Where do you buy your fish?
 

Besides J&L, where do you all buy your fish? I've been out to King Ed Pets and Big Al's, but the fish don't seem as healthy sometimes and the selection isn't as good as J&L. Nothing wrong with J&L (that's where I get most of my stuff anyway) but just wondering if there's anywhere else you all recommend for quality, selection, and price. Thanks!

I've never had a fish die that I bought from King Ed.... Big als... fish have died at the till..... and on the way home.. and during acclimation... etc..

Point to remember... avoid fish that normally have dark colour body with small white dots, it is very hard to see the Ich...

When I say I've never had a fish die I bought from King Ed thats not entirely true, eventually they die after a couple years depending on the fish... I did loose all my fish though that I bought at King Ed just recently they were all healthy appearing and happy until I added an Orange Shoulder tang that I DID NOT get from King Ed... it was the first fish I added in over a month... it died with in 48 hours and everything else was dead with in another 48...

Now I isolate my new fish... all... 3 of them so far....

Mason, I'd shop around at all of them. I've seen good livestock at most of them. I have fish from J&L's, Paul's, Big Al's and Animal House. I've lost fish from all of those places too.

Doug, you're making it really hard not to say what I'd like to about "your favourite fish store", give it a rest already. How long have you been in the hobby that you have such a high opinion of "your favourite fish store"? It sure didn't take me long to figure out my opinion on what makes a good store but I'll give you a hint; it ain't price.

I appreciate your comment and your concern Troy, I've been in the hobby for about 19 years, I took a few years off while in the Navy... they frown on aquariums on destroyers, go figure.

My opinion of a good fish store is simple, one that sells stock at a competitive price, one that has knowledgable staff, and one where the fish don't die with in 48 hours of getting them home.

Fish do die, and fish from a store can bring diseases into your tank, regardless of how great the store is. It is an unfortunate thing, sorry that you feel motivated to express your lack of respect for my opinion, the give it a rest already comment is not called for, I could say the same thing about the respected store everyone seems to like so much where I bought the one fish that wiped out my aquarium...

No you couldn't, the reason everyone likes J&L so much is that they're a great store.

I am really beginning to feel that buying livestock is a crap shoot. Recently I bought Royal Gramas from two local stores. The first one from store #1 went into hiding, and lasted a week. The second from store #2 was dead the next day. I went back to store #2 because I like punishment, and bought another. It has been as good as gold. The fish is with me today, it has grown a lot. I had similar experiences with Six Line Wrasses. I bought one from store #1, it was gone quickly. I went back and bought another from the same store. It keeps the RG company, and is fine. I have bought four fish sight unseen online from your favorite store. All are fine. :onfire:

I agree with rcipema for the most part, buying fish online or instore is not always a guarantee that the fish will do well in your aquarium.

Even some of the best stores still have deaths. The one thing that sets the better stores apart from the others is the arrive alive guarantee. That tells me at least they are confident in what they are selling and also how well they are cared for. If the store was more interested in the get 'em in and get 'em out philosophy, then there would be no such guarantee.

The best thing you can do before buying any animal, fish or otherwise is know what you want before you buy it and understand the care of that animal. I have many times been at an LFS and seen people look at a fish and say OH!! isn't that cute. It gets bagged up and quite probably is dead after a week. Not to suggest that is the case here, but it does happen.

Many think as well that it is up to the LFS to inform the buyer, I disagree. I think it's great that the LFS is able to offer insights into what they are selling, which may suggests a better level of care on the part of the LFS, but it is ultimately the responsability of the buyer to know before hand. If not, ask them what they do know. Most often they will not offer advice unless asked and even then it is rarely accurate.

Cheers
Steve

Bah we have had on on the Algonquin for 4 years now :lol:

Steve

hi,
Welcome me :lol: thx

I had good luck buying fish from J&L Aquatics, and Paul's Aquarium in Surrey.
J&L Aquatics use copper in their tank so caution must be taken.

Paul's Aquarium sells excellent quality fish. Never had one die from there. All look very healthy.

Paul uses Cu in his fish system too.

Don't all the fish stores and wholesalers use some type Cu product ?

