your LFS

Y

yeame

In Memoriam
now some people may get offended by this thread but they are most likely the LFS that lacks in one area or the other. maine dosn't have alot of saltwater fish stores and some stores are taking advantage of that now i have ben to prob every pet store with in 2 hrs of brunswic maine some large some so small they have 2 tanks in their basement i think people should be able to buy something because they want it and not strugle with the price when their is only a couple places all the stores get their stock from 1 of 3-4 places and very in price like it is that is just crazy i would like to know the best deals people are getting in maine and where and was it a sale or normal price
dont know if these prices are still right but this is what i payed
these stores are recomended to every one
(1) deep sea creations,auburn
branching frogspawn 8-9 branches 30.00,7"green plate 24.95 no dead spots

(2) atlantis,portland
sun-fire polyps 20-30 polyps 22.00,chilli coral 3 stalks 2"-4" size of quarters 24.95

(3) bobs tropical fish,nobelboro
pepermint shrimp 6.75 ,redsponge branch 9"3 branches 24.99
 
I picked up a Pacific Sailfin Tang from The Golden Lamb in Gardiner last night. It was $19.98. Nice looking fish.
 
My LFS in bangor are the ones I usually buy from.
I buy my fish food at Pet Palace because they are the only ones who carries Omega one. and usually if I buy fish, get them from Petco. nothing spectacular
 
from what I can tell, those prices don't seem out of line. If you want to be more cost conscious though, look for people who are breaking down their tanks, or selling frags.
 
I bought a sun coral from atlantis and i paid 45 bucks for about 15 polyps. go in there and ask about that zoo rockeek2 shes got . just was there friday. bob's has great fish, but know corals, I agree with above post. theres a great deal on a 125 setup in uncle henrys right now 100 pounds of rock too. I wished i knew more people here to swap are just buy corals from. theres not a lot to choose from here.
 
Those prices seem very reasonable to me...most of the corals that I have for sale start at 25.00 and go up from there.

With the prices on fuel and electricity going out of control,the prices will continue to rise..............
 
msman you bought the other half of the rock i got when the polyps came in it broke i got the smaller peice with a white sponge wraped around it that is if u bought it a couple months ago
 
"From what I can tell, those prices don't seem out of line. If you want to be more cost conscious though, look for people who are breaking down their tanks, or selling frags."


I agree with this statement. I have been to many pet stores from
here to New York. The prices in Maine tend to be the lowest. Even,If you go to NH you will tend to see higher prices. The best way to save is going to frag swaps and hobbiest meetings ex. ( SWAM )
They also go over many DYI projects that save money.
It is good to support your LFS. They do not make much of a profit.
When buying fish, corals and other livestock, I have found it is less
expensive than buying on line. Most people do not add the cost of shipping, going to fedex to pickup, dealing with unhealthy fish, and
thats not what I ordered issues. Ask anyone that has ordered
blue zoos before. They do not look like the picture on the web.
The best way to buy fish and corals is to observe them in the store.
This allows you to select a healthy fish that you want.
 
good point - I'm always leery of ordering online, because you don't have the option to have the LFS put it on hold for you to see if it is healthy and will make it a couple weeks in their tank.

Corals online are almost never what they seem. I love the Atlantis site (the LFS out of NY), they've got some really nice looking corals, but the pics they take are really heavy on the actinics, so it's really hard to tell what the color will really look like in person and in your lighting...
 
Plus, you'll get a lot more info on the care needs of a fish or coral if you are talking to the LFS owner. I've gotten some very valuable information that way. In fact, when I was just starting out, I was all gung-ho and wanted everything.

Becky & Anna at the (former) Port City Reef did not hesitate to tell me that some things were out of my league, inspite of their wallets, and I respect them more for it. They could have just as easily sold me the things I wanted, and taken my money (and then taken my money again when I realized the hard way it wasn't a good thing for my tank and it died).
 
What Mike said is so true..

Also add the fact that the sized fish are never the same, one week a small fish is considered a large one the next week so the price is going to be different from week to week....

also your LFS has a lot of I did not order that issue, and it is not easy to return such things... something I find rather bizzare.. in the 'normal' retail world, if you did not order it, you do not pay for it and get what you want... not so in the world of fish

Your larger pet chains sometimes have the same fish for much less, as they can make up for sales in other depts. However, then you may not get good 'service', many times their knowledge is limited as opposed to a 'specialty' shop

And like Nickyblase said, photos of corals are almost never what you get, corals look so different in many different set ups that we have

All I have to say is if you want it and see it, buy it, esp if it is rather uncommon.... it may not be available for a while, plus then you can frag it and share amongst your fellow addicts ;)

Wish I had done that at Aqua Addicts last month, they had a RBTA I have been looking for, but I cheaped out :(
Denise
 
any thing i put in my tank is usualy ordered threw the LFS but whats the point if im going to pay more ordering from the same wholesaler yea I like the eye it buy it feature you ger at the LFS but their price is cheeper than mine ordering so why cant they sell it at the same price i can order it for right now I have found a new pet store that does that and they have no problem getting and keeping business coming back frags I sell to 3-4 stores put a 30%-500% mark up this is how they work and this is why we have to travel to 10 pet stores befor we buy or order anything and dont stay with the LFS they say they cant compare their prices to on line this is a joke
 
I was able to read his post fine. I also don't want to discourage another aquatic hobbyist from contributing for something trivial.

I agree that the markup on some stuff is ridiculous but I can also see how they may think it makes sense. Like the recent increase in the price of gravel and fill since gas is more expensive. I do wish, though, that pet stores would buy locally to support local aquaculture! Some of them in the Bangor area won't buy from hobbyists anymore.
 
There is a reason the LFS charge more for their products. Your LFS has more overhead/operating expenses. Just about everything online is cheaper because their operating expenses are lower and those people do not have to be at their store, do not have to pay rent for their store. They probably just have a desk in their basement and dropship everything.

When you own a business, say a local fish store for instance. You need to price your fish,corals, dry goods, etc accordingly to pay your bills. For a nice retail location you could pay $1000 to $2000 a month for rent. The electricity bill is probably anywhere from $500 to $1000. per month. Then there is insurance,shipping charges, telephones, advertising, fish and coral that are dead on arrival and if you are in business it would be nice to get a paycheck.

So based on this little bit of information I would say that the LFS around here in Maine have some pretty good prices.
 
well I bought a couple of fish at deep sea creations the other day well sad to say it was a joke they got me good I got a fire clown to be the mate for my large male well it lasted 10 hours befor i found it dead so i go back and tell the lfs it had died I tell him this is the first thime I have ever lost a salt water fish and asked him if he wanted the water sample I had from my tank he tells me there is a first for everything and they had no warranty like most stores in maine but he gives me another at 5.00 off so dummy me i get another well 2 days has slime all over her never mind she is just about dead my large male is now getting slimey this sux! Iwas told the rest of his clowns are sick lets se what he says when I go back about a refund
 
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