Tropical Fish “Supermarket “

[anewbie]

On the negative only wild cardinals; on the postive live blackworms.

 

[anewbie]

Multiple species of Apistogramma and kribs but TR not WC.

Yea i gave up on tr species of apistogramma unless it is a hobbist i trust; too many farmed fishes of poor health makes me depressed.

 

[GaryE]

Usually, mega stores with that look, that many tanks and that long a history (I've heard of them a couple of times on forums, going back a ways) will have some of the less popular commercially produced tetras, barbs and Rasbora types. There are a lot of farm produced tetras that rarely get into the North American market because the box stores have limited ordering practices. They end up in Europe or Asia.

I've noticed larger stores that aren't corporate tend to order a few oddballs to differentiate themselves, and there are sometimes good surprises.

I don't recall what people said about the store, but it has a distinctive name that sticks in your mind. I don't remember any negatives though. Where I lived in the 90s, there was a comparably sized store that got really good fish species in, but it was sold to very dumb owners (they ran undergravel filters but didn't have gravel....) and it crashed out of the market in record time. That's always the issue with established quality stores - ownership changes.

 

[anewbie]

Usually, mega stores with that look, that many tanks and that long a history (I've heard of them a couple of times on forums, going back a ways) will have some of the less popular commercially produced tetras, barbs and Rasbora types. There are a lot of farm produced tetras that rarely get into the North American market because the box stores have limited ordering practices. They end up in Europe or Asia.

I've noticed larger stores that aren't corporate tend to order a few oddballs to differentiate themselves, and there are sometimes good surprises.

I don't recall what people said about the store, but it has a distinctive name that sticks in your mind. I don't remember any negatives though. Where I lived in the 90s, there was a comparably sized store that got really good fish species in, but it was sold to very dumb owners (they ran undergravel filters but didn't have gravel....) and it crashed out of the market in record time. That's always the issue with established quality stores - ownership changes.

When i lived in Colorado boulder region, good old days, there were several fantastic petshops and today there are still quite a few really nice boulder region stores, but where i live today - nothing.

 

[oceanArnold]

This picture was taken from a privately owned large tropical fish store about 30 minutes from my home. The picture is of a single aisle of fishtanks. There are seven such isles. Amazing variety of freshwater and saltwater fish. I will not purchase any fish from them until I know they are good stewards of the hob

Any interesting wc dwarf cichild ?

Here is another question. Do they have loaches?

 

[gwand]

Here is another question. Do they have loaches?

Yes indeed.

 

[anewbie]

But do they have pangio merysi ?

 

[gwand]

I’m not certain. Next time I return I will check.

 

[FranciscoB]

I was there in about 1999-2000. At the time I was deep into wild discus and they had a few beautiful specimens. I did not remember the name of the store, nor have I been back. But I will try.

 

[GaryE]

When some people age, they get nostalgic about their old bodies, cheesy old songs or lost loves. Here, we miss the good old days of aquarium stores, before Box stores, online stores and the decline of the hobby.

Montreal had several stores with 100 plus tanks, as well as probably 30 hobby breeders with more than 50 tanks. A lot of the fish we love hadn't been discovered, but a lot more were dumped from the hobby by its centralization. Now, when I left, there was one big fishroom I knew of, and a few modest sized stores. It's not a bad hobby there, but its a shadow of what it was. We were partly saved by the fact stores need French, and the US Box stores don't like that. They dropped by and left.

It's great to see good stores surviving.

 

[Gamegurl564]

Wow, drooling over a fish store with 7 rows of tanks.
Wish I was closer

 

[Sleeveless]

House of Tropicals has been around for decades. They are the go to's in MD. It is an older and dilapidated looking place, but have only ever seen positive reviews about them. They seem to know their stuff and have a ton of fish and hardware. The times I've been in there I couldn't see anything neglected.

 

[Oldspartan]

Wishing I lived closer. ENVY