[FAQ] Aquaria: Societies, Books and Mailorder
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FAQ: Resources
This section contains references for more information. Specifically,
books (including good beginner books), magazines, addresses of some
organizations (useful for finding your local fish club), and
mail-order supply houses.
Resources for plants and plant-related equipment can be found in a
separate plant resources section within the plant FAQ.
Copyright
The FAQs owe their existence to the contributors of the net, and as
such it belongs to the readers of rec.aquaria and alt.aquaria.
Articles with attributions are copyrighted by their original authors.
Copies of the FAQs can be made freely, as long as it is distributed at
no charge, and the disclaimers and the copyright notice are included.
FAQ: Good Beginner Books
Contributed by Oleg Kiselev
Most aquarium books are reasonable in their advice. Do be careful of
older books which were written before some of the more recent advances
in the science of aquaria were made. Issues such as the nitrogen cycle
will probably not be covered well. Libraries are an excellent source
of books, and one should go the library first before spending any
money.
Sample of Popular Titles
* Baensh's Aquarium Atlas (~$22-28)
* Marine Aquarium Handbook by Martin Moe (~$10)
* Vierke's Aquarium Book ($10-15)
* Marine Aquarium Reference: Systems and Invertebrates by Moe
(~$22-25)
* The Concise Encyclopedia of Aq. Fish by Dick Mills (~$10)
Many of the ``Fishkeeper's Guide'' Books by Tetra press are quite
good, and are available for around $6-$10. For plant books, Barron's
and Tetra's (~$5-6) are suggested.
Freshwater Books
A decent aquarium reference book need not be expensive or very
detailed. What it must have is:
* enough common species to make it usable (200-300 species is
sufficient for most purposes)
* recognizable pictures of fish to use as the identification guide
descriptions of the species including:
+ length the fish will attain
+ typical behavior (and community tank compatibility)
+ spawning requirements
+ dietary needs
+ minimal tank size
+ water quality and temperature
* some basic suggestions on how to set up an aquarium
* some minimal info on fish diseases
There are many books that satisfy these requirements. They are very
inexpensive and there is no excuse for someone to spend $20+ on the
fish that will die in 3-4 weeks instead of buying a book that would
prevent these losses for a lot less money.
For under $10:
Simon&Schuster's Pocket Guide to Aquarium Fishes lists for $7 and can
be found for $4 in discount book shops. Not an ``end-all'' reference
volume but at least it does not lie too much. I probably like it
because it has an excellent photo of Aphyosemion filamentosum that
looks just about like the A. filamentosum I have. (ISBN 0-671-25451-0)
At Crown Books and other ``remaindered'' book sellers, you will find a
book edited by Dick Mills that is called The Concise Encyclopedia of
Tropical Aquarium Fishes if it's published by Crescent (and Tetra's
Junior Atlas of Tropical Aquarium Fishes if it's published by Tetra).
It covers all the basic ideas about setting up an aquarium and has
descriptions and fair quality photos of over 300 species of fish (the
book is not in front of me so can't give you more detail). It's
published by Salamander Press in Europe and Tetra (Crescent) in US.
(Crescent edition ISBN 0-517-66776-2)
At Tower Books and other ``mainstream'' bookseller chains and larger
book stores, you will find Barron's series of translation of German
aquarium books, all between $5 and $8, concentrating on specific
categories of fish (Killifishes (ISBN 0-8120-4475-4), Cichlids (ISBN
0-8120-4597-1)), or breeding (Ines Scheurman's Aquarium Fish Breeding
(ISBN 0-8120-4474-6)), or general aquarium maintenance, or plants. All
of these books give a beginner a solid introduction to what and why of
the the filtration, water chemistry and so on. Any of these books make
an excellent starting point. They don't have very many color photos,
which probably contributed to the low price, but have a lot of
drawings.
Also near the $10 mark (and a lot less through mail-order), are the
Tetra/Salamander series of ``Fishkeeper's Guide To...'' books. They
are available at a number of ``normal'' book stores and I recommend
``... Healthy Aquarium'' and ``...Community Fishes'' as the better
beginner books. The rest of the series is quite good as well and any
one of these books should be a great start.
