great idea

state:MA


city:indian orchard
store name: james tropical fish
selection: 8 (good variety of fish, decent saltwater section, and ordering ability)
cleanliness/quality 4 (they are remodeling though)
staff 4-5 lots of younger employees, but they occasionally know whats up
smiley


city:hadley
store name: exotic fish and pet
selection: 9 they keep a lot of different and rare fish, and will order whatever you need whether alive or not
cleanliness:9 always cleaning one tank or another, and i never see dead fish in the tanks.
staff: 10 if they dont know(not often) they tell you, then they find out.
smiley
this is my favorite store around here.


city:holyoke
store:petco
selection:5 good beginners species choices, good food section.
cleanliness/quality:2 dont buy most of the fish in there. even IF they are alive. if you want saltwater; RUN AWAY!!!!!!!
staff:1 when they are around, they are good for catching fish. thats about it.
smiley:
this is my least favorite store for anything alive. i will occasionally buy food there though.


city:feeding hills
store:aqua dreams
selection: 10 this is mainly a saltwater shop. corals and the like. they have a freshwater selection that is pretty good too though. and i am sure they could and would order anything you want.
cleanliness:10 they are always the nicest looking shop i can get to. quality:10 always healthy beautiful stock
staff:10 they have answered most of my questions with questions of their own and then gotten to the right answer dependent upon my descriptions of what i want. i went there six times before i bought a thing and the only thing they really tried to sell me was a book.
smiley:
when i get a saltwater tank i will go nowhere else.

MINNESOTA

State: Minnesota
City: Minneapolis
Store: A World of Fish

Variety/ Selection:9
Cleanliness and quality:10
Staff friendliness and Knowledge: 8
Smiley rating:

State: Minnesota
City: Minneapolis
Store: Something Fishy

Variety/ Selection: 7 (mainly SW)
Cleanliness and quality: 10
Staff friendliness and Knowledge: 6
Smiley rating:


State: Minnesota
City: Roseville
Store: HarMar Pets

Variety/ Selection: 7
Cleanliness and quality:7
Staff friendliness and Knowledge:8
Smiley rating:


These are my fav's in MN.

State:Virginia
City/Town:Midlothian
Store:Petsmart

Variety/Selection: 9
Cleanliness & Quality: 3
Staff Friendliness: 5
Staff Knowledge: 2

Definately Do not go here to buy fish for an existing aquarium. Every single one of the fish I've brought home from this place has killed all the fish in my tank and in one case even the fish that i got died. The same has happened to friends. Not anything wrong with the aquarium because i got fish from other places and they live and do not kill the fish existing in aquarium. It is good for equipment though. The only good fish that u dont have to worry about killing your fish (from disease anyways) is a betta. But everyone knows you shouldnt keep them with other fish.

State:Virginia
City/Town:Midlothian
Store:Pet Club

Variety/selection:10
Cleanliness & Quality:9
Staff Friendliness:9 (for guy who works fish section)
Staff Knowledge:9

Great pet store, for fish. Great selection and cleanliness. I will go to this store for everything I need fish wise. The only two problems I have with this place is that they never have the crustaceans. But I think that may be because of a law that was passed in the state of Virginia that says you can't get shipments of crustaceans without the proper permit and i think they are working on it. So overall a great store for fish and the last time i went in there they had two of those O. Gouramis that grow to be huge.

Location: connecticut
Store: Petco

Varaiety:6
Quality:-1(yeah negetive BEYOTCH!)
Staff care:2
Overall:3.14855735478457667....and the rest
they overprice everything

Store: Pet Supplies PLUS
City: Easton, Pennsylvania
Variety/Selection: 6 (only have a few kinds, put save fry)
Cleanliness/Quality: 7 (one or 2 dead)
Staff Knowledge and friendliness: 3
Smiley Rating:

Store: One Fish Two Fish
City: Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania
Variety/Selection: 9 (lots of fish LOTS)
Cleanliness/Quality: 4 (too many dead fish)
Staff Knoledge and friendliness: 8
Smiley Rating:

Store: Walmart
City: Easton, PA
Variety/Selecton: 4
Cleanliness/Quality: 3
Staff Knowledge and friendliness: 1
Smiley Rating:

State:Ohio
City:Middleburg Heights
Store: RMS Aquaculture

Variety/selection:8 (some SW but not much)
Cleanliness/Quality:7
Staff Friendlyness and Knowlege:6
Smiley rating:
Website:www.rmsaquaculture.com
Hope you guys can get through all that as soon as I can visit two other ones that I have been wanting too I will let you guys know what they are like to.

