Went to a new aquarium shop

[Lauren B.]

I posted earlier this week about a huge aquarium shop that was over an hour away. I took the trip today and the shop was really nice, but not quite what I expected. It was not so much a fish shop but an aquarium shop. The difference being that while they had fish and fish supplies, their showroom was mostly filled with very unusual and high-end aquarium set-ups. They had in-wall aquariums (the one on display was a 55gal for $1100), there was a huge square mirrored aquarium (didn't display a price), and just about any other setup you could think of. They had a 6gallon NanoCube setup that carried a price of $549 (gulp!...for a SIX gallon!). They were very exclusive and the showroom was very sterile-looking (I almost felt underdressed when I walked in), and their prices reflected it. Everything was the highest price I've seen around. Even their fish were high-end, as they carried only a few tanks of "regular" fish (cherry barbs, serpae tetras, glofish, danios, goldfish, corys), and the rest were large, beautiful, expensive fish.

[Chrona]

Sounds like a nice place for the fish, not so nice for the wallet :)

I found a LFS yesterday that keeps 50x 10 gallon tanks for FW livestock, with various larger tanks, that are ALL INDEPENDENT! That's right, each one has it's own HOB or sponge filter, none of that silly central wet/dry system that spreads disease. Water changes are done weekly by hand, with a Python and a large barrel for waste water. Cheap prices and some of the best looking fish I've seen, not to mention a HUGE plant selection. It goes to show that mom and pop stores are the way to go for livestock. I've died and gone to heaven :41:

[blue fin]

Sounds like they really don't care about fish...just profits

[Lady Hobbs]

Guess you didn't buy 2 or 3 tanks there then? LOL I went to a new shop today myself. I finally made it to the PetSmart an hour away. I have to say after hearing so many bad things about their fish, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find absolutely immaculate tanks and oodles of them, as well. A gal was working on them and I told they they looked very nice and she said she had actually fallen a bit behind.

They also had some great tanks and I fell in love with a 39 high tank. My angels would love that. But a bunch of stuff I couldn't find. Got the last glass hood, no veggie clips, no suction cups large enough for plants and several other things I was looking for they didn't have.

Glad I couldn't find anything because I still dropped another $125!

Their 55 kits were $159......one dollar more than Walmarts but with a bio-wheel filter. NO! I didn't get it.

(Hey Jeff, got my black background for next tank.)



I did find a great reptile log marked down from $15.95 to $5 and I grabbed that for my loaches hide-out. Their master test kits were $29.95. Same dang thing I order from them online for $14 so I passed on that.

[Drumachine09]

I ,as well, went on a trip to a new store. Its called "the aquarium shop in oldtown" (old town is our historic district). It was ALL saltwater stuff. Very interesting. Cheap mushrooms for 6 a pop. And they had black percula clowns too. really cool looking fish. I want to go to the only one i havent been to. Its called Sea dreams. Ive been told they have a 1000 gallon marine tank. Im looking foward to the trip!

[Chrona]

Don't you hate getting your credit card bill, tallying up the total, and realizing you could have gotten a new tank with all that random money spent? lol

[cocoa_pleco]

1000g marine tanks are awesome

[Severus]

Tanks can be very hard on the wallet. i would rather find a shop that cared about their fish and not so much the tanks

[Lady Hobbs]

The markups in tanks pays their bills. How much markup can there be on a $3.00 fish. :)

I just had to check out their Blood Parrots. She said they were "very" aggressive but I always read they are not. Goes to show, huh?

[kimmers318]

Keep your eyes open whenever you go to the Petsmart and Petsuppliesplus stores, they frequently discount a lot of stuff, I save a mint on dog toys and aquarium decor that way. I doubt my boxer cares if his new squeaky toy is a christmas tree in March! The large tree stump decor pictured here I scored for only $8 or $9 a couple of weeks ago, regularly seen at $30.....could be why they don't sell well.
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It takes up almost the whole center in my 29 gallon with plants attached to it and several caves in and out. My modestus never uses it so I will probably put it in my 65 for the loaches.

[Lady Hobbs]

That tree stump was at the store I went to yesterday because I priced it. I liked it too but it sure was not for that price there. It was the $30 you mentioned. Good grab!

[Lauren B.]

Sounds like they really don't care about fish...just profits

While their for-sale fish were in really good shape and their living quarters immaculate, I got the impression that this store was mostly for rich folks who want to add an aquarium as decor, and not so much for love of fish (ie., Antoine the gigolo in Deuce Bigalow). If the store was any closer to me I'd shop there for supplies (water conditioners, food supplies, etc.) because all their products were high-end and the best brands. It was located in a very affluent suburb of Dallas so it shouldn't have surprised me.