[BCWolfen]

So the trip went great. I stopped at Hillside first and had a pleasent chat with Cora. She was very friendly and helpful. I liked the big tub of live rock in the back that you could rummage through. LOL Pricing was as I expected, not Vancouver prices but very decent. I bought some liquid reactor, calcium, a new calcium test kit and another cleaner shrimp. I did like that Cora put a small piece of macro algae in the bag with the cleaner so he would stress less. That was a nice touch.

My next stop was Safari. Unfortunately this was very disappointing. When we first walked through the door, two male staff members were at the front counter. Neither said hi or acknowledged us so I said hi to them. I got a hi back and that was it. No "can I help" "anthing we can do for you" Owning a retail store myself this immediately set my hackles up. So I proceeded to walk amongst the dry goods. Shelves were bare (understandable after a lond weekend) and there was little selection. I was glad I had picked up my additives at Hillside. I looked through the Saltwater section, but it was also pretty empty, which was a shame as I was really looking for some fish or corals. I did see a little mandarin that I wanted but still no one had come to offer assistance. One gentleman started to siphon a tank right beside me and still said nothing. We took another quick tour around and checked out some of the doggy and kitty stuff and then left. 3 staff members, we were the only 2 customers for 15-20minutes and no one said a word. I will go back again to give them another chance but I was quite disappointed considering what I had read about them.

I had considered not going to creatures at all(again due to what I had read), but having some extra time we thought we'd go. Since I had not decided I didn't have their info. Luckily I had Islandreefers # with me so wifey gave him a call and he gave us their number (THANKS JOHN!!) We called and a very pleasent yound lady told us we about 2 buildings away. LOL The same (I assume) friendly young lady greeted us as we walked through the door, even though she was serving 3 people at the till. Immediate 2 thumbs up. We browsed around the dry goods (plenty of stock, looked good) and then headed into the fish room. One fellow was cleaning a large empty tank near the back. (I found out later this was his coral tank that had cracked a few days ago) We got about half way around the 1st wall when he climbed out of his job and asked if we needed any help. After about 20 minutes of answering questions and pointing things out I ended up with my mandarin goby, a pink/purple tube worm, and a nice blue sea squirt (I really liked the color lol) He was quite friendly and offered lots of suggestions and advice. I will definately be returning here. Their stock was good (also a bit low but still plenty there) and looked very healthy.

So there ya have it. Hopefulyl tomorrow I will get some pics of the new critters and post em up.