ATTN:: suport your local fish store!!!

Here is the original fish forum, I remember as a kid.

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No thats just a fossil fish.

Wow, clay tablet. How old do you think I am?

441,504,000 units of time older than me!

(over 441 million!)

Pretty difficult at my age to fill out forms and what not since they never have a spot for BC after the date.

Maybe you can get a red arowana under the grandfather clause!

You mean the great, great, great grandfather clause.

my lfs is expensive ang garbage quality id rather go to a petco witch i HATE alot

It seems I was wrong about Wild World. They're not gone! They moved up harrison and are now next to Iron Rabbit. Google maps has the correct address. I'm going to try to squeeze in a visit today among all the million things I have to do.

Good news for sure!

Before I get started, let me say that I'm all for supporting mom and pop shops. In fact, i'd rather deal with breeders directly when possible. You get up front, no BS info and advice, and they're usually willing to work with you more or hook you up.

That said, I personally find it hard to support certain LFS when I get the same terrible (if not worse) advice from them as I do petsmart/co. When the people at petsmart/co are more professional than some LFS, it makes them look terrible.

I'll be frank, I bought a school of tetras for one of my tanks from petsmart - all 10 of them - still perfectly healthy and growing like champs. I bought 4 fish from sierra, dead in 2 days. I go to midway and every single tank is filled with ich or dead fish - and the staff acts like they're upset they have to get something for me.
Not to mention, I watched a guy literally BLOW into one of the bags containing a fish for a customer, to aerate it.
I've gotten better advice from the day manager at the Tacoma Petco than I ever have at wildside (who is WAY over priced btw, $49 for a glass cleaner? lol).


It's not just the chain pricing and wholesaling. It's the level of service provided. It's the quality of fish. It's the honesty and accuracy of information given to customers.
At Petco I overheard staff telling customers NOT to purchase any fish because they were planning to put them with goldfish and they would kill them. I could never imagine hearing this at a place like Midway or Wildside, where I'd be more likely to wager that i'd over hear "Yea sure, you want 10?" followed by staff blowing into the bags to "oxygenate" them.


I support a couple of LFS, but I will be honest, the reason I don't go to the majority of the ones around me is due to their piss poor service, terrible advice, and disgusting tank conditions. It is a businesses job to help the customer with a smile on their face, know what they're talking about, and provide a quality product.
It's truly a sad day when a conglomerate chain does a better job of that than a mom and pop owned shop that is supposed to take "pride" in their business.

If the LFS need support, step your game up. There is no reason for me to drive an extra half hour and pay $2 to $20 more for my fish when Petco does a better job. Just sayin'


and I know Midway supports this site, I know some of you have great repeat business with them, and I've even gotten fish from them that did fine (actually got one of my favorite fish from there and he's as lively as can be!), but I'm just being honest with my opinion and giving an example as to why some LFS are losing out. This post isn't a "bash Midway" post, so please don't take it as such.



and fwiw, petco in Tukwila has half their tanks emptied with signs saying that they're only stocking certain fish due to customer demand and crappy economy, so I'm sure they're feeling the pressure as well.

Dem is fightin words!!

Just kidding!

I don't frequent the stores up near Seattle just because they're so far away so I can't comment. However I did decide to stop into wildside, which is something I do less and less nowadays. I really wanted some more bogwood and I thought the going rate was $6 a pound(correct me if I'm wrong folks, it's rare of me to buy anything new these days) only to discover it was $10 a pound. Even the manzanita was $6 for a small stick. Even if I was rollin' in the dollar bills the prices are enough to make even the most care free spender turn and run the other way. The prices used to be the only thing that drove me away from wildside but as of late the service has gone off the deep end.

I'm having to rely on any fish purchases coming from the owners of the fish themselves. Neither small business nor chain stores were selling healthy fish. After a year I finally decided to give the chain store a try again. Went to the petsmart by the south hill mall as they've had a healthier stock record from everyone else. Bought a fish, fish was loaded with worms, fish went back. The upside to chain stores for me is better service. When I returned the fish she just fished out for me and gave my reason she said"Not a problem, glad you noticed it before you got too far" and it was said with a smile When I've complained of a problem or tried to make a return at small business's in my area(though a couple have closed since) all I got was hostility and rudeness and outright denial. Wildside had even revoked their return policy on me a couple times for not buying a certain amount of the same fish and a few times they would only give me store credit...

As mentioned above I have no comment for the store in the seattle area and above.

I stopped by Aquarium Paradise a couple of weekends ago. It seems that Lonzo has retired and Dom and his wife are running the place now.

Things looked tidier and they had a decent selection of freshwater fish (better than they usually do, including a huge Australian crayfish), plus a far better selection of equipment than they used to have. I bought some gravel (for my new 20g), air line stuff, and a trio of brilliant rasboras to boost the school in my 29g up to 9. The smaller community fish all looked to be in pretty good shape to me; my new arrivals acclimated without issue. I can't comment on cichlids and saltwater stuff since they're "not my bag" and I didn't give them much attention. All of the tanks were pretty clean too, from what I noticed.

It's good to see a LFS on the upswing

Haven't been up to a fish in the Tacoma/Spanaway/Seattle area in years though there used to be a couple good ones.

Now where I live now - do get my supplies for the lfs', buying my food from the one got to be a pima so started ordering online (you'd think they'd keep it in stock when people are buying 1/2-1pound at a time on a weekly basis). For me the fish selection at them hasn't been spectacular in literally months when I ask them to special order I either never get a call back or they don't follow thru (really ticks me off since I know for them a $100-$200 sale would really help).

