Calgary source for live rock??

[AJ_77]

Busy board today... ;)

Where, if at all, do you guys get choice pieces of LR in town? Not box quantities, but showpieces.

AJ

[Canadian Man]

Well i purchased my rock at Wai's on 16th by peters. has amazing rock and bland rock. if you have not been i would check it out.
Jonathan

[AJ_77]

Been stopping in at Danny's for 10 or so years; I guess what I should ask is what about the shops in the south end of town? Only am familiar with Pisces and Wai's, really.

Heard of a place on 17th ave SE that I should avoid, and obviously Pet-land, the aiptasia farm up near my place.

Any other gems? I get mixed reports about Riverfront: some like, some really don't like...

AJ

[Canadian Man]

i dont really like riverfront as well but like you said some do and some dont.
i wanted to go visit the place on 17th but dont know where it is or what it is called. i heard they have great prices on corals. there is always big als on macleod and heritage. i will let you form your own opinion on their rock. they do have rock at a great price now but it may not be what you are looking for.

[Delphinus]

Is it Bow Valley Aquarium maybe? It's the only place I can think of that might be on 17th but I thought they were wholesale only. I tried to call them once, I forget what I was looking for, but they shooed me away because I am not a business. If there is another place I wouldn't mind checking it out too? Can someone let me know the name or an address if it's not Bow Valley that we're talking about?

Nice weather out there! Id a grade tide for be to catch a code too. sniffle sniffle. Buh.

[Canadian Man]

i just talked to my fish store friend and it is called golds aquarium? and it is on 17th ave (international ave or forest lawn) on your left hand side by the pizza hut. that is all i got i am looking upthe adress now ......................
..................................................
well they must be new cause they are not in the book. i am going to check it out today.
will give report later.
cheers
Jonathan.

[Canadian Man]

Gold Aquariums
They had quite an assortment of live rock. couple tanks with sparce ammounts of corals few weeks ago they supposedly had lots and prices mostly reasonable on them. a couple of small tanks with marine fish. their prices on dry goods was very reasonable compared to other lfs in calgary. of course not as good as the online stores (eg. JL) but decent store. mostly Fresh water as their sign says.
hope this helps.

[Dolf]

I was wondering if anybody else has ever gone to tails + scales. It is fairly small (the fellow runs it out of his basement) so the selection is not huge- but the livestock is fairly well priced and he will special order for you. He does not have live rock (so this is not really a reply to the question.) It is located in the south near Anderson Rd.

-Danny

[MitchM]

Has anyone visited the new place on center street? Ocean Aquariums, I think the name is. Center and 26th, or so. I haven't, myself.

(btw, my new 204 gallon is being delivered Thursday night... :D . It's 72L x 30W x 22 deep. I'll post a pic Friday. Spikehs, I've got a pretty large birdsnest colony that I can frag for you. But I'll warn you now...it's a VERY high light demand coral. What lights are you getting?

Mitch

[AJ_77]

A guy I know got some rock from Gold and said it caused him problems. I got the impression it had undesirable hitch-hikers. Their rock is sometimes advertised at very low prices, compared to others.

AJ

[spikehs]

I have been to tails and scales a ton, there prices are probably the cheapest i have seen for fish (haven't really priced out corals) and they seem healthy. They have 1 tank for corals, with nothing too spectacular the last time i was there. They have not had any corals that stood out in my mind. Never checked out their rock, they only have 1 small tank in the back room with some rock. Very nice people

if you are looking for fish OR equipment i would go there. Their prices on equipment are usually the same as JL aquatics, but without the shipping. I just wish they would get better corals in.

Sean

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

hi all ;)
the place is called Gold aquariums bay j,4710 17ave.S.E. ph# 273-5567 closed on thursdays.
theu are cichlid specialising store,for reef they only carry fiji rock.
hope that helps ;)

[Canadian Man]

where exactlay are they located(tails and scales). i looked in the phone book and there is no adress just a #. i would like to go check it out.thanks in advance.

[Delphinus]

Jon, it's just a house in Shawnessy. Actually they live about two, three blocks away from me if that gives you a general idea where they're at. They advertise pretty heavily in the Bargain Finder (they have an ad every week in the aquarium section). The number is 256-9227. Like has been mentioned it is just a basement op so best to call before just going over and checking them out because I'm not sure if they hold regular-style retail hours. I second Sean's opinion of them, they seem to have nice fish but as far as corals and stuff, they had a handful, and they looked nice, but there was nowhere near the overall selection as say, Wai's. They probably could sell rock but my bet would be on a special-order type thing if you needed it in any serious quantity.

