I mixed up my directions on my way to this shop three hours away from my home, and I got to the place fifteen minutes before they closed, but I did get a good peek at their tanks.
Stock: They specialize in marine aquatics, but they did have a nice selection of freshwaters. All of their tanks were beautiful! Each freshwater tank was planted, except for the koi tank. The tanks had no dead bodies, except for either one dead shrimp or a recently molted shrimp, hard to tell, in the amano tank. All of the tanks were seriously stocked in a manageable way, meaning that the discus tank had six juvie discus and a bunch of plants, the giant danio tank had maybe ten danios, ten smaller fish I didn't get a chance to look at, and shrimps and snails. There was this really lovely cube tank with a nice sized school of neon tetras and other tiny fish, including pygmy cory cats, as well as red crystal shrimp (of which I bought seven).
The whole place was really clean looking. Tanks were in good shape. Fish were breeding. The peacock gudgeons were in splendid color. All the tanks were stocked so that no fish was chasing and attacking the others (even in the many African cichlid tanks, which had maybe three or four juvies to a tank).
I saw some gorgeous plecos (L190), orange laser corydoras (really fantastic fish, super high dollar), cherry shrimp, horned nerites, a neat looking catfish with big circles on it, not a clown pleco, but maybe something along those lines, gorgeous discus, not a single platy, guppy, or molly, and a wide variety of plants.
They had beautiful marine fish as well, but I obviously didn't spend my time focusing on them. They also sold large tanks, none of those "betta kits" and seemed to really have a love for their work.
In the end, I bought the following:
2x peacock gudgeon (m/f)
7x red crystal shrimp (not sure of grade)
2x amano shrimp
I wanted to get some plants, but they were closing soon, so I decided just to get the livestock. All the critters are getting used to the ph and temp (still in baggies), but I think they'll be ready to come out in a few moments. They were really pale by the end of the drive home, but now they have all gained their colors and seem ready to get out of the confines of those blasted bags. Now all I need to do is rehome the platies and guppies and get some rasboras or something and the tank will be nicely stocked.
Stock: They specialize in marine aquatics, but they did have a nice selection of freshwaters. All of their tanks were beautiful! Each freshwater tank was planted, except for the koi tank. The tanks had no dead bodies, except for either one dead shrimp or a recently molted shrimp, hard to tell, in the amano tank. All of the tanks were seriously stocked in a manageable way, meaning that the discus tank had six juvie discus and a bunch of plants, the giant danio tank had maybe ten danios, ten smaller fish I didn't get a chance to look at, and shrimps and snails. There was this really lovely cube tank with a nice sized school of neon tetras and other tiny fish, including pygmy cory cats, as well as red crystal shrimp (of which I bought seven).
The whole place was really clean looking. Tanks were in good shape. Fish were breeding. The peacock gudgeons were in splendid color. All the tanks were stocked so that no fish was chasing and attacking the others (even in the many African cichlid tanks, which had maybe three or four juvies to a tank).
I saw some gorgeous plecos (L190), orange laser corydoras (really fantastic fish, super high dollar), cherry shrimp, horned nerites, a neat looking catfish with big circles on it, not a clown pleco, but maybe something along those lines, gorgeous discus, not a single platy, guppy, or molly, and a wide variety of plants.
They had beautiful marine fish as well, but I obviously didn't spend my time focusing on them. They also sold large tanks, none of those "betta kits" and seemed to really have a love for their work.
In the end, I bought the following:
2x peacock gudgeon (m/f)
7x red crystal shrimp (not sure of grade)
2x amano shrimp
I wanted to get some plants, but they were closing soon, so I decided just to get the livestock. All the critters are getting used to the ph and temp (still in baggies), but I think they'll be ready to come out in a few moments. They were really pale by the end of the drive home, but now they have all gained their colors and seem ready to get out of the confines of those blasted bags. Now all I need to do is rehome the platies and guppies and get some rasboras or something and the tank will be nicely stocked.
