Visiting a LFS during these times

[iamzrad]

Has anyone been to a fish store (in person) recently? How has the process been in terms of safety and keeping clean?

I called House of Tropicals and they seem on their game. Only 4 customers at a time, you have 20mins max and if you want dry goods you can call ahead and they’ll bring it to your car via curbside.

 

[Goonie]

Aquatic creations is small he let's ones in at a time and cleans behind them pretty solid.
Centerville aquariums kinda a free for all. Vienna aquarium isn't bad.

 

[Tangcollector]

Went to That Fish Place and they are really doing a great job I think. Masks required, they sterilize the carts, Limit people in the fish room.
Mark the floors.

 

[Tihsho]

When I went to H.O.T., last weekend, they were limiting browsing to 10 minutes. When I called they had said 20 minutes, but I quickly got down one isle of tanks and then was told my time was up...

 

[lock jaw]

When I went to H.O.T., last weekend, they were limiting browsing to 10 minutes. When I called they had said 20 minutes, but I quickly got down one isle of tanks and then was told my time was up...

Wow ten minutes is not enough time for HOT

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Yeah I generally spend an hour anytime I go, even if I walk out empty handed

 

[lock jaw]

Yeah. There is so much to see at that store. They might as well do curbside fish pick up or post videos of what's available on a daily basis.

 

[Tihsho]

Back in the 90's and early 2000's we had a great selection of stores in the DMV area and sadly the economy took a hit and this hobby was hit hard and we lost a handful of good shops. All I can hope for is for the brick and mortar stores to hold through the quarantine well enough to stay open. I know I'm guilty of shopping online to get the best prices, but we need to do our part to keep the local stores open to keep the hobby going. I know I for one prefer to get fish locally and it's nice to have a store to go to when I'm in a pinch and need something same day (be it I went through my last bag of food or a heater goes out.)

I for one have not been leaving stores recently without getting something, even if it's just a few containers of food or some dry goods to up my backup stash.

When you can, shop the local (non chain) stores!

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Good points,we can't afford to lose any more local shops, I need to go more often and make sure I pick up something while I'm there.

 

[lock jaw]

Good points,we can't afford to lose any more local shops, I need to go more often and make sure I pick up something while I'm there.

Volunteer to clean their tanks, then you can spend longer than 10 mins looking at fish.. hahaha

 

[Jim Anderson]

only a few left I remember when there were close to 30 LFS's in the DMV with quality fish- Cant remember the names of them-started a list below.
showcase aquarium, the aquarium center, Walley's pet center, Creatures & Critters. Tropical fish world,
??? layhill shopping center(Ken was the owner)
??? New Hampshire Ave shopping center
??? Parkville shopping center
??? Waldorf aquarium

 

[jonclark96]

There was Maryland Tropicals near Paint Branch HS. My brother worked there. I think the Owner's name was Tim. There was also Triangle Aquarium in Wheaton, where a bunch of the other shop owners worked at some point in time.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Volunteer to clean their tanks, then you can spend longer than 10 mins looking at fish.. hahaha

If I don't have enough time to keep up on my tanks, I'm definitely not taking the time to clean a store's tanks... Not a fair tradeoff for me unless the work involves taking fish home too.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

There was Maryland Tropicals near Paint Branch HS. My brother worked there. I think the Owner's name was Tim. There was also Triangle Aquarium in Wheaton, where a bunch of the other shop owners worked at some point in time.

The Wheaton and White Oak stores were the ones I frequented as a kid. I remember one of them had a koi pond where you could buy a hand full of food and feed the koi, always loved doing that.

Scales was the New Hampshire Avenue store I think Jim mentioned. Andrew ran that store and it was a nice one.

Aquarium Depot in Randallstown is a sore spot for me, as it would've been very close to where I currently live, but it closed shortly after I moved to the area.

Exotic Aquatics closed a few years back.

