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Paandemonium

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Paandemonium

I was going to put this in the beginner's forum but I decided this one would work better. I want to compile a list of LFSs in every state and area that we have members in. I know its been tried to be done before but that thread died. I fully intend to keep this one alive, updated, and constantly improving. Everything will be listed by state( in ABC order) if two members put up different reviews then I will add both of them in. Let this thread work as a guide for the new people and as a way to explore different shops in your area(or if you're going out of town and want to drop by). I will also include "local vendors" in blue, these are people who are not brick and mortar stores but sell/trade online or are local "secrets"

Once you post here I will add it into the first post.

You can list a store and leave a positive/negative mini review or the pros/cons so that people know to "go" or "no"

Please don't post places like "petco" they don't count

 

California

 

All About Fish (Concord-Pleasant Hill)
Pros
Big fish area for ponds, salt, and fresh. Also have some corals and plants. Big place, lots of equipment. Staff have improved lately.
Cons

Shotty wholesaler, so some fish will have diseases, corals have pests, etc.

 

Aquatic Collection (Hayward)

 

Pros
Huge place, really nice livestock, also have an equipment area. Cool owners and staff.
Cons
No fresh area, some things can be priced a little high.

 

Aqua Forest Aquarium(San Francisco)

 

Pros

ADA supplies and tanks, awesome fresh selection, good staff, insane show tanks. Really healthy livestock.

 

Cons

No salt area, lots of people come in just to look at the show tanks, so it's crowded, and small.

Diablo Corals (Concord-Pleasant Hill)

 

Pros

Nice designer clowns, great corals. The owner Jesse is really cool, the prices are pretty good as well. Also have Reef Frenzy.

 

Cons

A little aptasia and other pests here and there. Small store. No fresh water area.

 

 

 

Colorado

 

Mr Aqua(Colorado Springs)

 

Pros

Frags

Anemones

Beautiful fish

Many and large tanks of corals (and fish)

Will frag any corals that you want on the spot (I've only done Euphyllias and a Chalice)

 

Cons

Kind of in a scary area especially at night

Next to a busy road, so it's hard to get out of sometimes

Not much of selection in fish

One of his coral tanks is basically dead SPS

I usually go the day before his shipment :(

Can be pretty expensive

 

Seascape Aquatics(Colorado Springs)

 

Pros

There's 3 people who works there. The owner, her husband, and their mom. Though, I havent seen the mom lately.

Anyways, they have 2 display tanks in the front and they sell stuff out of those.

They have 2 coral tanks.

Nice selection in fish

Invert tank

Freshwater selection

Salt and Fresh to sell

Very knowledgable in what they do

 

Cons

Their selection in corals are usually very limited.

Small store (but they make it work and still have a nice selection)

 

 

 

Florida

 

Coral Corral(Tampa)

 

Pros
HUGE Store.
Frags from $5 to hundreds of dollars.
From your common corals to collectors.
Lots of great prices at decent prices.

 

Cons
Usually running only actinic over tanks which requires you to ask to see corals under white light.

 

Coral Reef Aquariums(Tampa)

 

Pros

Polite staff. Decent selection of inverts. Their own supply of pods which is better priced than bottled.

 

Cons

Overpriced corals with not that great of selection. I am not sure I would trust their fish stock as I always see dead ones.

 

Creative Aquariums(Tampa)

 

Pros
Great selection. Really good prices. Workers are polite and pay attention.

 

Cons
Small store but plenty of fish and coral.
Location is a bit ugly being on a major road (Dale Mabry).
This place can get busy fast and its a fairly small store so getting to things and getting help can be annoying.
They have a lot of coral that is not for sale in their displays and frag tanks. Not really a con but can be frustrating to see something you want that you can't have.

 

Exotic Aquariums(Miami)

 

Pros

Fresh and salt, huge selection of fish, huge selection of equipment, mostly sps/ lps/ inverts, high end + low)no real middle ground), nice displays

 

Cons

Staff could be more attentive, avoid the young skinny guy(always seems like he's in a hurry to get you out), parking(sometimes), sometimes the staff doesnt know what they're selling you(i.e difference between a CAR and a Bowser)

 

Fish and other Itchy Stuff(Tampa)

 

Pros
Great selection. Lots of discounts. A wide variety selection. Very reputable fish selection.

 

Cons
Medium to small store.
Could probably pay more attention to customers.

