# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Cherry shrimp in San Francisco or San Diego Area



## Craig Tarvin (Jul 26, 2005)

I live in the SF Bay Area and I will be in San Diego next weekend. Does anyone know of a LFS that sells cherry shrimp in either area?


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## Craig Tarvin (Jul 26, 2005)

I live in the SF Bay Area and I will be in San Diego next weekend. Does anyone know of a LFS that sells cherry shrimp in either area?


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## rssjsb (Sep 8, 2003)

Hi CO2. I live in Oakland, too. Albany aquarium on San Pablo in Berkeley almost always has a good supply of cherry reds. Their prices are a little high, but they quarantine all of their fish, so you don't have to worry about them. They are best known for their terrific plants, although, again, their prices are pretty high. It may still be a better deal than buying online, I haven't bothered to figure it out.

Octopus's Garden (on Shattuck Ave) occasionally has them, too.


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## Craig Tarvin (Jul 26, 2005)

Thanks for the info, been meaning to check Albany out.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Last September or so, Nippon Goldfish Co. in SF was selling them for just $3.99 a pop. That's the best price I've been able to find in the Bay Area for cherry reds. Wouldn't know if they still carry them or if they're priced the same. Give 'em a call, I guess. Try Octopus's Garden, if you don't want to travel so far. I think they get shipments of shrimp like twice a week (but they're closed on Mondays). 

-Naomi


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## Josh Simonson (Feb 4, 2004)

They were $5 last I saw at albany. That's not much worse than 3.99..


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

I'm all for supporting Albany Aquarium - that's where I get most of my stuff. If you want to get your cherry shrimp there, great. But I think it's $5.99 or $6.99 each. Of course they're cheaper if you get three, and even cheaper than that if you get five. But even if you do get five, I think they were in the ballpark of $25. I'm not sure why they jumped up in price, but they did. I was told that the first couple of shipments were sold at an "introductory price."


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I was up at Albany Aquarium last Sunday (4/25) and all they had were Amanos.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by bharada:
> I was up at Albany Aquarium last Sunday (4/25) and all they had were Amanos.


They don't always have cherry reds, but you should ask if they have some in quarantine. If they do, they might let you buy some out of quarantine, but I'd imagine that you would be void-ing any guarantee on the health of the shrimp that you get.

At the moment, they're doing a complete overhaul of their system upstairs. It may very well be that they've got some of their livestock out of view as they're setting up the new tanks. It never hurts to ask.

If you happen to be interested in other types of shrimp (bumble bee, crystal red, Malayan, pearl, blue, tiger, etc., etc.) in addition to cherry reds, you should check out Octopus's Garden. Watch out for erroneous ID's, though.


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## skids (Mar 23, 2004)

We are putting together a group buy for Shrimp with Guy from Albany Aquarum for SFBAAPS members. I currently have requests for 300 Amanos and about 4 dozen cherries. I don't know the final price/shrimp but it will be 0.50 to 1.50 each. Guy is going on vaction for three weeks so will not be doing any big fish orders until late may. We will get them then so the frieght is spread across lots of his other bags of fish. PM or email me offline. 

I agree with Octopus Garden in Berkeley, I picked up 3 cherries and 3 pearl shrimp there last week. Think the Pearls bred as soon as I put them in my tank. I have many T shaped fry like larvae on glass and in water column in corner where one likes to hang out. No experience raising shrimp so I don't expect them to make it though. Discus and Cardinal tetra will probably find them when they get larger


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

YIKES! I called Octopus' Garden today and was told that Cherry Reds were $9.99 ea! I then called Albany Aquarium and was told that their stock was coming out of quarantine today so I drove out there and picked up a dozen @ $4 ea. Looks like at least one of then was carrying eggs, so I'll see how capable their larvae are at eluding my tetras.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

I went to both stores today and saw with my own eyes. OG's cherries were indeed $9.99 or $25 for three. Not sure what was up with that. They used to be $10 for two, I think. I went to Albany Aquarium and bought a habrosus cory and happened to see their happy, healthy cherries. I *love* how they always put their cherries in their black-gravel tank. They stand out so well with dark substrate. I think they use a special bulb to enhance the red, too. I wish I had better luck keeping the little guys alive. I bought at least a dozen of them last year (a few at differing times), and they would always die within three months. It could very well have been due to the heat. Hopefully we'll be getting A/C before the really hot weather kicks in this year.

