Recommended Stores In VA

[Guest hk132]

What stores do you recommend in the Northern VA area for marine fish selection, fish quality, and salesperson knowledge?

 

I've been to Wally's Aquarium a few times and have talked with some very knowledgable and friendly salesmen, but during each visit I've been very unimpressed with the quality of the marine fish available for sale.

 

The other store I've been to is the Vienna Aquarium.  This store has the best selection of fish that I've found in my limitted experience, but I've felt that the sales staff can be very brash at times and on several occasions I've gotten fish advice from them that turned out to cause problems with my tank setup.

 

I've got a small marine aquarium and am interested in stocking it with attractive fish that get along well.  I've gone to stores in the past with a list of fish that should work well together only to find none of the listed (and known compatible) fish available.

 

In a perfect world I'd like to either find a large enough selection that my wish list can be fulfilled, or a sales staff that can guide me towards an appropriate substitute.

[michaelg]

Marine Scene by Dulles Airport, and The Reef Tank in Herndon/fairfax area.

[quazi]

The Reef Tank in Burke is by far the best for the knowledgeable hobbist.  Few fish, but good corals, clams and advice. Check out their web site @: http://www.reefstore.com/

 

Also, if you get out to Leesburg, Pets Etc. is OK.  Not worth a special trip.

 

Since you are in Arlington, I suggest crossing the river and going over to Roozens in Fort Washington, MD.

 

http://www.roozens.com/aquaticfront.htm

[pez]

Roozens?  Come on Mike!  ???

[BeltwayBandit]

I would not recommend Roozens unless you have a good quarrantine tank set up.  Their tanks are questionable, at best.  

 

I would second the recommendation for Marine Scene or The Reef Tank.  Both are excelent stores and have knowlegable staff.  Be forewarned, Marine Scene charges premium prices, but every fish they sell has been quarrantined and is accepting food before they will sell it.  I'm willing to pay more for that.  

 

BB

[Sph2sail]

they bring in a lot of stuff.  wish we could assist in better management practices there.  until such time, consider it a mission of mercy.  ::

 

s

[BeltwayBandit]

Funny thing is.. I'm actually considering a purchase from Roozens.. I had to pull my fish from the display to treat for Ich and have a q-tank set up. When I pull the fish from the tank after the first of the year, I am considering going to them and purchasing some fish that I have been looking for..  Does this make me a bad Reefer?

 

BB

[ReefMon]

Does this make me a bad Reefer?

 

No, it make you a concerned, educated reefer, trying to save what otherwise is more than likely a doomed animal.  Unfortunately most folks expect to come home with healthy happy pet.

 

I have been successful at the "R" store, but I too had the foresight to have a established Q-tank awaiting for the new arrival, and IMO the luck/skill to have it survive.

 

All in all, I'd much rather pay more money to get healthy animals, and use economic pressure to force questionable outfits into taking better care of their animals, or not existing.

 

Just, my 2 cents

Glenn R

[Guest tgallo]

i have had a 75% stay alive rate with roozens so far for the 2 plus years i have been purchasing livestock from them.

[quazi]

Sorry,  I won't join in on the Roozens hate fest here.  I get most of my fish there, and have had great success.  They get a lot in, charge a decent price, and keep their livestock like a large wholesaler. I am careful of what I buy at any store.  I think Roozens is a fine place to buy livestock, if you know what you are doing.

 

After seeing and hearing what other LFS's have done to their customers and creatures, I do not feel bad about dealing with Roozens.  I do not expect much customer service and am rarely disappointed.

 

Obviously, neither do a lot of people.  They are generating $4 million in business a year.

 

If this drums me out of WAMAS, so be it.

 

But I hope our tent is big enough for all us Roozen types.

 

Now about those who like MS... :p

[pez]

Mike - I think what you said is the key:

 

if you know what you are doing

 

I know lots of people who buy there and have success; I know even more who buy there and have nearly no success.  I think with a proper quarantine and choosing the "right" fish, you can have success.  But you do need to be proactive and know what a healthy fish looks like.

 

Does anyone buy corals from them?  They have very good prices on anemones.

