Jump to content

Do You Have A LFS?


Theplatymaster
 Share

Recommended Posts

On 2/14/2023 at 9:40 AM, neitherman said:

20180810_112239.jpg

This center island needs about 100 corydoras in it with some tiger barbs.

On 2/15/2023 at 9:20 PM, EleanorM said:

I am in Montana.  Does Petco count?

You might be surprised. I recommend the yelp app to try to find local stores If they exist. I am right there with you though, basically big box Petco and I don't go elsewhere.

Edited by nabokovfan87
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/15/2023 at 11:04 PM, Evan said:

Hey Gardenman, where in South Jersey? Martin's was my go-to during that time period.

I live in Pennsville. I had docs in Philly and Cherry Hill so I was up that way fairly often. The 70s and 80s were great times locally. Martin's was great. Both their Jenkintown and Cherry Hill stores were impressive. Worldwide Aquarium in Upper Darby was great also.

Tisa's in Cherry Hill (on route 38) was another favorite of mine. There were two aquarium stores in Berlin also. One was in an old gas station and the other was in a shopping center. The one in the old gas station had a pair of retired breeder Sailfin Mollies that were enormous (maybe ten-plus inches) and just gorgeous. The male didn't know he was retired and was flashing and displaying for the female. I've wanted some ever since then.

There was a fish store in Echelon mall for a while. They had a good selection of marine fish. Their supplier ran a dive school somewhere in the tropics and whenever he didn't have a class, he'd go out and collect fish for the store. They paid him by the box and never knew what was coming. I was there one day when they opened a box and found a baby sea turtle had been sent. They were reaching out to the Philly zoo and other sources to try and find out if it was legal for them to keep it and sell it. And how on Earth to price it.

As you moved farther south in Mantua was the Mantua Tropical Fish and Pet Island run by Maryann and her husband. A fantastic store. Maryann all but made you sign adoption papers to buy fish. If a female livebearer died she'd do a caesarian to try and save the fry. She'd then raise the fry to a sellable size.

In Vineland you had Chick and Barbs. They bred fancy goldfish and sold their culls as feeder fish. You could get some pretty nice goldfish as feeder fish.  

There were lots of other shops also. It was just a fantastic era for the hobby. Delaware had multiple stores including one on Governor Prince Boulevard that displayed their fish in a dark showroom lit mostly by the lights of the tanks. They had a huge Arowana in a display tank there. It was a very impressive store. Expensive, but impressive. Less impressive but cheap was Discount Aquarium off of route 202 in Delaware. They weren't kidding about the "discount" part. Very low prices.

There were lots of smaller Mom and Pop type stores often run out of a home also. In Salem there was Evans Tropical Fish where they sold their fish from an enclosed back porch and raised them in their basement. It was a great time to be a hobbyist.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/14/2023 at 1:27 PM, Val said:

II pass through DC and Northern Virginia frequently enough, but haven't found a great store there yet.

There's Tropical Lagoon in Silver Spring and Congressional Aquarium in Bethesda. I've been going to TL for years. It's a small walk-down dive about a 10-minute drive from my house that's been around since the 60s or 70s, which is what I love about it. It's very laid-back and there are always two small dogs lying about. Sometimes they're friendly, other times they give you the ol' stink-eye. Steve, the owner is great but he's not always there, although during the winter, you'll find his 85-year-old tortoise in the sandbox in the back behind the rows of tanks. It's well stocked for hardscape, substrates, tanks and equipment, somewhat hit or miss lately as far as livestock.

Congressional in Bethesda is much bigger. Both are expensive, but so is the DC area. There's hardly anything  quite like Tropical Lagoon though. Somehow, it's managed to survive without being updated, upgraded, sanitized, or yuppified.

If you're cruising through the DC area, it's just off the Georgia Ave. exit on 495 heading towards DC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/16/2023 at 10:53 AM, Monkeypoint said:

There's Tropical Lagoon in Silver Spring and Congressional Aquarium in Bethesda. I've been going to TL for years. It's a small walk-down dive about a 10-minute drive from my house that's been around since the 60s or 70s, which is what I love about it. It's very laid-back and there are always two small dogs lying about. Sometimes they're friendly, other times they give you the ol' stink-eye. Steve, the owner is great but he's not always there, although during the winter, you'll find his 85-year-old tortoise in the sandbox in the back behind the rows of tanks. It's well stocked for hardscape, substrates, tanks and equipment, somewhat hit or miss lately as far as livestock.

Congressional in Bethesda is much bigger. Both are expensive, but so is the DC area. There's hardly anything  quite like Tropical Lagoon though. Somehow, it's managed to survive without being updated, upgraded, sanitized, or yuppified.

