Central Coast LFS's

[SurfnFish]

What are your guys' favorite LFS on the Central Coast. I'll start:

I like Orcutt Aquarium, but they seem a little pricey. The Lompoc Pet Store has a great staff, but they don't have a huge supply. Lost World in Santa Maria is terrible. Everytime I go in there, there are dead fish in all thier tanks. I will never buy from there. Other than that, I haven't been to too many other places. I look forward to finding out about diff. places from people.

I think I'm heading up to Wet Pets in Grover Beach today. I'll let you know how it is.

[audiowerks]

if you ever go south you should try cortez coral in carpeneteria. great prices, every time i go there i leave with more than i had intended to buy. lots of lps and zooanthids, and had some sps last time i was there.

[wsun083]

wet pets is great, and they have really great prices. the only thing is, they head to the wholesalers every two weeks. today would not be a great time to go b/c this is the "in between" week and i'm sure their livestock is depleted.

I have just moved back to the central coast and have purchased 6 fish from them, and none of them have died! i would definitely check them out on a regular basis.

PS I am in no way affiliated w/ wet pets, hehe

[audiowerks]

oh yeah, forgot to add that i'm not affiliated with any LFS either. or paid by them. (If you ask about a local stereo shop i might be a little biased though.!)

[SolidDetail808]

I like Wet Pets and Cortez Coral. Those are my favorites for corals and fish. Cortez sells cheap live rock also $3 a pound. Pet's plus in Lompoc is good for customer service. I've traded freshwater fish for store credit. I have to agree with Surfnfish. Lost world in Santa Maria is horrible. That one guy that works there talks to you like you are dumb whenever you ask a question. Orcutt have the best selection of SPS.

[evoracer]

I like Wet Pets for tanks because they are always very cheap there, but their customer service leaves something to be desired. Aquatic Adventures in SLO has really turned around for the better as of late. Good staff too.

[Owen2thebank]

Ditto on Lost World.

Cortez Coral is easy to find in Carpinteria (same building as Post Office) and has a huge supply. They claim largest on central coast; I agree. Prices are good. Nice people.

Aquatic Adventures in SLO has a good supply and nice people, pricey though.

Jungles Above-Oceans Below inGrover Beach took 2 years to open but never has any customers. They tried hard to make their store nice. I have never bought there either; not sure why.

Orcutt is very good. Good prices, staff and selection.

[SurfnFish]

Well, I just got back from Wet Pets. I thought they were great! They had a huge selection, and had fish that I've never seen in any other LFS. The prices were the best I've seen. Everything looked healthy, and very clean tanks. LR is at a great price also. The tanks were priced well also. I still have to visit Cortez Coral, but so far I think I will only buy from Wet Pets.

[seanb]

Wet pets is great for dry goods (good prices) and tanks. I just picked up a 29gal Biocube for $250, everyplace else wanted at least $300. They are also great for fish, I have purchased 5 fish from them over the last year and all are doing well. I can't say the same for some other stores mentioned here. Their coral selection is limited, but every once in a while I will make a great find. I would have to disagree with evoracer, think their customer service is great, they just get very busy sometimes.
I love going to look at Orcutt Aquarium, they are by far the most knowledgeable , if you have questions. Their SPS are the best around. Prices are a bit higher on dry goods, but I still buy from them occasionally to support a great LFS.
It does look like Aquatic Adventures is cleaning up their act, but prices on dry goods are still very high and I am not sure I would buy fish there. I will sometimes pick up a coral, especially if it hasn't been in their tanks too long. Customer service can be hit or miss depending on who is working that day.
I have only been to Cortez Coral once when they were just opening. They looked like they were going to be a great store, I just don't have much experience with them (2 hr drive).

