NicoleC
New member
That's right, we have another one! This one is on Katella about 1/2 mile west of Tustin. I was driving past today and saw a grand opening sign, so I went in.
The exterior of the store is attractive and the window panels make it very easy to see. Inside, the store is quite large and well laid out, and was neat and tidy except for a stack of boxes in one aisle which were clearly a new shipment. I was not greeted when I came in, but the clerk (owner?) was helping someone. Within a few minutes he excused himself from the customer, found me in the store and asked if I needed anything.
It's mostly freshwater inside, and I didn't look at that section. There were a couple of display tanks -- nicely done, but immature -- but those were the only corals I saw. I don't know if they were for sale.
The marine fish section was fairly small, but clean and easy to see the fish. I would have preferred the fish have a token place to hide to help them relax, but the fish appeared quite healthy and I did not see any obvious illnesses. (Although one puffer was in severe distress, for no reason I could see.) Mostly they only had large tangs; what small fish they had were very aggressive damsels and dottybacks. They did have some pajama cardinals, which you'd don't see for sale much. Also eels and puffers. There were no bread and butter fish like clowns and gobies, which I found odd. Fish prices seemed typical LFS prices; many were not marked.
For dry goods, those were also mostly unmarked. A couple of examples I recall:
Formula Flake foods, 2.5 oz $4.99
Amquel+ Plus $11.95 (for the big bottle)
Both are nice prices and below typical LFs prices.
They had an impressive selection of fish medications and marine additives, including many you don't usually see in stores. Not many boxes of salt (IO and Coralife), I didn't see any pumps, but they had a few skimmers and some lighting options, plus nanocubes and an assortment of stands and tanks. Lots of Coralife goods. Also a nicely stock fish food freezer.
I am very happy to have a good source of fish medications locally, and another source of fish foods. Jeff's in Orange doesn't have much in those departments.
Details:
Ocean Blue
622 E. Katella Ave
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 532-4528
http://www.oceanblueca.com/
Hours were M-F and Sat -- I don't recall exactly, but about 11-7pm-ish
In short: Looking good so far and may be a nice addition to the area if it can survive the competition.
The exterior of the store is attractive and the window panels make it very easy to see. Inside, the store is quite large and well laid out, and was neat and tidy except for a stack of boxes in one aisle which were clearly a new shipment. I was not greeted when I came in, but the clerk (owner?) was helping someone. Within a few minutes he excused himself from the customer, found me in the store and asked if I needed anything.
It's mostly freshwater inside, and I didn't look at that section. There were a couple of display tanks -- nicely done, but immature -- but those were the only corals I saw. I don't know if they were for sale.
The marine fish section was fairly small, but clean and easy to see the fish. I would have preferred the fish have a token place to hide to help them relax, but the fish appeared quite healthy and I did not see any obvious illnesses. (Although one puffer was in severe distress, for no reason I could see.) Mostly they only had large tangs; what small fish they had were very aggressive damsels and dottybacks. They did have some pajama cardinals, which you'd don't see for sale much. Also eels and puffers. There were no bread and butter fish like clowns and gobies, which I found odd. Fish prices seemed typical LFS prices; many were not marked.
For dry goods, those were also mostly unmarked. A couple of examples I recall:
Formula Flake foods, 2.5 oz $4.99
Amquel+ Plus $11.95 (for the big bottle)
Both are nice prices and below typical LFs prices.
They had an impressive selection of fish medications and marine additives, including many you don't usually see in stores. Not many boxes of salt (IO and Coralife), I didn't see any pumps, but they had a few skimmers and some lighting options, plus nanocubes and an assortment of stands and tanks. Lots of Coralife goods. Also a nicely stock fish food freezer.
I am very happy to have a good source of fish medications locally, and another source of fish foods. Jeff's in Orange doesn't have much in those departments.
Details:
Ocean Blue
622 E. Katella Ave
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 532-4528
http://www.oceanblueca.com/
Hours were M-F and Sat -- I don't recall exactly, but about 11-7pm-ish
In short: Looking good so far and may be a nice addition to the area if it can survive the competition.
