Fish stores Calgary

[iamfrontosa]

Originally Posted by somafish

-Wais is good livestock,probably the best coral selection, a little pricey
-Pisces is so-so for live stock some sick fish and a large mark up on others, but the biggest selection of dry goods.
-Big Als Is going out of buisness (they just don't know it).lots of empty tanks
-Ocean creations is small but sometimes has unique fish, decent prices
-Concept has great prices on fish and dry goods, but lately when I go in there is alot of empty tanks
-Reef wonderland sometimes has nothing in the tanks, almost nothing for dry goods. In his defense it has been a while since I have been there
-Golds these guys are my favorite place. Bought a regal tang for $30, huge squamosa clam with 2 green bubble tip anemones on the same rock for $125. If they had a larger dry goods selection I would not go anywhere else
-Riverfront I think is shut down for animal neglect, and it showed in their saltwater tanks. $40 dollars for baby ocellaris clowns!!! This place smells like a dirty gym sock

I agreed with everything Somafish said.

[mrhasan]

My experience (other's may differ):

Concept: This is where 90% of my money allocated for the hobby goes. This is my go to place for hardware and corals. Not so much for fishes.
Pieces: From my experience, almost every tang in that store is infected with ich. I only go there for inverts; they always seem to have the inverts that I look for.
Big-al: This is where I got my 1st tank but stopped going there when I came to know about other stores.
Ocean creation: My go to place for fish. Never had any issue on any of the fishes that I bough from here. Given that I am not big on quarantine, get healthy specimen is really good.
Wai's: probably my last choice for LFS if I cannot find something locally or online. Great selection of corals but hell expensive and unless you are there for buying something, the guy is not very pleasant.
Reef wonderful: Hell expensive. Great guy but in the end, I personally wouldn't pay a 50% premium just for customer service.
Gold's aquarium: Extremely good price and they QT their fishes so, like ocean creation, you will get healthy specimen. Their prices are so cheap that sometimes, it is just shocking and will make you wonder how they manage to sell things so cheap. Used to be far away from my old place but very close to my new one so I will visit them more often now that I am back in the hobby.

[MitchM]

Wai's has always been my go to place for supplies equipment and livestock.
Daniel has been in business a very long time for a reason - he has a business model that can weather both the good and bad times. Prices can be expensive, but that's what it takes to stay in business. If not Wai's, do you really want to buy from someone that is here today, gone tomorrow?

I went to Big Al's a couple of weeks ago and they had very little sw livestock but a LOT of artificial salt available. People probably are a little burned from last year's salt "special sale" debacle.

I've never been to Concepts new place, can't offer a opinion.

Pisces is a great overall pet store. I get all my fw and pond supplies there.

Golds I've been to once, but they had a very limited sw offering.

Riverfront needs to be shut down.

I haven't been to any of the others mentioned.

Online stores for Calgarians are available, but it costs me $50 in fuel to drive to the airport for livestock, so that is a deterrent.
BRS is very expensive when you include shipping to the local post office (in my case)
.

[MitchM]

Also, no one in Calgary has been able to offer the high quality of corals that Wai's has.
I've seen great pictures from some online vendors, and have read some favourable reviews, but have not ordered to see for myself.

[Beanz]

Thanks for all the input guys! I'll for sure have to check out all these places when I'm ready for livestock! There's several listed that I didn't even know existed.

[somafish]

Originally Posted by MitchM

Wai's has always been my go to place for supplies equipment and livestock.
Daniel has been in business a very long time for a reason - he has a business model that can weather both the good and bad times. Prices can be expensive, but that's what it takes to stay in business. If not Wai's, do you really want to buy from someone that is here today, gone tomorrow?

I went to Big Al's a couple of weeks ago and they had very little sw livestock but a LOT of artificial salt available. People probably are a little burned from last year's salt "special sale" debacle.

I've never been to Concepts new place, can't offer a opinion.

Pisces is a great overall pet store. I get all my fw and pond supplies there.

Golds I've been to once, but they had a very limited sw offering.

Riverfront needs to be shut down.

I haven't been to any of the others mentioned.

Online stores for Calgarians are available, but it costs me $50 in fuel to drive to the airport for livestock, so that is a deterrent.
BRS is very expensive when you include shipping to the local post office (in my case)
.

Pisces,Big Al's,Golds have all been open for a long time, I don't think that should be the main criteria for doing business there. Wai's was selling a 3" maxima for $300, cross the street go to Ocean Creations got a 5" with nicer pattern for $180. Regal tangs for $80 At Wai's, Golds $30. And even alot of wai's dry goods and equipment are over priced. Daniel can be very picky who he likes and who he doesn't like, it seems to me it's based on who's gonna spend the most money

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by somafish

Pisces,Big Al's,Golds have all been open for a long time, I don't think that should be the main criteria for doing business there. Wai's was selling a 3" maxima for $300, cross the street go to Ocean Creations got a 5" with nicer pattern for $180. Regal tangs for $80 At Wai's, Golds $30. And even alot of wai's dry goods and equipment are over priced. Daniel can be very picky who he likes and who he doesn't like, it seems to me it's based on who's gonna spend the most money

You may not be aware of the Big Al's franchise history in Calgary then.

Reef stores are not cheap to operate.
Like I said, Daniel has a good business model. If you are looking for inexpensive coral frags for example, it would be best to buy from other hobbyists. (there's nothing wrong with that, btw, I support other hobbyists when I can)

[btuck887]

Originally Posted by somafish

Pisces,Big Al's,Golds have all been open for a long time, I don't think that should be the main criteria for doing business there. Wai's was selling a 3" maxima for $300, cross the street go to Ocean Creations got a 5" with nicer pattern for $180. Regal tangs for $80 At Wai's, Golds $30. And even alot of wai's dry goods and equipment are over priced. Daniel can be very picky who he likes and who he doesn't like, it seems to me it's based on who's gonna spend the most money

Highly agree with somafish. Been into Wai's countless times, bought a few things here and there, and never once had a warm reception. On the other hand, you cross the street to Ocean creations and you greeted with a big smile and great service. Oceans may not have the coral selection that Wai's has but I would prefer to spend my money in a shop that treats me as a valued customer and not just a walking wad of cash!

[MitchM]

Businesses can charge what the market will bear for their products.

If a new business wants to compete, it has to be able to provide a more attractive alternative, be it price or product.
So far, I have not seen anyone do that in the Calgary market. Wai's is the one to beat.

I could buy more volume if I went somewhere else, but I would hate to see Calgary lose the high quality products that Wai's offers.
I don't argue with the price, so I'm an easy customer to deal with, versus someone that complains about the price and tries to buy items for less.
Less profit = harder to do business = possibly going out of business entirely.

When I was in business, startups wold come into my market and offer cheap similar products at low prices. It hurt my sales. I know what it is like. Less than a year later, the startup was gone and out of business, because they weren't making enough money. Meanwhile, my sales suffered, I had to let people go, reduce my inventories and it took a while to build back up again. Soon another startup would try again and the cycle continued.

I wish good luck to all businesses, but I'm not a fan of shopping for cheap prices alone.

[Fishy!]

Does big als have a large selection on AGA aquariums?