Safe / trustworthy stores in south Florida

[agusf]

Just moved down to Soflo, and wanting to setup a nice tank. Before I put anything at all there, I am weary of any of the tanks at stores here - I had a chit chat w/ a store manager who was also the fish department expert and was cleaning the tanks when I was there, and he confessed that his store's tank was sick and he had a serious issue with fish dying; he confirmed when I asked that it was the same industrial-size filter for all the separated, side by side tanks. He indicated that he had several treatments done but the problem persisted, and recommended that I wait to buy any fish until the day after I was there, as he was going to receive a new shipment the next day. Ironically however he also indicated that the shipments of fish were likely the source of the ailment. This was actually a chain store, so now I'm quite weary of any store at all as the same supplier could be shipping to other stores in the same chain or probably even other chains or independent stores. I'm wondering if other hobbyists in the area can attest to the current health of their preferred store's tanks - perhaps also to indicate if they know where they source their fish from, and historically what the healthiest and most reliable stores have been in the area.

I'm not quite new to the hobby so I can appreciate that these stores will regularly experience some fish dying especially with subprime shipping conditions and in high volumes, but the situation at the store I was at seemed a little more serious. I am also aware that it is very difficult to completely avoid some fish ailments getting in my tank over several years, even moreso with algae, but I don't believe that taking precaution isn't effective in reducing that chance, and I definitely want to avoid it at the start. especially if a majority of the fish I'll keep are introduced to the aquarium in a short period in the following weeks and months, of course I would want to be most careful now. I am considering opting for online retailers such as liveaquaria.com, which I wasn't able to try in the past because they didn't ship to my previous location of residence, but have always heard good things about.

All input is appreciated.

 

[Colin_T]

Get a quarantine tank and quarantine all new fish, plants and shrimp for 4 weeks before adding them to the main display tank. That way if you get a sick fish from a shop, the disease won't get into your main tank.

Quarantine tanks usually hold around 10 gallons and have a thin layer of gravel/ sand, a few plastic plants, a heater, airstone and coverglass. You have a spare filter in the main tank and that can be moved into the quarantine tank when you get new fish.

 

[agusf]

Ic, sounds like solid advice. I will get to that eventually then.

For anyone browsing the thread looking for the same answer, I've since visited some 6 LFS stores in addition to the chains closest to downtown, and for clear indication of the best stores in the Miami, FL area I'll rank them here according to my criteria. I considered the fish selection: variety, price, health when I was there. Then the safety / care practices and policies of the stores. Finally how experienced the employees seemed to me. All of this was from only an initial visit of course I'll probably mention in a later post if I have some updated experience.

For Freshwater:
1. Aquarama - 2151 nw 27 ave
- only buy from certified wholesalers
- great selection. Prices were not bad at all
- definitely experienced employees, in addition to running the store they also run an aquarium maintenance service.
- great cust. service
- will take custom orders, with strict conditions.
2. Exotic Aquariums - 7399 bird rd
- mostly buy from certified wholesalers
- but also some individuals, usually only for fish they can't get from wholesalers
- Great selection. prices were also very fair.
- great customer service, very experienced employees, those I spoke to clearly were avid hobbyists their whole lives.
- aquariums looked quite healthy and happy
- they will take custom orders, very flexible. if I don't like the fish that came in, I am not required to buy it anyways, they'll sell it (what I was told). Also took my information down and the fish I was interested in that they did not have in stock, and told me they will ring me if they get it in stock. That was a big plus.
- the setup/filtration or infrastructure of the store looked a little old and basic..
3. Strictly Fish - 8373 bird rd
- can't recall their policy on suppliers, but I think it was almost only wholesalers, also from the inventory they had.
- pretty good selection, although about 1/3-1/2 of their tanks were goldfish and Koi. Although they still had some unique fish that I didn't see in other stores here, so worth the visit. Prices were fine, nothing special.
- decent customer service, nice and proactively helpful, but didn't get the impression (from a first impression) they were quite as knowledgeable, at least when it came to tropical freshwater.
- can't make custom order requests
4. Local Petco - off US-1 (6200 s dixie hwy)
- this petco is really impressive for a chain, the employees are actually seriously experienced, they sell both freshwater and marine, and their plants were not in packaging like at petsmart but actually in a waterfall tank display. Tanks quite nice and clean, and as for selection not bad, but a little more standard and less varied than the LFSs. prices quite good, what you would expect from petco.
- as far as I know (didn't inquire, so this is just my personal recall) They only source from wholesalers
5. Exotic pets
- very limited selection. much more marine and also reptiles. Prices, cant quite remember but not noteworthy then.
- nice customer service, but definitely not very experienced - I spoke to a young man who could have been working his first job there, and it was possible he hadn't or didn't do anything aquarium related outside the job.The manager seemed more knowledgeable of course. They were both pretty nice.
6. Petsmart - 3301 sw 22nd ave
it was alright
7. Pet supermarket
this is the chain that had me concerned as the manager slipped that his tanks had been sick. Not very impressive tanks at all, several drifting dead fish. I also remember looking at the section of bettas and having an urge to offer to change all of their individual bowl's water myself, for free, if no employee would do it. The water was clear although the surface looked sticky with some bubbles that to me indicated the water was not very pure, it faintly smelled too. I know bettas blow bubbles to put their fry in etc. but this did not look like that and I mean any other betta display in all the other stores I went to, several which also had them in small cups or tiny vases, did not look like that.

that's a quick rundown, of course subjective, and only from first impressions I've yet to buy fish from any of these stores so this could change. these are also only the ones within a couple miles of downtown, theres many more farther out. I'm interested in seeing neighborhood fish farm, its not too far out and seems very interesting. I should also mention that none of the LFS offer any guarantee, only petco and Petsmart do, 14 days from purchase dead or alive. pet supermarket offers a guarantee as well, but not the same at all: they will replace your fish if dead up to 5 days after purchase. They will not take back or exchange live fish though, like petsmart and petco. Also for marine it would be quite different, although I'm not the one to judge as I'm not a marine hobbyist, but something like this:
1. (tie) Ocean view aquariums - 6883 sw 40th st
1. (tie) Exotic Aquariums
3. Strictly fish
4. exotic pets
5. aquarama
6. petco, us-1