Fish stores Calgary

[Ryan]

I just did the Calgary tour for the first time in years and I must say a lot has changed.

Started off at Golds. Lots of cool fish but nothing I was looking for. Was probably just an off week. However there was a good diversity of fish. Haven't been in the store in years yet the guys still recognised me and asked where I had been. Tough to beat that.

Next stop was Big Al's. Lots has changed in there. When did they add dog and Cat!?! Selection was low but there was some clowns there I really wanted. My wife was with me and she veto'd that decision. I should have bought them as they were 1/2 the price from anywhere else in town.

Onto Pisces where the service was great. I am assuming I had the guy in charge there. He was nice enough to walk me through some of the acronyms I have never heard of on the fish labels and we talked about which transhippers were bringing in the best fish and from where. I also seen my first Lightning Maroon in person and I gawked over the large Blue Carpet they had while he bagged up my small clean up crew. Prices are a little high but I will be back again.

After a tour at Balzac Mall it was onto Wai's, this place used to be a little run down and over priced but I was surprised how nice it looked with the new (to me) tanks and lighting. Fish looked great and I drooled over the red saddle Anthias. They were on the top of my want list before I got out, if I upgrade I'll get a few for sure. Lots of cool stuff but I walked out with only a fish. The only thing I could complain about was the price of the discs of zoas. I know it's a little pricey there but all the fish and coral looked great.

The guys down at Ocean Creation recognised me as soon as I walked in. Again that's a good feeling after not stepping foot in there for years. They let the cat out of the bag though when the Mrs asked why they remembered me, his response "Him and his friend always spent lots of money here when they came in". So she finally caught onto my lieing about prices. Their stock was low but again probably caught them on a bad week. Some cool adult clowns but I walked out empty handed.

Back to the east side I stopped at Concept hoping to get some dry rock and frags. I wasn't at all impressed by this store. Dirty tanks, dead fish, bad smell, and expensive!! Not the Concept I knew when they were over by Big Al's. I doubt I will be back again. The Rhomboid Wrasse was the highlight of the store otherwise there is much left to be improved upon.

Reef Wonderland was closed down. Glad it was a short drive but the store was empty. Not sure when this happened. However I was still feeling I didn't get enough fish so a quick search on Google Maps and I plotted a course that just so happened to take me by Wai's again. Dennis set me up with 2 more fish for a good price and I walked out smiling. I will say it was awesome to catch up with the guys at Golds and Ocean Creation but for this trip Wai's was the number one stop.