If you're cruising through the DC area, it's just off the Georgia Ave. exit on 495 heading towards DC.

yes for sure, myself and @The endler guy are both big fans of that store. (TL). Congressional is crazy expensive, tropical lagoon is cheaper but not cheap.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/16/2023 at 11:27 AM, Theplatymaster said:

yes for sure, myself and @The endler guy are both big fans of that store. (TL). Congressional is crazy expensive, tropical lagoon is cheaper but not cheap.

i HATE congressional, (at this moment) their embers have given me my only ich and their Bolivians had red worms, also when they OFFERED to get mudskippers in they basically ghosted my calls (I called, they picked up, I told them about how the owner offered to get in Indian mudskippers, they said they would help me them quiet for 30-40 minutes, twice! first time they hung up after they said they would get the owner)

tropical is great though! love them, the owner does tell you when your wrong, some people probably could take it as rude but I take it as him caring 

for comparesin I got 22 (I think) embers from tropical, all good, I get 8 from congressional and I get ich, what are the odds?

also tropical commonly has black worms, watch out though because I have gotten some hitchhikers (it was the dregs so not on them)

Edited by The endler guy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the recommendation, Platymaster...

I have been to both Congressional and Tropical Lagoon.  I wasn't blown away by either, enough to make the the 90 minute drive to either.  Maybe it was the day I stopped by -- I had just spent the morning visiting a high school friend who is at home under hospice care (and I'm just 59) -- and maybe it was because I was just looking for simple fantail goldies.  But you guys are right, Congressional wanted a boat load of money (like $65) for a three inch redcap.  And their tanks were just...  dirty.  And TL had a very poor assortment of goldies.    So I only spent 10 minutes in each store.

I just found Londontowne Tropicals (south of Annapolis) on Facebook only, apparently, and they look promising.  I'll have to check them out.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/16/2023 at 12:07 PM, The endler guy said:

the owner does tell you when your wrong, some people probably could take it as rude but I take it as him caring 

I love Steve!!! He's flat out told me I was wrong, or blown a raspberry with a "Nah, you don't need any of that!" and I'm always glad I listened to him.

There's a reason R.E.M. wrote, "Don't Go Back to Rockville."

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/12/2023 at 5:27 AM, Theplatymaster said:

Disclaimer: I understand this could cause some fights/jealousy, this is not my intention with this post.

The question is simple. Do you have a LFS? I know some people are talking about going to Big Box Stores ( i was going to type the abreviation BBS, but that is more often Baby Brine Shrimp) because they dont have a LFS. Im trying to understand better how many user on here have LFSs.

So 1.do you have one?

2.If yes How Many

3.If yes how far away is it from you?

there is no need to post any store names here.

 

1) Yes, but we're more likely to go there for the kid's rodents and their supplies, and not fish supplies. Just a mom and pop pet store that has seen better days and still happens to carry fish. 

We're smack dab in the center of Washington State, so for fish needs we'll either drive 90 minutes to the south east to a very well stocked and reasonably priced fish store, or 90-110 minutes west to the stores located in the greater Seattle area.

The one to the south east really is impressive, but we really enjoy the Seattle stores for the bevvy of options available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/16/2023 at 3:11 PM, Val said:

Thanks for the recommendation, Platymaster...

I have been to both Congressional and Tropical Lagoon.  I wasn't blown away by either, enough to make the the 90 minute drive to either.  Maybe it was the day I stopped by -- I had just spent the morning visiting a high school friend who is at home under hospice care (and I'm just 59) -- and maybe it was because I was just looking for simple fantail goldies.  But you guys are right, Congressional wanted a boat load of money (like $65) for a three inch redcap.  And their tanks were just...  dirty.  And TL had a very poor assortment of goldies.    So I only spent 10 minutes in each store.

I just found Londontowne Tropicals (south of Annapolis) on Facebook only, apparently, and they look promising.  I'll have to check them out.

Maybe I’ll convince my dad to make a detour next time we visit my brother in the academy 

On 2/16/2023 at 2:21 PM, Theplatymaster said:

$12 for a cherry shrimp!

however something odd was on my panda garra, congressional had it cheaper, it would have been 5more dollars at TL for the size that i got.

Because tropical actually has quality control

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/17/2023 at 6:08 AM, The endler guy said:

Because tropical actually has quality control

that might be true, to my knowledge i have never bought a sick fish from tropical, however i have bought 1 fish from CA and it was fine so i cant really make a judgement call. I went to CA for the panda garra because the few times i went to look, TL didnt have any. (funny story i went a few weeks ago and they did have one, but i already bought mine). Also could we maybe move this is a PM @The endler guy to avoid spamming everyone that doesnt live near these stores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a pretty "diverse" local fish store one town over (30 minute drive) but 75% of the fish I have bought from him over the past 6 months have ended up with ich or just randomly dying. So now I drive an hour each way the The Wet Spot in Portland and have had very good luck and am super pleased with their store. It does add gas and time to the fish purchases, but I am sick of treating ich and sick of my fish dying and tossing money away...it's fun to go and I'd rather spend more for fish than toss the money (dead fish) in the trash.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...