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LFS--Tong's in Fountain Valley (SoCal--Orange County)

5K views 31 replies 11 participants last post by  John P. 
#1 ·
I've been to Tong's twice in the last three months ... in my opinion:

Pros:
-Large store--good selection of dry goods
-Large store--decent amount of livestock for sale
-Some plants in back--a few "exotics" like Marimo Balls and Hairgrass

Cons:
-On both visits Tong's stocked dye-injected corys and glassfish
-Tanks seem a little overstocked
 
#3 ·
dennx said:
I've been to Tong's as well - nice store as far as space and dry goods, but I noticed lots of tanks with dead fish and some that had a notice saying something like "This tank fish not gauranteed."
I noticed that as well. Usually in tanks with "show" discuss & the like. Not a big confidence booster.
 
#5 ·
Here are my opinions about Tong's:

PROS:
-Rather large selection of fish
-Great quantity of dry goods, you can find almost anything here
-Some good display tanks
-Somewhat decent selection of plants compared to all of the other LFS in SoCal
-They have many hard to find species sometimes
-Tanks are kept clean

CONS:
-Everything is expensive as heck! The prices of the fish, dry goods are all hyped up. That's why I always go somewhere else unless I really need something.
-Not very knowledgeable, but that depends on who you talk to I guess
-Dyed fish, sick fish, dead fish, overcrowded tanks (the SW section is maintained a lot better than FW)
-If you come across as if you don't know anything, they'll try to rip you off.
-Their fish policy - the words "NO GUARANTEE" is written on almost every tank
 
#6 ·
Here's my 2 cents:
Pros-
One of the best, if not THE best, lfs's in or near O.C. Strictly Fish is close second.
LOVE the surprise of going there and finding a fish I've never seen in an lfs before. Sometimes, exotic cories!
Really good plant selection-best I've seen.
Almost mind-blowing dry goods and aquariums section.
Most of the employees are helpful, and not trying to get you to just spend money (but there are a few who do...)
Conveniently located (405 & Magnolia)

Cons-
As with most lfs's, pretty expensive
Certain employees can't answer even the simplest questions, and I won't ask one in particular to bag my fish ever again because they were really rough.

I wish there were more places of the quality and variety of Tong's, but they seem to have the monopoly in O.C. Go there any day of the week, at any time, and they've got the foot traffic to prove it.
 
#8 ·
I haven't been there yet for two reasons:
It's probably furthest from me of the lfs's. How far is it from Strictly Fish? Is it near the 91?
The other reason I haven't been there yet is my preconceived opinion based on the name- Pettown. Leads me to believe that it isn't JUST fish, but a regular pet store. And most regular pet stores aren't (IMO) worth going to for specifically fish-related stuff, i.e., the Pet City chain. If it is just fish, then it sounds like it's worth the trip.
 
#10 ·
wonder woman said:
I won't ask one in particular to bag my fish ever again because they were really rough.
Oh man, I know who you're talking about. I'm really picky about my fish and this one time I told the guy to get the EXACT fishes that I wanted because the other ones looked kinda sick. So the guy tries to net them but can't, so he just nets all of 'em and puts them into the holding container and grabs each one by the tail and asks me if this is the one I want. I was pretty shocked when I saw that.. Got home and found the fishes dead in the bag. Mind you I live 10 minutes away from there so it wasn't because of any transit issues. I'm sure he's the one to blame because I've bought many other fish when he wasn't the bagger and they're all doing fine.
 
#11 ·
M3th0d- actually the salesperson I had the bad experience with was female. I won't ask her for fish help ever again. She bagged 4 cories for me, and practically squished them up against the glass to catch them, and then literally tossed them into the plastic bag. Not gentle at all. But last time i was there, I had a great experience- I wanted specific fish too, and the big guy who was helping me was kind enough to let me net my own fish. Wish everyone would do that. Well...maybe not.

Dennx- Come to think of it, I have made the trip to Pettown in Lakeforest. I didn't think I'd been there because I keep getting it confused with Lakewood, and think it must be a different store. Pettown was okay, I liked the fw fish selection, (and they had cherry shrimp, but they were $$$) but I found the plants to be of a rather poor selection, and algae-ridden. Not much dry-goods slelection. Another thing I found disappointing: their display tanks were nice, but had unusual fish and plants that they did not have in their sale tanks. I really don't understand what the point of that is.
 
#12 ·
I should have taken my own advice ...

On a desperate hunt for Cardinal Tetras a couple weeks ago, I couldn't find them at my preferred LFSs. So I bought 13 at Tong's.

Less than 3 weeks later, I have 5 left, one of which is in quarantine. One of the others has some sort of internal parasite or affliction (unknown) tha is visible from the outside.

My water conditions are perfect, and the tank was 1.5 months old, full of live, growing plants.

I will never go back here.
 
#13 ·
John P.-
You really shouldn't go crossing off your list such a great lfs as Tong's just because of one bad experience with fish dying. Especially known "difficult" fish like cards.
I've bought lots of fish from Tong's in the several years I've been going there. Yes, a few have died, that's the delicate nature of tropical fish. But I have found their livestock to be in MUCH better shape that those in chain pet stores, or most other well-known lfss in the O.C. area. Not to mention the sheer selection of livestock, plants and dry goods they have. No one can compete.
If you never went there again because of one bad experience, you would be missing out on a lot. But, that's your choice as a consumer. Did you try calling them, or bringing the dead bodies to the store to ask for a refund/credit? Or, did the tank with the cards have "no guarantee" written on it (which is often the case with cards.)?
 