 

Marine Warehouse(Tampa)

 

Pros
Large store.
Large selection.
Almost everything you could want from a saltwater store.

 

Cons
Can be hard to get help without being aggressive.
Usually not too much in the more rare selection and I haven't noticed collector corals in stock.

 

Strictly Fish(Miami)

 

Pros

Salt, broad selection of fish, mostly softies/ lps, nice clams, great staff, designer clowns, upgraded dry good section, actually inform you before you buy something, not in for a quick buck, friendly staff, Luis loves his zoas, occasional raffles, weekly discounts, general pricing

 

Cons

PARKING, don't come in on mondays as the tanks for fish will have little to offer, the most random things can be over priced(like an turbo for $5 or cheap zoas for $30)

 

 

 

Idaho

 

Exotic Guppy(Twin Falls)

 

Pros

Only aquarium store in the area. Been there for many years. Salt and fresh water of all types. Sells soft/lps coral for reasonable prices.

 

Cons

Only aquarium store in the area. Very limited selection of coral. Very small store, hard to shop with other customers. Very biased opinions. Lack of parking. Usually very strong smell. Supplies are very high in price.

 

Corals 4 Cheap(Boise,Meridian)

 

Pros

Well established, very clean, lots of room, great looking tanks, great lighting, very helpful staff, not pushy at all. Real nice selection of soft, lps, sps, clean up crews and salt water fish. Great prices listed in view and easy to read. Well worth the drive from out of towners.

 

Cons

Small selection of supplies.

 

 


Illinois

 

Old Orchard Aquariums (Skokie)

 

Pros

Large store. Great fish selection. Livestock appears healthy. Staff is knowledgeable.

They have a lot of hardware, tanks, etc. Nice freshwater selection if you're into that. Fun place to take the kids to poke around.

 

Cons

A bit on the expensive side. Not much of a frag selection. Corals are mostly common and sold as colonies.

 

Old Town Aquariums (Old Town Chicago)

 

Pros

Awesome and honest staff (warned me about a dwarf angel that was seen nipping at LPS before I bought it).

Very healthy and diverse fish selection. Many awesome beginner corals.

Very clean store.

 

Cons

Not much frag selection. Not much "cherry picked" high end shtuff.

 

Reefwise (Lisle)

 

Pros

Lots of smaller corals for really good prices.

 

Cons

Currently under construction, so low on fish (this should change in a few weeks).

 

 

New York

 

Manhattan Aquariums(Manhattan)

 

Pros

Best LFS in the city. Amazing frags and colonies. Fantastic prices, deals, and sales. Great staff. Beautiful, clean store!

 

Cons

It's a bit of a hike from the subway. That would be my only con.

 

 

Oregon

 

A​quatopia(Central Oregon)

 

Pros

Only lfs in alllll of central Oregon closest other is 3 hrs

 

Cons

prices

selection( don't even have saltwater setup yet just some corals) and just about everything else

"pretty much central Oregon sucks to have a reef"

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Theres more in the Boise area but Ive only been to the one.

 

Twin Falls Idaho.

 

Exotic Guppy.

 

Pros

 

Only aquarium store in the area. Been there for many years. Salt and fresh water of all types. Sells soft/lps coral for reasonable prices.

 

Cons

 

Only aquarium store in the area. Very limited selection of coral. Very small store, hard to shop with other customers. Very biased opinions. Lack of parking. Usually very strong smell. Supplies are very high in price.

 

 

 

Boise Idaho (Meridian)

 

Corals 4 Cheap

 

Pros

 

Well established, very clean, lots of room, great looking tanks, great lighting, very helpful staff, not pushy at all. Real nice selection of soft, lps, sps, clean up crews and salt water fish. Great prices listed in view and easy to read. Well worth the drive from out of towners.

 

Cons

 

Small selection of supplies.

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Illinois

 

Reefwise (Lisle)

 

Pros

Lots of smaller corals for really good prices.

 

Cons

Currently under construction, so low on fish (this should change in a few weeks).

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Mr. Microscope

Great thread Panda!

 

Illinois

Old Orchard Aquariums (Skokie)

Pros

Large store. Great fish selection. Livestock appears healthy. Staff is knowledgeable.

They have a lot of hardware, tanks, etc. Nice freshwater selection if you're into that. Fun place to take the kids to poke around.

 

Cons

A bit on the expensive side. Not much of a frag selection. Corals are mostly common and sold as colonies.

