Author Topic: Cinci shops overview (Read 7406 times)

jake · « **on:** December 05, 2008, 22:38:06 »

Got to go down to cinci to check out a few stores with a buddy today the good and bad

Monfort:

Old school substance not flash. Seemed to have a large selection of corals frag and colonies all at resonable prices. One super nice display tank. Lots of nice decent fish at nice prices. They also had some of the dark orange sponge covered florida rock ,but I didn't get the price. Well worth the trip.

Wet Pets:

A bit smaller than Monfort , less selection and borderline insane pricing. Who pays $70 and $80 for mushroom rocks and fingerleathers right? They had one sharp blasto ,but to be honest I was affraid to ask the price for fear I'd go into shock. IMO not worth the time

Aquatics and Exotics:

Nice store they have a couple of at least 4' sharks in a huge tank in the back. Lots of nice tonga branch.$7.99lb ,but worth it IMO if your looking for a few nice branches. More than a few nice corals and prices that were with in reason.

Verdict says its worth the time just to hit the 2 if its not to far for you to venture,but wet pets was pretty much a waste of time.

lazylivin · « **Reply #1 on:** December 06, 2008, 04:28:02 »

Nice post, Thank you

jake · « **Reply #2 on:** December 06, 2008, 10:30:24 »

NP. I figured if I was gonna drive an hr that I might as well save people some second guessing the trip. Especially if they are going from further away.

verper · « **Reply #3 on:** December 06, 2008, 10:44:34 »

Your pretty much spot on. Nothing has changed with those shops since I've been in the hobby. Only thing to remember with Wet Pets is the owner will cut a deal for cash and volume buying. Don't know why he doesn't just give a good price to begin with as he scares many people away with the Aquarium Adventure pricing.

jake · « **Reply #4 on:** December 06, 2008, 10:52:11 »

I'm already thinking when I can take the family. Gives us something to do together ya know. I still think we have a better selection of shops ,but monfort suprised me a bit.

verper · « **Reply #5 on:** December 06, 2008, 10:56:35 »

Quote from: jake on December 06, 2008, 10:52:11

I still think we have a better selection of shops

Shhhhh...... don't tell them that! They started raising prices right after your post!

rayk · « **Reply #6 on:** December 06, 2008, 12:38:08 »

The reason he cuts a good price for cash is two fold. First, there is a charge per transaction and a fee that the retailer pays to the credit card company. It can be 1% to 3%. I usually try to pay with my USAA Mastercard which has a lower rate. I leave my Discover card for Home Depot and Lowes, cause it has a higher rate. The second problem with credit cards is that the retailer doesn't get the cash transfered to him right away, and the person can file a dispute with the credit card company that the retailer may have to deal with, and potentially not get money at all. My dad's golf shop was victim of this quite a bit, and I imagine aquarium and livestock is worse. He'd cut a great deal on a set up clubs and the guy would whip out his American Express card (used to be the worst, but not sure anymore), so his 10% margin would turn to 7% just like that. Also, he'd have folks use some clubs for the weekend and not hit the ball any better, and want to return them. Of course he couldn't take them back, so they'd file a claim with the credit card company. Not sure my dad lost any money, but I know completing and faxing those dispute forms was a pain in the arse.

- Rayk

Arcade_Guy · « **Reply #7 on:** January 09, 2009, 05:16:57 »

i live apparently south from most of you lol

monfort is the closest place to me... i pretty much rely on them for most of my shopping, with the exception of a pre-planned trip up to the dayton area.

there is another place, in west chester/sharonville on US-42 that is half way decent. They have like a handful of corals, i wouldn't buy any from there, but the fish are decent and fairly priced.. It's called "All About Pets". I bought my mom a puffer for xmas from there, and I bought a dragon goby from them. Nice people and the fish doing great so far.

I am totally jealous of all you northerners for your coral shops up there tho.

agreed with jake on wet pets tho, i wont go back...

cloran · « **Reply #8 on:** January 09, 2009, 08:18:59 »

Man, u guys are lucky...I have to drive and hour to ge ANYTHING salt related other then the usual fish at insane prices.

apelaston · « **Reply #9 on:** January 09, 2009, 09:06:37 »

Ditto. i am goin to cinci for 3 days at the end of the month and plan on doin some afterwedding shopping lol for myself.

jeblin · « **Reply #10 on:** January 09, 2009, 10:40:40 »

"All About Pets" has a lot of used equipment as well....I believe the owners name is Dave. When my stock pump died on my Eclipse 6 they were recommended as the only fairly local place that might have it in stock. When I called and talked to Dave, he put me on hold and went to the "backroom" to look. They had one and it was cheaper than online. The "backroom" is an adventure in itself....if you ever get over to it, take a look...mainly storage...the employees don't know where anything is back there...but Dave does

I've never been over to Montfort, but I've only heard good things about them...I would say that Wet Pets is the Cincinnati equivalent to Dayton's Gerbers (atleast the old Gerbers). There's another shop that used to be very good, but I've heard they've declined recently and thats the House of Tropicals (if I remember it correctly).

lightningfront · « **Reply #11 on:** January 09, 2009, 20:47:25 »

Ya, I went down to House of Tropicals last weeek. I wouldn't recommend it, nasty tanks and not much salt stuff mostly fresh water.

cloran · « **Reply #12 on:** January 09, 2009, 21:23:12 »

wheres this all about pets at?

