im near h-burg too. are there any good lfs around? besides that fish place? we should trade some stuff. too bad i dont have stuff to trade, guess ill just have to buy. i dont like shipping stuff
Do I need a better place? Absolutely. Yes, if you are going for dry goods, it's a great place to buy from. Prices are good, and the selection and stock levels are too. I personally don't trust the livestock though. I work close by, so a trip during lunch happens quite often. I also live close by, so a trip after work happens quite often as well, which means I get to see how it looks before and after cleaning. I've talked to a number of the staff and there are two (now only one) that I will trust with the questions I have. Everytime I go in I look at both the fresh and saltwater areas. I can't walk out of there without counting all the dead fish. Their coral frag tanks are always covered in algae. I understand that it is a business, and that it should be considered a big box store. It wasn't always like that. They are a big reason why all the smaller fish/pet stores are out of business. Tony's went out not to long ago. I loved that little place. It was ran by a guy who made a little on the top, but it was more of a hobby for him. The quality of livestock and the store in general showed how much he loved what he was doing.
Ha haha, I'm down in NC, transplanted from NJ shore, and even I know you don't get much better than TFP. I'm looking to start a place like that down here
Seriously, if you've never been there you don't even know. Their fish room is like the size of an entire petco/petsmart, last time I was there they had a cool ray/horseshoe crab touch tank. Sadly they used to be even better than they are now, before the switch to "that pet place" when they were JUST fish.
Piggy back it with a weekend trip to Lancaster for some amish stuff and you'd be just fine.
Hi, I'm over in the Reading area. There doesn't seem to be a local club in this area. The closest is Lancaster and Bucks County. Both are pretty hard to get to for weekday evening meetings from here however.
There used to be a Planted Tank club in the Philly suburbs that met on Saturdays as well, but it disbanded a couple of years ago.
I'd be interested in meeting up with any like minded hobbysts for a good conversation and such.
Hi all.... I am in New Cumberland.
I hit TFP at least once a month because the selection is awsome.
I also like Zootopia in harrisburg. It is a small shop and the owner realy knows his stuff. They do not have the selection that a larger store will, but they can get whatever you need.
Not alot of plants, but gets some cool stems in sometimes.
I just stopped by Gettys in York for the first time yesterday. They have a nice fish room. When I was there it was a little bare, but he said that it was delivery day.
Not much in the way of plants, but still a nice place.
I am working on a couple of tanks right now and woul also like to get with other local people to share ideas.
Importing??? From where??? I never got to Tony's... I have heard that it was cool. Do you ever go to Gettys?? I have the feeling he would be willing to get whatever you want.
I have been going to getty's since I was a kid. Its VERY hit or miss. While the owners have good intentions, the quality is often low and they only get in for the most part bread and butter fish. They also carry dyed and injected fish, which I find very objectionable. They have a nice koi selection, but overall, I am underwhelmed by Getty's the last 5 years or so.
I import from 14 different countries 2-3x a month. My shipments come into NYC. I specialize in invertebrates and microfish as well as dwarf cichlids.
That sound awsome... the only inverts I have are ghost shrimp and whisker shrimp. I had a Flower shrimp but he died 2 days after molting. I would love to get some other stuff for my tank, but am worried about compatibility with my fish. I have fish that would eat cherry shrimp, and fish that may be eaten by blue lobsters. If you have any suggestions for a heavily planted 125 gal... I would love to hear them.
Hi Bob!
I am in Mount Wolf (near emigsville exit of 83).
Right now for dwarf cichlids I keep apistogramma cacautoides orange, triple red, and wild. I also have apistogramma viejita 2's, apisto baenschi, and apisto aggi tefe blues. I keep them in a relatively neutral tank environent through the use of almond leaves. Typically, the pH in those tanks is around 7ish, gh 6, kh 6ish. My tap water has a pH of 7.8, gh 10, kh 12, tds of about 180 so while its not easy to manipulate, the relatively low TDS works with me. All of my species are spawning in this adaptation of tap. I do not pretreat their tap water, but just use natural means of adding tannins to adjust things for them. I also have some l. dorsigera, though they have not spawned for me yet.
I doubt I would carry gbr's as I prefer the wild type to the line bred morphs. The wild rams i brought in a few months ago were staggeringly beautiful though fragile until full acclimated. They sold out quite quickly and once it warms up, I will likely bring in more.
I am about to start my power seller account here on this forum as well
Pick up your test kit either online from kensfish or from That Fish Place (best prices locally). I don't have a tds meter anymore, but I have all the test kits and you would be welcome to use them to get a baseline if you brought a sample over.
what kind of test kit do you have? ill have to get one eventually, so id like to start looking around. ive heard of some people being able to find tap water parameters, with things like gh and kh, on their water provider website. im going to try to find that, so i can first see if its even a possibility to get soft enough water for blue rams.
i know pH isnt really a good indicator, but my pH is around 6.5
if i cant find anything out, i might take you up on the offer thanks for offering!
+1 for msjinkzd. I was there about a week ago to pick up a few things. Definitely going back.
msjinkzd: I do have a HM digital tds/ec/temp meter. I'd be willing to trade for it if you are interested.
absolutely always love a good trade I got in some new stuff today! Once its past qt, i will buy my power seller status on here and make a new relevant thread.
when i called the water company, the lady only knew the " hardness" she said it was "general" anyways she said the hardness was 220 ppm. im not sure if thats relevant or not :\
that is moderately hard to hard, not surprising for this area. I have well water.
The test kits I use and API (aquarium pharmaceuticals) liquid drop test kits for gh and kh. I also use their freshwater master kit (which has high range ph and regular pH; good for this area as well as ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate). They seem to be quite accurate.
when i called the water company, the lady only knew the " hardness" she said it was "general" anyways she said the hardness was 220 ppm. im not sure if thats relevant or not :\
thanks for the link! i actually just read it! it was very helpful.
do you think my water hardness is to high, or is it possible ( whilst keeping my sanity ) to lower the hardness to an acceptable level? or should i just get over myself and choose a different fish?
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