riverfront

[Montana]

I have noticed that no one is mentioning riverfront aquariums in calgary is their something i should know about this store or doesnt anyone know of this store.????????????

[Tarolisol]

For salt water its horrible. There fish are poorly taken care of and there corals look like piles of sludge. Every so often you may find a decently healthy fish but the price will scare you away.

[lukep77]

River front in Calgary has some nice fresh water fish and plants. If your heading in to town you should pop in and have a look. I've never had any issues with there live stock and would suggest them over any of the big chain stores. Actually I have had allot of success with there fish and plants.

If your in town and have some time also check out Gold's on 17 ave, Oceans on Center st and Wais on 16 ave.
In my experience Wais and Gold's have amazing looking salt live stock. I haven't had allot of experience with Oceans but they are still worth a look.
I would suggest any of these over a major chain in a heart beat.

[G1GY]

I've never been happy with anything I've ever bought there. Could be different now though.

I stopped going there about 9 or 10 years ago and don't really miss it.

[Deathstar]

They have a lot of fancy crabs but (IMO) they are so over priced and everything looks like it is about to die in there if it is not already. I have heard they have a real good FS fish and plants.

[digital-audiophile]

Riverfront has a poor full grown regal tang in one of their <10Gallon tanks, it is stressed and beat up and I felt horrible the last time I was in there and saw that.. even with this poor thing suffering they wanted $160 for it.. they should give it away to someone that can give it a good home.. I was half tempted to buy the poor thing and keep it in my cube until I could personally find it a good home. :(

Needless to say there are alot of better places to buy fish from than riverfront... reminds me of hannibals torture chamber.

[EmilyB]

I know that years ago the fish survival rate from there was awful IME.

I've been in there for ghost shrimp on and off when I had my lion and everything looks pretty much the same. Since they haven't really jumped on the hobbiest issues, I don't know if they are aware, or don't care. I personally don't shop there.

I thought their display tanks were kinda cool, so I think they must have some knowledge.

[Tarolisol]

went i used to go there for fish they had some nice looking small display tanks and a decent large tank, when you walk in the door its to the left. But there for sale stuff is just horrific, they should hireome one who knows somthing about SW fish, or for that matter amphibians and reptiles. Unless you want FW you will be way better off to go somewhere else.

[WRXchic]

Haven't buy any fish from there. But the price is too expensive, 3 - 4 times more expensive than the other fish stores in Calgary, so didn't consider actually getting anything from there.

[Seriak]

And they should really pave their parking lot. You almost need a 4X4 to get in there. :)

[G1GY]

And they should really pave their parking lot. You almost need a 4X4 to get in there. :)

Doesn't everyone have at least one 4X4? :)

[digital-audiophile]

Doesn't everyone have at least one 4X4? :)

lol, last time I check my civic was front wheel drive and has a heck of a time getting in that lot after a rainstorm :p :D I'm actually in the process of buying a Hummer H3 right now so if anyone needs to get in and out of the riverfront parking lot I think I will have that covered :)

[Snappy]

Riverfront....... Not my favorite and when on the rare occasion I do go there, I find that my time and $ would be better spent elswhere.

[midgetwaiter]

I've worked at Riverfront for the past 2 years, I haven't been working any shifts for the past 4 months or so but I do help out once in a while still.

Many of the criticisms people are brinig up here are more or less factual however there is often a reason for some of these things that might not be obvious and people end up with the wrong conclusions.

First, the parking lot :) It's half owned by the city and half private. Getting the city on board to do something has proven difficult. Apparently they are planning something now, it only took 6 years of complaining. All those people that jam up the center of the lot (where you aren't supposed to park) are civil servants from the Harry Hays building. They have time to go move their cars every two hours so they don't get tickets.

If i'm thinking of the same fish Digital -Audiofile mentioned there was a back story to that too. Somebody came in and surrendered it to us, it had a buch of aptasia stings and came down with ick a few days after we got it. I eventually managed to get it heathy and it was sold. In a situation like that we can only do our best.

I'm not sure I understand the remarks about the survival rate. I've been buying fish there for 10 years without any major problems.

Any time you are dealing with WC import animals (fish or reptiles) you are going to have some issues. If you go in there and see some fish in bad shape, ask about it, there is probably a good explination. I've seen some pretty ugly stuff in every LFS I've ever been to. To a certain degree it is the nature of the business, which is unfortunate but not something I think is going to change any time soon.

It would be great to have a really experienced staff there or in any larger LFS but it is hard to do. I would like nothing better than to work there full time but I can't afford to. There are some really good hobbiest people that try to spend time there but all of us have full time jobs as well so it's tough.

So I suppose in conclusion. yes there are some problems but people are doing their best and things have been improving in the past year or so. I don't personally see where Riverfront is a lot worse than many of the other stores in the city.

[digital-audiophile]

If the tang went to a good home I am happy it looked like the poor thing was in alot of pain.

I think what everyone wants as a hobbiest is to go into a fish store that looks clean, it's hard to buy any livestock from a tank that looks like death, it would be nice to see the marine section cleaned up and made a little more hospitable, that would draw in more business and happier customers I am sure.

[albert_dao]

We'll start taking wagers on how many beers Kari has had.

[fatpuffer]

Lol! Lol! Lol!

[G1GY]

We'll start taking wagers on how many beers Kari has had.

Probably none!














































He like's rum!! :)

[richtg]

Do you have to pay for parking there now?

[Aquaholic]

I'm scared of the homless / crack heads in that area, I really don't think my car needs a (spray, paint job). Plus their store is like being in a crack den, just my opinion.

[lastlight]

Thier roof is in serious trouble. it's falling in in many places...leaking. I'd be worried about mold or something...

[Skimmer Juice]

The pufferfish they have there are always too much money.The coral tank needs serious work.But I seen a couple blue boxfish blue for sale wich is the last fish I can get. They also have a really cool cowfish in the display tank so I still go once and a while.Only for boxfish though.