``The Innes Book'' -- First published in 1935, it is a thick volume
that has gone through a dozen publishers and something like 50
editions. The newer ones will probably be a bit more up to date, but
the older ones are not bad, either. They range from $2 to $15 and my
preference is for the oldest editions. Don't expect the fish names to
match the current nomenclature or in some case even the real species
-- for the last 40 years ``The Innes Book'' has had a picture of A.
filamentosum for their Aphyosemion gardneri.
These are the cheapest books. If you are willing to spend $15-20 (and
you better be willing to spend that much on the books if you are go to
spend that much on the fish!), the number of books is larger and the
amount of information increases.
Between $15 and $20
The books get larger, more colorful and complete:
van Ramshorst's Aquarium Encyclopedia published by HPBooks and sold by
Waldenbooks is a translation from Dutch and at $17.95 is among the
better ``shopping list'' aquarium books. It is full of very good
quality color photos, covers over 570 species of fish, 80 species of
plants, all aspects of aquarium design, building, set-up, decor, etc.
Not much on filtration, but that's all in the FAQ, so not a big flaw
for a USENET reader.
Crown Books used to sell The Living Aquarium, a translation from
Swedish published by Crescent Books. It's close to $20 and does not
have descriptions of too many species, but has a lot of detailed
diagrams, goes into the black arts of filtration and lighting and
attempts to cover cold water and tropical fresh water, cold water and
tropical marine and brackish aquaria, suggesting the species and decor
for them. It also has a section on building aquaria, as all European
books seem to.
More Expensive and/or Specialty Books
There are many other books that are not cheap even when you buy them
mail-order (a sure way to save 50% on the price). Many of these books
cost so much because of the large number of color photos in them and
because of the production values that went in. You will have to decide
for yourself if it's worth your money to buy these and if you will
find something really worth while in them (I have spent several
hundred $$$ on such books over the last few years and do not regret
buying any of them). If nothing else, these books make great coffee
table books that are bound to get all sorts of comments from house
guests.
Where to Find the Cheapest Books
Look through the used book stores. Books from 20-30 years ago may have
wrong Latin names for some of the fish, claim that certain species of
now-common fish are hard to breed, and may have less than adequate
coverage of filtration, but those books are still excellent general
references and (should) cost very little.
What Not to Buy
AVOID any books by TFH that are less than 100 pages or have a word
``Beginner'' in the title. Leaf through the book: if you see lots of
photos of products placed so that brand names are obvious and easy to
read, or you find a bunch of photos of grinning gap-toothed kids
holding up various pieces of equipment or poking their hands into an
aquarium -- put this book away and never look at it again. These books
are (in my opinion) utter garbage.
There are a few exceptions to that rule in the TFH line: Dr. Jubb's
``Nothobranchius'', 2 volumes of Jocher's ``Spawning Problem Fishes''
and Windelow's ``Aquatic Plants'', but they fall into the
``specialty'' category).
FAQ: Magazines
Freshwater and Marine Aquarium (monthly)
P.O. Box 487,
Sierra Madre, CA 91024
Phone (626) 355-1476
1yr/12 iss. $23.00
2yr/24 iss. $45.00
Outside US $30.00/yr (no 2 year subscr.)
Tropical Fish Hobbyist (monthly)
One TFH Plaza,
Neptune City, NJ 07753
Phone (908) 988-8400
1yr/12 iss. $40.00
Foreign - add $11.00/yr
**note: The edition found in retail stores often does NOT
have mail order ads; the home subscription edition
does. Do not buy one at the store for m/o
addresses without checking it out first.
Aquarium Fish Magazine (monthly)
The following special offer is made by _AFM_ for readers of
the *.aquaria newsgroups.
*****************************************************************************
Date: 12 Apr 95 09:26:26 EDT
From: Edward Bauman <edba...@pipeline.com>
As a special offer to members of the Internet *.aquaria newsgroups,
subscriptions to _Aquarium Fish Magazine_ are being made available at
a special price. You can receive a 2-year subscription for only
$24.97. This offer applies to both new subscriptions and renewals,
and represents a significant savings over the normal subscription cost
of 2 years for $38.00. In other words, you get 2 years for the price
of 1.
