Reliable LFS for fish

Benoit Martin · Jan 8, 2019

Do you guys have a favorite reliable LFS to buy live stock from?
When I say reliable, I mean one that sells fish in good health with good survival rate and only rarely encounter diseased fish.

I am a newbie building my first tank and looking for a trusted provider on the East side possibly, Bellevue, Renton, etc...

CC13 · Jan 8, 2019

Benoit Martin said:
Do you guys have a favorite reliable LFS to buy live stock from?
When I say reliable, I mean one that sells fish in good health with good survival rate and only rarely encounter diseased fish.

I am a newbie building my first tank and looking for a trusted provider on the East side possibly, Bellevue, Renton, etc...

Very honestly, your not going to find a store anywhere that is free of diseases. You have to understand that fish come in massive shipments from wholesalers and fish get placed in the same tank as existing and new addition fish each week. If any one single fish has a disease, they all have it, and the whole system and all the tanks that are connected also can and most likely are infected. This is not a jab at any LFS, but its simply not economically feasible or profitable to take the steps really needed to properly QT and treat each fish, then tear the system down, sterilize, repeat. Its just not going to happen.

Its up to you to QT properly and ensure that your fish are healthy before you add them into your main system. Most vendors on here will sell and ship 'healthy' fish. But again, its up to you to QT and treat for diseases before adding to your system.

Benoit Martin · Jan 8, 2019

CC13 said:
Very honestly, your not going to find a store anywhere that is free of diseases. You have to understand that fish come in massive shipments from wholesalers and fish get placed in the same tank as existing and new addition fish each week. If any one single fish has a disease, they all have it, and the whole system and all the tanks that are connected also can and most likely are infected. This is not a jab at any LFS, but its simply not economically feasible or profitable to take the steps really needed to properly QT and treat each fish, then tear the system down, sterilize, repeat. Its just not going to happen.

Its up to you to QT properly and ensure that your fish are healthy before you add them into your main system. Most vendors on here will sell and ship 'healthy' fish. But again, its up to you to QT and treat for diseases before adding to your system.

Absolutely, I do understand that QT is necessary and that disease is likely. Maybe I phrased my question wrong and should have said that I am looking for fish that's not too sick

My goal is to find out if there is a trusted LFS that reliably provides fish is decent health knowing that I still need to QT all new fish.

CC13 · Jan 8, 2019

Benoit Martin said:
Absolutely, I do understand that QT is necessary and that disease is likely. Maybe I phrased my question wrong and should have said that I am looking for fish that's not too sick

My goal is to find out if there is a trusted LFS that reliably provides fish is decent health knowing that I still need to QT all new fish.

I would browse the sponsor resellers on here, most have and sell 'healthy' fish more or less. I would always ask (especially if I am buying online) to see how long the fish have been at the store (longer is usually better), if they are eating and what, and if they have take a video showing it eating.

TheWB · Jan 19, 2019

There are 3 stores in the area I would recommend checking out in person. Saltwater City in Bellevue, Barrier Reef in Newcastle and Denny’s Pet World in Kirkland. You can make your own determination as to whether you would trust them to make a live purchase but they are the best in the area.

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Mar 17, 2019

Barrier reef aquariums
Saltwater king i think it is...been awhile sry.
-d

Stevie-Tv253 · Apr 18, 2019

Saltwater city is small but has nice stock. Little amazon is not in the greatest shape but i have always had great success with their corals. recently moved to tacoma and found aquarium paradise... its huge! but not a lot of stock. Does anyone know if Red C is still open? im sure a quick google would answer that. need to venture out to barrier reef.

TheWB · Apr 18, 2019

Barrier Reef is a little hard to find if you don’t know exactly where it is. It’s the opposite of Aquarium Paradise, it’s small but it has a ton of stock. I was in the area where Red C is the other day and was going to swing by and see if they were still open but I had a work thing come up and I never made it over there. No idea if it’s still there or not.

mfinn · Apr 19, 2019

Barrier Reef, Saltwater City and Sea King are my go to stores in the Seattle area.

Stevie-Tv253 · Apr 19, 2019

Last time i was at red c there was a lot of marital issues going on and he was price gouging like no other! was sad to see! tried telling me each tenticals on a frog spawn was called a head and was 10 buck each! i loved his inventory but never went back after that. i need to check out sea king. Never heard of it. As for barrier reef i ride a harley and make youtube videos! that would make for a good adventure/episode!

TheWB · Apr 19, 2019

I’m not familiar with Sea King, where is it?

Stevie-Tv253 · Apr 19, 2019

Just googled it! OMG it looks amazing! their frag tanks are huge and rows of stock! in Bellevue.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/S...9b8eaf0f4576e!8m2!3d47.6199512!4d-122.1783284

TheWB · Apr 19, 2019

Stevie-Tv253 said:
Just googled it! OMG it looks amazing! their frag tanks are huge and rows of stock! in Bellevue.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/S...9b8eaf0f4576e!8m2!3d47.6199512!4d-122.1783284

I was just in Redmond. If I had read this a couple of hours ago I would have stopped by. I have no idea how I didn’t know about this shop. I’ll definitely be checking it out soon. Thanks for the info.

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Apr 21, 2019

mfinn said:
Barrier Reef, Saltwater City and Sea King are my go to stores in the Seattle area.

Hey u!
-devin

mfinn · Apr 21, 2019

monkeyCmonkeyDo said:
Hey u!
-devin

Hey D! How ya doing?

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Apr 22, 2019

Im good thxs man. Lil break. Lol. Hope all is well!

D

TheWB · Apr 27, 2019

I went by SeaKing on Thursday. They have a large selection of corals at great prices. I was impressed. Especially with the selection of Hammers, torches and Acans. When my tank is ready for coral I will definitely be throwing some business their way.

Roc83 · May 31, 2019

Benoit Martin said:
Do you guys have a favorite reliable LFS to buy live stock from?
When I say reliable, I mean one that sells fish in good health with good survival rate and only rarely encounter diseased fish.

I am a newbie building my first tank and looking for a trusted provider on the East side possibly, Bellevue, Renton, etc...

To be honest I only buy from live aquaria online.

rknott · May 31, 2019

I really like the crew at Barrier, but I live in Renton so . . . . . There is also a fair number of coral frags at a local shop in Renton called Sierra Pets. You will find they are less expensive than Barrier. More of a freshwater shop, very few saltwater fish, but more coral. I buy all my stuff local or from club members.