Local Fish Store

I seem to live in an area where saltwater is much more common than freshwater. But even then, there still aren't many saltwater stores near me. So I've been scouting around on the internet for reputable, not-chain fish stores and I finally got to check one out today! The reviews were promising, a nice mom and pop store, just what i've been looking for. Sadly, I was very disappointed.

I went there specifically for Stress Guard, since Seachem's website said this store was a gold supplier and carried the product. They did not have the product, and the guy, who I assume was the manager, had no clue what I was talking about! Said he'd never seen the product! Didn't seem to believe me that it was an actual product.

I was also excited about this store because their website said they carried tanks from 2-180 gallons (or something like that). Yay! A store that doesn't support betta bowls! Once again, I was wrong. Smallest bowls I've ever seen. I don't even think the fish would fit through the mouth of the bowl.

The betta cups were also sad. The top shelf $20 bettas had clean water. The females and "bottom shelf males" (literal sign) had cloudy and dirty water. One female was straight up and down and another had a curved spine.

As for the the big tanks, besides the massive amounts of hair algae and pest snails, they looked okay. The current was way too strong in the angel community tank and most of the angels had fin damage. Even the plant display/sale tank had pest snails! I also questioned the compatibility of some of the fish in the "community" tanks...

The store was dimly lit, cluttered, boxes stacked everywhere, and layers of dust on pretty much everything. I had to step over numerous boxes, a gravel vac, and many other things. Needless to say, I was not at all impressed.

They did have a nice selection of rocks and driftwood, except they were all huge. (they sold driftwood by the foot and rocks by the pound) If they were smaller I might have picked some driftwood up. They also had live reptiles and various reptile and hermit crab supplies but I don't have enough knowledge on those to comment on their wellbeing.

I ended up leaving with a sponge filter(if the box didn't look about 20 years old and wasn't covered in dust I would have been a little happier), magnetic suction cups, and a media bag. All of which I felt I overpaid for... Needless to say, I will not be returning here. Really hoping I find a nice lfs soon! (if anyone is in MO or the STL area and would like the name of the store so they can avoid it, let me know!) (Or if you are in the STL area and have a lfs recommendation, I'd love to hear it!) Anyone else have any disappointing fish store trips where they live?

 

I seem to live in an area where saltwater is much more common than freshwater. But even then, there still aren't many saltwater stores near me. So I've been scouting around on the internet for reputable, not-chain fish stores and I finally got to check one out today! The reviews were promising, a nice mom and pop store, just what i've been looking for. Sadly, I was very disappointed.

I went there specifically for Stress Guard, since Seachem's website said this store was a platinum supplier and carried the product. They did not have the product, and the guy, who I assume was the manager, had no clue what I was talking about! Said he'd never seen the product! Didn't seem to believe me that it was an actual product.

I was also excited about this store because their website said they carried tanks from 2-180 gallons (or something like that). Yay! A store that doesn't support betta bowls! Once again, I was wrong. Smallest bowls I've ever seen. I don't even think the fish would fit through the mouth of the bowl.

The betta cups were also sad. The top shelf $20 bettas had clean water. The females and "bottom shelf males" (literal sign) had cloudy and dirty water. One female was straight up and down and another had a curved spine.

As for the the big tanks, besides the massive amounts of hair algae and pest snails, they looked okay. The current was way too strong in the angel community tank and most of the angels had fin damage. Even the plant display/sale tank had pest snails! I also questioned the compatibility of some of the fish in the "community" tanks...

The store was dimly lit, cluttered, boxes stacked everywhere, and layers of dust on pretty much everything. I had to step over numerous boxes, a gravel vac, and many other things. Needless to say, I was not at all impressed.

They did have a nice selection of rocks and driftwood, except they were all huge. (they sold driftwood by the foot and rocks by the pound) If they were smaller I might have picked some driftwood up. They also had live reptiles and various reptile and hermit crab supplies but I don't have enough knowledge on those to comment on their wellbeing.

I ended up leaving with a sponge filter(if the box didn't look about 20 years old and wasn't covered in dust I would have been a little happier), magnetic suction cups, and a media bag. All of which I felt I overpaid for... Needless to say, I will not be returning here. Really hoping I find a nice lfs soon! (if anyone is in MO or the STL area and would like the name of the store so they can avoid it, let me know!) (Or if you are in the STL area and have a lfs recommendation, I'd love to hear it!) Anyone else have any disappointing fish store trips where they live?

Imo fish/reptile combo stores are no good!
Every one that I've been in has always seemed like all they are in it for is the money, like it was a reptile store and they just added a fish section to boost profits! Personally I always stick to FISH dedicated stores, I'm lucky enough to have a couple within a 30-45 minute drive from me, but sometimes you have to pay for the better quality buisness! My main LFS (unfortunatley the furthest from me) does buy one get one free on fish under $7 on Tuesday!!

 

Around me all I have is Petsmart, 15 min away. I've made previous posts about their store in my 2 betta at stores studies. A hr away from PS there is a huge salt and freshwater store (mainly salt) and has great rare and common fish, good prices, and doesn't support bowls or bettas in cups, but really LACKS supplies. About 20 mins from there, there are 3 small saltwater only fish stores all about a block away from each other. Never been to those but hope to soon.

I'm really sorry about that store! I understand your dissapointment! I hope you can find a good local one!

Edit: Just read above post, agreed with that completely.

 

My lfs treats their fish worse than the local Petco. (My local Petco is pristine and taken care of by a very competent employee.) The betta display was horrific, dead fish, 1 cup containers, cloudy water. I was looking for guppies, but there was a dead cory in the tank being feasted upon. The supplies were double the actual retail price. A used 10-gallon kit was $105 there, compared to $40 on sale at Petco. The little trial sized flake fish food containers were over $7. Tank filters were disgusting too!

 

My lfs treats their fish worse than the local Petco. (My local Petco is pristine and taken care of by a very competent employee.) The betta display was horrific, dead fish, 1 cup containers, cloudy water. I was looking for guppies, but there was a dead cory in the tank being feasted upon. The supplies were double the actual retail price. A used 10-gallon kit was $105 there, compared to $40 on sale at Petco. The little trial sized flake fish food containers were over $7. Tank filters were disgusting too!

Yeah, filters were pretty gross here too. Sponges looked like they hadn't been cleaned in about a year. Intakes were grimy too.

Imo fish/reptile combo stores are no good!
Every one that I've been in has always seemed like all they are in it for is the money, like it was a reptile store and they just added a fish section to boost profits! Personally I always stick to FISH dedicated stores, I'm lucky enough to have a couple within a 30-45 minute drive from me, but sometimes you have to pay for the better quality buisness! My main LFS (unfortunatley the furthest from me) does buy one get one free on fish under $7 on Tuesday!!

This one looked like the reptiles were the afterthought. You could tell the fish had been there a while, the built in tanks were a little dated. And there were many more fish than reptiles.