To take advantage of this offer, send a check or money order, or VISA
or Mastercard account number and expiration date to the address below.
You must include the subscription department in the address in order
to receive the special price.
Aquarium Fish Magazine
Subscription Dept. 3NET
P.O. Box 6040
Mission Viejo, CA 92690
USA
Canadian subscribers please add $10.50 and foreign subscribers please add $16
to
the subscription price. Please pay by international money order or with VISA
or Mastercard (Access).
******************************************************************************
Practical Fishkeeping (British mag)
MOTORSPORT
RR1 Box 200 D.
Jonesburg MO 63351-9616
US - $42.00 per year
KOI USA (bi-monthly)
KOI USA
P.O. Box 1
Midway City, CA 92665
U.S.A.
6 issues per year
$15 in U.S., US$ 19.50 in Canada
Marine Fish Monthly
Publishing Concepts Corp.
3243 Highway 61
East Luttrell, TN 37779
1yr/12 iss. $20.00
Canada $28.00/yr
Foreign $35.00/yr (US $ required)
1-800-937-3963 for subscription by phone
FAQ: Aquaria Organizations and Societies
Contributed by Rick Clark, Jim Lilly <73552...@compuserve.com>, FAAS, and a
bunch of other people
If you would like to have your society listed here (or an outdated
listing corrected), please contact us; we don't generally have time to
research this ourselves, so we rely on the societies to contact us
with corrections. Thank you!
Note that club web pages are accessible as links off the WWW version
of this FAQ, but do not appear in the posted version. If you have a
browser, scoot it on over to http://faq.thekrib.com/organizations.html
or one of the mirrors.
National/International Aquarium Societies
American Cichlid Association
P.O. Box 5351, Naperville, IL 60567-5351
Aquatic Gardeners Asssociation
83 Cathcart St., London, Ontario, Canada N6L 3L9
Canadian Killifish Association
International Betta Congress
923 Wadsworth St., Syracuse, NY 13208-2419
North American Discus Society
6939 Justin Drive, Mississauga, Ont, Canada, L4T 1M4
Rainbowfish Study Group of North America
Gary Lange
2590 Cheshire, Florissant, MO 63033
American Livebearer Association
Timothy J. Brady, Membership Chairman
5 Zerbe Street, Cressona, PA 17929-1513
tjb...@fast.net
Federation of American Aquarium Societies (FAAS)
Hedy Padgett (Membership Chair) 4816 E. 64th. Street Indianapolis, IN
46220-4728
Assocation of Aquarist, Mr Chris Ralph (Chairman)
610 Abbey Rd, Popley 4, Basingstoke, Hants RG24 9ET, UK
British Rainbowfish and Gobies Society, Len Eldridge (Editor)
64 Molesham Way, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 1NX, UK Email:
10070...@compuservw.com
TVCATS (Thames Valley Catfish Society), Tim Allen (Editor)
12 Sun Crescent, Oakley, Aylesbury, Bucks HP18 9RF, UK
Club Snail
2030 NE 42nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97213
Local Aquarium Societies - United States
Aqualand Aquatic Society
P.O. Box 1345 Bristol, CT 06010-1345
Atlanta Area Aquarium Association
Mark Barnett, 130 Springbrook Lane, Stockbridge, GA 30281
Air Capital A.S.
P.O. Box 3235, Wichita, KS 67201-3235
Alamo A.S., Inc.
319 Byrnes, San Antonio, TX 78209
Allegheny River Valley A.S.
P.O. Box 415, Olean, NY, 14760-0415
Aquarium Club of Lancaster County
218 E. Clay St., Lancaster, PA 17602
Aquarium Hobbyists of Amarillo
1009 S. Kentucky, Amarillo, TX 79012
Aqua Land Aquatic Society
Karl Chadbourne, 231 Bayberry Dr., Bristol, CT 06010
Aquarium Society of Durham
P.O. Box 25218, Durham, NC, 27702-2518
Ashtabula County Aquarium Club
as...@usa.net
Baltimore/Washington Area Aquaria Society
3915 Blackburn Ln, #42, Burtonsville, MD 20866
email: bw...@hotmail.com
Black River Aquarium Society, Inc.