 

-Tom

[quazi]

I have bought corals there with good success.

 

Generally, I buy corals at TRT, so it is rare that I buy them from Roozens.  The last coral I bought from them is my monster frogspawn I bought from them about 5 years ago.  It has been fragged several times since, with about 5 or 6 WAMAS members have a piece in their tank to this day (I hope!)

 

I agree that Roozens is an "advanced hobbyist" store.  If any other LFS had their selection and any thing like their prices, I would go there.  That is why TRT  is always my first stop when I need something.  Their issue is lack of livestock, particularlly fish.

[Guest hk132]

I ended up going to the Marine Scene, as suggested.

 

Wow.. the place just blew me away!  Far and away the best experience I remember having in any store, let along a fish shop.

 

The guys there seemed to know what they were talking about and were willing to babble about fish and give advice until the cows came home.

[Guest andrejka]

Sorry,  I won't join in on the Roozens hate fest here... They get a lot in, charge a decent price, and keep their livestock like a large wholesaler. I am careful of what I buy at any store.  I think Roozens is a fine place to buy livestock, if you know what you are doing.

I second that.  And NOBODY even comes close to the variety they offer.  IMO, Joss is a nice guy too.

[Guest JFish]

My favorite store has to be exotic aquatics.  I am in fairfax and think it is worth the drive going up to baltimore.  If you ever go up there you wont be disapointed.  That is by far my favorite fish store.  

 

I like Marine Scene as well because of how they handle their fish.  

 

I don't really like The Reef Tank that much, its ok, they usually never have anything in their tanks.  The coral tanks/clam tank has flat worms everywhere.  And they have no guarantee at all.  I bought a flameback angel from them one time, died after a day and they just said oh well.

[Aquariareview]

I have a lot of coral from roozens and I have only had 1 piece die. IT looked bad when I got it and they gave it to me to try and save.

 

I believe that they do a lot of trans-shipping to LFS's all over the northeast. The problem with that kind of business is that you get a lot in directly from overseas sources and the mortality rate is high and at a facility like theirs its all out in the open. All stores have some death rate in marine life and the dead go in the trash in a back room, before anyone sees it. The wholesalers are not out in the open at all but the ones I have had some contact with have a lot of DOA and a lot of sick on arrival livestock.

 

I think Roozens have no more or less than any middle man seller... where it bothers us is that they also sell retail and we see the death.

 

One of the reasons that we need to grow as an organization is so we can have an impact on the whole scene. Roozens will buy coral from local growers as they are healthy and pull a good price.

 

As we grow and educate people, we can change the paradigm to make the market better for the seller that sells aquacultured coral and everyone wins. The buyers win because they get coral that will live. The sellers win because they dont have to throw away a lot of dead animals (,that they paid for) and the reefs win because we took less.

 

After all of that long winded blustering what I really meant to say was: I go ahead and buy from Roozens because I can't get the stuff any where else locally. I Choose carefully, quarantine, and worry about something else (like the election or the price increase at the hair club for men)

[Guest AquariaUSA]

Trying to migrate the wholesale & LFS market to captive bred is a tough cookie! We have been trying to do that with clients for at least two years. In the new warehouse we are building, our main focus will be to house/quarantine specimens for clients and to enable more purchases locally from hobbyists for growout. However, we all know this takes quite sometime depending on the species. I commend those of you who truly believe taking less from the reef is best for all involved. The mortality rates on large fish orders 10+ boxes are horrible to say the least, depending on how long the fish were in transit. This is where MAC became involved, but honestly, the shippers who are MAC certified do not always have a large selection of fish, and will sell the daylights out of anything not MAC certified. I have dealt with one company for quite sometime, and they recently became MAC certified. I got all excited that they were taking the first step, called them, and got "we don't get in a lot of MAC cert'd fish." Kinda defeats the whole purpose of selling certified net caught IMO.

