Stick a fork in him

[Jonthefishguy]

Sure, here are the few that I thought were interesting as far as setup and/or cleanliness. There are many that I will not mention as they were not impressive and more of a waste of time.

St. Pete Marine -----------(B-) decent size store, moderately clean, was having some issues with livestock. There was water on the floor and the sales guy stated there was an issue just hours before. I walked in just after opening.

Countryside Aquarium Inc. --------------(A) VERY CLEAN, not too big, moderate selection, friendly staff. Owner owns a store in Ft. Meyers as well which he stated is bigger than this one.

Rockin Reef --------------(B+) Interesting setup. Instead of looking at a side view of the coral, you are actually looking at a top view. They have a 2,000 + gallon setup for displaying corals. Friendly staff and friendly owner. Would have shared a beer or two with the staff but I was driving and it was getting late.

Marine Warehouse -----------(A) Friendly staff, clean business, another place worth visiting.

LifeOceanic -----------------(B-) store was moderately clean, selection was slim. Had a system crash in the coral system setup. In the middle of deciding whether wanted to stay open as a Open to Public or convert to Wholesaler.

Coral Corral ------------- (did not get to visit. Address I was given led me to the owners house, instead of the business; which unfortunately he was not home. ) If you visit the store, let me know how it looks. Apparently it is a new store and isnt in the yellow pages yet or something to that effect.

If you are looking for SPS corals like Acro's, you wont find much of a selection. It is said throughout the stores that SPS corals do not move as fast as LPS or soft corals.

Living Color Tropical Fish (F) ------------------NOT WORTH THE VISIT, but if you want to see a dirty, dark, and unkept environment; visit this place.

Pets Unlimited (D-) ------------- Dirty dirty drty, cramped.... small selection of saltwater, store is like a fire hazard. More freshwater than saltwater. Over stocked with merchandise, at least has a 3ft walk way in each isle for wheel chair accessibilty but would not visit again; even if I was in the area.

I would offer you the names of wholesalers but if you are not in the business, or have an account with them, they wont let you in anyways as they are not open to the public. I will say that the ones I visited are impressive. Florida is the countries largest importer/exporter of tropical fish and LA is the largest in importer/exporter in the US for saltwaterfish. I am looking to visit my vendors on the east coast in Sept. if time allows.

My advice is to travel with a GARMIN or TOMTOM GPS system as some of these places are not easy to find and are at least 25-38 miles apart.

I drove 650 miles within the area just to different stores and vendors. By the way, most close at 8 pm

[Kristy]

Hey, THANKS for the detailed report!

I'll definitely check some of those out. And I always travel with the GPS.