Jack Adinolfi, P.O. BOX 92, Ludlow, VT 05149-0092
Boston A.S.
255 Central St., Holliston, MA 01746-2011
Brooklyn A.S.
P.O. Box 290610, Brooklyn, NY 11229-0011
Bucks County A.S., Ltd.
Gary Jones, 237 Apple St., Levittown, PA 19057-1211
California Organization of Aquatic Show Trop.
13581 Arizona St., #2, Westminster, CA 92683-2361
Central Florida A.S.
1017 Alpug Ave., Oviedo, FL 32765
Central Illinois Aquarist
PO Box 225, Pekin, IL 61555-0225
Central New York A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 566, Syracuse, NY 13206
Central Valley A.S.
1990 Rohrer Dr., Turlock, CA 95382-1945
Central Wisconsin A.S.
5339 Hwy 54 E Plover, WI 54467
Champaign Area Fish Exchange
Greg Wooters, 1231 Joanne, Champaign, IL 61821
Chautauqua County Aq. Assn., Inc.
Joe Rozen, 149 South Ocelot St., Dunkirk, NY 14048
Circle City Aq. Club
P.O. Box 55165, Indianapolis, In 46205-0165
Cleveland A.S.
26011 Hendon Road, Beachwood, OH 44122
Cleveland Saltwater Enthusiasts Assn.
3896 Boston Road, Brunswick OH 44212-1262
Colorado A.S.
P.O. Box 1253, Arvada, CO 80005
Columbus Area Fish Enthusiast
3522 Rivercrest Dr., Columbus, OH 43223
Danbury Area A.S.
PO Box 8017, New Fairfield, CT 06812
Delaware County A.S.
P.O. Box 521, Ridley Park, PA 19078
Diamond State A.S.
Richard Adler, 5420 Valley Green Dr., Apt. C-2, Wilmington, DE 19808
Dry Wash Aquarium Society
c/o Don Kinney II, 8245 N. 27th Ave. #1115, Phoenix, Az. 85051
Eastern Iowa Aq. Society
Buck Stark, P.O. BOX 2327, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406
Elm City Aquarium Society
86 Middle Road, Guilford, CT 06437
Erie Aquarium Society
4829 Leacock Rd., Edinboro, PA 16412
The Exotic Fish Society of Hartford, Inc
25 Charter Road, Ellington, CT 06029
Federation Of Texas A.S.
3502 Carter Creek Pkwy, Bryan, TX 77802
Fort Wayne Cichlid 502 Park Ave. - Box 260, Antwerp, OH 45813
Great Lakes Cichlid Society
1113 Sunset Road, Mayfield Hts, OH 44124
Greater Akron A.S.
P.O. Box 494, Akron, OH 44309-0494
Greater Chicago Cichlid Assn
241 Oxford Ct., Bloomingdale, IL 60108
Greater Cincinnati A.S.
P.O. Box 11495, Cincinnati, OH 45211
Greater City A.S.
Berek Haus, 197-05 90th Ave., Hollis, NY 11423
Greater Dayton A.S.
288 Virginia Ave., Centerville, OH 45458
Greater Detroit A.S.
P.O. Box C, Royal Oak, MI 48068
Greater Fairfield County A.S.
P.O. Box 141, Lancaster, OH 43130
Greater Lafayette A.S.
516 N. 27th St., Lafayette, IN 47904
Great Lakes Cichlid Society
Butch Capaldi, 890 Orchard Road, Willoughby, OH 44094
Greater Pittsburgh A.S.
P.O. Box 22452, Pittsburgh, PA 15122-0452
Greater Portland A.S.
P.O. Box 6752, Portland, OR 97228-6752
voice mail drop (503) 699-8086
Greater Seattle A.S.
306 NW 82nd Street, Seattle WA 98117
E-mail er...@wrq.com
Green Water A.S.
