I stopped by the store today. You guys werent kidding about how overpriced their stuff are. Their neon goby and cleaner shrimp was $30 each. The people that work their are very knowledgable but everyone seem very busy so you gotta really flag someone down if you need to buy something because nobody is going to approach you and ask if you need help.
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Absolutely Fish
- Thread starter Erich
- Start date
every store has their bad and good. Absolutely fish is hot stinking garbage. Their Corals are semi- reasonably priced and you can usually find some good stuff in their 20 frag tank. also if your slick you can usually find some good corals in their rubble rock tank as well with a bunch of polyps clinging on to it. I don't reccomend their dry section unless its a part that you are REALLY looking for that the smaller stores usually do not stock. They carry a lot of replacement parts but expect to pay our your nose for them. Plumbing items are reasonable and you can usually find what your looking for there but do not think for one that you will get it cheap..
1 mag 7 there was 129.99
1 mag 9 was 169.99
i went to pet shanty and got a mag 9 for 89.99 and a mag 7 for about 60 bux or less.
they are overpriced because the area that they cater to has a lot of people with money. many of their customers don't really know what they are looking for and and mostly just come in there to choose fish that are brought to them the next time that their tanks need maintenence (that absolutely fish provides). This store was recognized in a few articles a while back and as a result had a great boom in business. they jacked up prices to profit off of the free advertising but forgot to lower them again.
i suggest pet shanty in south plainfield off RT 22 ask for doug or charlie. Really nice guys can talk for hours about fish.
i don't reccomend ocean gallery because their dry stuff prices are absurd... turbo flotr 1000 for 289.99 when you can get one online for about 140 shipped... their fish selection is great but you need to quarantine and treat everydamn thing you get from them or its like sleeping with the town whore.
1 mag 7 there was 129.99
1 mag 9 was 169.99
i went to pet shanty and got a mag 9 for 89.99 and a mag 7 for about 60 bux or less.
they are overpriced because the area that they cater to has a lot of people with money. many of their customers don't really know what they are looking for and and mostly just come in there to choose fish that are brought to them the next time that their tanks need maintenence (that absolutely fish provides). This store was recognized in a few articles a while back and as a result had a great boom in business. they jacked up prices to profit off of the free advertising but forgot to lower them again.
i suggest pet shanty in south plainfield off RT 22 ask for doug or charlie. Really nice guys can talk for hours about fish.
i don't reccomend ocean gallery because their dry stuff prices are absurd... turbo flotr 1000 for 289.99 when you can get one online for about 140 shipped... their fish selection is great but you need to quarantine and treat everydamn thing you get from them or its like sleeping with the town whore.
prices are a bit much (especially on the dry goods) and the service is hard to come by but i will admit that their livestock is plentiful and all of it looks in good health. If you dont mind spending the extra bucks they are ok and if youre looking for hard to find stuff then they might have it. overall it gets an OK from me
I've been to both ABS fish and Hanover Pet - both have thier good and bad. H.Pet is not a fancy store but does have some good stuff. They are a little pricy but are very willing to talk and help you out. Most of the guys are pretty knowledgable. I have only bought one fish and some dry goods but had good experiances.
AbsFish is great for window shopping but the staff is flat-out bothered by questions and the prices are "Absolutly" un-payable! They typically are 30-50% higher on a given item then other sources (both local & online). I won't make the trip down there anymore. I may stop in if I'm in the area but not likely to buy anything.
A good recommendation is Dover Pet in Dover, NJ. Limited selection of fish and coral but all livestock is very healthy and he will try to get you whatever you want. Very good customer service (made me an extra week to buy my flame angel because he only had it for a week and he wasn't convinced it was eating enough!)and knowledgable.
AbsFish is great for window shopping but the staff is flat-out bothered by questions and the prices are "Absolutly" un-payable! They typically are 30-50% higher on a given item then other sources (both local & online). I won't make the trip down there anymore. I may stop in if I'm in the area but not likely to buy anything.