Come on Troy, tell us what you think.....


Wendell

I think they do...

Troy, I never said J&L isn't a great store.... I don't know why you think that I did say that but I didn't. I still shop there. BUT it isn't the only fish store in the Burnaby area. There is also perky's pets in new west, I bought a nice Frontosa Mpimbwe there. I also bought some nice daffodil brichardi there. I've never bought marine fish from them so I can't comment on their fish or inverts but I did have good luck with the freshwater stuff.

As far as copper goes, Cu is useless to almost everything except inverts at a less than medicinal dosage from my understanding. Why these places use copper in their system is beyond me, from what I understand they may as well be using antibiotics for a short period of time. I think it does nothing good for the fish, and in the long run it MAY (notice I didn't does) contribute to harder to treat parasites/protazoa's and other nasties.

Thats just my opinion, if you don't like my opinion why not ban me from posting, if not why not give it a rest.

Steve, the algonquin was still on the East coast when I got out of the Navy, so we never had any of that rebelious east coast influence...

Once though on Armed forces day, we had all our families on the ship and we went out for a cruise. Some yahoo's wife brought one of those pocket dogs on the ship and when we went to do a drill the dog got scared from the alarm, jumped out of her coat, hit the deck.. then a few seconds later went splash... We actually did a man overboard to get the dog... The XO went over the mic, Dog overboard Dog overboard port side, ships diver and boat crews to stations... lol

I was on the Yukon and before that the Columbia, both of which are now artificial reefs. I've been able to dive on both while teaching advanced deep diving courses and I did a penetration while on a technical course through International Nitrox and Technical Divers, it was very strange moving down burma flats...

Rookies, I was on the New Glasgow. She was probably turned into Japanese razor blades before your ships were built. :razz: :razz:

New Glasgow?? was that when Alberta had a Navy? lol.. seriously, I don't beleive I've heard of her, mind you I'm only 41.

How about the other Frigates in out squadron,? Beacon Hill, Stettler, Ste Therese, Jonquierre, Antigonish, and one more I have forgotten?

Holy smokes, Don't ask me.... I have trouble remembering the ships in my squadron

:rolleyes:

I think they should live a minimum of 12 -14 (could be 50 for a tang) based on my mentors, however I am rethinking that and expecting longer now, since my oldest are the four years old that they have lived here (tangs mostly)....

And, I guess as a footnote here, what I really want to say, is......take a really good look at the way you care for your fish, before blaming a LFS for their demise. :confused:

I don't know, I just know that J&L do and I think Paul mentioned it sometime ago too. I know some places have live rock in with their fish so I assume they don't.


You don't really want that do you?

well if you were on the Yukon, there would also be the Qu'appelle, the Mackenzie and the saskatchewan.

Damn your going back a ways.. must make you about 80ish :eek: by the way, thanks for the e-mail, made my day :lol:

Steve

Yep the Mac and the Sask.. barely remember the Apple though.. I probably never got drunk on her...but there was this one ship from New Zealand... wow, good rum

hey mason,
if you make educated purchases and choose healthy specimens, a fish from any of the above mentioned stores should be fine.
i think JL has an edge b/c they deal with strictly saltwater.
but i have seen healthy, interesting specimens at the other stores as well.

Not that I live in Vancouver or am part of the Reef Club but I thought I would post a reply.

The interesting fact is most LFS purchase their fish from the same sources. You will find some that buy from some unheard of wholeseller or can get really rare fish but they all ususally have a commen vendor. I have purchased many fish since 1999 wholesale from the same vendors. IME, what makes for the best fish is one that is not bagged for too long.

There is a particular vendor that ships the same day you order and I can usually have them in my tanks the same day (around midnight). I have never lost many fish this way. However, the same vendor shipped some fish and the airline bumped the cargo in Arizona and they arrived around 3:00 pm the next day. What wasn't dead when I received died within 24 hours.

I think Troy hit the nail on the head. What makes a good fish store is not price. While, as a hobbiest and website owner, price is very important to drive the business and my pocketbook, it can also cost you thousands of dollars (that would be millions in Canadian :mrgreen: ).