P.O. Box 611, Bedford Park, IL 60499-0611
Heart of America A.S.
P.O. Box 412867, Kansas City, Missouri 64141-2867
Honolulu Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 235791, Honolulu, HI 96823-3513
Houston Aq. Soc.
Michelle Sykes, 15926 Pfeiffer Dr. Houston, TX 77081
uni...@wt.net
Indianapolis A.S., Inc.
Al Anderson, 6246 North Rural., Indianapolis IN 46220
kill...@indy.net 430 2nd Ave. N.E., Carmel, IN 46032
Jacksonville A.S.
P.O. Box 156, Jacksonville, FL 32207
Kitsap A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 1145, Silverdale, WA 98383
Lehigh Valley A.S.
Karen Haas 5145 Spruce Rd. Emmaus, PA 18049.
lv...@fast.net
Long Island A.S.
214 Holly Lane, Smithtown, NY 11787
Lorain County A.S.
P.O. Box 185, Elyria, OH 44036-0185
Louisville Trop. Fish Fanciers, Inc.
P.O. Box 6774, Louisville, KY 40207-6774
Maine State Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 487, N. Berwick, ME 03906
Medina County A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 1485, Medina, OH 44258
Mid-Atlantic Cichlid Keepers (MACK)
PO BOX 303, Drexel Hill, PA 19026
Mid-South A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 11744, Memphis, TN 38111
Missouri A.S., Inc.
John Van Asch, 505 S. 20th St., Belleville, IL 62223
Minnesota Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 130483, Roseville, MN 55113
phone contact- Brad & Nancy Swanson 612-522-4399
Missouri A.S., Inc.
36 Wagon Wheel, Fenton, MO 63026
Mobile A.S.
11450 Boe Rd. Ext., Grand Bay, AL 36541
Motor City A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 60, Roseville, MI 48066
Nassau County Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 33, Oakdale, NY 11769
New York-Penn Council
3317 Asbury Rd., Erie, PA 16506
North Country A.S.
PO Box 46, Potsdam, NY 13676
North East Alabama A.S.
3524 Alexandria Rd., Anniston, AL 36201
North Jersey A.S.
P.O. Box 591 Nutley, NJ 07110
e-mail: aja...@pica.army.mil, phone (908) 541-1392
Norwalk A.S. of Fairfield County
P.O. Box 84, South Norwalk CT 06852
Ohio Cichlid Assn, Inc.
C/O Dan Woodland, 7330 Ames Road, Parma, Ohio 44129
Pacific Coast Cichlid Association
P.O. Box 28145, San Jose, CA 95128
Penn. Fish Culturists Assn.
6804 No. 10th St., Philadelphia, PA 19126
Potomac Valley A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 664, Merrifield, VA 22116
Rocky Mountain Cichlid Assn.
9242 E. Eastman Place, Denver, CO 80231
Sacramento A.S.
P.O. Box 160545, Sacramento, CA 95816-0545
San Diego Tropical Fish Soc., Inc.
P.O. Box 4156, N. Park Sta., San Diego, CA 92164
San Fransisco A.S.
(415) 387-6626
San Fransisco Bay Area Aquatic Plant Society
7 Gateview Court, San Fransisco 94116-1941
Sheboygan A.S.
P.O. Box 954, Sheboygan, WI 53082
Singing Sands A.S.
P.O. Box 134, Michigan City, IN 46360
Southeast Minnesota A.S.
Dan Andrews, 206 S. Main, Chatsfield, MN 55923
Southern California Cichlid Association
4195 Chino Hills Pkwy. #362, Chino Hills, CA 91709
Southern Colorado A.S.
Dale Grover, 807 Fontmore Rd., Colorado Springs, CO 80904
Southtowns Fish Fanciers, Inc.
John Burdick, 8639 S. Main St., Eden, NY 14057
Southwestern Michigan Aq. Soc.
Scott Tetzlaff, 226 Burton SW, Grand Rapids MI 49507
South Sound A.S.
948 Summit Lakeshore Rd., N.W., Olympia, WA 98502
Southeast Minnesota A.S.
