My favorite local fish store

[blindkiller85]

My favorite by far is a local store to me where owner has been in charge since 1989 (I believe).

http://www.fishybusinessaquarium.com/

The Chain pet stores are generally all the same, however a Pet Land over by Orlando International Airport stands out for their quality of tanks and selection of fish. Only thing they go through is bouts of snails.

[emc7]

PetLands are not corporately owned so they can vary quite a bit. The Dunwoody Petland is currently excellent.

[xFishAreFriends]

Originally Posted by Ghost Knife http://thefishbowlpetshop.net/ It's about the only local fish store in central MS that actually takes fish trade-ins for store credit, fish, or food. I like it because they have knowledgeable staff that I can relate concerns to.

How did you attach the vid to "New Video" in your signature? I wish I could do that for a vid of my comet named Ronald!

[SGT Z]

Originally Posted by hXcChic22 My favorite from where we lived was "Pet World". It's a local chain, but we only went to two of the stores and only one of them was any good (IMO). The one in Hampton, VA. Here's the site but it seems to feature the Newport News one. http://petworldofva.com/home.nxg Anyway, they always had generally healthy tanks and lots of knowledgeable employees. Most of them kept tanks themselves. They also did store credit trade-ins, sold live plants, and had a decent SW section as well. They are willing to specifically order fish for you, and their selection varies with each shipment. Sometimes they'd have just "meh" fish, and other times, they had some awesome stuff in there, like jardini arowanas, ABFs, plus the giant fish people seemed to enjoy dumping on them. On any given day, they'd have a couple huge plecos, plus some other giants like half-grown silver arowanas and tiger shovelnose catfish. They even had an almost full-grown Pacu in there once (and he loved to be pet on the head) but unfortunately he was brought in sick and died. And where I'm living right now, this one is my favorite: They don't seem to have a site but here are reviews. http://www.insiderpages.com/b/372279...ouse-lynchburg They have a HUGE fish selection there. I have never tried to do any trades there so I don't know how that works. But they have an entire basement just filled with tanks and equipment/supplies. We have seen fish there we've seen nowhere else or only rarely, like FW flounder, sparkling gouramis, panda orandas, and hillstream loaches. They also have some ponds outside with koi. We have not bought from them yet because we just moved back here but man, I love just going and looking around to waste time!

The one in NN has more fish and tanks than any fish store I've ever been to. The employees all seem to be experienced fish owners. They recently expanded. It's a pet store, but half of it is fish. It's a really good store.

[hXcChic22]

Originally Posted by SGT Z The one in NN has more fish and tanks than any fish store I've ever been to. The employees all seem to be experienced fish owners. They recently expanded. It's a pet store, but half of it is fish. It's a really good store.

In that area, you'd be better off going to Animal Jungle or Fish Safari if you want quantity. But the four times we went to the NN ones, there was never anything unusual or exciting there. Just your everyday fish. And the place always smelled really badly from the rodents.

[tiggerbarb]

i live in Ottawa,Ont.Canada and at the moment big Al's is my favorite fish store. The staff are very knowledgeable and friendly.the store in Orleans has a shark and a wide assortment of fish from salt, brackish and freshwater. Whats unique about this store that i haven't seen in any other store.They have their showroom separate from where the tanks are. The tanks are in a dark area but, not too dark that you can 't see the fish all the tanks are on black shelving so it looks like a picture frame. They have a nice selection of plants aswell. They have 4 ponds some with koi fish, and others with a variety of different sizes of gold fish.

[Christemo]

I second That Fish Place (That Pet Place) in Lancaster, PA. The fish were fantastically well taken care of, and the prices were pretty good. If you like the fake aquarium plants, they were dirty cheap at the store.

[baileysup]

"Three Fish Four Fish". Jay Park Plaza, Columbia Dr. #5. East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. i love these guys! no comparison to chain stores.

[Danio king]

i have a rain forest pets in league city TX it has mostly saltwater but an alright section of tropical fish. Its family owned and they are all very friendly and knowledgeable.

[chronoboy]

Well strangly anough my fav petstore back home has the same name as the store I use alot here,

Noah's ark, virginia st. north bend oregon other location coosbay oregon pretty much same city you cross the street and your in the other city, I really miss those stores havnt been able to find a petstore here that compares.

But I did find one here I like, also named Noah's Ark and its on dyer st. el paso TX.

[Kurt R Furan]

Well, there are no independents in my area that I'm aware of, but when it comes to a battle between Petsmart and Petco, if it's fish you're after, you can't go wrong with Petco. Many of the people who work at the store in My area keep fish themselves and know what they're talking about. I got a lot of help there and they were really supportive when I lost my latest fish and I was trying to figure out what killed it. Their whole stock of that kind of fish had died as well, so they gave me a full refund! I'd go to Petsmart for anything else, but not Fish!

[Betta man]

[QUOTE=Ghost Knife;265205]http://thefishbowlpetshop.net/

There's several around...

[pj1218]

my favorite fish store is the hidden reef and whenever i go there they always have the fish i want and they have a awesome selection of plants and corals and every thing i could need its sooo awesome

[snyderguy]

Originally Posted by Christemo I second That Fish Place (That Pet Place) in Lancaster, PA. The fish were fantastically well taken care of, and the prices were pretty good. If you like the fake aquarium plants, they were dirty cheap at the store.

I ordered my light fixture from them. Definitely pleased with it :]

[grogan]

In Anchorage we have two locally owned stores:
Pet Zoo
Alaska Coral Fanatics

Pet Zoo:
This store is like your Petco/Petsmart as far as general pet selection but they excel in fish. Unlike the cooperate stores, Pet Zoo lets their fish guy "Brett" order his own shipments. Of course he has management watching what he orders so he is hard pressed to get the really cool stuff but he tries his best. They get a lot of cool fish that I would never find a any of the chain stores. They try to keep more of the exotic fish in stock amd more often, where as the chain stores its more of a special. This is where I got my school of thread fin rainbows, Precox rainbows, fake zebra placo, african butterfly fish, starry night bristle nose placo ext.. Also the people that work the fish tanks are experienced fish keepers that remember me and my tanks and don't waste a lot of my time with basic questions "are you doing water changes, do you have enough filtration" and such. We all know how annoying it can be to walk into a store with a simple question and then have to re-explain something to yet another idiot. Basically good customer service and knowledge of the stuff they are selling is a big plus here. Plus 2-3 times a year they have a half off all live creatures sale! This is usually when I will empty them out lol.

Alaska Coral Fanatics:
This is a true fish store, which we are lucky to have in Alaska. These guys are a bit on the spendy side but I am paying for quality and knowledge. I tend to take my money here even if it means spending twice or even quadruple for a fish that I could get from a chain store. They are 2/3 salt and 1/3 freshwater and the owner Tim tends to push towards the salt side with most people. Their salt water set up is AMAZING! They have a 600 gallon reef tank in the center of the store that will stop you dead in your tracks. For Tim to actually net a fish for you out of this tank can sometimes%