Best fish in austin

[nuxx]

The purple tangs price tag tells me its pretty rare hahaha! That's a beautiful fish though. I've had a few purple tang owners tell me they're real hardy, or they're real prone to illness....? Maybe a big part of that is how they're caught and handled after that?

I think they are pretty hardy, sort of like a yellow.

Blue Hippos and esp. Power Brown/Blue and Achilles are much much harder to keep... but it seems the trick is just having space, lowering stress and get them eating, then they're fine.

[Juiceman]

Shane had a Purple Tang last time I was there. i got mine from him and it's my healthiest and most outgoing fish. Price tag is high though

The purple tangs price tag tells me its pretty rare hahaha! That's a beautiful fish though. I've had a few purple tang owners tell me they're real hardy, or they're real prone to illness....? Maybe a big part of that is how they're caught and handled after that?

[Aqua-Dome]

In response to some of the stores that have been critiqued here I can only suggest that sometimes these experiences are a moment in time and that a visit the day before or the day after may ellicit a different response. As for our store, we try to offer the best selection at the best prices in a pleasant and clean atmosphere, with knowledgeable advice and courteous service. I am always dismayed when any customer finds a visit to us less than they expect. The very nature of the way we get fish means that on occasion shipments are extremely stressed. We attempt to give every fish, invertebrate or coral every chance to recover and sometimes (sometimes more, sometimes less) these animals look terrible for a while. We get fish from exactly the same sources the major wholesalers do, we just get them from the source countries by way of a short stop in L.A. This hopefully allows us to offer a great selection at the best price we can but it also comes with more risks. As for appearance, we really do strive to keep up, but as you would imagine, with 3 people it is a daunting task. Therefore if we get a little complacent or uninspired about scraping algae, it's no excuse, but is sometimes reality. I am sorry that on occasion our housekeeping is below your or our standards. We continually strive to be the best that we can be, and always appreciate your comments and thank you for your support. Gary

[JamesL]

FORUM RULES:

8) Vendor Bashing: You may not post any negative comments about our sponsors. If you have an issue with a sponsor, work it out with them personally. If you cannot resolve the issue personally, you may submit complaints to the staff via pm or email. Negative comments about any vendor may be removed without notice. This is at the staff's discretion and will not be challenged.

The Forum Rules are in need of updating. But the same rules apply here as in what I posted in the Forum Conduct announcement. It is OK to civilized conversations about the sponsors. But if it does come down to "flaming" them, then things will be dealt with.

If you, a sponsor, or anyone else thinks a comment has crossed the line, please use the report button for that post.

[nuxx]

In response to some of the stores that have been critiqued here... Gary

Thanks Gary, was mainly just pointing out a few things I saw last time. I love your store and have recommended it to a lot of people.

If there's room to improve then great, maybe you were unaware since you weren't there. It was probably just more upsetting to me since I like your store so much to see dead fish that could have been removed.

[fjr_wertheimber]

I've got to say, I love Aquatek and RCA, and have nothing but good experiences from them (as said before, Aquatek probably has the best equipment selection in Austin, IMHO) and Jake and Bruce are always great to talk to and bounce ideas off of. One thing I love about Bruce, he will always tell you what he really thinks about something, regardless of how it will affect his sale (hell, I've had him talk me OUT of buying something before, because he felt it wasn't right for what I needed), and I really appreciate that. Also, every single time Wendy and I go to AquaDome we're pleasantly surprised with their saltwater selection. Always at least a few interesting/unique fish you don't see that often, the fish always look healthy, and they have a good wide selection. As always, your mileage may vary, but hey, that's just my experiences.

[Aaarrrggg]

Well said fjr_wertheimber!

[Bannerfish]

Gary, one of these days I will make a visit and check things out. I love checking out new fish stores that I haven't visited.