PO Box 9093, Rochester, MN 55903-9093
Southern Colorado A.S.
P.O. Box 16078, Colorado Springs, CO 80935
Southwestern Michigan A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 3175, Kalamazoo, MI 49003-3175
Stark County Aqua Life Enthusiasts, Inc.
P.O. Box 8384, Canton, OH 44711
Story City A.S.
920 Fairview St., #8, Story City, IA 50248
Tampa Bay Aquarium Society
Al Knowles, 1101 West Kirby Lane, Tampa FL 33604
(813) 932-5447
The Suburban A.S.
P.O. Box 101, Prospect Hts, IL 60070
Texas Area Killifish Organization
Michelle Sykes, 15926 Pfeiffer Dr. Houston, TX 77081
uni...@wt.net
Tropical Aquarists Of Northern - Ohio Club
Bonnie Tamura, 941 N. State St., Painesville, OH 44077
Tri-County Tropical Fish Soc.
312 Oaklawn Terr., Creve Coeur, IL 61611
Tropical Fish Club of Burlington
RR #1, Box 1548, Huntington, VT 05462
Tropical Fish Club of Erie County
5725 Herman Hill Rd., Hamburg, NY 14075
Tropical Fish Society Rhode Island
44 Homecrest Ave. Slatersville, RI 02876
Western New York A.S.
P.O. Box 472, Hiler Branch, Buffalo, NY 14223
Worcester A.S.
P.O. Box 972, Worcester, MA 01613-0972
Youngstown Area Tropical Fish
P.O. Box 5190, Youngstown, OH 44514
Local Aquarium Societies - Canada
Aquarium Society of Winnipeg
P.O. Box 301, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C 2H6
Brampton Aquarium Club
5372 Drenkelly Ct., Mississauga, Ontario, CANADA L5M-2H4
Calgary Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 63180, 2604 Kensington Rd. NW, Calagary, AB T2W 4C9
Contact: Birgit McKinnon, (403) 249-8733, email : 2129...@3web.net
Huronia and District A.S.
RR 3, 9th Con. W., Orillia, Ontario, Canada L3V 6H3
Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 38037, 256 King Str. N., Waterloo, ON, Canada. N2J 4T9
Montreal A.S.
P.O. Box 653, Station B, Montreal, Que., Canada H3B 3K3
Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society
Box 31033, Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2B 8S8
Regina A.S.
P.O. Box 3654, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4P 3N8
Sarnia Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 542, Sarnia Ontario Canada N7T 2M7
tsp...@sar-net.com
Saskatoon A.S.
Box 371, Saskatoon Saskathewan, Canada S7K 3L3
Societie D'aquariophilie De Montreal
2450 Workman, Montreal, QUE, Canada H3J 1L8
Local Aquarium Societies - Other
Asoc. Nacional Acuarofila Mexicana, AC
APDO Postal 73-112, Santa Cruz Atoyac, Mexico, DF 03310
Asoci. Acuaristas Aguadilla
P.O. Box 102, Aguadilla, PR 00605
Bermuda Fry-Angle Club
P.O. Box WK272, Warwick, WKBX, Bermuda
Grupo Mexicano De Ciclidofilos
Cordillera Karakorum 223b, Lomas 3a. Seccion, San Luis Potosi, S.L.P.,
78216 Mexico
Tel/fax 052-48-253168
cm...@freenet.carleton.ca
South London Aquarist Society
How Pang (Chairman), 11 Ramsdale Rd, Tooting, London Sw17 9BP, UK
How...@demon.uk.com
FAQ: Mail-Order Houses
Mail-Order Aquarium Supplies
Although prices are lower through mail order, one must consider the
cost of the shipping and handling, the delay time if product is not in
stock, and the fact that the mail order company will typically not
answer detailed questions. Your local retailer on the other hand must
pay for the overhead of inventory, and often times are willing to
answer questions. We need to collectively ensure the survival of good,
helpful stores with fair prices.