So back to wandering around online for stock the other sad part is where I live there's not enough people to rally a group buy and with the price of fuel its not feasible for a drive to the airport without at least splitting the expenses with someone

pbmax wrote:I stopped by Aquarium Paradise a couple of weekends ago. It seems that Lonzo has retired and Dom and his wife are running the place now.

Things looked tidier and they had a decent selection of freshwater fish (better than they usually do, including a huge Australian crayfish), plus a far better selection of equipment than they used to have. I bought some gravel (for my new 20g), air line stuff, and a trio of brilliant rasboras to boost the school in my 29g up to 9. The smaller community fish all looked to be in pretty good shape to me; my new arrivals acclimated without issue. I can't comment on cichlids and saltwater stuff since they're "not my bag" and I didn't give them much attention. All of the tanks were pretty clean too, from what I noticed.

It's good to see a LFS on the upswing

I agree with you. Dom and his wife are doing a great job at redoing the store. His prices are still a bit on the high side IMO, but his selection is improving. (I am doing my best to get him to do this)

He has a couple of helpers that change the water and keep the tanks looking great. Id say the best place down here in Pierce Cty. (Until I get my store going)

Yup, they're not terribly cheap, but I'd much rather give my cash to him than PetSlow or PetStupid.

madness wrote: (Until I get my store going)

Well I'm waiting....

that would be a amazing store im suprised you dont ship

pbmax wrote:I stopped by Aquarium Paradise a couple of weekends ago. It seems that Lonzo has retired and Dom and his wife are running the place now.

Things looked tidier and they had a decent selection of freshwater fish (better than they usually do, including a huge Australian crayfish), plus a far better selection of equipment than they used to have. I bought some gravel (for my new 20g), air line stuff, and a trio of brilliant rasboras to boost the school in my 29g up to 9. The smaller community fish all looked to be in pretty good shape to me; my new arrivals acclimated without issue. I can't comment on cichlids and saltwater stuff since they're "not my bag" and I didn't give them much attention. All of the tanks were pretty clean too, from what I noticed.

It's good to see a LFS on the upswing

Agreed. Dom seemed pretty cool and was willing to answer my 20 ?s without getting irritated or annoyed.
Awesome freshwater selection, but not much in the saltwater end of things... although it did seem like they were just getting in a shipment (UPS truck and boxes EVERYWHERE) so maybe I just caught them at a bad time.

I didn't see any ich or dead fish, which is surprising and impressive. I'm going to be giving him a call Tues to see if they can order a fish for me, so we'll see how they do

Indeed; Dom is very cool and laid back. I bought my very first aquarium from him at AP about 2.5 years ago. I still have 3 of the 4 brilliant rasboras I bought there when I setup the new tank too.

AP is a nice store. its where i got a lot of my random africans over the years. it had gone downhill and prices went wayyyyy up there for quite some time so i just stopped going. if im gonna make a trip its gotta be worth it, otherwise ill just go to my favorite petco out in lakewood. known the "fish guy" now manager for many years. and lemme tell ya getting discounts on stuff just because he knows me is pretty sweet. if only i could get kevin to remember me.... (APFP)

i hate that when you've been to a lfs a million times and they dont remember you!!!suprisingly all my lfs know me very well and are not too bad on $ for fish so i tend to go alot. but i go to big box stores for food and medicine i will not pay 18.99 for a 7.99 bottle of medicine if it was 2-3 dollars more than petco i wouldnt care but gheez 8 dollar even the food is a 5-6 dollar difference

Been brought up before but.... I buy most of my food and all my supplies on-line. I could not afford to be in the hobby with what the LFS charge for stuff.

so real

I buy mine online too..there's not much difference getting em wholesale and from online stores that offer free ship. I get most of my orders from petsolutions, where they have free shipping on purchases over $49, including a large box of salt.

o i know online is super cheap. it makes it hard to keep a store afloat.. since theyre selling at wholesale costs almost since they have such little overhead. i still like to buy fish local whenever possible but lately ive found great deals from "local" breeders. goblue larry and others. and honestly the effort a hobbyist puts into selling his stock is much higher then a store. everything seems handled with care.. at least for me. grown so used to it that now its pretty much all i do haha.

A LFS has to compete on the basis of service; they can't compete on price and selection, so it has to be service. I find it sad that some of them don't realize this... a good bit of personal attention and a positive relationship go a long way.

pbmax wrote:A LFS has to compete on the basis of service; they can't compete on price and selection, so it has to be service. I find it sad that some of them don't realize this... a good bit of personal attention and a positive relationship go a long way.

It's amazing how this isn't common knowledge when you open a business in such a niche community!

I agree many LFS do have excellent service and in a pinch I go to get last minute items (frozen foods) or emergency stuff (meds). So I do support them in that way.

But my everyday stuff like food (dry pellet/flake) and water conditioner I do buy on-line.

I can not support the LFS, 100% due to my limited fish budget but I try to do what I can.

honestly the LFS wont carry half of what i want. nobody carries my food, filter media, sponge filters, lights, or my powerheads. so im pretty stuck ordering online

I do agree, some products I use I cant find in stores. some of the Omega One foods I use and my Safe water conditioner.

This was a weird double post that I had to edit out...... sorry

plus 3 bucks for 4 ounces of foods is dirt cheap. i end up ordering three or four for the price it would be in the store.