 

Old Town Aquariums (Old Town Chicago)

Pros

Awesome and honest staff (warned me about a dwarf angel that was seen nipping at LPS before I bought it).

Very healthy and diverse fish selection. Many awesome beginner corals.

Very clean store.

 

Cons

Not much frag selection. Not much "cherry picked" high end shtuff.

 

New York (Manhattan)

Manhattan Aquariums

Pros

Best LFS in the city. Amazing frags and colonies. Fantastic prices, deals, and sales. Great staff. Beautiful, clean store!

 

Cons

It's a bit of a hike from the subway. That would be my only con.

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central oregon

aquatopia

pros:only lfs in alllll of central oregon closest other is 3 hrs

 

cons:prices:selection{dont even have saltwater setup yet just some corals} and just about everything ealse

 

 

 

 

pretty much central oregon sucks to have a reef



but portland and salem oregon have alot ill lookup and post a few

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Florida (Tampa)

 

Creative Aquariums

 

Pros
Great selection. Really good prices. Workers are polite and pay attention.

 

Cons
Small store but plenty of fish and coral.
Location is a bit ugly being on a major road (Dale Mabry).
This place can get busy fast and its a fairly small store so getting to things and getting help can be annoying.
They have a lot of coral that is not for sale in their displays and frag tanks. Not really a con but can be frustrating to see something you want that you can't have.


Marine Warehouse

 

Pros
Large store.
Large selection.
Almost everything you could want from a saltwater store.

 

Cons
Can be hard to get help without being aggressive.
Usually not too much in the more rare selection and I haven't noticed collector corals in stock.


Coral Corral

 

Pros
HUGE Store.
Frags from $5 to hundreds of dollars.
From your common corals to collectors.
Lots of great prices at decent prices.

 

Cons
Usually running only actinic over tanks which requires you to ask to see corals under white light.


Fish and other Itchy Stuff

 

Pros
Great selection. Lots of discounts. A wide variety selection. Very reputable fish selection.

 

Cons
Medium to small store.
Could probably pay more attention to customers.

 

Coral Reef Aquariums

 

Pros

Polite staff. Decent selection of inverts. Their own supply of pods which is better priced than bottled.

 

Cons

Overpriced corals with not that great of selection. I am not sure I would trust their fish stock as I always see dead ones.

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Colorado Springs

 

Seascape Aquatics

 

Pros:

There's 3 people who works there. The owner, her husband, and their mom. Though, I havent seen the mom lately.

Anyways, they have 2 display tanks in the front and they sell stuff out of those.

They have 2 coral tanks.

Nice selection in fish

Invert tank

Freshwater selection

Salt and Fresh to sell

Very knowledgable in what they do

 

Cons:

Their selection in corals are usually very limited.

Small store (but they make it work and still have a nice selection)

 

Mr Aqua

 

Pros:

Frags

Anemones

Beautiful fish

Many and large tanks of corals (and fish)

Will frag any corals that you want on the spot (I've only done Euphyllias and a Chalice)

 

Cons:

Kind of in a scary area especially at night

Next to a busy road, so it's hard to get out of sometimes

Not much of selection in fish

One of his coral tanks is basically dead SPS

I usually go the day before his shipment :(

Can be pretty expensive

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California-SF Bay Area

 

Diablo Corals (Concord-Pleasant Hill)

 

Pros

Nice designer clowns, great corals. The owner Jesse is really cool, the prices are pretty good as well. Also have Reef Frenzy.

 

Cons

A little aptasia and other pests here and there. Small store. No fresh water area.

 

 

Aqua Forest Aquarium(San Francisco)

Pros

ADA supplies and tanks, awesome fresh selection, good staff, insane show tanks. Really healthy livestock.

 

Cons

No salt area, lots of people come in just to look at the show tanks, so it's crowded, and small.

All About Fish (Concord-Pleasant Hill)
Pros
Big fish area for ponds, salt, and fresh. Also have some corals and plants. Big place, lots of equipment. Staff have improved lately.
Cons
Shotty wholesaler, so some fish will have diseases, corals have pests, etc.

 

 

Aquatic Collection (Hayward)
Pros
Huge place, really nice livestock, also have an equipment area. Cool owners and staff.
Cons
No fresh area, some things can be priced a little high.
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Paandemonium

Updated the original post guys :) thanks for the posts and please feel free to continue adding. Regardless of if you are a new member or an old one this thread could turn out to be extremely useful :)

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Angel<3Nanos

Nevada

Aquatic Treasures -Las Vegas
Pros
Owner (Sonny) is amazing! Great corals. Healthy livestock. Always friendly. Have almost anything you want. Clean store. My favorite LFS.
Cons
Honestly nothing.