Mitch, I went to Ocean's Aquarium the week they opened. They had a smallish marine section but it kind of sounds very similar to this Gold's place in that it was more like 80%-85% freshwater. I found that it's worth a look, but not worthwhile forgoing the other usual suspects in the city and making it my first line of contact for marine stuff, that kind of thing... (Aren't they about a block away from you though? I'm surprised you haven't just wandered in there and checked it out yet :D )

[Delphinus]

Hey Mitch, what would you want for a frag of that birdnest? Is it formerly Deb's by any chance?

[Tau2301]

I have bought rock and fish from Golds. The prices are excellent. Dennis (the owner)has scaled back his salt section to about half of what it was. He closes on Thursdays because his fish shipment comes in then. So for best selection you have to get there early on Friday.

I have also gone to Oceans on Centre Street. His fish selection is small, probably about the same as Golds. He does have 2 large coral tanks. To me the selection looks good, but then beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Tails & Scales is my favorite as I like Larry & Wanda. They seem more like hobbiests rather than a retail outlet, but they are there to make some money. Their prices are very good for fish and hardware. As for corals they had what I wanted at the time that I wanted it so... beauty again.

The best part is that they (T&S) will order or try to get you what you are looking for. It's not like the big stores that try to steer you to what they have in stock to make the instant buck.

bye for now, Kim

[MitchM]

Tony,
I would prefer to trade for something for a birdsnest frag. No, it's not Deb's old one....(does she still even have it?) You'll have to come over and see my new tank and set-up...the tank got delivered last night, but I don't have a pic just yet...soon. smile.gif
I haven't been to Ocean's, because I simply have no reason to go there. I'm aware of the hesitation on some people's part to go to Wai's, but I'm very happy with him and how I'm treated, and I'm fortunate enough to be able to "endulge" in this hobby as much as I do. IMO, he also carries the highest quality equipment and livestock.
I'm also looking forward to everyone coming over to my new place and giving me some input on my new set-up.

Mitch

[Delphinus]

Mitch - sent ya mail :D

[TTT]

I just bought my rock at Red Coral Aquarium. Just posted a couple of pics if you want to check it out.


TTT

[EmilyB]

OMG, for a minute there I thought AJ was getting back into the hobby !! :lol:

Yah, saw some awesome pieces at Red Coral. Hand picking going on, wish I had a bigger tank...

[JDigital]

Red Coral for sure.. they brought in 2000lbs of Tonga Deep water rock... slabs, branches, and crazy shapes..

[brandy]

I am new at this, but from what I experiencing from my setups:
Every rock are SAME. Just only the shapes and hickhike problems.
- Shapes: your choice, no comment, but RC and the one on 16 has more nicer shapes for display.
- Hickhike: any rock does have some with always. But I do have problems with G*ld Aquarium LR which are in my spare tank for more than a month now. the LR I bought from RC are in my main tank now and they are doing great as no bad hickhikers found YET only 1 of the very cool urchin and some cool starfishes found.
I dont really know about rest of those store in Calgary.

I am very sorry if this opinion is offensed to any vendor, but truly it is from what I've been thru with headages brought even into bed those night.

[AJ_77]

OMG, for a minute there I thought AJ was getting back into the hobby !! :lol:

Yah, saw some awesome pieces at Red Coral. Hand picking going on, wish I had a bigger tank...
SEE, this is how rumours start. :razz:

But Kevin's Tonga rock is very nice....

[Aquattro]

AJ, good to see you back at it!! :)

[Hairytank]

I agree Red Coral has the best live rock and the new tonga has been in for over two weeks, so has had a chance to cure somewhat.

Picked up a couple of pieces myself. You can't beat the service either, Kevin and Doug are great to deal with.

[ElGuappo]

I got some good pieces from kevin at RC aswell (A great free standing piece). i also got some good ones at riverfront. i was actually pleasantly suprized at how pourus their rock was. both were quite reasonable priced. the stuff from riverfront had almost no odor.

I really like how kevin will put nicely shaped pieces aside for better viewing.

[EG-9]

i just got some nice rock from ocean city,
cured & cleaned,ready to go !