...if you note my post down the page I'm contemplating a career change.

 

[bmiller1234]

I am always up for a career change. Need a partner?

I had high hopes for under the sea in cranberry. Not sure what actually happened. Heard rumors.
I did hear about his ac goingout and ended up with a lot of cooked fish. Do they sell insurance for livestock?

 

[raynist]

I am always up for a career change. Need a partner?

I had high hopes for under the sea in cranberry. Not sure what actually happened. Heard rumors.
I did hear about his ac goingout and ended up with a lot of cooked fish. Do they sell insurance for livestock?

I don't think it was an ac problem

 

[NaClH2Opgh]

I don't think it was an ac problem

:lolspin: :bum:

 

[cloakerpoked]

I am always up for a career change. Need a partner?

I had high hopes for under the sea in cranberry. Not sure what actually happened. Heard rumors.
I did hear about his ac goingout and ended up with a lot of cooked fish. Do they sell insurance for livestock?

If you will pay for it...then sure, there's an insurance policy for everything. The thing you have to remember about insurance, is that on average, you'll pay more into it than you'll get out of it, otherwise the insurance company would go out of business.

You've gotta remember that it wasn't until after the Elmers went out of business that reef aquaria really became an option for hobbyists with a reasonable amount of money to spend on them. Prior to that, even a FOWLR was considered cutting edge, was tremendously expensive, and wasn't feasible for anyone without a very large dispensable income. They also had to compete with Pet Supplies Plus, who weren't ever competition for anyone for saltwater livestock, but as I stated before, that wasn't really something that Elmer's had to help them at that time. I'll bet a saltwater reef focused store could stay in business in that area now...although Seahorse isn't tremendously far so you'd have to compete somewhat with them. Honestly, Pittsburgh is, in my opinion, very light on the SPS and higher end coral, and if someone set up a nice store (and this is the key...my wife won't even go into Aquaworld because of the condition of the store and the humidity) there should be a market for that. Of course, that alone wouldn't be enough to float a store, but it could help someone with a good business plan make a profit.