Aquatic Empires -Las Vegas
Pros
Very good selection of corals. Good Livestock. Dry goods are good. Clean store.
Cons
A bit overpriced, but nothing crazy. Sometimes it could take a while for someone to help you. They have aiptasia in 2 out of 5 frags.

Pisces - Las Vegas
Pros
It's a huge place. They have a huge selection of corals. Somewhat friendly staff. Clean store.
Cons
A bit over priced. A while back their fish had diseases. But I think they fixed that.

Blue Reef Aquatics - N Las Vegas
Pros
They have nice corals. Some staff is friendly. Huge dry good and equipment selection. Clean store.
Cons
They have tons of bad reviews. Everything is overpriced. (Once they tried to sell me a golf ball size of chaeto for $25). Owners are shady.

The Fish Store - Henderson
Pros
Grand opening is October 11th. Will come back and update.

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California, Los Angeles Area.

 

Vivid Aquariums.

 

Best LFS in the LA area, huge selection of frags, fish and dry goods, ro water is always 0 TDS, Salt water is always perfect. Been to all the other locals in the area, this is the only choice for me.

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California, San Diego County

 

Aquatic warehouse

 

Pros:

Huge warehouse full of fresh and saltwater, lots of display tanks, quarantine avail, great coral section, lots of tanks and equip to choose from. Friendly staff.

Cons:

Takes a lot of my money, will sell you what you dont need, expensive, need to ask for specialty equip because they do not have it out laying around.

 

Aquasd

 

Pros:

Awesome selection of coral, you name it-they have it. Friendly and very helpful, always holding live sales and local deals.

Cons:

Expensive when no sales are going. Some equip and media, mainly coral frags and colony's

 

Reefers garage

Pros:

Great deals on fish and coral

Cons:

Located in vista-far drive from sd, small hole in the wall store, small equip selection

 

Vets pets

Pros:

Awesome place to buy fish, knowledgeable

Cons:

Also a reptile store, coral tanks over run with hair algae/xenia, poor upkeep

 

Shipwreck cove

Havent been to the new store yet

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North Carolina

 

Greendales Nursery

Kannapolis

Pros

Close to where I live and I can get most any livestock ordered. Some of the hardware is cheaper than I have found online. The owner is usually always there and very helpful.

Cons

Doesn't always know the things taken in on trade, have to research on the spot sometimes. Off the beaten path for most.

 

Salty's of Lake Norman

Moorseville

Pros

Nice large store with great stock. High end corals.

Cons

On the expensive side.

 

Inland Reef

Mint Hill

Pros

Very knowledgeable and has rare fish all the time. Great corals. Prices reasonable.

Cons

Moving to a bigger location and not open yet. Opening set for Nov.

 

Nemos Reef

Charlotte

Pros

Knowledgeable staff. Personable owners/operators. Has upper and lower end corals and fish.

Cons

Always crowded for such a large store.

 

Fintastic

Charlotte

Pros

Clean with a decent selection of hardware and livestock.

Cons

Large turnover in staff, so it is hit or miss when getting questions answered. Expensive compared to most places in the area.

 

Triad Reef Critters

Kernersville

Pros

Excellent knowledgeable staff. Great selection of corals and fish. Decent selection of new and used hardware.

Cons

I miss the basement store.

 

Upscale Aquatics

Huntersville

Pros

Large store with both fresh and salt.

Cons

Only been there once at the grand opening and not much livestock to choose from.

 

Reef farm

Raliegh

Pros

Most things are aquaculture, tank breed fish. A lot of knowledge of the corals and fish they sell and even the ones they don't sell.

Cons

Not many fish to choose from.

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Chicago:

 

New Fish ( Wicker Park Chicago)

 

Pros: Decent Pricing and a nice sized selection of smaller frags. Also, there is a 600+ gallon system set up in the shop.

 

Cons: It is a smaller shop, if that matters.

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Texas :

 

Ft. Worth

 

Fish2morow

 

Pros : Very knowledgeable staff. Huge zoa / sps frag section. SPS frags start @ $20 . Great sps colony. selection. Very good fish variety (all fish in QT before sale) . 450g sps disply ... you can find me there :)

 

Cons : smaller store so crowded when busy, some pricing can be a little high .