 

Now for the stores. Joss and Kenny are very knowledgeable and nice to deal with if they know you. If you walk in as a hobbyist for the first time, don't expect great service nor a clean fishroom They do get in tons of great livestock, but usually sell right out of the bag. Other retailers do the same, and nobody in this area will bring in an order, QT it behind the scenes for a minimum of two weeks, then release the specimens for sale. This is done in a select few stores across the across the country, and in Europe. Why we are not at this level yet is interesting, but most of the stores in the area are tied so close to trying to make profits to pay the rent they can't afford to do this. All in all, I think each LFS is a "hit or miss" visit, for one store will have some really nice stuff in one day, and be barren then next week. Finding someone in a store who really knows their stuff can be challenging as well. Perhaps the stores will get more involved with the local clubs, and start showing up to meetings? For those who claim they can't afford to send a staff member to a meeting (once a quarter or month!) for loss of sales, should really think about the 100 or so members in the club who are potential customers.

 

I tried my 2c, but I think I left a dollar! hehe

[Guest 4 Million a year?]

Quazi, if their annual sales are $4 million in corals and fish, these are the numbers I came up with...That sure would be one hefty tax bill on sales&use alone ($200,000.00)

 

$4,000,000 / $40 price on average per piece/fish = 100,000

*obviously some species cost more than others, but they try to be the bottom dollar on a lot of species locally, so $40 is a safe average.

 

If a 100,000 fish and corals are sold per year, that must mean they sell 1,923 pieces or fish per week or 275 species each day! Although I don't go there very often, I have never seen customers crowding the aisles buying that many species. In addition, considering many of their livestock is transhipped to them, the mortaility rates would be fairly high (I have seen several dozen DOAs when they acclimate new shipments). So for the 100,000 or so that are sold, if they were able to keep DOAs and DAAs down to a minimum (say 10%) that would mean 10,000 fish and corals die per year through that outlet, representing at least $400,000 in lost sales, or 192 species per week at $7680 in lost profits ($40 avg). This is more than most stores order in 1 month, some 2-3 months! Now I know that they are building out their space, but I seriously doubt they sell that many corals and fish per year from a single greenhouse operation.

 

I think this $4mil must include part of the landscape/garden part of the business (which would be very low in comparison to Behnke's, Meadows Farms, etc.), but I could be wrong.

[Aquariareview]

they may not be far from that ##

I have been there when they were 20 customers deep at the check out and when you had to stand in line to get help in the back

[quazi]

The $4 million is from the horse's mouth, with a goal of $5 million this year.

 

Remember, they trans-ship and they work with divers and collectors directly.  You may not see all they have.

[Guest goblinshark]

my favorite is Tropical lagoon in Silver Spring, great HUGE selection, resonable prices, not great on the fish front... In a bad part of town but a trip there is worth it.

[Guest AquariaUSA]

Transhipping can keep costs down, but the freight and tranship fees usually average out, depending on species. We tranship in from a few suppliers from time to time, and repack fees alone can "equalize" the costs versus dealing direct wholesale with those in LA. If the business grossed that much on SW livestock alone (20 deep or not on weekday/weekends) just looking at the number estimates above would probably make them the best and largest retailer in the country.

[Guest AquariaUSA]

And even if they were 20 deep inline, just think if those 20 were the only ones buying (average 13 corals per person?) if they sold 275 pieces per day. I like what they have been doing for years, and excited to hear them grow, but if I were making that much cash (and nearly the same in clear) then facilities would be top notch.

[michaelg]

Goblinshark- in some regards, Tropical Lagoon is probably the best store in our area- but that isn't saying much..... In our area, the stores suck!  I'm always amazed when I go shopping in Houston how much more is offered down there, and how healthy the livestock is.... If you ever want to do an order pool, I know some real good online vendors.  I work at NIH, so could easily meet after work...

[Guest reeffoto]

I feel the best stores in the area are Exotic Aqautics and The Reef Tank.  I have not been to MArine Scene that's ust a little to far for me.  The best store I have ever been to was Aqua Works in Pensacola Fl. (that's where I got into the hobby at)  I have had mixed luck at Roozens.  You must be very knowledgable if your going to buy there as they will sell you anything.  A few years ago I asked Josh for a discount on some bone dry sad that was lying around and he said it's still alive $2.50 a pound.