I'm not sure who jake is but I've talked to bruce. He's interesting lol. I felt like he was being honest with me about some of the fish I was asking about, I can always respect that no matter where I am shopping. Some of the other employees told me they didn't know the answer to my questions instead of making stuff up like some employees do some times to make sales, I like that also.

Anywho, I was just curious to get some feedback from austin locals about their fish stores. For anyone that didn't know already, I do not live in austin, and have never spent time there before I joined this forum. But since we live close enough to drive down there, I figure I better start getting to know the stores and people. We used to live in the dfw area and we know where everything is and where to get awesome deals on good product, but its a little too far to drive up there whenever we feel like browsing, or in case we need to get equipment or meds quickly. Thanks for all the feedback!

[Timfish]

I like going into Aquadome just to bash Gary. Seeing as he's one of the few people around here that's been in the hobby longer than me makes me feel younger too.

[RUSH]

I only go to the Dome or ARC members. I've always had good experiences at Aqua Dome and this is coming from someone who has gone in there as much as 4 days in a row in one week. I've never lost any livestock from there and I've seen Hunter take time to talk to customers at extent on saltwater. I kinda feel bad on certain days we go in there and there's prolly 12 people waiting to be help which in my opinion is a testament to their reputation. Whenever I've asked Hunter if he can get certain inverts low and behold they appear in a week or two i.e. my Orange tree sponge, yellow finger gorg, my purple plume seafan and ORA Plum Crazy. As for Aquatek it breaks my heart to see how far they have fallen in quality. For the old timers who have done salt since the 90's I'm sure you remember what that place was like when Roger owned it. I love the staff there and Bruce is a hoot to BS with but the selection on livestock and cleanliness and conditions kills me. I was there back in 97 before the place was even open to the public when Roger was still getting setup and ready. I actually have a Tunze protein skimmer that is still running that I got from Rogers first imported batch when he became a dealer. They have awesome equipment selection but unfortunately after my last experience there (Frogspawn that was infested with flatworms). I can not see myself going there,

-Chris

[Derek]

I always get my fish from AquaDome and have lots of luck with them.

[Devin]

Seriously I think we are all very lucky to live in a town with 6+ LFS plus all the box stores and not to mention ARC. I can honestly say my tank has something from every LFS in town. Thank you to all the hard working LFS and their staff, sponsors or not.

[Timfish]

Wow, some heavy-duty critiquing of various ARC sponsors. This kind of thread used to get shut-down quickly.

Just the truth... if everybody said how much they love a store nothing would ever change/improve. Without criticism a business will never improve... I honestly like hearing negative comments in my businesses than I do positive. I'm never complacent and am always looking for ways to improve what I do.

Some of the comments stuck me as a little strong also but I agree with Offshore too. While I may think I'm closer to perfection than the rest of you I'm still willing to accept I'm not there yet and negative feedback is helpfull.

Transporting and maintaining live wild fish is fraught with stress and just holding them a day or two is certainly going to increase the likely hood of something happening and add to it fish are not fed to keep them from suffocating in thier own waste in shipment invariably there are going to be shipments that don't do as well as others. Throw in all the other hassles of a small business owner trying to run a retail store (I don't see any of them getting rich) and I'm not going to let negative experiences keep me from trying a store again.

[JamesL]

Ok folks, I had previously spoke to hastily. The ARC staff has been discussing this issue, and we have decided to keep the current forum rules in place. While negative feedback can be helpful, and can also quick spiral into a full out flame fest.

With that in mind, let us use positive comments and lack of comments to show the merits of stores (and this also applies to discussions about topics, members, etc). If you have an issue directly with a sponsor or member, please PM (or call in the cases of LFS) them offline.

As always, use the report button if you think a post is questionable. Also, feel free to contact any of the ARC staff with questions/concerns.

And as a side note, "Best of threads" generally always end up like this. With such a varied audience, there is almost always going to be a supporter for any of the choices. Doing searches of ARC will provide lots of information on topics from people's thoughts on the "best" LFS, salt brand, filter, etc.