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My rekindled interest in aquaria reached a new high today. I visited over a half dozen LFSs in the last month looking for a good source for plants & fish. I had not been very satisfied with what I found. I stumbled across a local aquarium forum and followed a recomendation. 20 min drive but well worth it. They had more plants & fish than most of the others combined. Tanks were clean and the person who helped me was very knowledgeable. I was specifically looking for a bristlenose pleco and gold mystery snails for my cold water 75. They had both The only problem is that they also had many other fish I like and they looked great. Makes me want to start a warm 75!

HA HA!!! Let the addiction begin! There's nothing better than a good LFS!

I live in a rural part of Ohio, so the closest one to me is a 20 minute drive. I have three to choose from before I have to make the trek into the big city to shop at PetSmart lol. So, I am in decent shape!

Welcome to FP and keep us up to date on your new 75g!

Most Excellent !!!

Sounds like you made a good find, the best of both worlds, good stock and a knowledgeable staff to compliment. I haven't quite found such a store myself, have to choose between 6-8 to get everything I may need, just depends on what I'm looking for as to which one I go to lol, but luckily all are within a 5-30 min. drive from the house.
Hope they continue to live up to your expectations !! ( hour hooked lol)
What ya got in mind for that warm 75 ?? hehe
Again, good find!!

J.

Yes, it is nice to go to a great LFS and see some things. I love especially going to an LFS and seeing fish I've never seen before. I think the LFSes around here are doing better than ever 'cuz I've been seeing some crazy fish that I've never seen in person (and I've bought some of them, lol).

A fish store started up just a couple months ago in my area; it took the same place that a previous fish store was in, but had to close down. I am REALLY happy with their tank conditions and prices, and although they still haven't been able to quite fill their tanks (they have a whole row of empty tanks), they haven't had a bad selection in the other four or five rows of tanks that do have fish in them. I'm almost thinking of starting to buy things only from there, to support a new fish store (actually, the only dedicate fish store, as opposed to a general pet store, in a reasonable distance from my home). Also, if their prices are lower anyway it's easier to not have to shop around.

If I wanted to go on a road trip, though, there is always That Fish Place in Lancaster, PA. As far as I'm concerned, it's just about heaven on Earth.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

After reading many posts in this forum, I can see why a large community tank could be really neat. I normally used a 29 for that. I'm a fan of american cichlids and the store had a few beautiful gold and green severums. I kept a couple of them in a 55 for several years.


Scott - I posted the boring details of getting my 75 running with natives if you needed some reading before bed.
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/36126.1.htm?19#

I put the 2.5" bristle nose pleco in my 29 because I am worried about my natives pestering. It didn't move from a hiding spot on day 1. Day 2, OMG - the tank is spotless now. I was going to clean the glass tmro. I sank a leaf of romane lettuce tonight.

I was told by my LFS that they are wood eaters and there was no need to supplement with vegetables. I boiled an old 1 oz piece of drift wood for an hour before attaching it to a rock and placing in the tank.

IMO, it's somewhat of a myth that most plecs can live off of wood. Only a few groups (Cochliodon-group Hypostomus, Panaque) of plecs have the necessary bacteria in their gut to digest wood as well as the dentistry that can take care of scraping such a hard material. However, I would suppose that many plecs might benefit from the fibrous material in wood as roughage, as many fish foods contain protein way too high for such vegetarians. They might not digest it, but I would say wood could help these fish clean out their digestive tracts. I'd stick to feeding veggies and leave the wood in the tank for chewing if the bristlenose is so inclined to do so.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

yeah i love it when u find a good lfs,with some1,who knows what there talking about...about the wood,i aggree with shini,thats a bit of a wives tale,about the wood,i do have dw,in with 1 of my bns,but in the other tank theres no wood at all and theres a big pleco and a small bn and they are doing fine with out it,i didnt use any wood at all,for ages!i think they dont NEED it,as long as they have some places to call home,and a varied stable diet,good filtration,wcs,they will be fine....

Some plecs seem to like rasping wood, but I'd be surprised to find that they get much nourishment from it. I've heard and it's seemed to work in the past (I don't have any plecs just now) that enough wood will distract them from munching out on plants though. But I'm fairly sure that offering veggies helps with that a lot too.

I vote! Do you?

It is always good news to find a good and helpful LFS thank goodness all but one of the LFS in my area are privately owned but all give excellent service.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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I'll be honest. I thought I had found the LFS that I would frequent. I preferred them because they owned a small business like myself. They are actually on my way home from the office. I purchased from them for years.

I may continue to buy supplies from them but fish and plants will come from my new source even though it is a chain.

My BN wouldn't touch the lettuce so I sank a piece of cucumber with the seeds removed last night. I saw my other fish pecking at it while the light was still on. This AM is was about 25% gone - most likely eaten by my BN.

How often should you feed veggies?

Edit: Found a variety of opinions online regarding diet. I'll try sinking carnivore and shrimp pellets.

This suggests veggies and wood: "They also require driftwood as part of the tank setup, as they will rasp on the wood to aid in digestion. Food should consist of vegetable matter, including zucchini, cucumber, spinach, and romaine lettuce. Algae wafers will also be eaten. They will graze on algae in the tank, but algae should not be relied on as the primary diet."

This suggests meat: "Feeding the Bristlenose Plecostomus is not difficult since it is not a finicky eater. Feeding off the bottom of the aquarium, it gets most of its nutrition from left over food and algae. If there is no algae or left over food present, supplement with high quality flake food, sinking carnivore pellets, freeze-dried bloodworms, and tubifex"

This suggests all 3: "Like most plecos, they eat hard attached algae from the glass and ornaments. They also will eat sinking algae wafers or pleco foods, vegetable flakes, cucumbers, squash, green beans, peas, and other green vegetables. Cucumber, squash, and zucchini can be prepared by slicing a 2 to 4 inch piece of vegetable and cutting it in half. Remove the seeds with a grapefruit spoon. Attach it to a sinking vegetable holder (sold at most aquarium suppliers), tie it to a rock with anything aquarium-safe, or use a clip on a suction cup to otherwise hold the vegetable (well, they are actually fruits) in place. Frozen, fresh, or canned green beans or peas can be fed to the plecos at room temperature. Some suggest mashing them as well. Also, as with all plecos, the bristlenose pleco should be provided with some driftwood to chew on for roughage. My female bristlenose had a fondness for sinking shrimp wafers. I have read that females like more meat in their diets"

And then of course there is what PlanetCatfish says:

"It is thought that elements in bogwood, particularly lignin, may form an essential part of Bristlenose diet. Certainly they have the immensely long guts common to vegetarians, and although they fall avidly on the occasional meal of live food or prawns, the bulk of their diet must be composed of vegetable matter. If a high protein diet is fed constantly, then they will become e to stomach disorders. Vegetable roughage keeps the gut in working order, and bogwood is a valuable addition to this."

Yes, plecs will eat invertebrate matter but it is not a common part of their diet in their natural habitat. You can feed veggies all the time if you want, provided it all gets eaten and doesn't just rot away. Stick in some wafers and such to give a variety of nutrients that are missing or not in high quantities in the vegetables you are feeding. Your second quote should not be trusted, and I don't believe relying on leftovers is a responsible way to keep fish. If you have leftovers you should feed less.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.