Arcade_Guy · « **Reply #13 on:** January 09, 2009, 22:04:31 »

on US-42(aka cincinnati-columbus rd, aka reading rd) in sharonville (very close to west chester)

here's a google map of it

lightningfront · « **Reply #14 on:** January 09, 2009, 23:19:04 »

I'm cursed, I live 2 minutes from Monfort. I'm in there at least 3 or 4 times a week.

Arcade_Guy · « **Reply #15 on:** January 10, 2009, 00:40:09 »

lol you call that cursed?

cursed is having to wait weeks to hit the "LFS" a half hour+ away and instead of a frag or a fish here or there, it all builds up and i spend hundreds every trip. lol

ok maybe not hundreds plural, but still. if i went every other day like you i probably wouldnt spend as much... i sit around and research all this stuff and by the time i get to go to the store it's like xmas morning or something.

you could practically throw a rock from your house and hit monfort. you suck

jake · « **Reply #16 on:** January 10, 2009, 11:15:14 »

Ya like he if gave you guys gerbers can we have monforts

Revaltion131 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 11, 2009, 10:35:58 »

Gerber's has been improving, there were no dead fish last time I was there. For the most part, everything was clean. At least as opposed to Jack's, they do have employees that actually know their stuff, at least partially. The Jack's by my work has this beautiful Halichoeres wrasse of some sort in and I was asking about it when I went for fish food. It was a "Green Parrot Wrasse", a Thalossoma species, and no, it does not sleep in the sand, it floats near the surface. They also think that CC stars are reef-safe.

If they still have the little guy in two weeks, which I'm sure they won't, I'll have to go pick it up.

micki · « **Reply #18 on:** January 11, 2009, 11:04:54 »

I too have heard some "good" things about Gerbers lately.

kattz · « **Reply #19 on:** January 11, 2009, 14:02:39 »

The last time I was in Gerber's (two weeks ago), the livestock looked healthy and there was a much larger amount of variety to choose from versus a year ago.

Kev

jake · « **Reply #20 on:** January 11, 2009, 15:30:52 »

Negative. There fish are over priced there corals are way over priced. It doesn't matter how well it is kept if they want a kidney for a coral. IMO the only people that go there are people that dont know about NDR,AQUA ETC and marine solutions.

JSLeedy · « **Reply #21 on:** January 11, 2009, 16:34:49 »

They have a new manager I understand. So they should be improving. They are still over priced and they still dose all their fish tanks with copper. Be carful getting fish there you don't want that water in your reef. Their fish are also not very hardy. I personaly wouldn't recommend going there. YOu will get much healthier specimans at a much better price at Aquarium Ect. and NDR. Just my opinion. Not that it's worth much.

MechanicalEngineer · « **Reply #22 on:** January 11, 2009, 17:03:27 »

Off topic a touch, but AdvancedAquarist had a very interesting article on the effects of copper on orchid dottybacks and flame angelfish. Highly recommended. I never knew that copper could affect development and life of some fish to that extent before (I know some fish can't take it at all tho.)

Revaltion131 · « **Reply #23 on:** January 11, 2009, 18:18:14 »

I agree that just about everything is overpriced. However, they get "unknown" Fairy Wrasses in from time to time that are usually terminal males for ~$50.

micki · « **Reply #24 on:** January 12, 2009, 16:38:25 »

I haven't been there, but one of our sponsors told me who the new manager is and I know him. In fact I purchased my first reef set up from him 5 years ago. The sponsor is the one that had nice things to say about the store (how they are improving things etc.) we didn't talk about prices. I'm fine to use our sponsors, but I thought it was very commendable of our sponsor to share a positive note about a competitor.

UDJustin · « **Reply #25 on:** January 12, 2009, 19:50:39 »

man when did moraine move to cincy?

UD Flyer · « **Reply #26 on:** January 12, 2009, 21:06:32 »

Quote from: udjustin on January 12, 2009, 19:50:39

man when did moraine move to cincy?

I was thinking the same thing

jake · « **Reply #27 on:** January 12, 2009, 21:24:58 »

when we voted gerber off the island

Learning_The_Hard_Way · « **Reply #28 on:** January 18, 2010, 12:11:42 »

I have picked up a few things at Gerbers and they have been fine, they are on the high $$ side, but closer to me. I mainly go to Coral Pets in milford. He knows his stuff and is a very nice guy and the prices the best I have seen anywhere hands down. Hes mainly has corals, its hard to find but worth it.