#14 ·
My aquarium was chock full of fast growers & hairgrass which made retreiving them difficult. I called them the day after I bought the Cardinals to tell them that I wanted to exchange 2 of them b/c of visible external parasites*, and they said I'd have to bring them back by the end of the day. I managed to catch one only (plants = refuge), and it just wasn't worth 1.5 hrs of driving for $6 worth of fish. Over the next week or so I lost half ... and now I'm down to four (see below).

I'm 31 and have been fishkeeping my whole life (fresh, brakish, salt), so these didn't die b/c of user error.

Yep, I am 100% done with Tong's. I'm glad you've had better luck.

* the parasite was a leech or other parasitic worm--not an anchor worm. It was below the eye, and appeared as a round, whitish dome. I removed it yesterday, but the fish didn't survive the night. The That brings me down to 4/13 survival. $3/each. Now they're bullying each other b/c of the low group size.
 
#15 ·
Sorry to hear that. Did you tell them your plans not to ever come back? Sometimes that's all it takes to get a little satisfaction out of a retailer.
What's your main lfs? Maybe I'm missing one that's BETTER than Tong's...
 
#16 ·
Good idea re: explaining that to them.

I live in Laguna Beach, so Petown is the closest decent LFS to me. Believe it or not, the Petsmart in Aliso Viejo is quite good (for a chain store), and has plants such as dwarf hairgrass and fish such as rummynose tetras--all in good health. All in all, though, Petown does have the most consistent quality in my area.
 
#17 ·
The reason I say that you should tell Tong's how you feel is because, well, put yourself in their place as a business owner. If you were slowly losing business (a customer at a time), wouldn't you want to know why? And, if you were a GOOD business owner, wouldn't you want a chance make concessions to win those customers back?
Now if, IMHO, when you tell them why you're disinclined to return to their store, they do not offer to make amends, that's their loss of business. Too bad for them.
Again, my only exception would be the case in which the tank with the cards you purchased was labelled clearly "no guarantee" (as cards often are when I've seen them at Tong's). No guarantee means just that, buyer beware.

Funny, I've been to Pettown in Lakeforest, and was only so-so in my opinion of it. They had very little selection in the way of plants, all badly algae-ridden. But their livestock selection was pretty impressive. Although I thought their stock tanks were really small, and not as clean as Tong's. But, again, I've only been once, and should probably go back again.

But...to each their own. No one store is going to be the One for everyone.
 
#19 ·
m3th0d said:
Oh man, I know who you're talking about. I'm really picky about my fish and this one time I told the guy to get the EXACT fishes that I wanted because the other ones looked kinda sick. So the guy tries to net them but can't, so he just nets all of 'em and puts them into the holding container and grabs each one by the tail and asks me if this is the one I want. I was pretty shocked when I saw that.. Got home and found the fishes dead in the bag. Mind you I live 10 minutes away from there so it wasn't because of any transit issues. I'm sure he's the one to blame because I've bought many other fish when he wasn't the bagger and they're all doing fine.
Wow, I had the exact same experience there as well. There are specific employees I avoid talking to at all costs when I go there.

For saltwater selection, they can't be beat - I have quite a few happy little fish in my saltwater tank from Tongs. I doubt I will ever go there for freshwater fish.
 
#21 ·
I don't know if they take special orders, but as such a large and comprehensive store, I would guess they do. The number's 714-842-2733, if you'd like to give them a call. The quality of their livestock is very good, IMHO, possibly only bested by Strictly Fish in Carson. Of course, you will occasionally see a dead fish or two, and there have been issues of cardinal tetras with parasites (when they import wild-caughts like cards from South America, they usually do not guarantee them). But I have NEVER been to a fish store that did NOT have any dead or sickly fish in any of its' tanks. And I've DEFINITELY been to a lot of lfss in L.A./O.C. that had much WORSE conditions.
 
#23 ·
I'm not surprised. I'm sure most GOOD fish stores do that. But, as I've said, I've never been to a fish store that didn't have a few dead fish in its' tanks. It's inevitable, and unavoidable when you're temporarily "boarding" (until sale) fish shipped in from all over the world. And fish are much more delicate creatures than cats or dogs. I can't even begin to imagine how many times in transit they get jostled around, and go through extremes in temperatures and water chemistry. And then there's the times they have to swim for their lives to avoid being caught by careless lfs employees.
The GOOD fish stores are just the ones who bother to remove the dead bodies to keep the tank fairly clean. And Tong's is pretty good at that. Some places, who shall remain nameless, simply let the live fish feed off the dead ones. And then, expect to still have good sell-through.
 
#25 ·
I would have serious reservations about buying anything in their freshwater tanks. IMHO their freshwater selection looks like an afterthought. They do have decent plants once in a while. For everything Saltwater go to Tongs, otherwise I would go to Petown. The exact opposite is true there - great freshwater selection - crummy saltwater selection.

Tongs did expand its showroom, and it is a lot of fun to check out their equipment for sale. Their prices seem fairly reasonable as well.

NC
 
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