I have to agree here on this one! I love RMS, just wish it wasn't so far away. I have also visited their Parma store...not as impressed. I have had great luck emailing Mike from RMS and he has been real helpful about when/what will come in for me. I waited 3 weeks for my sparkling gourami....got an email the day they were to come in that they hadn't made it...got another email a couple of days later telling me he had them. A+ IN MY BOOK!
He knows how far I travel and is quite willing to save me a trip.

Have to add this one too....

State:Ohio
City:Brooklyn
Store:Aquarium Adventure
Variety/selection:8
Staff friendlyness and knowledge:7----if one doesn't know, they will find someone who might
Website:www.aquariumadventure.com
I was a little leery at first because they are a little pricier....and don't offer much of a guarantee....but I haven't had any fish loss from them as of yet and absolutely love just going to see the custom tanks in this store!

State: Pennsylvania
City: Pittsburgh
Store: All Oddball Aquatics

Variety/ Selection: 10
Cleanliness and quality: 10
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 10
Smiley rating:

They have a lot of other uncommon freshwater fish,(lots of cichlid varieties) most of which Eric (owner) breeds himself upstairs. There are some regulars (gouramis, tetras) but they aren't bred in the store. Really nice people, when I showed some interest in finding out more he took me upstairs to check out the "fish room" where he breeds most of his stock, and talked with me about it for at least half an hour until he had to close up shop. He really seemed to know his stuff, and there is a guy on staff (manager) who is strictly their plant guy, so they seem to have their bases covered.

I gave them all tens. i don't know if they are the best, but they are far and away the best i have ever seen.

State: New Jersey

City: Bayonne

Store: Colonial Pets (18th st. & Broadway)

Variety & Selection: 7.5

Cleanliness & Quality: 7

Staff Friendliness & Knowledge: 8 (Not to busy)
I believe its family owned and operated.

Smiley Rating:

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State: New Jersey

City: Jersey City

Store: Petland Discounts on route 440

Variety & Selection: 7.8

Cleanliness & Quality: 10

Staff Friendliness & Knowledge: 9 (Quite often very busy)

Smiley Rating:

Store: Tom's Tropicals
City: Perry Hall, MD
Variety/Selection: 8
Cleanliness/Quality: 10 (can't find any dead fish)
Staff Knowledge and friendliness: 8
Smiley Rating:

Store: Petco
City: Bel Air, MD
Variety/Selection: 7
Cleanliness/Quality: 6
Staff Knowledge and friendliness: 7
Smiley Rating:

Store: PetSmart
City: Bel Air, MD
Variety/Selection: 9 (they have a lot of fish)
Cleanliness/Quality: 9
Staff Knowledge and friendliness: 7
Smiley Rating: Not bad for a PetSmart

This post has been edited by BluexEmber: Jul 12 2006, 04:08 AM

State: Massachusetts
City: Boston (in the town of Roxbury)
Store: Skipton Pet Center

Variety/ Selection: 8
Cleanliness and quality: 9
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 10
Prices: 6

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State: Massachusetts
City: Boston (in the village of Allston)
Store: The Pet Shop (started way back... thats how he managed to trademark that name lmao)

Variety/ Selection: 7
Cleanliness and quality: 7
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 6
Prices: 5

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State: Massachusetts
City: Boston (in chinatown)
Store: Aqua World Pet Supply

Variety/ Selection: 2 (mostly goldfish, koi, arowanas, flowerhorns and other ridiculously expensive fish)
Cleanliness and quality: 9
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: I never asked any questions here so it would be innapropriate to rate this.
Prices: 5

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State: Massachusetts
City: Almost everywhere (this review is for Petco in Brighton)
Store: Petco (I couldn't resist lmao)

Variety/ Selection: 8 (the quality of the fish is better than you would think for a chain store)
Cleanliness: 6 (store smells like old dog food and crickets run wild through the store but its not like I would lick the ground now would I?)
quality: 10
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 10 (most of the time)
Prices: 8 (best prices around (only because the closest walmart is on the other side of the state from boston))

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State: Massachusetts
City: Taunton
Store: Ken's Fish

Variety/Selection: 10 (great fish food selections)
Cleanliness and Quality: N/A (He sells stuff online mostly and doesn't have a store front)
Staff Friendliness and Knowledge: N/A (He sells aquarium equipment. I have never asked him anything before so rating this would be inappropriate)
Pricing: 10 (best prices around even with tax and shipping included)

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State: Nevada
City: Reno
Store: Sierra Aquarium

