Stuff you bought from a physical Mom and Pop store today thread.

[MickS77]

Picked up a group of Angelfish and some white/gold female guppies for breeding projects. 

 

[CKetchum]

I bought some plants, hard scape (rock) and 6 fish yesterday to support my LFS! ✌️🤑

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

King Koopa nerite snail 

 

[MattyM]

I'm very lucky to have found a small shop here that is great - they also quarantine their fish, and are very helpful. I go on Saturdays b/c the owner is usually there. I've bought:

1. Frozen foods
2. Fish
3. Plants
4. Decor (rocks, wood, etc)
5. Scaping tools
6. Food

They don't have a huge inventory, but what they do have is quality stuff. If you're in Chicago check out Aquatic World. 

Edited November 9, 2022 by MattyM
grammar

[Guppysnail]

Just ran across this. It is one of my my LFS that a YouTuber did a video on. I posted some photos earlier in this thread. 

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

The last thing I got when I went to a mom an pop store: Frogbit and Java moss.

But their display tanks are really cool! 

And little Gretel also got something out of it: 

[cavdad45]

I bought a pair of apistgramma cacatuiodes last Sunday. Been years since I played with any cichlids, and these are more mellow than past experiences. Beautiful fish.

Edited February 21, 2023 by cavdad45

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 2/21/2023 at 6:27 PM, cavdad45 said:

I bought a pair of apistgramma cacatuiodes last Sunday. Been years since I played with any cichlids, and these are more mellow than past experiences. Beautiful fish.

Any pics?😁

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/21/2023 at 11:43 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

And little Gretel also got something out of it: 

id react with a 😍but im out of reactions.

so ill say that i love that picture (its adorable)

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 2/21/2023 at 6:55 PM, Theplatymaster said:

so ill say that i love that picture (its adorable)

She’s cute, I’ll give her that; but she barks at every single dog apart from Polo (my profile pic) 

[cavdad45]

On 2/21/2023 at 9:53 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Any pics?😁

I take lousy pics, never got the hang of making quality photos in my aquariums

[jwcarlson]

On 2/21/2023 at 12:00 PM, cavdad45 said:

I take lousy pics, never got the hang of making quality photos in my aquariums

To be honest, almost none of us have.  But that doesn't stop us! 😄

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/21/2023 at 1:11 PM, jwcarlson said:

To be honest, almost none of us have.  But that doesn't stop us! 😄

so true, if you want proof check my journal, my pictures are the wost

[jwcarlson]

On 2/21/2023 at 12:27 PM, Theplatymaster said:

so true, if you want proof check my journal, my pictures are the wost

I don't know about the worst, honestly... they'd be almost museum quality compared to some from the early internet forum days.  

"Got a new baby oscar, can anyone tell if this is ich?"

 

Or the bad-old days when forums didn't host pictures at all, you had to use something like postimage or photobucket.  And then if you posted higher resolution images you'd hit the bandwidth limit after like eight people saw your pictures and you'd get a little "no picture" icon or eventually they put a "bandwidth exceeded" place holder image and you'd be locked out until whatever bandwidth counter reset.  

 

I do miss photo contests on forums way back when.  To a certain extent photos are almost too easy to post now.  I am not saying that's bad, in fact... the exact opposite.  But I feel the same way about everything I take pictures of anymore.  My grandma had like three pictures of her between the ages of birth and like 10+ years old.  They were terrible black and white, blurry photos... but they were ALL she had.  Our oldest just turned ten and she's already probably taken more pictures than my grandma did in her entire life and for sure made more video than Gma ever did.  And that's not to comment on the thousands of pictures we've taken of her over the years.

 

Anyway... I'm ranting.  

 

I didn't buy anything at a mom and pop store today.  But I'm thinking about getting some otos for my apisto tanks, so maybe I'll do that this weekend, QT tank is empty again so... time to fill it back up, right?  

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by jwcarlson

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Frozen brine shrimp and fine sponge.