Service Comparisons
Here is a quick comparison of five of the most popular mail-order
houses, That Fish Place (TFP), Mail Order Pet Shop (MOPS), Pet
Warehouse (PW), Wet Thumb Aquatics, and Daleco. Addresses and phone
numbers are listed later in this section.
TFP MOP PW DLC WTA
Price 1.5 1.2 2.0 2.5 1.0
Selection 1.6 1.9 2.3 1.5 3.0
Service 1.7 2.3 1.0 2.0 1.0
Processing 2.1 2.0 1.0 1.5 1.0
Completeness 1.6 2.1 1.3 2.0 2.0
Correctness 1.1 1.4 1.0 1.5 1.0
Damage 1.0 1.2 1.0 1.0 1.0
Sum 10.6 12.1 9.6 12 10
# Responses 11 10 3 2 1
Avg 1.5 1.7 1.3 1.7 1.4
Criteria
Price
Total cost of an average order.
1 - excellent, 2 - good, 3 - fair, 4 - pet shop
Selection
Do they carry what you want?
1 - anything you could possibly want, 2 - good, 3 - fair, 4 -
poor.
Customer service
Are they pleasant on the phone? Do the sales people provide
accurate product information? Are printed materials helpful?
1 - excellent, 2 - good, 3 - fair, 4 - why are you calling and
bothering them?
Order processing
How fast is your order processed? (When does it leave the
warehouse? Not when do you actually receive it, as this varies
with your location!)
1 - same day, 2 - 1-3 days, 3- longer than three days.
Order completeness
Do they have what you ordered in stock?
1 - rarely a stock out, 2 - occasional, 3 - often items are out
of stock.
Order correctness
Did they send what you ordered?
1 - never a problem, 2 - minor problems, 3 - common problem.
Order damage
Do you ever receive broken items?
1 - never a problem, 2 - minor problems, 3 - common problem.
The Big Fish
That Fish Place
237 Centerville Rd.
Lancaster, PA 17603
800-733-3829
Clearly, a favored source for mail order. Best catalogue (very useful
for ordering from other places). I received no "horror" stories, only
one minor complaint.
Good Source for: Plants
Shipping: Actual Cost
Mail Order Pet Shop
250 W Executive Drive
Edgewood, NY 11717
800-366-7387 (ordering and product info)
800-326-6677 (customer service)
1338 North Market Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95834
Probably the total lowest cost place for supplies. However, it seems
that people either love or hate them. I received several complaints
about service and bulk products being shorted etc. People like their
flat fee for shipping.
Shipping: $3.99 orders <= $45, $5.99 orders > $45 but < $100, $7.99
orders > $100. For $5 extra, they will 2-Day ship orders under 20
pounds.
Pet Warehouse
Dept. C45F
P.O. Box 310
Xenia, OH 45385
800-443-1160
FAX 800-513-1913
People like their quick service.
Shipping:
$35 or < $5.95
$35-50 6.95
$60-75 7.95
$75-100 9.95
$100-150 10.95
$150 or > 11.95
2-day UPS delivery for $3.50 extra for items < 23 pounds
The Small Fry
Daleco
3556 N 400 E
Warsaw, IN 46580
800-987-1120
FAX 219-268-6302
Has many unusual items. Shipping is included in prices for orders over
$50 but prices are sometimes higher than bigger places.
Good Source for: Live Food Cultures, Dupla Products, LaMotte Test Kits
Shipping: Free, orders under $50.00 require a $5.00 handling fee.
Wet Thumb Aquatic
52700 Base St.
New Baltimore, MI 48047
810-725-0960
Smaller outfit. Their selection is not great but prices are very good.
They are more breeder oriented. They ship same day. Also, they happen
to carry a great deal of merchandise, a lot that other companies do
not even think about. Also, they are very willing to answer your
questions.
Good Source for: Regenerative Blowers and Reverse Osmosis units.
Shipping:
$25 or < 2.50
$25-45 3.50
$45-60 4.50
$60-75 5.50
$75 or > Free
Others mentioned but not ranked
Spectacular Sea System: Specializing in marine lighting and
accessories ranked 3,3,1,1,1,1,1 305-941-3792
End of Resource FAQ.