Options for remote communities?
 

Hey everyone, I'm new to the saltwater hobby though not to aquariums in general (I've kept freshwater fish and plants in the past, broke down those tanks a couple years ago).

I'd like to start a 20 gallon reef tank, and I'm sort of lost on where to start... actually, let me rephrase that, I know where to start but as I'm in a remote community (8 hours from Winnipeg, 6 from Saskatoon) there is nothing in terms of LFS. Walmart doesn't count :biggrin:.

So my question here is, what are my options for things to put in my tank, being that there is no LFS? Is buying online and having it shipped to the local Purolator depot my only option?

Some insight would be greatly appreciated.

if the LFS in either of those towns uses straight o2 when they bag your stuff it should do fine for the drive home. i have heard of one of the lfs i use had a customer form europe and the fish he took back on the plane as carry on did fine. he even called to say the fish made it.

But aside from pick up in either of these towns i would say that yes shipping would be it..

Yeah, I think shipping is my only option... guess I wait until spring, shipping in the winter is probably waaaay too risky. In the meantime, I'll have to search for a source of liverock that might have some extra critters on it. My parents brought me back some dead coral from their trip to Jamaica years ago, and I put the chunks of rock into some salt water (I was young, it seemed like the thing to do :lol: and sooner than later there were a bunch of little creatures swimming around in the glass. I hope to have a similar (if less awed, I'm all growed up now) experience with reefkeeping.

You will probably be just as awed... :wink:

You'd be surprised... I used to live in Fort Mcmurray, at first I was nervous about ordering fish in winter; but eventually you'll run across a deal/fish you can't resist, and you will... Chances are it'll go just fine.

Get to know your "nearby" reefers in the urban centers, make friends - you'd be surprised at how nice the reefing community is, and how willing some are to help you get livestock...

Best advice - test and know the systems of your local delivery companies, know who's overnight/next day service truly is (Fine print on all say "to major urban centers") - never trust the website, call in and confirm. Find out your local air cargo carriers, some are cheap, some are stupid expensive...

I used to send/recieve fish / plants very regularly from mcmurray, yes - there were some disasters... But there were way more successes.

Ebay has lots of sellers of live rock that will ship anywhere, I haven't personally bought this way but many have. Check out nano-reef.com if you haven't already, it is a great resource for nano reefs.

Thanks for your input, consider this all advice well taken :biggrin: I'm actually going to check out the buy/sell on here and see if I can find some lights. I haven't decided exactly what I need yet as I'm not sure what I want to keep.

I'm leaning towards zoanthids and maybe some soft corals, BUT I really like christmas tree worms and have read that they have some sort of symbiotic relationship with the coral that they live in, and I'm not sure I want to attempt SPS corals anytime soon.

But we'll see, I need to build a protein skimmer first... :lol:

Invertebrates and corals should be okay to ship via UPS express or something that goes right to your door, as long as its not too cold out. There are many sites/companies out there within Canada that ship across Canada, you could call some and see what the costs would be. As long as things are packed well you should be fine for most hardy things (rock, inverts, and corals). :)

i know someone in Thompson that has a sw tank. he brings everything from Winnipeg. fish and coral, all his rock and sand. he has only lost one fish i think.

Jason

I have bought online from several of our sponsors during the winter and have had very good luck. Check out the sponsor ratings before you order. Alot of them will also have other items you may need that are not on their sites. Just ask and they might be able to help you out.