Orlando!! Who Has The Best Reef Store In Town??!!

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CMDRAPER

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The family and I are heading to Disney next week. I want to go to the best fish and coral store in Orlando. If possible, please give me the "cadillac" of all the stores...as I will not have enough time to see all of them.

THANKS!!!
 
Look down a few posts at the thread called "good lfs" and you will see most of us are in agreement for the one spot you have to hit.
 
Re: Orlando!! Who Has The Best Reef Store In Town??!!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7823843#post7823843 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CMDRAPER
If possible, please give me the "cadillac" of all the stores...as I will not have enough time to see all of them.

THANKS!!!

OceanBlue in Winter Park...you will NOT be disappointed. OceanBlue has incredible acros, fish selection, LPS, and the best selection of dry goods in the area. Plus, cleanest store in the area.

Another good selection would be Sea In The City but its a smaller store with only a few tanks, small fish selection but a great team of ladies that run it.

Mike
 
well, im not trying to start anything but... Ocean blue leave a lot to be desired in regards to price and quality. Dont get me wrong, I thinks its a fine store, and I've bought fish there, but i you are looking for frags, then SITC is *the* place. if you want some more fish to look at, then Ocean Blue will do.

just my 2 cents
 
Hey loose...I don't believe he is coming down here looking for inexpensive frags though. I believe he wants to see the Cadillac of stores. I find it hard to believe that you *really* think OceanBlue has a lot to be desired when it comes to price and quality. Okay, so his prices are a little more but damn, this hobby is expensive and sometimes $15-20 frags just don't cut it, ya know.

Now I would like to address the *quality* issue you brought up...I just don't get that. I wish maybe you would give an example because I can't believe the quality when I walk in his doors. I have been to almost every fish store in the area, Seven Seas, The Aquarium, SITC (now and when Doug owned it), The Fish Bowl and The Saltwater Reef, sorry if I forgot a few. OB is by far the best laid out, largest selection of both dry goods and livestock and cleanest place in town!

Mike
 
Anybody have a website for these places or directions or direction to them. Especially interested in sitc. I will be in Orlando next week andwant to visit as many as I can. Thanks
 
I can give you the address for OceanBlue and SITC.

OceanBlue
4270 Aloma Ave
Winter Park, FL 32792
(407) 679-3557

SITC
439 Gaston Foster Rd
Orlando, FL 32807
(407) 207-4056

Mike
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7825382#post7825382 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MacnReef
I find it hard to believe that you *really* think OceanBlue has a lot to be desired when it comes to price and quality. Okay, so his prices are a little more but damn, this hobby is expensive and sometimes $15-20 frags just don't cut it, ya know.
Mike

There is no doubt that the quality at Ocean Blue is top notch (fish, corals, and drygoods). And if you're patient you can get some nice corals on sale there. I also got my pair of a. nigripes there.

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Anyway if you have a favorite LFS then support them and they will definitely recognize that and reward you with good prices in the future.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7826328#post7826328 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pacific Reefs
Anyway if you have a favorite LFS then support them and they will definitely recognize that and reward you with good prices in the future.

Well said!

Mike
 
I am starting to see a trend here. Looks like every post about SITC have to do with Marcye and not necessarily about the livestock that was purchased. We all know she is fantastic, but to me, livestock counts when I get home.

Mike

**I would like to make a statement here...I truly like SITC and Marcye, I know its not showing right now. Marcye has been very nice to me when I would come in. This is just a debate on best of the best in town. Not discredit to Marcye or her store.
 
I totally agree with MacnReef, I live close to SITC and there is no one like her, she does have great frags/corals, etc. However, if you're looking for quality, and I mean quality great looking fish, then OCEAN BLUE is the store to hit. The store is very clean, impeccable and they have a lot to choose from, I mean much more. Vinn has been cool with me, and if you get to know him, he will cut u a deal when it comes to prices.
ALL of my fish come from his store, a lot of expensive fishes that are thriving now. Now, if Ocean Blue closed down, what would we do? where would we go for supplies? where would we get the variety of fishes his store carries.
I have not doubt Marcy's store will only get bigger and bigger, she has loyal customers, and for a good reason also. I am one of the few from this site that with having angels in the tank cannot keep soft corals, and will not get started on hard coral because it's very expensive, and the lighting is just crazy expensive, in addition with the power bill. So I go OB where they have lots of great fish.
Nouff said.....
 
The reason everybody associates Marcye w/ sea in the city is b/c she works almost everyday and personally takes care of as many customers as possible. Gives away freebes too. She can also get just about ANY fish you want...all you have to do is ask and it will uaually be there within a week. Free raffles, HUGE sales and plenty of different kinds of coral. I have over 40 different species of acropora from her not one has RTN'd. True, she doesn't sell hug colonies of SPS but all corals are very healthy and she has nice rare pieces that are hard to find. She gets new stuff in weekly too. Decide for yourself
 
These really are totally two different stores. And every LFS thread always boils down to Ocean Blue vs SITC. Well maybe they are both doing something right so try to hit them both up. Hope this answers the question because its not really fair to ask ORCA..."which lfs is the best?"
 
Oceanblue has some larger pieces for sure. I didn't think their prices were bad. 70 or 80 for a big colony compared to 25 to 30 for a frag. I never understood why someone would pay 40 a frag and not just buy the colony for 150 which is 6 times as big :)

Marcye has alot of nice pieces too but all are frags. Some stuff I know might be pricy so I'll get a frag. Occasionally she will sell colonies and I've picked up a few from her cheap.

I dont know the people at OB but they were friendly when I was there. Marcye is always friendly to me and is great. When her store gets larger, it will be even greater. I would check those two out. I've also liked The Fish Bowl for fish. Lately I haven't seen many SPS corals there but others he has is nice. His fish imo are the best to get. I've never had 1 death from a fish from his store except maybe several months down the road. The same goes with Marcye.
 
Hi all...thanks for the thumbs up and I'm sure that Vin feels the same. I'd like to say that I personally recommend Ocean Blue to many of my customers for items I don't have and Vin and his associates do the same for me. Everyone there is wonderful and I shopped there myself before I owned SITC. I think we both have great respect for each other and our stores are different in many ways. Have a great vacation and be safe. Marcye
 
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We are all so lucky to have such stores to debate over. I can see marcye did take a political class in college. j/k. take care everyone.
 
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