Susan, there are a lot of good stores around here that are sponsors of MAAST.

My favorite (and everyone has their own favorites) is CB Pets.

Specific Points that you mentioned that CB addresses:

1) They typically will not buy a fish back from the hobbyist, they have their own reasons for this, but I respect it. They do however buy some fish from local breeders I think. You would need to check w/ Mark and Richard to see if they are interested in setting up that type of relationship with you.

2) All fish that come into the store are quarantined for a minimum of 2 weeks unless they are specialty fish that wouldn't do well in a quarantine tank (such as mandarin dragonettes that need a tank full of copepods to thrive)

3) All nets go into a bucket of water treated with a net dip that sterilizes it on contact.

The quarantine alone is a good enough reason to give your patronage to a store like this, as so very few stores do it. It is run by hobbyists that LOVE what they do, and the progress the hobby as well. The sponsor good organizations like MAAST, and they take the time to answer your questions if you take the time to ask.

They are not the only MAAST sponsor that does these things, and I admit a fair amount of bias as I consider the owners to be friends. check out our sponsors links and you will find there are a lot of stores both in San Antonio and Austin that do the hobbyist proud, and there are some great on-line vendors too.

Thanks for telling us about your experience.