 

http://fish2morow.com

 

Or choose from here http://www.dfwmas.org/lfs

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Obsessed Reefer

New Jersey

 

Aquatic Obsessions, RT35 Avenel

 

GO! Will is a fantastic businessman. Very professional, knowledgable, and friendly. I've been going to him for a few years now, and I've never been disappointed. Great prices, great selection, overall a fantastic store.

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Colorado

 

Aquatic Arts inc. - Highland's Ranch

 

 

 

Pros: excellent selection of healthy coral and inverts , especially SPS. Good selection of fish. Tanks incredibly well maintained . They offer RODI water and mixed saltwater as well as store mixed supplements at very competitive prices. Very knowledgable and approachable staff- the owner is fantastic to deal with and discuss livestock/ hardware. 500 gallon display with large colonies showing how many of their frags can look once grown out. A growing and ever expanding selection of hard goods. The best maintained tanks that I have seen in lfs in my area.

 

Cons:they are only open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays- but you can call and set up an appointment on other days - so not a huge issue. No real cons about this store .

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New Jersey

 

Aquarium Care Center (ACC) rt 35 ocean

 

Pros: Great selection of fish. inverts and corals. Custom aquarium and maintenance available. Excellent prices and weekly sales. Live food bar(rotifers, phyto, copepods) and wet media bar(bio pellets, GFO, etc.) Offer fresh and salt ro/di water. Very friendly and accommodating. New SPS raceway along with 4 other ~48x48 frag tanks. $10, $15, $29, $39 frag sections plus full colonies avail.

 

Cons: too hard to make decisions on what to buy :lol: only real cons are small store and can get crowded, especialy on weekends.

 

 

Tropiquarium-Rt 35 Ocean (literally across the street from ACC)

 

Pros: Huge store with anything you could imagine and need for your aquarium. 2-1000+gallon reef display tanks. 2 isles of saltware tanks~60 feet long, lots of fish, some inverts. big freshwater selection. cheapest tanks money can buy, they sell their tanks at cost and make no money on them.

 

Cons: expensive. mostly small colonies for sale, true frag selection is minimal and monotonous. really nothing new or different comes in.

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Florida

 

BioReef LLC (Jacksonville)

 

Pros
Big store

Extremely nice selection of corals & fish

Employees are honest and know what they're doing. Max is the BOMB, really knows his stuff and is excellent to talk with.

$5/pp rastas

Good pricing on nems and coral, fish are moderately priced.

They will cut coral frags for you as well.

 

Cons
Seem to have ich in most of their systems, hippo tangs and other tangs especially. Their acans never look great either. RODI is $.60/gal which is a bit pricey but theirs always has extremely low if not zero TDS. They bred a batch of Picasso clown babies and sell them from $80-150 which I think is steep for a clown that isn't an ORA Premium. No guarantee on livestock.

 

Coral Logic (Jacksonville)

 

Pros

Decent selection of corals & fish

Good pricing on nems and coral, fish are moderately priced.

 

Cons
Seem to have ich in most of their systems. (this is a common problem of course.) No guarantee on livestock.

 

Coral Reef Junkies (Jacksonville)

 

Pros

Store is very nice, looks more professional than most LFS I've been to. Big selection of dry goods.

Nice coral displays and pricing isn't awful.

 

Cons
Seem to have ich in most of their systems, sometimes see a sick fish. I don't shop there for anything living after I bought an $80 wrasse and it died of internal parasite after 6 days. Talked with the owner and essentially her point was "we're not huge like LA so we can't afford to offer a guarantee.". Pissed me off and I haven't shopped there since. No guarantee on livestock beyond 24hrs partial credit. (Assuming you can even get the dead fish back to them within 24hrs. They look like they have trouble with acros, they often have dying ones on the $10 rack. (At least when I went there, haven't been in like 4 months since the wrasse died.)

 

Orange Park Aquatics (Jacksonville)

 

Pros

Lots of dry tanks in the store for sale including some oddball sizes. Jason is the man, he talked with me for two hours about Kessil lights which he runs over most of his displays. He's really nice, very helpful and really knows his stuff.

He runs copper in his fish only systems, so no visible ich signs, this is a huge plus.

Frag displays are awesome

Good prices on fish/nems/corals, RODI is $.20/gal and tests clean everytime. Rics are $10 each, or they were when I was last there.