Reefd Up · « **Reply #29 on:** January 18, 2010, 12:50:40 »

I was just in Coral Pets for the first time this weekend, and I have to say, I was impressed. There was a great selection of softies, LPS, SPS, and even fish...and had a very nice selection of Chief Reef frag plugs and disks. Other than the fact it was rather hard to find (underneath a vaccuum store through some cellar doors), it's a nice addition to the hobby. On the way down, I was complaining about the distance, but once I got there, the distance didn't bother me anymore...definitely worth the drive. Plus, they have the nicest Achilles Tang I've ever seen...absolutely stunning! They light their corals with CoralVue MH pendants and ballasts, which I was impressed to see in a retail store...those aren't cheapie's!

Brians937 · « **Reply #30 on:** June 13, 2010, 01:26:31 »

Sorry i have got to disagree with all of you. Geber's is a good store to go to. Bryon knows his shit, and if you take the time and talk about the prices they come down no problem. I get deals that I know I wouldn't get anywhere else. Bryon is the only person I will talk to for anything Im not 100% sure on. Not at all raging our sponsors, but I been working with Bryon for a very long time. But this really only counts towards fish and equipment. 80% of my coral come from Rich at the coral from. He knows his coral and most of the time has really unbeatable prices on coral thats just unbeatable.

Now back on topic. Monford Is a if not the best ciny store IMO. I was fair on prices, just dont try to buy the anemone in his show tank. Wet pets is kinda junky looking with used equipment stacked right when you come in, but there fish and coral seemed well maintained. Aquatics and exotics well lest just say the own is a male reproduction organ. I was really interested in his sharks and was asking question and straight up told my to go F myself without the f bomb. Sucks for him tho, I was looking at 2 corals that would have been 220$ his lost was Rich's gain.

kattz · « **Reply #31 on:** August 21, 2010, 23:51:36 »

Was reading all of this, and my opinion is that outside of Just About Fish and Coral Pets, I wouldn't go back to any of the shops listed above. We did the Cincy tour to all shops listed above plus a few more 3 weeks ago, and quite frankly, all of them except Coral Pets wanted way too much $ for what they had, especially LR. The excuse when asked was pretty much an average of "Times are tight. Every one else has closed up. We're the only ones who can help you." The average for poor quality rock was about $10/lb (11.99 at Monfort and Wet Pets if I recall correctly), and it looked like it had been nuked. This includes Monfort, Aquatics/Exotics, Just About Fish, Wet Pets, and two others. I'd have to go back and look at the GPS for the names.

I like doing business for dry goods at All About Pets. Dave's pretty cool and will work out a deal for you. My system sump and fuge is from there.

Kev

Reefinmike · « **Reply #32 on:** August 28, 2010, 01:52:49 »

I just took a tour of 5 cincy area lfs, and, well, Im just so Darn glad to live in Dayton. The only place worth mentioning was world of pets in Florence Ky, they had decent prices with good selection.

All about pets- Just plain ol' sad. They had about 4 fish in stock, all of their saltwater tanks were filthy. Scum floating on top, could barely see through glass, and couldnt see a bit of sand, was all covered in green algae. their dry goods section was just a mess, thing strewn out all over the floor.

Aquatics and exotics- Ive been there before, they always have the same old corals they want an arm and a leg for, limited fish. this time around, I went on a thursday. I guess they were closed but I walked in, seemed like a real estate agent was in the building talking with someone about buying the place.

monfort aquarium- Very old school, small tanks with crushed coral and under gravel filters. Nothing spectacular, they seemed to focus too much on their breeding pairs of clowns. Coral prices were fair, but nothing that did it for me

Wet pets- man, what can I say about this mess of a place. well, first off, his discus were beautiful and healthy. Over 3/4 of his sw fish were either sick, or very skinny. It seems like his only corals were wellso brains and leathers. His leather tank up high, if you look down at the "sandbed" it is all leather skeletons. There weren't prices on anything, so he could take advantage of you if you didnt know any better. the only + to the place was the awesome black volitan lion they had, didnt bother asking a price.

World of pets- Good prices, clean tanks, good coral selection, and a good variety of fish. If I still lived in cincy, this is the only place I would ever shop.

I did not get to visit coral pets, but I have only heard great things about them.

Long story short-I am glad to be a dayton reefer!!!!

HUNGER · « **Reply #33 on:** August 28, 2010, 11:16:01 »

ya it hard times down there we do have some good stores up here

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Author Topic: Cinci shops overview (Read 7406 times)

cloran

apelaston

cloran

MechanicalEngineer

Reefd Up