local marine fish stores.....
Khoi Nguyen
i have recently decided to get back into the hobby and am wondering...
what are some of the favorite spots to shop at nowadays. i'm in the
southern california area by the way. thanks alot!
D. Gerasimatos
These are the stores I've been to. I'm not sure how folks rate them, but
I'll try to rate them. It would be interesting if folks could give their
comments on these as well as add more to the list.
Piece of the Reef in Rancho Cucamonga: 8
Store with a good selection of invertebrates and live rock, but a rather
poor selection of fish and equipment. It's a small outfit, but the owner
is knowledgable and friendly and the prices can be pretty good.
Parkway Tropical Fish in Chino Hills: 6
Decent store with excellent prices on limited selection of good quality
fish and invertebrates. Don't ask them for any advice and you'll be fine.
Global Aquarium and Pets in Chino Hills: 1
This store recently moved here from Pomona. Prices are atrocious and they
can't keep anything alive. So bad I don't even go in anymore.
Pasadena Tropical Fish in Pasadena: 7
Limited selection of invertebrates, but decent clams and some good buys on
fish. The owner is fairly knowledgable, but not by this group's standards.
This is a good place to go to get livestock on the days shipments come in,
because they have fairly high mortality despite what looks like a good
system (metal halide, etc.).
Aquarium City in Canoga Park: 7
Decent selection of fish and invertebrates. The owner isn't all that
knowledgable, but is very accomodating. Overall an average store.
Underwater Depot in Sherman Oaks: 7
Another average store, but some of the employees really know their stuff.
This is one of the few stores I'll seek advice at. I often disregard it,
but sometimes they have some good ideas and suggestions.
Mark's Fish in Studio City: 8
This store has better than average livestock at incredibly high prices.
They occasionally get some wonderful clams and the fish are extremely
healthy and colorful. They can also have good advice, but they often
try to sell you an item while dispensing it.
Coral Gardens in Studio City: ?
Never been, but heard good things about it.
H2O Tropicals in Laguna Hills: 9
These guys have good quality livestock (invertebrates only) at incredibly
high prices. Knowledgable staff that tries to convince you that
high-priced items and technology are the keys to a successful reef. It's
hard to argue with their results, though.
Tidal Wave in Thousand Oaks: 7
I went to this store because it was recommended by MASLA. It was a good
shop, but not worth the drive from Pasadena. They had fairly unimpressive
display tanks, which is a bad sign, but they had a incredible selection of
the more expensive and harder to find fish.
Tropical Imports in Glendale: 2
This store looks like a dive from the outside and it is. Livestock doesn't
look that great, but prices can be pretty cheap if you're willing to
bargain hunt and take a risk on some of the better specimens.
The Fish Cove in La Crescenta: 4
Not a great selection of fish, but what they have is fine. Occasionally
they'll have some good invertebrates. Owner tends to frown on those who
browse and/or loiter, so I shy away from it.
Aquatic Warehouse in San Diego: 9
Pretty knowledgable staff who cares about the hobby. Good selection of
invertebrates, but weak on the fish. Good prices on hardware. Also a
good place to go to hand pick cured live rock. They have a web site
at http://www.aquaticwarehouse.com .
You might also want to check the classified ads in places like The
Recycler. There are quite a few independents who work out of their homes
who can obtain good quality livestock at rock bottom prices.
Dimitri
Eric Chace Olivares
you're in the area is Brett's Tropical Fish in what is actually Thousand
Oaks. Great livestock and great prices....THE best 180 gallon reef I've
ever seen..."Brett" the owner who is actually there and will do anything
to make you happy:
Example....I was looking at 60 acrylics...for 175, and he said "Come back
in a month when they're on sale for $140". I said that I lived far away
and couldn't do it. He OFFERED to give me that sale price that day!!!
What a guy. He also keeps a fairly good selection of used lighting
equipment, ballasts, endcaps, bulbs that people didn't like but only fired
once....etc. Everyone I've ever talked to was great and very helpful.
And if you see nothing else while you're there, flip through their book of
their custom tank setups. Dropped my jaw.
...cool store....Brett if you're reading I want some MAJOR discounts on
that PC retro... =]
D. Gerasimatos (d...@soda.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU) wrote:
: In article <35BE6ED8...@mail.nuc.ucla.edu>,
:
:
:
cal...@my-dejanews.com
Their is a few place that I have been to that you haven't two in San Diego 1#
Fountain's,2# Pet Kingdom. Also in Redlands there's a place called Pet World.
another is in Calimesa 15 min south on the 10 from pet world. It's called
Schilingtons. Since you have been to aquatic wherehouse. on the other side of
the 63 their's another place don't remember the name.
>
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JJawor5250
>> >what are some of the favorite spots to shop at nowadays. i'm in the
>> >southern california area by the way. thanks alot!
>
Don't forget about TIS Tropical in Fountain Valley. These guys have some the
rarest specimens around.
Steven Broyles
>the 63 their's another place don't remember the name.
>
Octopus's Garden. I've heard good things about it, but nothing specific.
Also, as far as Pet Kingdom goes... they are a pretty good store, but
right now their marine section is in shambles. They are remodeling some
(or, at least they were last week).
One highlight (pardon the pun) is that they have installed a skylight to
illuminate one of their holding tanks. Looks like it is a pretty cool
setup and I plan to try to emulate it on my next tank (60-75g).
-Steve
Craig Snider
JJawor5250 <jjawo...@aol.com> wrote:
...
>>> >what are some of the favorite spots to shop at nowadays. i'm in the
>>> >southern california area by the way. thanks alot!
>Don't forget about TIS Tropical in Fountain Valley. These guys have some the
>rarest specimens around.
My experience with Tis Tropicals is that they have great plumbing supplies
for aquarium use, but their marine livestock usually isn't in very good shape.
They do sometimes have some unusual specimens (I recently added a pistol
shrimp to my system that I found there), but some of the unusual specimens
they carry don't belong in the trade. They had a beautiful basket star that
was surely fated for a short life. Worth a stop if you're in the area,
but not a special trip.
- Craig
--
Craig Snider snider "at" ics.uci.edu, http://www.ics.uci.edu/~snider
-- * Arcadia Project, Department of Information and Computer Science
-- * University of California Irvine, CA 92717-3425
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f_...@my-dejanews.com
in Lake Forest (south Orange county). Their prices
seem reasonable and the livestock appears to be in
fairly good condition.
-Felix