[JJenna]

Panda Cories and frozen bloodworms

[Birdsnstuff]

I will probably go by my LFS tomorrow but I struggle with them sometimes. Being a woman of a certain age, I feel a bit condescended to by the local fish bros at the better of the two stores near me. The owner is a bit nicer but he’s not always there. They carry salt and freshwater fish with some plants. I bought all but one group of my fish from them and I try to buy things from them if they have what I need. I think they make a chunk of their money on fish tank maintenance for saltwater tanks. When I suggested they become ACO partners one employee told me they didn’t focus on freshwater so it wouldn’t be a good fit. But their tanks are cleaner than the big box stores with healthier fish so that’s where I go. I take my excess snails to them - they have a foot long puffer so they can feed them to it or sell them. I try.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Was thinking about a rock purchase at LFS today. I selected a few and was turning them this way and that on their counter. The old man running the shop (who insists I always call him Captain Nemo) asked what size tank I plan to put them in. Then he got that size tank down off a shelf for me and allowed me to “play” with the tank and rocks, designing the scape. That was thoughtful, and a service you’d never get at a big box store. I didn’t like the price of the rocks (per pound), but I bought them anyway because the customer service was awesome. Go local!

P.S. They also got their 40 years of service award from the Chamber of Commerce. They are a 3rd generation family-owned company!

 

Marie used to dive internationally for fish and sell them wholesale!  When she could no longer dive, she turned her scuba tank into a fish tank!  She showed it to me, but the tank wasn’t up and running anymore. I encouraged her to set it up and display it!  I hope she does. 
 

This is her son, the new owner. He’s already training his replacement, hehe

Edited January 5 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[mynameisnobody]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea there’s also a sea life aquarium in St Pete, I wonder if it’s the same people? I’ve been there a few times, nice little layout. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 1/7/2024 at 11:45 AM, mynameisnobody said:

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea there’s also a sea life aquarium in St Pete, I wonder if it’s the same people? I’ve been there a few times, nice little layout. 

Nope, these guys have only one location in central FL

[DallasCowboys16]

Picked up 4 ottos at a nice little shop called Aquatic Dog here in Denver. They've probably got the best nano fish selection out of any shop in the state.

Stopped by another store called Nature Box Pet Emporium which is a little bit more reptile centric, but has a relatively large aquatics section as well. I was pretty disappointed in their selection and the general condition of their tanks. They've certainly seemed to throw in the towel a little bit with the aquatics. Didn't get anything there.

[GoofyGarra]

Got some moss, much better price then buying online:

 

 

[Manringjk]

Went on a tour of different local fish stores over the weekend (Cleveland, OH area) 

RMS Aquaculture in Warrensville Hts: bought a pair of kribensis. They are my first foray into cichlids! Massive, warehouse type store if anyone in NEO hasn’t been yet! 
 

Bluefish Aquariums in Lyndhurst. (Down the street from an awesome houseplant store if you’re into that sort of thing called the Wicked Plant Co). ALMOST jumped the gun and bought some CPDs. Really beautiful store with a ton of livestock both salt and fresh 

Rainy Day LLC in Cleveland. Finally found a store that had some cardinal tetras and a licorice gourami in stock. Not a huge livestock collection

[Bill]

Wanted to start a platy tank. Surprisingly I had to drive 50 minutes to The Fish Hut to get them, none of the shops near me had any. I had an established tank that had only snails and 5 cory cats. 

[Cinnebuns]

I've been trying to decide on 2 different tank ideas for a 20L for about a year now. I keep going back and forth or getting busy or sick and just not doing it. 

1st idea was:  betta + neon tetras + maybe a bottom dweller + mini rabbit snails. I already have the mini rabbit snails and the neon tetras so don't need a ton. 

2nd idea was my favorite although I don't have some of the parts already:  cherry barbs, paleatus cories, trapdoor snails. 

I went to sell some of my panda cories to my LFS and was chatting with the owner. I mention the cherry barbs idea and he shows me some beautiful ones. So....I got them. I guess I'm going with #2 haha. He only have 4 so I guess I'm forced to get more fish in the future now. Oh darn! Haha.