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'The Fish Gallery' in Austin

6K views 35 replies 24 participants last post by  krisvalkyrie 
#1 ·
I think it was somewhere on North Lamar that I saw this building and the "coming soon" sign. I went to the website and they have locations in Dallas and Houston. Anybody been to one to know what kind of stock they have (fish and plants)?
 
#4 ·
I don't know about opening a retail store in Austin, but they do have service locations in Austin. I've seen the fish gallery vans driving around every once and a while around N. Lamar though.
 
#7 ·
That would be awesome if they did. IMO Fish Gallery in Dallas is much better than Aquatek in Austin. So a new Fish Gallery within walking distance would make me happy.
 
#9 ·
the fish gallery is a great store, just a hit and miss on the plants though. some times they have basic's and some other weeks rare plants. just got to talk to Chris or paul and ask them to order a certin plant and they will. also it's nice when you can have a dfwapc plant club membership and get 15% off plants and fish ;) yes the dallas/ft. worth area has a plant club.. the fish gallery started in houston then came to dallas and has been servicing texas for a while, then over the summer they decide to have a austin location.
 
#27 ·
I made it by on Sunday. As has been said, they haven't quite finished setting up, but it looks like the tanks not set-up yet are either in the salt water section or a section of the store that looks like it will be for pond type fish.

The place looks huge from the outside, but when you get in you realize that the far left side of the store is a huge display area that shows off some large custom tanks they have created (salt and fresh water). I presume a decent percentage of their income comes from the creation and maintenance of these types of high dollar tanks so it makes sense that they would have a display area in the store to advertise them.

Another smaller section on the right hand side of the store has 2 large plant tanks in the middle and then the tanks on the surrounding walls look like they will house pond type fish. The plant tanks look great, but other than the crypts and swords in the very front, nothing else is labeled. They had several stem plants to choose from (even some with nice red color), but I won't buy fish or plants without being able to do a quick google search to ensure they will work in my tank environment. I should have asked to see if any of the employees knew the names of the plants, but was in a bit of a hurry. Pricing is $9.95 for potted stems. Most groups looked to include at least 5 stems so that seems reasonable. One interesting thing in this room is a tank that looked to be 10 or 12 feet long and has 2 built in domes on the bottom for kids to poke their heads into and look around inside the tank. My 4yr old daughter thought this was the greatest thing ever.

The main fish section seems pretty small. One long row (2 sides) of community freshwater fish, a short section of more exotic stuff like discus and another long row of mostly cichlids. Most tanks had just 1 species of fish in it, but from talking with one of the employees it sounded like they had just ordered enough to get something in each tank for the opening and would be getting more livestock in through the coming weeks.

Livestock pricing seemed reasonable, but supplies seemed high to me. I expect they are similar to Aquatek in that regard though. Maybe they had extra staff for the opening weekend, but at least 3 different people (who all seemed very friendly) asked if we needed help. Nothing like that has ever happened while shopping at any other LFS.

Overall I was pleased and plan to go back in a couple weeks to check out the livestock inventory and see if the plants are labeled and still healthy.
 
#29 ·
Had a crap experience there this past weekend. Was charged twice for already expensive stock. Friendly staff just not the brightest. The positive was they carry Giesemann bulbs and I might swing by again sometime to see what they do to the pond room. The trip just drove me to visit the aquas to overpay for their stock as well...
Think I'll just stick to local stores to stock my tanks and save chingoes.
 
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