[rwrussom]

Well wet pets and orcutt aquarium have been around quite a while. I used both of them 15+ years ago for my first reef. Orcutt was hands done the best, but not cheap. I have not been there since they changed hands. I am glad to hear they are still keeping it up. I am amazed at what passes for a good store. Wet pets is OK for the dry goods, but I am far from inpressed with the livestock and selection. They have always been the typical store upselling to the uninformed. This is more typically the staff, the owners are pretty right on. Not a bad store by any means, but a lot of room for improvement.
I have only recently started checking out aquatic adventures. They have a nice coral selection and I have run into good staff. I understand that is not always the case.
If you ever catch the owner, there is a place in Pismo called Ocean View Aqaurium that is owner by the guy who owns the Solutions Surf shop next to Ponchos. The place is open by appointment only, but he knows his stuff and the shop has some good stuff in it.
Purchasing corals from our local growers is the best way for price and selection.

[Owen2thebank]

I noticed yesterday that Jungles Above-Oceans Below in Grover Beach is closing. They had a sign on their door announcing "Going out of Business." The sign noted a phone number, sale hours and the dates of Aug 27-Sept 3. The door was locked yesterday (Saturday, Sept 1) afternoon. They put a lot of work and effort into their store.

[SurfnFish]

Are they going to be open today? Do they have any going out of bus. deals?

[Owen2thebank]

I don't know their hours. The hours noted on the sign on their door were unreliable (I was there during their "open" time on Saturday, but the lights were out.) The sign did note "Sale Prices" and a phone number was available. I will post the phone number here if I go that way today; possible late this afternoon.

Since Wet Pets will be bringing new stock to their store this afternoon I'll make a trip to visit both places this afternoon.

[SurfnFish]

Wet Pets is open today? I thought for sure they would be closed for Labor Day.

[Owen2thebank]

I think they close early, at 4:00 today.

Anyway, they are getting new stock this afternoon; every other Monday.

[SurfnFish]

I went by there around 3. They didn't seem to have anything new in stock. Maybe their stocker had the day off.

[seanb]

The owner, Joe, goes down to LA every other Monday and doesn't return until the late afternoon. You usually have to arrive after 4 to see the new stuff or just wait until Tuesday.

[seanb]

Just FYI, Joe said he went down to LA yesterday, but all the suppliers were closed. He will be going to LA again this coming Monday 8/10. In the meantime he has ordered a shipment of fish to arrive in the next day or two. It will be mostly common marine fish, nothing special. If you are looking for corals or an unusual fish then you should wait until Monday. It sounds like he is planning to increase his marine stock. If you are looking for a trigger he has a good selection of those now.

[KBELLEW]

I am new to the hobby and located in Paso Robles, so my experience with LFS's is limited . . .

However we buy most of our live items here in Paso at the Pet Dept. Their customer service is fantastic. Jason and Jen are the resident saltwater gurus and although they seem young to be so knowledgeable I have found their assistance unmatched. Prices seem good on live items. Dry goods are better puchased on line, although we got our BC14 their for $160. And they have great prices on custom tanks.

Allstar pets in Atascadero is disgusting.

Aquatic adventures in SLO is hit or miss. Sometimes the staff is great other times it is awful. They only have the same stuff every time I've been in there, and all of their stuff is covered in apstacia. They do however have a lot of live rock, if you don't mind killing off the glass aneonme's (sorry for the spelling)

[jdh22]

I go between the Pet Dept and Aquatic Adventures as well. I like Pet Dept mainly for live stock and AA for big ticket dry goods and sometimes live stock, I also like petsmart for foods and random small dry goods (half the price of either Pet Dept or AA)

[D-Rod]

The last 3 times I’ve been to AA in SLO they've had numerous sick and dead fish, what’s up with them? Seems like they've let things go and have got lazy on keeping the tanks healthy. Every tang looks severely underfed and is covered with ick.

With the few choices we already have it's getting easier to go the online way or take my $$$ out of the area.

[jdh22]

I agree the quality of the Livestock has been bad at AA recently, I was in there a couple of days ago and there were at least three tanks with dead fish....some that looked like the fish had been dead a while. It looked like the ich was pretty bad too... Ill probably stick to the Pet Dept. in Paso for livestock until things turn around at AA.