I too made a little stop at Marine Aquatics.  It must be ORA frag picture time...

Blue Tort, picked up tonight!  Thanks Eric.

And another ORA frag.  Blue tip stag.  Thanks Shawn

Might be too late....

pmpt, Aquarium does have a good variety of stuff, but they tend to overcharge quite a bit. I usually go there as a last resort when I need something that no one else has.

I'm surprised I didn't bump into more people at MA last night, I was there too...hehe Obviously everyone heard of the awesome shipment of goodies he picked up. I was just there to pick up some test kits and snails, but I also had to take an extra hour there to talk his ear off and drool over the new stuff he had gotten in. Looks like everyone above grabbed the exact ones I was staring at. (can't wait to get some better lights so I can get some of these fancy items, of course Eric is working with me to hook that up as well).

Btw, if you want to see Eric beaming with pride, ask him about his skimmer inventions.

It is bad that MA is so darn close to my house. I spend too much money there.

In all seriousness, if you havent been by to see them, you should really check it out.

pmpt wrote: Besides, they will usually always give you a deal on stuff. I'm sure you've seen that Improdigal.

That's true, the people that work there are really kewl to work with and happy to help you out. I don't mean to bad mouth them. They have a really good selection there. 

pmpt wrote: I really haven't seen The Aquarium being overpriced.

I like Brad.   So like Improdigal I don't want to sound like I'm bad mouthing The Aquarium, but those prices are sky high.

Adam

Ok, now I feel bad.

I like the aquarium and the people there are awesome. I'm sorry I said anything. Every LFS has their forte's and items they sell for good prices or higher prices. For example, I usually go to Under the Sea for the best price on anenomes and invertibrates, but I seldom see them mentioned here.

You guys are right - we are very fortunate to have so many different LFS to choose from and we are all going to have different experiences and opinions about each of them.  I also didn't mean what I was saying about the Aquarium(haven't been there in almost 2 years) I actually was thinking about a different LFS more up my way.

pmpt - not to sound like a jerk, but how are you so sure it was the tang from the LFS that gave your tank ich and not your tank that gave it ich?  I see ich happen quite often from stress in transporting from store to the home.  As well as it should of had visible signs of ich at the LFS.  By the way I have no idea what LFS you are talking about. 

pmpt wrote: rfoote-... Maybe you were kinda a jerk to them. What goes around comes around.

Wow!  There is someone who obviously has not met Ryan.

Adam
(by the way Ryan, I have no idea what store is being referred to as well) 

pmpt,

Yeah that makes sense.  I know what you mean, and I agree.

Adam

Im not sure if i should reply to this but what the heck.

I think to often the LFS is blamed for many things going wrong or hell breaking loose in your Aquarium. To say any new fish caused a Ich outbreak in a tank that is doing Geat I would have to say well yeah that can happen anytime you put anything in your Aquarium being coral or fish there can be problems.

If its a fish there is stress of a new imviroment! maybe the other fish picked on him maybe he stressed out on his own there is many many reasons it could happen Remember just cause we want them doesnt mean the fish we allready have will have to get along with them...I can Guarantee That i Dont, Wont,and will not sell any fish that i even thing isnt doing ok and that all any LFS can do

Sorry if i am coming off rude i just disslike when all aquarium problems are blamed on The LFS!!!!

i would like to say that anything i have bought from eric is still alive and thriving! proper acclimatiom and several other variables make fish and corals servive.

thanks eric, i appreciate you and your store

no, i'm not kissing your a**

btw, Eric, you weren't the store they were dissing on, just in case you didn't catch that in Connie's post.

Shane H wrote: I can easily overlook the smaller selection when I consider the knowledge of the staff.

There was no  at the end of that remark so I imagine that the Petco close to you has a better staff than the one's I've been in.  I in no way intend this to sound rude, but the ones I've been in have had nothing much to sell in thier saltwater tanks and the 16 year olds that run the dept, when you can find one, can't even catch a fish, much less tell me anything about it.  I must admit I haven't been in a Petco for a while because of having this experience a couple times in a row so maybe things have changed since then.  Maybe the staff from your store will move to the new one their building by my place.

I have the same problem at Marine Aquatics.  Everytime I go in there, there is no one there to help me.  I have to search all over the place to find an employee and then they either don't want to help me or have no knowledge about the livestock.  I can never get anyone there to talk to me. 

Just kidding of course.  As anyone who has been there knows, Eric and Arjen are always ready and willing to help out.  They are one of my favorite stores and are definately tops in customer service.  They are very knowledgable about the hobby and are more than willing to share that knowledge with the rest of us.

Also, many of us are ready to say "We are lucky to have so many great LFS to choose from.", but do we really understand how lucky we are.  Many people in many places have almost no choice except the internet.  That makes it hard to say, I need this today to fix a problem.  For instance, I would be interested to know how many local LFS Travis in Wyoming has to choose from.

Actually I thought he was just being HEAVILY Sarcastic.

I do still pick up some stuff from PetCo on occasion because it's usually cheap, but I use my OWN judgement on what to buy or not.