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ok, as some of you know, i am new to this and had wonderful suggestions from some of you on planning my new aquarium, as part of planning for the aquarium i have been wanting to go to LFS's to see things for myself, so some of you have suggested some places around town, here is my take on the different places i went, i am relatively new to the hobbie, but have been a fish/animal lover all my life and know basics about most of the common stuff, anyway, back to the stores, not that i should be opinionated, but i wanted to share my views on these stores that i have been to for the first time
1st stop - Fish Ranch II: my expectation of this place was not much, since i have not seen many reviews, now there are those who care about the decor of the place and those who care about how they care about/carry their fish/livestock, i am the latter, this place was A+ in my view, the variety was amazing (both marine and freshwater fish and plants), the fish all looked healthy and happy, the freshwater section was not heavily AC'd (which is how it is in nature) and i thought the place was geared more to the benefit of the fish, they all looked very healthy and happy (apart from a few that were too big in my mind for the tank they were in), the staff were knowledgeable and willing to help, yes the decor can use a lot of help - but i would rather know that i am getting a good fish or the fish that is there are in good condition than the decor of the place, i would much rather the dollar go towards caring/upkeep of the livestock, than fancy furniture, anyway, i loved this place and will go there every time i get a chance (this was my first visit)
2nd stop - City Pets: i read some good reviews of this place and was expecting something like fish ranch or better, we walked into the place and saw a nice planted tank with some fish (btw, they also have other pets/small animals/birds), so my pleasure with this places ended with the first planted tank we saw, as we walked more into the fish area, it quickly became apparent to me that the people who own/operate this place care for nothing else but making money, i would rather go to petsmart/petco the rest of my life than go to a place like this (a fish sweatshop of kinds in my mind), except for a few show tanks, all other fish holding tanks had no gravel/substrate of any sort, lots of fish were crammed into these blue in all sides tank, they looked spooked/disoriented (no substrate), and many dead fish throughout, and they had "i love you" parrots!!!!!! now if there is anything i really despise, its painted or artificially manipulating a living thing to the point of complete disregard/disrespect for living things, and seeing these "i love you" parrots were just the icing on the cake, i felt this really sad and angry feeling and we decided to leave the shop, now we just made a quick go around to see what the other pets and animals were like, needless to say, they were none the better, the rabbits and lizards were all crammed into little pens, and to my horror on the way out, we saw three parrots (the big colorful ones - don't know the names) in three little lunch box type holders within a larger plastic holder, were they could not even stand (no room), let alone perch (which is essential for these birds), anyway, needless to say this store was FFFFFFF--------- in my book and if you have some respect for animals, please don't waste your money in a place like this, i guess one good thing about this place - they had good selection of plants and prices were reasonable, but i would much rather spend 5 dollars more on the same thing and go somewhere where people don't abuse animals
3rd stop - Fishland - well, i was so disheartened by city pets, i was scared to go to this place, but i was also determined, the sweltering heat was also taking its toll on me (even with the A/C the car was an oven yesterday), so finally i make it to this place, i walk in with low expectations and anxiety, not knowing what to expect, well, the place was not bad, the selection of fish was ok, not too bad or good, the fish were mostly in good health and habitat (they had substrates in their tank and did not have many dead fish), not many plants though, we asked a question to one of the store employees and he was clueless, but i think he was either new to the store or just challenged in general (it seemed like the other people in the store were knowledgeable), their prices were very good indeed compared to all other places we have been, so although it is far for me, i would go there for a good deal depending on what i am looking for, i give them a B+
sorry, if i have offended anyone, but i thought i would share my experience at these places during my first visit (i have been to many fish stores in many places - not so many in houston so far), i have been going to fish gallery and previously village tropical fish for a while and would say that they have had their ups/downs but are overall a good place, hopefully this gives one perspective for people that are new to houston or the hobbie
1st stop - Fish Ranch II: my expectation of this place was not much, since i have not seen many reviews, now there are those who care about the decor of the place and those who care about how they care about/carry their fish/livestock, i am the latter, this place was A+ in my view, the variety was amazing (both marine and freshwater fish and plants), the fish all looked healthy and happy, the freshwater section was not heavily AC'd (which is how it is in nature) and i thought the place was geared more to the benefit of the fish, they all looked very healthy and happy (apart from a few that were too big in my mind for the tank they were in), the staff were knowledgeable and willing to help, yes the decor can use a lot of help - but i would rather know that i am getting a good fish or the fish that is there are in good condition than the decor of the place, i would much rather the dollar go towards caring/upkeep of the livestock, than fancy furniture, anyway, i loved this place and will go there every time i get a chance (this was my first visit)
2nd stop - City Pets: i read some good reviews of this place and was expecting something like fish ranch or better, we walked into the place and saw a nice planted tank with some fish (btw, they also have other pets/small animals/birds), so my pleasure with this places ended with the first planted tank we saw, as we walked more into the fish area, it quickly became apparent to me that the people who own/operate this place care for nothing else but making money, i would rather go to petsmart/petco the rest of my life than go to a place like this (a fish sweatshop of kinds in my mind), except for a few show tanks, all other fish holding tanks had no gravel/substrate of any sort, lots of fish were crammed into these blue in all sides tank, they looked spooked/disoriented (no substrate), and many dead fish throughout, and they had "i love you" parrots!!!!!! now if there is anything i really despise, its painted or artificially manipulating a living thing to the point of complete disregard/disrespect for living things, and seeing these "i love you" parrots were just the icing on the cake, i felt this really sad and angry feeling and we decided to leave the shop, now we just made a quick go around to see what the other pets and animals were like, needless to say, they were none the better, the rabbits and lizards were all crammed into little pens, and to my horror on the way out, we saw three parrots (the big colorful ones - don't know the names) in three little lunch box type holders within a larger plastic holder, were they could not even stand (no room), let alone perch (which is essential for these birds), anyway, needless to say this store was FFFFFFF--------- in my book and if you have some respect for animals, please don't waste your money in a place like this, i guess one good thing about this place - they had good selection of plants and prices were reasonable, but i would much rather spend 5 dollars more on the same thing and go somewhere where people don't abuse animals
3rd stop - Fishland - well, i was so disheartened by city pets, i was scared to go to this place, but i was also determined, the sweltering heat was also taking its toll on me (even with the A/C the car was an oven yesterday), so finally i make it to this place, i walk in with low expectations and anxiety, not knowing what to expect, well, the place was not bad, the selection of fish was ok, not too bad or good, the fish were mostly in good health and habitat (they had substrates in their tank and did not have many dead fish), not many plants though, we asked a question to one of the store employees and he was clueless, but i think he was either new to the store or just challenged in general (it seemed like the other people in the store were knowledgeable), their prices were very good indeed compared to all other places we have been, so although it is far for me, i would go there for a good deal depending on what i am looking for, i give them a B+
sorry, if i have offended anyone, but i thought i would share my experience at these places during my first visit (i have been to many fish stores in many places - not so many in houston so far), i have been going to fish gallery and previously village tropical fish for a while and would say that they have had their ups/downs but are overall a good place, hopefully this gives one perspective for people that are new to houston or the hobbie
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