Best Stores in Columbus?

[AcroSteve]

Can anybody tell me the top 3-5 stores in or around Columbus OH?

List for Livestock and for hardware.

For example, Beyerly's has pretty good looking livestock, but ver dissapointing hardware.

Aquarium Adventrue is better on the hardware and tank side.

Information like that will help make my trips to Columbus much more efficient. I am 70 miles south.

[singerk]

Jack's Aquarium has several locations, Their livestock in the 2 stores I've bought from seem pretty healthy, Selection is small though and most of their salespeople have little knowledge of saltwater, letalone Reefs.

I agree with you on Byerly's, Nice livestock.
Aquarium MISAdventure has gone down hill big time in last 2 years or so.
Poor livestock and excessive prices on everything except their quarterly hardware sale items.

[Underwaterrealms]

Well when it comes to livestock the two best place to go in columbus are Phishybusiness (by appointment) and Byerlies. Byerlies has the best on the freshwater end especially and will not sell you sick fish unlike other stores but most of us experienced fishkeepers know what to look for but many new fishkeepers do not. Phishy has some sweet livestock and gets some rare stuff also. Byerlies carries more of your bread and butter stock in so far as corals go and as of lately has not really received anything really out of the ordinary. Byerlies does usually get a nice selection of saltwaterfish in especially when they get a tranship. Phishy is the place to go for sps and the unique coral/clam. Stay away from AA unless you know exactly what you are looking out for. These are my opinions only.


Chuck

[NorthCoast]

I have purchased from Jack's (Westerville 161 & Cleveland ave) and know the new manager. They have a few saltwater people on staff and the livestock is usually in good health. The selection of fish and coral are limited. The former manager of this store has opened a new location at Easton Town Center (plaza at Morse Rd. near Best Buy). I have not stopped in yet but he was planning to have twice the area reserved for saltwater. He also has been very willing to order fish and coral from their supplier...

I have seen the livestock from Phishybusiness and met with him in person. Very nice guy and very nice livestock.

I avoid AA at all cost! Can't (or won't) say much more.

[AcroSteve]

Last time I was in AA about 9 months ago, they had a very large selection of tanks. Did not compare prices at the time. Livestock prices were OUTRAGEOUS! Nearly everything was 1/2 off but it was still at the higher end of the scale. Could not even imagine buying anything not on sale.

Anybody else have large tank selections?

[singerk]

I know Byerly's will order just about any size tank for you and their prices are ok, Jacks carries many tanks also, but it depends on the location. Some stores are small(Hilliard) and don't carry much in stock, I'm not sure about the ones that Northcoast is referring to, I haven't been there.
Another source I've read about and have seen their Web site is GlassCages (http://www.Glasscages.com) , They have a lot of tanks in just about any size you could want, The problem with them looks like you have to pickup from their location or one of their roadshows. I know in 2002 they had a stop in Cincinnati, but didn't see anything in Ohio for 2003.

[NorthCoast]

I know that Jacks gets a good discount from All-Glass. They can order any size and usually get weekly shipments if it isn't at one of their stores. At one point in time they were quoting just 5% over cost... :) Doesn't hurt to get a quote and compare.

[szwab]

I also know the manager of the Easton Jack's. He's a nice guy and pretty knowledgable. He'll help you as much as he can.
I am not very fond of Byerly's I think they are overpriced for the type and quality livestock. You also need to be careful on the advice they give. If you get a chance check out the names of some of their fish. If they don't know they make it up. If I had to choose I'd say the Jack's on 161 or the Jack's in Easton.
For some reason the saltwater exclusive stores have all gone under.

[FishyCommish]

I would also concur on the opinions I've heard about AA, Byerly's and Jack's.

The only thing I would ever buy at AA is a tank, but probably not.

Byerly's has very good livestock.

Jack's has some good deals on livestock, but very limited selection. Their tank prices are pretty close to AA, so I would probably support them before AA.

Singerk-

I have never heard of Glasscages. Do you know anyone with one of their tanks? The prices are very good on their website, but the pictures I saw made me wonder about the "finish" of the tanks

[singerk]

No, I haven't seen their tanks, just the web site. I read about them last year from a post on RC when they had show in Cinn.
Other then that, I know little about them and also wondered the same about overall quality/finish.
I was interested mainly in their low "Breeder" style tanks to use as a Mangrove and/or seagrass refuge. but since their not coming to this area any time soon, I'll probably look elsewhere or build my own.

[FishyCommish]

The website says Glasscages will be in Cincy at a show in July, or am I reading it wrong??

[Underwaterrealms]

One other supplier you might want to check out for aquariums is Inter-american in Fama. I have ordered two tanks from them and with shipping are cheaper than what I could get from most other stores retail. You can even get starphire glass for the front viewing pane of glass which I think makes a big difference for you do not have that green tint which you get with the thicker glass.

Chuck

[singerk]

Your right :o It wasn't there the last time I looked on their site, seems like there were only half that many shows.
Thanks Underwaterrealms, I'll check them out

[pyranha]

I like Byerly's as well. I picked up some really nice LR from them. They went out of their way to show me what they had. They were good people to deal with.

AA gave me a great deal on a canopy not long ago. It was the last one they had and they discounted it a bunch to get it out the door. Matched my stand PERFECTLY so I was not complaining.

I visit both shops at least once a week and I see their livestock go up and down with respect to quality.

I would say the best bet is to find out when each recieves shipments of new livestock, and then visit the shops accordingly.

[ggray-1]

Inter-american in Fama.
Tell me more. Were is this place?
Fama?

[singerk]

Here's the link
http://go.to/interamerican

FAMA is Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine http://www.famamagazine.com

[FishyCommish]

ggray

I believe Inter-american is in Alberta, Canada. Definitely not local. I know that they ship their tanks but don't have any idea how much this costs. I will be calling them to find out at some point, but if anyone knows now please let me know. I'm just talking a ballpark idea of how much for a larger tank.


Is anyone familiar with www.aquartaquariums.com ? Their office is located in Dublin and have a store in Gahanna (which I haven't been to). Prices are higher than Inter-american and Glasscages, since they work only in acrylic, but they are very local.

[Underwaterrealms]

Inter-american is the supplier that is best used when ordering a show size tank or custom tank if you want to save a little money and be frugal in your choice of stand. I would say most of the local shops can give you a better deal on a smaller tank 150 and below.

I ordered two tanks seperately.

A 230 which is 6x2x2.5 with the starphire glass front for crystal clear viewing and a square tubular steel stand which when I compared to Local stores they were much cheaper even with shipping.

The last tank I ordered was a 200 gallon RR 54x28x30 custom with overflow, starphire front and stand and it was only $1100 shipped.

The iron stand makes it really easy to build around also to give the look of a wooden stand for a lot less money than a real one. I know of a store here in columbus that would charge $2500 for the setup I ordered and I would not get the starphire upgrade.

Chuck

[KorbinDallas]

Has anyone seen the liverock at Phishybusiness? Whatsit like? Any visible pest algaes/anemones?

[columbus_jason]

DOES ANYONE HAVE THE NUMBER FOR Phishybusiness ????? I CAN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE??????:confused: :confused: :confused:

[pyranha]

http://www.phishybusiness.com

number is on the page.

[Mantis]

I just wanted to say Phishybusiness is great, I have gotten stuff from Serdar three times and have been very pleased. Lots of colorful coral and healthy fat fish.

[NorthCoast]

Brad,

I sent you a PM.

Later,
Mark