Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Fish Shopping at an End

The fish search is at an end.... for now. At least until I get some more cash.

I have bid on some Neolamprologus "daffodils" on Aquabid from Black Lagoon Fish, a seller I had mentioned in a previous post. They really have the best all around deal for price of fish and for shipping. Since they raise all of their own fish, the quality is probably pretty good too -- we'll see. I am trying to see if I can free up some space for j. transcriptus as well (which the seller also has) -- perhaps by selling the j. regani I have, perhaps by starting up my 20 gallon. I emailed the seller last night to make the final arrangements.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

The Great Fish Search Continues...

EXOTIC TROPICALS has a $100 minimum order and appears to ship only by air freight.

Anchor Bay Aquarium seems a little on the pricey side for their fish, but not as bad as some. They seem to realize that shipping prohibits many aquarists from going the mail order route and suggest that you go in on a shipment with friends. Not a bad idea... wish I knew some folks in my neck of the woods (south of Boston, and just north of Providence) to do this with.

African Aquatics is about the same as Anchor Bay Aquarium.... perhaps a little pricier.

Amazing Aquatics has many Malawi Cichlids, but not many Tanganyikans. And again, I think they are a bit pricey. (I'm sounding like a broken record.... it's just that I have seen a few price lists with cheaper fish on them!)

Tropical fish on the Net has a $75 minimum and not much in the way of Tanganyikans. In fact, I think all of the African Cichlids are from Malawi.

Uncle Ned's Fish Factory is where I got my fish to start my tanks. I think I got six fish for around $100..... in retrospect I feel like I paid too much. The store is cool to visit, because they have such a wide variety of fish there. But the prices are high, and the service is not always superb. The guy who waited on me left me standing in front of a tank for a long time while he did something else (not sure what).... and this was after I had already picked out the fish. Anyway, this is their site. They do ship, and I think their shipping rates are pretty reasonable.

That's it for tonight....

Local Pet Store Directory

These pet stores from FINS might be worth checking out in my area:

Belmont Pets, 108 Torrey St., Brockton, MA, 02401, phone (508) 586-0043. (I think I know where this is. If so, it is a no go.)

Jungle Pets, 138 South Main St, Milford, MA, 01757, phone 508-478-9667.

Debby's Pet Land & Aquarium, Galleria Mall, Taunton, MA phone 508-880-0600.

UnderWater World 2, 2 Galliera Dr, Taunton, MA phone 508-822-9664.

Aquatic InXteriors, 732 Washington St., Stoughton, MA, 02072 phone 781-344-1146, fax 781-344-1928, sales@aquaticinxteriors.com. (I actually have been to this store before.... small, but great quality.)

A little further afield:

Cape Maid Farms, 957 Falmouth St. (rte. 28), Hyannis, MA phone 508-775 3782.

Aqua World, 20 Tyler Street (Chinatown), Boston, MA, phone 617-426-2227.

Boston Tropical Fish and Reptiles, 243 Monsignor O'Brien Highway, Cambridge, MA [map], phone 617-623-4244, fax 617-623-6208.

Sea Creature Aquarium, 1455 Mineral Spring Avenue, North Providence, RI, 02904 [map], phone 401-354-6477, fax 401-354-6477.

Aqualife Aquarium, 389 Wickenden St, Providence, RI, 02903 phone 401-331-5376.

Rhode Island Aquarium, North Main St., Providence, RI, 02906, phone 401-274-2520.

KenCo Fish & Supplies, 15 Frost Ave, Warwick, RI, 02888 [map], phone 401-831-5739, kenco@kencofish.com.

Ultimate Aquariums, 146 pinnery ave, Warwick, R.I., 02886 [map], phone 401 732 8774, fax 401 885 0209, mick41@efortress.com.

Fish Bowl Aquarium & Pet Mart, 724 Providence St., West Warwick, R.I., 02893 [map], phone 401-822-0075.

Monday, September 20, 2004

More Online Live Fish Store Research

Neptune Aquatics looks like they know what they are doing, but their prices and shipping costs seem a bit steep to me.

The same seems true of hotcichlids.com, which seems to prefer air freight.

Bluechip Aquatics only uses air freight and their fish list starts with some nice $600 fish (ummmm.... who has $600 to spend on aquarium fish.... let's get some perspective, folks).

Cichlid Lovers has a $50 minimum order -- which is actually not as bad as some. They won't guarentee live delivery with overnight service and prefer air freight.

Kerrigan Aquatics has high prices and their website is advertising July specials.... hmmm, a bit cool for July these days.

JD Tropheus is a little more on the sane side, but they only have... you got it... Tropheus.

Don't get me wrong with some of these. They may be fine for the hobbyist who has a lot of money and time to go to the airport to pick up deliveries. (I still want to know who buys $600 fish, though.) They might also be fine for dealers who can get cheaper fish by buying in bulk. They just won't suit a hobbyist like me with a meager budget, but who still wants great fish!

Do I want it all? Maybe so. The search continues.

Two online live fish possibilities

Cape Fear Cichlids regularly advertises fish on Aquabid. I checked out their site, and the prices don't seem too bad for Tanganyikan cichlids. There is a $5 box fee built into the price, though, and they seem to prefer the more expensive overnight option on delivery.

Black Lagoon Fish doesn't appear to have a real web presence, but they do advertise on Aquabid. I emailed the address marlin48067@yahoo.com, and someone named Deb answered instantly with a price list for all of their currently available fish. Not much on the Tanganyikan cichlids side -- but enough and the pictures on aquabid look like good quality fish. I may end up ordering something from them -- especially if they list either the j. transcriptus or daffodils again on Aquabid. The prices seem reasonable and the shipping at this time of year is priority mail (I think) which is signifigantly cheaper than overnight!

The search continues....

Saturday, September 18, 2004

Searching for Good Online Live Fish Sellers

I am searching around for some good sites that will sell fish. I keep coming across sites that are not geared toward small hobbyists like myself. This one, for example, has a minimum order of $150. When I am ordering fish, I don't want to have to worry about minimum order requirements like this!!

Sooo, while I search for some good online sources for fish, I'll try to blog my progress. Eventually, I'll try to compile a good list of links on the sidebar of this blog.

Adding More Fish ??

I am thinking that it would be nice to add some more fish, but my budget is a bit tight at the moment. I can probably afford to spend about $50 total on more fish. I have been looking on Aquabid, but haven't found a lot in my price range (once shipping is added in). I would probably like to add to the species I already have so that I have at least six of one species in the tank -- so I could get some breeding going.

Or I have also been considering the Tanganikan killifish -- Lamprichthys tanganicanus. These were made available recently on Aquabid, but far too many for me to deal with (20!!). I might email the seller, who I think actually sells fish on this site, and see if he'd be willing to ship fewer fish. Something tells me he won't as his minimum order advertised in his site is $75 -- far beyond my current budget. Sigh....

55 Gallon Water Change and Filter Service

I did a water change on Thursday night, (9/16/04) and also (finally) cleaned the filter. The filter was suprisingly clean -- but then again I still only have five fish in the tank. So, maybe not so surprising