Your Local Fish Store

[XtrmCHoPZ]

Just curious to see what everyone has to say about their favorite LFS and others in your city?

Seems like the ones in my town all have different opinions and some are just down right wrong with some of their advice. One guy swears that Queen triggers DO NOT come from the Caribbean!! HE says they come from Africa. And this guys is supposed to be an aggressive fish expert?!!? Another guy calls any puffer a dogface whether its a Guineafowl or a Stars and Stripes, and also sells reticulated puffers as map puffers. Others say its ok to put ANY fish in a BRAND NEW tank as long as you dump in a little of "this bottle that only costs $19.99 for 6 oz". He also labels Panda puffers ( arothron diadematus) as "Fiji Panda puffers".........thats BS, they ONLY come from the REd Sea as far as i know. And still others have insisted that all I need to do to convert a tank form freshwater to saltwater is to add salt and sand!!!!!!!!!

Im not talking about the big guys that we all know about like PetCo, Etc.... Tell me about the smaller shops specializing in fish.

Is it just me or do LFS owners not know nearly as much as anybody on here. I would rather ask questions here at ReefCentral ANY DAY than ask my LFS. Do they not research things or what?

 

[LRS078]

The sad truth that for every well informed and experienced person at an LFS there are at least a dozen idiots who range from just unknowledgeable to dangerously misinformed....

The simple economics of your average person at an LFS making about $7-9 an hour generally doesn't retain the best minds. Of course there are exceptions and really top notch people out there but you have to do a bit of searching.

The best advice I can give is to educate yourself ahead of time and ask the LFS crowd things like "how long has that fish been here?" "what have you been feeding him?" ...stuff they can easily find out or know without years of experience.

Here in the metro atlanta area...I have one LFS that is really great. Their people are above average knowledge and always VERY helpful. Their prices are midpack but fish are healthier than anyone's. (main reason I shop Marine Fish and Reef in Marietta)

There are other LFS around....some have great pricing and fish are hit/miss health wise....some are good fish but nutso pricing....others are worst of both. Consistently though there is a clear leader (named above)

I find it fun to bring my own expert with me fish shopping but where else do you take a fish person on a date j/k....(besides dinner later)

 

[Jiggz]

all the fish stores around me are all about making that quick buck. they will tell a load of crap just to sell something. such as that mandarins are real easy to care for. or triggers and groupers will do fine in a 55gallon for life. but luckily there is one lfs where i am close friends with the owner and he knows his stuff. and when he doesn't know, he doesn't hesitate to ask me for my opinion. he never sells sick fish to anyone. if a fish is sick he holds it and tells everyone that its not for sale. this is the only lfs i frequently visit, like 3times a week. i spend a lot of money on the parking meters just to sit there and chat about fish with him. but all other stores around me are just crap. i can consider myself lucky just to have one reputable fish store around me.

 

[BadOleRoss]

I must say that my LFS always has healthy fish and for the most part the infomation I get there is reliable. I have only had 1 bad experience there and it cost me $700 in LR and 5 fish. But I think that was as much my fault as theirs. I should have done my homework. But, thats another story............

 

[XtrmCHoPZ]

I am mainly talking about the store owners....who should supposedly know more than the employees. Seems like sometimes the employees making $7 an hr know more than the owners. In my area most of the people will tell u what u want to hear and are just trying to make a buck. They typically dont care about what they are selling u as long as they are making a profit.

I checked out one a couple days ago....................4" Dogface puffer ( arothron nigropunctatus).....get this......$60 !!!!!!! Now u KNOW he only paid like $15 for it! THose are the most common puffers and this guy tries to sell them for $60. Every where else theyre like $30. What sucks is some poor sap will buy it, it will probably get ich because he doesnt know how to take care of it, then he will go back to that LFS and spend another $60!

 

[No Worries1979]

I drive to near-by towns for my livestock and supplies. My hometown LFS won't even give you a credit for fish or frags. They also mark up their fish to rediculous prices about 400% over the wholesale value. What kind of business is that? Needless-to-say I don't shop there anymore.

 

[sunfishh]

Here in socal there are good stores and bad stores.

I try to remember that LFS employs have to be experts in goldfish, community fish, cichlids, outdoor ponds, aggressive salwater fish and reefs. That is a tough thing to do. Because of this I am looking for healthy fish first, knowlegeable employs second and low prices last. That does not mean I may not just run down to Petco to get some fish food because I am out. I do. However I tend to have a game plan when buying live stock and I stick to it. That said here is my list:

1) Imperial tropical fish- Somewhat limited selection, but healthy fish and helpful employs
2) Tongs tropical fish- Great selection and healthy animals. They sometimes have compatability issues in their tanks and if you did not know what you are doing they are not beyond taking advantage of you
3) Pacific reef- A great store, but they tend to be invert heavy and I am a fish only guy

 

[woodywoo]

Well I've owned a fish store, and I also worked at one. The one I worked at, I knew more than the owner ever did. He would say "Ask Aaron, he's our on hand fish expert". Now In my area there is only one person I turn to for corals. And he actually use to own his own store, but partner bought him out. And now he work at the LFS that I use to. But other than him NO ONE at that LFS knows Squat! They can't tell a Wrasse from a clownfish.

LRS078, I have been to Marine fish in Marietta and actually bought my new 65 RR from them. I live 6 hours away from Marietta, but I go over to see them at least once a month. They are wonderful store. I was over that way last week and they had 5-bar mystery wrasse and over very rear fish.

But for the most part LFS in my area are very sad. They are looking for every way to rip you OFF!

 

[mjdlonghorn]

XtrmCHoPZ charging $60 for a puffer is not a bad deal. Of course they mark everything up otherwise they would not be in business. $45 profit is nothing when you consider all their expencese like rent, utilities, workers comp etc.

 

[Patchy]

i only go to one fish store near me. dont try to sell you stuff you dont need and they have very good prices. will never sell a sick fish.
the best thing about them is whenever i have a question for them they arent afraid to say i dont know. rather than say what i want to hear to make a dollar

 

[No Worries1979]

That's always a good thing patchy. Good to hear that there are some that are passionate about what they do!

 

[XtrmCHoPZ]

Longhorn......I have many puffers, and I could see paying $60 for a guineafowl, masked, or other more "rare" puffers. BUT NOT for a common Dogface, Im not saying that you dont know ur fish that well, but a common, regular dogface puffer should in no way be $60....unless its like 9-10 inches. THis guy was BARELY 4" and regularly brown coloring, nothiing special. The LFS Im talking about routinely marks up his livestock and dry goods way too much. He charges like $550 for an ASM G3 protein skimmer! How bout $9.99 for ONE turbo snail!! Now I know they have to make their profit but c'mon, thats ridiculous.

 

[MrChico]

It's simple economics, whatever the market will bear, the owner probablly found out that the people in that area of town value their time more than their money and dont care about overpriced fish as long as they don't have to drive all over town to find what they want. Or that LFS is about to go out of business. There is more than one way to turn a profit at an LFS.

 

[zemuron114]

depending on where the dogface came from, i can see why it may be 60$ It does sound a little high, but i saw a pet-co selling a common dogface for 98.00$ I literally laughed out load and said, i catch these things all the time...

there are a lot of good LFS in Mass or the surrounding area. One store wont sell you something if you can't properly care for it long term. He wont sell a yellow tang to someone with a 75g or less (and he means it to) Or he wont sell SPS corals unless you have proper lighting. And he knows a crapload on fish and corals.

I think his mark up is 100-200% depending, but his prices are the same or better then internet.