(NOTE: this review may be biased because the owner Amanda Heck is my friend and she sends me some pretty good stuff)

Variety/Selection: 10 (mostly does special orders)
Cleanliness and Quality: 10 (pretty good stuff)
Staff Friendliness and Knowledge: 7 (because she flipped out on me once for no reason)
Prices: 8 (not the best prices I've ever seen but the quality of her stuff is the best I've ever seen)

This post has been edited by meepster: Jul 25 2006, 02:42 AM

State: Michigan
City: Petoskey
Store: Tropical Cove

Variety/Selection: 9- fresh and saltwater beauties, plants, and equipment
Cleanliness and Quality: 7-saw one tank of gourami being treated for ich
Staff Friendliness and Knowledge: 8
Pricing: ? more expensive than Walmart, but better quality

(The only fish store within 100 miles of me that I know of - I don't have much to compare to, but the staff is great.)

State: Pennsylvania
City: Pittsburgh
Store: All Oddball Aquatics

Variety/ Selection: 10
Cleanliness and quality: 10
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 10
Smiley rating:

Here's his website. It's not the best site ever, but the store is great. Nobody pressures you to buy anything. Eric actually suggested that I don't buy Eco-Complete and suggested a much cheaper alternative. We talked about planted tanks for a while, and he offered to take some of a plant from a display tank and give it to me! I should ask him to check out his fish room. The upstairs is pretty big. My great aunt used to own a pet shop there, but when her husband died, she sold everything, and he moved in!

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State: Pennsylvania
City: West Mifflin (Near Pittsburgh)
Store: PetSmart

Variety/ Selection: 7
Cleanliness and quality: 7
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 6
Smiley rating:

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State: Pennsylvania
City: Pleasant Hills (Near Pittsburgh)
Store: PetCo

Variety/ Selection: 5
Cleanliness and quality: 4
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 3
Smiley rating:

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State: Pennsylvania
City: Whitehall
Store: Atlantis

Variety/ Selection: 8
Cleanliness and quality: 7
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 7
Smiley rating:

Great only for saltwater. If you're into freshwater, they have almost zero selection of anything although they advertise that they do.

State: Massachusetts
City: Northborough
Store: Mayo's Pets and More

Variety/Selection: 8
Cleanliness & Quality: 9
Staff friendliness & knowledge: 10

Summary: They have no problem talking to you for hours to help you with any questions you have! It is a family run business, so when you go there, you are either talking to the owner, his wife, or his son (who is probably 40), and all of them have fish tanks of their own and know a good amount about them, particularly the owner, Mr. Mayo. On numerous occasions, he has stayed past closing hour to talk to me about my fish and help me out, and he ALWAYS talks me out of buying expensive stuff and shows me cheaper and usually better alternatives. From day one they treated me as a friend rather than a customer, and I have never gone anywhere else since!!!!

State: Michigan
City: Waterford
Store: Moby Dicks Pet Store

Variety/ Selection: 8
Cleanliness and quality: 8
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 9
Smiley rating:

Summery: They have one of the best selections i have ever seen at a LFS they have both Saltwater and freshwater even a few reptiles and small animals. The staff can answer just about anything you ask them.

State: Arizona
City: Payson
Store: Payson Feed and Supply

Variety/ Selection: 6
Cleanliness and quality: 7
Staff friendliness and Knowledge: 8
Smiley rating:

State: Arizona
City: Payson
Store: Wal-Mart

Variety/Selection: 4
Cleanliness and quality: 4
Staff friendliness and knowledge: 8 (if you talk to Lynn) 1 (if you talk to anyone else)
Smiley rating:

State: Arizona
City: Tempe
Store: Pets Inc.
Pets Inc.

Variety/Selection: 9
Cleanliness and quality: 10
Staff friendliness and knowledge: 9
Smiley rating:

State: Arkansas
City: Russellville
Store: Davis Pet Store

Variety/ Selection: 5
Cleanliness and quality: 2 Some of their dry-stock is over 20-years old; not very clean
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 6 Friendly but not very knowledgable
Smiley rating:

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State: Arkansas
City: Conway
Store: Pet Country

Variety/ Selection: 7
Cleanliness and quality: 8
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 7
Smiley rating:

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State: Arkansas
City: Conway
Store: Petsmart

Variety/ Selection: 8 Freshwater Only, But a lot of Cichlids
Cleanliness and quality: 6 Clean but Has Some Sickly and Dead Fish
Staff friendlyness and Knowledge: 4 Staff Knows Very Little About Proper Care of Different Species
Smiley rating:

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