 

Cons
Common algae problems in frag tanks(looks like lots of GHA), but not bad on the actual frags. Parking kind of sucks and it's off Blanding BLVD so it takes a while to get there. I don't think he has a livestock guarantee either.

 

BDS Aquatics (Jacksonville)

(Cichlid&FW shop)

Pros

HUGE selection of Cichlids & cats, not bad pricing at all either. Had Synodontis Petricola which are a bit more hard to find.

I forget his name but the owner is really nice and very helpful (I'm a bit clueless when it comes to FW).

Good selection of common FW community fish as well.

Loads of plants and driftwood pieces.

 

Cons

Not in the best part of town, off Beach BLVD near University Christian which is like a ghetto school. No complaints other than that.

 

 

Nahacky's Aquarium (Melbourne)

 

Pros

Neat little selection of SW fish and inverts, livestock is always healthy*. They helped me get into the hobby and will let you pick frags out of their scrap bins for $3-7 anytime. Frag tanks are nice and aren't priced badly at all. Big selection of FW plants & fish as well, so it was cool to see it all together.

Gave me a replacement firefish and a free scrap frag for the trouble when my first firefish came down with ich and died. They offer 2 weeks on livestock but I can't recall if it applied to marine stuff as well.

 

Cons
The older skinny man is a little weird and doesn't seem as experienced as the rest. He tried to sell me a huma picasso trigger for my 10 gallon reef. lol. Tangs seemed to have HLLE problems often.

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Florida - Sarasota Area

 

Seascape Aquariums and Pet Center

Pros: Large store. Very knowledgable staff and decent selections.

Beautiful Show tanks. ORA dealer.

Cons: Browned SPS, lights aren't the best.

Old, so it's a little worn down.

 

KD's Oceans and Reefs:

Pros: Nice tanks. Good selection. Amazing Prices.

Cons: Staff lies a lot. Only good when the blonde girl or the owner is there.

 

Paradise Reef / Living Oceans

Pros: Large Drygoods and Tank selection.

Cons: Brand new, used to be in a bank so there's an annoying vault alarm system.

They can't get there fish wall up and running. Owners have no knowledge.

 

Under the Sea (Fish and Coral)

Pros: Cheappp prices.

Cons: Staff smokes e-cigs in the customers faces.

 

Coral Connection.

Pros: Super nice staff. Good selection, not super popular so it doesn't go quick.

Cons: TINY TINY shop, 1,000sq ft would be an over estimation.

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Jacksonville, FL

 

Bio-Reef(Nevermind, I didn't read through the whole thread. I just didn't see it on the top list.)

 

 

 

Florida

 

BioReef LLC (Jacksonville)

 

Pros
Big store

Extremely nice selection of corals & fish

Employees are honest and know what they're doing. Max is the BOMB, really knows his stuff and is excellent to talk with.

$5/pp rastas

Good pricing on nems and coral, fish are moderately priced.

They will cut coral frags for you as well.

 

Cons
Seem to have ich in most of their systems, hippo tangs and other tangs especially. Their acans never look great either. RODI is $.60/gal which is a bit pricey but theirs always has extremely low if not zero TDS. They bred a batch of Picasso clown babies and sell them from $80-150 which I think is steep for a clown that isn't an ORA Premium. No guarantee on livestock.

 

Coral Logic (Jacksonville)

 

Pros

Decent selection of corals & fish

Good pricing on nems and coral, fish are moderately priced.

 

Cons
Seem to have ich in most of their systems. (this is a common problem of course.) No guarantee on livestock.

 

Coral Reef Junkies (Jacksonville)

 

Pros

Store is very nice, looks more professional than most LFS I've been to. Big selection of dry goods.

Nice coral displays and pricing isn't awful.

 

Cons
Seem to have ich in most of their systems, sometimes see a sick fish. I don't shop there for anything living after I bought an $80 wrasse and it died of internal parasite after 6 days. Talked with the owner and essentially her point was "we're not huge like LA so we can't afford to offer a guarantee.". Pissed me off and I haven't shopped there since. No guarantee on livestock beyond 24hrs partial credit. (Assuming you can even get the dead fish back to them within 24hrs. They look like they have trouble with acros, they often have dying ones on the $10 rack. (At least when I went there, haven't been in like 4 months since the wrasse died.)

