Where to buy reef in lower mainland?

[Reef-Geek]

Hi, I am new to the forum, There are only 4 stores that I know in lower mainline sells saltwater fish and corals, JL,Island Pets(BigAl),Aquarium West, KingEd. Can u please let me know where else I can buy saltwater stuffs? Thanks:biggrin:

[mark]

lot's of used stuff on Canreef's Buy and Sell forum (plus kijiji and craigslist)

[ottoman]

There are also Ocean Aquatics and Oceanic Corals.

[scherzo]

+ 1 on ones listed above:

J&L
Island Pets(BigAl)
Aquarium West
KingEd
Oceanic Corals
Ocean Aquatics

+Roger's Aquatics in Surrey

Between the stores listed above you don't really need any more!
What are you looking for?

Canreef has some good classifieds as well - No one really uses kijiji in the lower mainland...(I shouldn't say no one.. just not many.. I think the latest aquarium post was like a week ago for vancouver.. I'm sure craigslist would have one from a few hours ago!)

[Reef-Geek]

Does any one know what happened to rain forest pets on Hastings? I went there last week and they shut down

[bvlester]

+ 1 on ones listed above:

J&L
Island Pets(BigAl)
Aquarium West
KingEd
Oceanic Corals
Ocean Aquatics

+Roger's Aquatics in Surrey

Between the stores listed above you don't really need any more!
What are you looking for?

Canreef has some good classifieds as well - No one really uses kijiji in the lower mainland...(I shouldn't say no one.. just not many.. I think the latest aquarium post was like a week ago for vancouver.. I'm sure craigslist would have one from a few hours ago!)

you can also add Paul's aquatics in Surrey in old phone book under Pacific aquatics small but nice stuff there and they care so much the last time I checked they give a 7 day warranty on salt water fish...

Bill

[snow1]

+ pauls. I want to work there part time but sadly they are not hiring.

[Milad]

FYI ive been to most of the above and here is my thoughts

JL - centrally located, good selection, really good knowledge on fish/corals if you speak to rena (i believe is her name) shes really smart and she wont bullshit you and tell you to buy something you shouldn't buy. shes stopped me from buy more things than she has sold me on. the only thing that scares me is they actually know my name, first and last... i think i go there to much!!

Oceanic Corals - kinda far if you live dt area. Paul over there is really nice, really helpful, really really good prices and really quality stuff. And he will sit there and talk to you about stuff and give you advice whereas JL doesn't really do that on anything outside their livestock.

Ocean aquatics - kinda far if you live in dt area. Wendell there is really really knowledgeable. So much that I went out of my way to get a return pump and my tunze's from him. Smart guy too. knows his hardware stuff.

Big Als and Aquarium West both dont seem to focus on SW so they werent as knowledgeable as I wanted them to be. I dont buy much from them.

[Reef-Geek]

FYI ive been to most of the above and here is my thoughts

JL - centrally located, good selection, really good knowledge on fish/corals if you speak to rena (i believe is her name) shes really smart and she wont bullshit you and tell you to buy something you shouldn't buy. shes stopped me from buy more things than she has sold me on. the only thing that scares me is they actually know my name, first and last... i think i go there to much!!

Oceanic Corals - kinda far if you live dt area. Paul over there is really nice, really helpful, really really good prices and really quality stuff. And he will sit there and talk to you about stuff and give you advice whereas JL doesn't really do that on anything outside their livestock.

Ocean aquatics - kinda far if you live in dt area. Wendell there is really really knowledgeable. So much that I went out of my way to get a return pump and my tunze's from him. Smart guy too. knows his hardware stuff.

Big Als and Aquarium West both dont seem to focus on SW so they werent as knowledgeable as I wanted them to be. I dont buy much from them.


JL is still my fav. Best price(they do price match) and healthy staff. I think her name is Rene. Derek at JL are pretty good too.
their cleaner shrimp are only $15 no matter the size, I went to aquarium west and saw they are selling a jumbo cleaner shrimp for $40, huge price differences.

[gobytron]

JL is still my fav. Best price(they do price match) and healthy staff. I think her name is Rene. Derek at JL are pretty good too.
their cleaner shrimp are only $15 no matter the size, I went to aquarium west and saw they are selling a jumbo cleaner shrimp for $40, huge price differences.

aquariums west is situated in some of the highest priced commercial real estate in Canada and I think they cater more to the downtown crowd who don't care about bargains...

knowledgable staff though and always healthy livestock.
...though Ive only bought a couple of things there, as I do in fact like bargains.

I have never found that oceanic has good prices...average at best...unless you used to count when they ran the black market on bubble magus' but even that was relatively short lived.
I do think they get some of the most choice coral though and for that, who wouldn't ask a premium.
These guys are definitely the most hobbyist focused though and always seem to have something of interest in the works.

IME, the only two stores you really need are JL and OA, if they don't have it, they'll get it and if someone has it cheaper, they will match it.

Though I remember the good old days when I was still new to reefing and would run a 5 hour road trip out to aquatic addictions, then to rogers, then to OA, then to king eds and then to JL near homebase...lol

it was only on the very rare occasion the trips were ever worth it though, and really only then because aquatic addictions used to carry some really nice sps.