I quarantine every fish (even the three dollar ones) a MINIMUM of two weeks before I sell them. Think that increases the cost of fish to my clients? (HINT: YES). However, if the fish dies after leaving my tank I can guarantee that it was not due to an illness.

I, like other people, also have a tendency to want to see the fish or coral in my tank as soon as possible. However, I know the minute I put an unquarantined fish in my tank, the risk is mine and shame on me.

To answer the previous post about all LFS using Cu, I cannot speak about Canadian stores but the ones I visit do not. Some fish cannot tolerate copper and would be dead in a matter of hours if exposed. There are numerous ways to battle the diseases and not all are chemical.

It may increase the cost of the fish, but that is still less than losing two $25.00 fish within two weeks of buying them, before getting one that lived. In my case I would rather have paid $50.00 (okay $2.00 US :mrgreen: ) for one , and have it live than $75.00 for three of which only one lived. :2gunfire:

LOL, I haven't really been paying attention but didn't our dollar come up a couple of pesos recently?

Could you describe your business Terry? Do you/can you ship to Canada?

Terry, do you really have a black-tipped shark for sale??? We never get the cool stuff here!! :biggrin:

I do not have any at the present time but they are available.

you just going to keep overflowing your tank till the basement suite fills up and then put a shark down there? :eek: :wink:

Steve

lol

They have them for sale at big al's in burnaby for $2000

They have them for sale at big al's in burnaby for $2000

That about the same price I sell them for, usually 1,200.00US.

tp

where is pauls??

Paul's Aquarium is in surrey, by the costco

both me and my g/f just set up a saltwatertank with the great asistance of paul's aquariums in surrey. he runs a shop that has excellent customer service as well as a great selection of salt water & fresh water fish. i believe that paul goes above and beyond what most stores would do for there customers. i would definitely reccomend taking a look at what paul has to offer. he is a shop owner that enjoys what he is doing and has passion for the hobby, this is evident in the service that he provides for the customer.

thanks to paul for everything he has done to make this such a great experience for me and my g/f

dave & tamara

:smile: :biggrin:

I think you all need a few facts
 

Lets talk stores
I buy at several stores now and have been around since the begining of saltwater in BC. Here comes the history lesson.there were three guys that started selling saltwater in bc more than 25yrs ago. one was Paul's Aquarium other was my Boss (Pacific Tropicals) who was a wholesaler and me. I maintained the 275 tanks both fresh and saltwater.

Go figure I buy at pauls now because he is the most experienced.
J&L is a newer store and started in the hobby as one of Paul's customers.
J&L I buy reef janitors from (His prices are best there)
But every fish I bought from J&L has died soon after but his coral selections are very good and hold the test of time. Now his live rock is another thing, it's dead (no light on tanks?) He also seems to be trying to build a customer base buy undercuting the other stores...will it last?

Big Al's - there tanks often don't get the care they need so I often see dead fish in the tanks....I'm not buyin there because of this and same thing, most of his live rock tanks are poorly lit so most rock is dead.

Of course there is a lot of other stores with both good and bad records. Store choices are all up to the buyer and the opions are purely my own and based on my past and present experience, just thought you needed to know a little salt history in BC :lol:

I bought my rock from J&L and it's the livest stuff I have ever seen. If you refer back to my past post on algae and hitchhiker you will see that I had nasty dictyota, not so bad sargassum, starfish, crabs, snails, chitons, worms, zoanthids, encrusting SPS, nudibranchs, etc. The algae problem has gone away but I am constantly finding new critters almost a year later.

Hmmm, the LR I got from JL is better looking then anywhere else I have seen.

When I was at Paul's, he only had 4 saltwater tank (well, 4 main tanks and a couple of tiny little tanks for inverts). No LR and not much selection.

But I did have a good chat with Paul, he seems like a nice guy.

JL has better selection and healthier livestock then most other stores. Plus, price is pretty good there. Not to mention, the guys there give me good advice.

I have been to the following stores:

Big al's (coquitlam and richmond)
King Ed's
JL
Pauls
Superpet
Petcetera

JL tops that list in my mind. Then I'd have to say King Ed simply because the others have no selection or dead fish all over.

Any shops I am missing?