HOT is the only store semi local to me, though there are a few new small shops near me I haven't been able to visit yet. I need to check out Londontowne Tropicals sometime soon. Ricks in Frederick used to be a go to for me, been a while since I've been out there, but always liked them. Congressional is nice, they're just in a high-rent district, but convenient for the central MoCo crowd.

 

[IKANBETUTU]

only a few left I remember when there were close to 30 LFS's in the DMV with quality fish- Cant remember the names of them-started a list below.
showcase aquarium, the aquarium center, Walley's pet center, Creatures & Critters. Tropical fish world,
??? layhill shopping center(Ken was the owner)
??? New Hampshire Ave shopping center
??? Parkville shopping center
??? Waldorf aquarium

I remember those days 7th st in Chinatown D.C. had a nice store where I purchased my first marble gobys in the early 90s. Companions pets shop had three stores (navy yard,u st,georgetown) D.C. Larry's fish bowl Pennsylvania Ave D.C. Edens pets bladensburg rd MD. Tropical lagoon georgia ave silver spring MD. Barney's on branch ave MD. Critters and creatures plus another mom and pop shop in the shopping center on Pennsylvania Ave and silver hill rd MD. One in Iverson mall MD. One in landover mall MD. Two on Crain highway in waldorf. One on 3rd and h st ne D.C. Scales loved their filtration system and the way the quarantined fish even if you ordered. One in capital plaza mall (Richard beltway aquarium) MD. These were just the ones I used to go to on a regular basis only a few still open. I really miss the old days of fish keeping.

 

[Jim Anderson]

The Wheaton and White Oak stores were the ones I frequented as a kid. I remember one of them had a koi pond where you could buy a hand full of food and feed the koi, always loved doing that.

Scales was the New Hampshire Avenue store I think Jim mentioned. Andrew ran that store and it was a nice one.

Aquarium Depot in Randallstown is a sore spot for me, as it would've been very close to where I currently live, but it closed shortly after I moved to the area.

Exotic Aquatics closed a few years back.

HOT is the only store semi local to me, though there are a few new small shops near me I haven't been able to visit yet. I need to check out Londontowne Tropicals sometime soon. Ricks in Frederick used to be a go to for me, been a while since I've been out there, but always liked them. Congressional is nice, they're just in a high-rent district, but convenient for the central MoCo crowd.

Scales was one the I forgot and exotic aquatics was the one in Parkville I believe.
White Oak was owned and run by Tim-huge aligator snapping turtle in a 300 gal aquarium near the front, he closed down and opened a store up off of 29 and burtonsville rd. He started out by working at showcase aquarium As did Jim with all of the tattoos

 

[Jim Anderson]

I remember those days 7th st in Chinatown D.C. had a nice store where I purchased my first marble gobys in the early 90s. Companions pets shop had three stores (navy yard,u st,georgetown) D.C. Larry's fish bowl Pennsylvania Ave D.C. Edens pets bladensburg rd MD. Tropical lagoon georgia ave silver spring MD. Barney's on branch ave MD. Critters and creatures plus another mom and pop shop in the shopping center on Pennsylvania Ave and silver hill rd MD. One in Iverson mall MD. One in landover mall MD. Two on Crain highway in waldorf. One on 3rd and h st ne D.C. Scales loved their filtration system and the way the quarantined fish even if you ordered. One in capital plaza mall (Richard beltway aquarium) MD. These were just the ones I used to go to on a regular basis only a few still open. I really miss the old days of fish keeping.

I remember the store near Iverson mall, Oxon Hill near the beltway, Landover mall, Barneys and Pennsylvania Ave mall behind the mall. There was also the store in Rockville (Rockville Pike across from the Best Buy) Great memories.

 

[IKANBETUTU]

I remember the store near Iverson mall, Oxon Hill near the beltway, Landover mall, Barneys and Pennsylvania Ave mall behind the mall. There was also the store in Rockville (Rockville Pike across from the Best Buy) Great memories.

Definitely great memories I miss those days.