I am going to be scaping a new tank and am looking for sourcing hardscaping supplies. Has anyone had good luck with TFP in Lancaster? Seems to be the largest fish store in the area. It would be about a 45 min drive so I want to make sure it be worth my time. do they have a good selection of Reasonably priced various scaping supplies or should I just buy online? My local petco has a very limited stock. Thanks
Haven't been there, but a google search turned up some videos. Here is one from a couple years ago. Your question I think gets answered around 3 minutes and 35 seconds.
They usually have a pretty good variety which the video above shows. As for price, I don't have a clue. Their website might give you that answer.
As far as the store goes, I think it's worth the trip. It's been a few years since I've been there but their plant room was pretty solid and fish selection had good variety. I used to cruise out there(about 1 1/2hrs for me) once or twice a year just for fun and see what they had.
I live an hour away and usually stop in when I go to Lancaster (maybe three times a year). All the times I was there, they had several bins of driftwood and rock. Each of the bins is around 3-ft by 4-ft, and they looked semi-permanent. It's usually the Malaysian driftwood that interests me most, and I've always found something.
The plant room is nice, but I've been there a couple of times when they were very low on the low-light stock. Other times, they had plenty. If plants are a priority for your visit, I'd suggest calling them before you make the trip.
As much equipment as they have, they didn't carry a few specific things I was hoping for. Check the website beforehand if you're hoping for a certain piece of equipment. But if you're flexible, I'd be surprised if they don't have a good alternative. Again, though, it's not uncommon to see things sold out.
Used to go there quite often many years ago when I started my first reef tank. The saltwater selection really seemed to go downhill 5 or 6 years ago, both the stock and the husbandry of the livestock, and I pretty much stopped going. If you've never been, it's worth a trip just for the scale of the facility, but I don't find it to be much of anything special anymore. Granted it has now been a couple years since I've been there, so maybe they turned it back around.
I haven't bought from this company for many years, but when I started in fish-keeping 30 years ago, it was the one place I could order fish-keeping supplies from by catalogue.
Obviously, this was before the internet, so the companies that I would hear about that were not local were found by looking through the pages of Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine.
I would be so excited to get all the catalogues from vendors I found listed there.
I haven't bought from them since, I dont know, maybe the early 2000's-- but, they sure have been going strong for many years. Good to see there are some family owned aquarium stores that are. Assuming they are still family owned, the might not be.
They have a great amount of hard scaping rocks by the bin. Average is about $3/lb. I got back into the hobby and ended up blowing 100 bucks on hardscape hehe. Tanks still in progress but attached is some rocks i got from them. Their plant section is hit or miss...90 percent of the time miss...but they do have a nice selection on plant cultures. Other than that decent fish selection and great pricing on supplies.
As of last weekend they were pretty well stocked with rocks. We usually drive from Colonial Park down there about once a month for all of our various animals.
Like others I haven't been there in years. With that said though they always did have a decent selection of items for a planted tank. Today I went to the aquarium center in Clementon NJ...was really impressed with the selection of for both fresh and salt tanks.
A carload of friends and I used to go every month when it was That FISH place, It was awesome! Now it is that PET place and not nearly as good. I haven't been there in a few years, but the fish selection (fresh) was always much, MUCH better than the local PetSmartCo that now are all that is left. I'm re-doing my 40 gallon breeder, so I might go see what they have. Koi Angels? Apistos? Discus?
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