A good recommendation is Dover Pet in Dover, NJ. Limited selection of fish and coral but all livestock is very healthy and he will try to get you whatever you want. Very good customer service (made me an extra week to buy my flame angel because he only had it for a week and he wasn't convinced it was eating enough!)and knowledgable.
radiata
NJRC Member
Sandry75 said:
If you want to save 15% at Absolutely Fish, join the Brooklyn Aquarium Society and get a 15% discount. I've been a member for many years now, and the 15% discount more than covers my annual dues. (Snagged a Galba Damsel last week for only $42.50, and I'd never seen one before. I've been in the hobby for 30+ years and every time I stop there I find a fish I've never seen before.) Don't know if they still do, but when they were "AquaTropics", they had discount coupons in the local weeklies.
Hanover Pet (now technically "Aquatic Visions") is well worth the visit. Their people have a lot of personal experience with the specimens we keep ("professional hobbyists").
Agreed, both can be pricey. (RBTAs at AF go for $150 to $200. At AV they typically go for $150. By comparison, Ocean Gallery 2, in Plainfield, has a load of them for $90 - go figure.)
What is the address of the shop in Dover. (Many years ago there was a pet shop there that there that the owner converted into a Talapia farm. Not the same shop is it?) I'd like to check it out...
Ciao,
Bob
dover pets is right on E blackwell street in dover if i remember correctly...kinda odd cause they usta have a fish market attached to the back.when i was young my mom would let me go get a fish for my tank while shes in the market gettin fish to throw in the pan and fry up.not sure if they still do cause i moved south and its been years since iv been there...
I used to go to Dover pet years ago when i first started in the hobby. Stopped when the quality of the corals was starting to go downhill, and it seemd like they wanted to mainly sell fish.
Aquatic Visions (hanover pet), can be very well worth the trip. The owners tend to focus a lot more on the maintenance side of the business, and will literally clean the place out when they get a large installation. Then the store will sit empty for a week or so until they turn the cash around into livestock. You have go there weekly. The guys there are very straightforward. The last couple of weeks they gotten in some really nice aquacultured acros. These guys get about 90% of my livestock $.
Absolutely fish has more often than not, left me cold over the years. I can deal with cranky, cold salespeople, and I know never to take their word as gospel. Every so often they will have reasonably priced corals and fish, but you really have to look hard. The one thing that irks me is the frags they take from corals that are on the way downhill. The sit them in a cone made of epoxy, which only leads to further tissue recession in the near future.
Aquatic Visions (hanover pet), can be very well worth the trip. The owners tend to focus a lot more on the maintenance side of the business, and will literally clean the place out when they get a large installation. Then the store will sit empty for a week or so until they turn the cash around into livestock. You have go there weekly. The guys there are very straightforward. The last couple of weeks they gotten in some really nice aquacultured acros. These guys get about 90% of my livestock $.
Absolutely fish has more often than not, left me cold over the years. I can deal with cranky, cold salespeople, and I know never to take their word as gospel. Every so often they will have reasonably priced corals and fish, but you really have to look hard. The one thing that irks me is the frags they take from corals that are on the way downhill. The sit them in a cone made of epoxy, which only leads to further tissue recession in the near future.
ok i have been going to Absolutely Fish for about 15 years now even when they were aquatropics . i will agree they are a bit pricey but i am happy with the quality of the corals i get from them .. i do shop all over and not just there . i will say some of the people working theree are a little unhappy when you ask questions . but overall if you know what you want they are the place to go .
radiata
NJRC Member
I've been going to AF (and the predecessor, AT) for a good 23 or 24 years now.
With regard to the "pricey" comments in this thread, expertise is simply NOT economically inexpensive. Most of the old timers at AF (and I'm on a first name basis with most of them) know what they're talking about. If you prefer "less expensive" go visit your local pet chain store where their "experts" are part-time high school students that will tell you just about anything to make a sale and make you go away and leave them alone. There are only a few shops in NJ where I trust the sales people, and AF is one of them.
With regards to any alleged sick fish purchased there, (or ANYWHERE, for that matter), your complaints should state VERY clearly that the new fish came down with xx disease in an isolated quarantine tank xx days after buying them. If you don't quarantine your new specimens, and they die, it is probably due to to latent disease pathogens already in your existing tank AND the combined additional stress suffered by the new fish when it suddenly becomes the "new kid in town" with proverbial "kick me" sign painted on them. Existing specimens have already adapted and have some immunity to the disease already in their tank, and will only succumb if sufficiently stressed.