 

Orange Park Aquatics (Jacksonville)

 

Pros

Lots of dry tanks in the store for sale including some oddball sizes. Jason is the man, he talked with me for two hours about Kessil lights which he runs over most of his displays. He's really nice, very helpful and really knows his stuff.

He runs copper in his fish only systems, so no visible ich signs, this is a huge plus.

Frag displays are awesome

Good prices on fish/nems/corals, RODI is $.20/gal and tests clean everytime. Rics are $10 each, or they were when I was last there.

 

Cons
Common algae problems in frag tanks(looks like lots of GHA), but not bad on the actual frags. Parking kind of sucks and it's off Blanding BLVD so it takes a while to get there. I don't think he has a livestock guarantee either.

 

BDS Aquatics (Jacksonville)

(Cichlid&FW shop)

Pros

HUGE selection of Cichlids & cats, not bad pricing at all either. Had Synodontis Petricola which are a bit more hard to find.

I forget his name but the owner is really nice and very helpful (I'm a bit clueless when it comes to FW).

Good selection of common FW community fish as well.

Loads of plants and driftwood pieces.

 

Cons

Not in the best part of town, off Beach BLVD near University Christian which is like a ghetto school. No complaints other than that.

 

 

Nahacky's Aquarium (Melbourne)

 

Pros

Neat little selection of SW fish and inverts, livestock is always healthy*. They helped me get into the hobby and will let you pick frags out of their scrap bins for $3-7 anytime. Frag tanks are nice and aren't priced badly at all. Big selection of FW plants & fish as well, so it was cool to see it all together.

Gave me a replacement firefish and a free scrap frag for the trouble when my first firefish came down with ich and died. They offer 2 weeks on livestock but I can't recall if it applied to marine stuff as well.

 

Cons
The older skinny man is a little weird and doesn't seem as experienced as the rest. He tried to sell me a huma picasso trigger for my 10 gallon reef. lol. Tangs seemed to have HLLE problems often.

Bio-Reef is great! I only go there now. I work right next door which is sweet too. Max is great and one of the most knowledgeable about corals that I know of. I will be there tomorrow, as usual. You forgot Ocean Reef in Neptune Beach.

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Jacksonville, FL

 

Bio-Reef(Nevermind, I didn't read through the whole thread. I just didn't see it on the top list.)

 

 

Bio-Reef is great! I only go there now. I work right next door which is sweet too. Max is great and one of the most knowledgeable about corals that I know of. I will be there tomorrow, as usual. You forgot Ocean Reef in Neptune Beach.

I haven't been there actually. I will have to try sometime, but it hasn't been on the way to anything yet. Bioreef and Coral Logic are like 5 minutes from where I take classes this year which is nice. Bioreef is good though I do agree, Max has quite a following on Duval Reefkeepers at Facebook. He's a cool guy. Very approachable and knowledgeable.

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New Jersey

 

Aquarium Care Center (ACC) rt 35 ocean

 

Cons: too hard to make decisions on what to buy :lol: only real cons are small store and can get crowded, especialy on weekends.

 

+1 vote for Aquarium Care Center, my favorite LFS.

 

A few more for New Jersey:

 

1.) Aquatic Obsessions - 1150 Saint Georges Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07001 - (Good Livestock collection, Knowledgeable staff, Average prices)

 

2.) Feng's Reef - 702 Bound Brook Rd, Dunellen, NJ 08812

 

3.) Ocean Galary II - 980 Route 22 East, North Plainfield, NJ 07060

 

4.) Absolutely FIsh - 1080 Rt 46 West, Clifton, NJ 07013 - (Huge Livestock collection, Knowledgeable staff, Overpriced on dry goods)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Aquarium Depot in Sacramento, CA!

 

Pros: Really, really nice corals. Doubles as a reptile depot, so there's a fair amount of sightseeing to do while you're there. Cannot stress the quality of their corals. Fish QUALITY is pretty good. Owners are super cool. Store has a dog, its a belgian malinois that absolutely loves to be loved by customers, and that's a cool thing for me when I shop there. Owners will order you any kind of clownfish you want and wont even ask you to pay in advance. Yes, even peacekeepers. Also yes, even lightning maroons. Seriously.

 

Cons: Not a huge *variety* of fish regularly stocked. Invertebrates could be better. No saltwater plants in stock from what I've seen. Equipment prices kind of steep. And the whole building has been there forever, so it looks kind of like it's been there forever. Little aged.

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