All this said, AF does make me a little crazy with the lower salinity they keep their fish (not invert) tanks at. They keep them in a large central system with a lower salinity and therapeutic copper levels. Works for them, but acclimation takes me hours to get from their low salinity to my NSW salinity. Last week I spent $50 on a Galba Damsel, only to have it jump from the bag into the quarantine tank just as I started the acclimation process. Instant freak-out. (BTW, good thing damsels are hardy - the Galba is doing well in the quarantine tank...)
With regard to the "pricey" comments in this thread, expertise is simply NOT economically inexpensive. Most of the old timers at AF (and I'm on a first name basis with most of them) know what they're talking about. If you prefer "less expensive" go visit your local pet chain store where their "experts" are part-time high school students that will tell you just about anything to make a sale and make you go away and leave them alone. There are only a few shops in NJ where I trust the sales people, and AF is one of them.
With regards to any alleged sick fish purchased there, (or ANYWHERE, for that matter), your complaints should state VERY clearly that the new fish came down with xx disease in an isolated quarantine tank xx days after buying them. If you don't quarantine your new specimens, and they die, it is probably due to to latent disease pathogens already in your existing tank AND the combined additional stress suffered by the new fish when it suddenly becomes the "new kid in town" with proverbial "kick me" sign painted on them. Existing specimens have already adapted and have some immunity to the disease already in their tank, and will only succumb if sufficiently stressed.
All this said, AF does make me a little crazy with the lower salinity they keep their fish (not invert) tanks at. They keep them in a large central system with a lower salinity and therapeutic copper levels. Works for them, but acclimation takes me hours to get from their low salinity to my NSW salinity. Last week I spent $50 on a Galba Damsel, only to have it jump from the bag into the quarantine tank just as I started the acclimation process. Instant freak-out. (BTW, good thing damsels are hardy - the Galba is doing well in the quarantine tank...)
reefsandrotts
NJRC Member
What is the address of the shop in Dover. (Many years ago there was a pet shop there that there that the owner converted into a Talapia farm. Not the same shop is it?) I'd like to check it out...
Bob I know what store your talking about it was accross from the baker theater,Dover pet is down about 3/4 mile on the right it's connected to Freds fish market.The second owner of Dover pet (andrew) was the manager of that store.Gary is the new owner of Dover pet and I have to agree that he goes out of his way to keep things healthy and make sure of that before he sells the livestock.
Bob I know what store your talking about it was accross from the baker theater,Dover pet is down about 3/4 mile on the right it's connected to Freds fish market.The second owner of Dover pet (andrew) was the manager of that store.Gary is the new owner of Dover pet and I have to agree that he goes out of his way to keep things healthy and make sure of that before he sells the livestock.
Today I went to A/F to pick up a salifert cal test kit. Paid $30. for it. I showed them my membership card NJRC. They said they do not give discounts for the club. While I was about to leave a customer asked a sales person what he needed to do to rid his tank of hair algae. His reply was to buy a better skimmer and a clean up crew. Nothing was said about phosphates.
Hm, just adding this info because I went to AF a few months ago wishing to do an internship of sorts to build my exp. working with large systems and was told by the managers that the majority of their night crew are highschool kids. Some of the information on the website also supports this. There were def. many young people the time I was there. He actually mentioned that they have some issues with having so many of them at once during a shift because of a bigger variance in 'maturity' level.
I actually thought that was cool, which made me hope a 1-2 hr internship would work well at night.
My point is just that the majority of staff at least at night are mainly under 18 yoa. There were maybe 2 people there I could truthfully say seemed 22 or older (not that 22+ equals seasoned/experts/oldtimers
I actually thought that was cool, which made me hope a 1-2 hr internship would work well at night.
My point is just that the majority of staff at least at night are mainly under 18 yoa. There were maybe 2 people there I could truthfully say seemed 22 or older (not that 22+ equals seasoned/experts/oldtimers