Good luck with the shrimp! May they be fruitful (hey - they *are* cherries) and multiply...









-Naomi


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Even with the long drive from Fremont, I'm really beginning to love Albany Aquarium. And while I was shocked with OG's Cherry shrimp prices, Albany's price of $9.99/bunch for Pearlweed (M. Micranthemoides) made me do a double-take as I had just ordered some from Robert for $3/bunch. I think the only thing I saw there on Saturday that didn't look like it was doing too great were the pots of Glosso they had.

Too bad Albany doens't run AC in their store...I went there two weeks ago after a morning of yardwork and I thought I had walked into a sauna. I must've been a sorry sight in my tanktop dripping sweat.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by bharada:
> Even with the long drive from Fremont, I'm really beginning to love Albany Aquarium. And while I was shocked with OG's Cherry shrimp prices, Albany's price of $9.99/bunch for Pearlweed (M. Micranthemoides) made me do a double-take as I had just ordered some from Robert for $3/bunch. I think the only thing I saw there on Saturday that didn't look like it was doing too great were the pots of Glosso they had.
> ...


If you were impressed with their plant selection on Saturday, a trip there on Tuesday last week would have knocked your socks off. They get new plant shipments on Sunday or Monday (sometimes a partial-order on both days) every two weeks, so the absolute best time to go is usually on Tuesday or Wednesday following the arrival of the new plants. Some species just don't last the week. For example, the Cryptocoryne pygmaea was already completely melted by Wednesday when I went last week. The C. cordata was a mess, too. However, the R. macranda looked just as good on Saturday as it did on Wednesday.

Regarding the heat and humidity - the manager pointed out to me that they don't run any aquarium heaters in the tanks (which I was completely oblivious to) so the owner deliberately keeps the upstairs warm. But they do want to have ventilation so it's not so uncomfortable for the employees and customers. It may not happen for a while, though. I know I sometimes get a bit woozy upstairs. Then again, if it were too comfortable up there, I might spend hours and hours just looking at stuff, forgetting the time







.

-Naomi


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Naomi,
I guess I'm going to have to schedule a vacation day so I can make a run out there next Tuesday







. Actually, I'd better not. My 40gal tank is about at capacity for both flora and fauna at the moment and I doubt I could resist the temptation to buy more of each.

As for the heat in the tank room, the next time I visit I'll just bring a cold bottle of Gatorade to keep me upright.









Bill


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by bharada:
> As for the heat in the tank room, the next time I visit I'll just bring a cold bottle of Gatorade to keep me upright.


Hey - why didn't I think of that...?









I'll remember for next time







. I just hope I don't have to cut my visit short because I have to find a bathroom









-Naomi

-Naomi


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Well, it's been a couple weeks since I last saw any shrimp carrying eggs, so I cleaned my filter today and extracted two 2mm long babies. whether the rest fell to predation or just didn't get sucked up into the filter I may never know...unless a few weeks/months from now an army of red shrimp start appearing.


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## imported_rayhwong (Feb 14, 2003)

I'll be getting a shipment of 50 cherries soon. Let me know if you want any. 
Email me 
[email protected]

I'll save some for you. 
Regards,
Ray


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Ray,
How much per shrimp and how many would you have available?


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## skids (Mar 23, 2004)

Spoke to Guy in Albany Aq today, he will have specific prices for me this week or next. We are looking for 357-413 amano 108 -120 cherry red for SFAABPS and SFAS folks who have contacted me so far. I expect price to be around 80 cents to about 1.10 on amano and 1.50 to 2 on cherry. If we can't get cherry red at good prices (they are expensive, but on other hand tensd to have lower initial mortality) may look into Crystal reds instead which are cheaper. 

I'm open to advice here.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Heck, at those prices I'd go in for a dozen of each...need to add some additional interest to a newly scaped 29.







Same would go for Crystals if that's what you end up with.

So would the delivery/payment be through an SFAABPS/SFAS contact or through Albany Aquarium?


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## Josh Simonson (Feb 4, 2004)

Any updates? I saw the $10 shrimp at OG and they looked like way overpriced killie snacks. I'll have a fry tank running in about a week and would be interested in a dozen shrimp or so to put in there as part of the cleanup crew. Probably the only place they'd survive.

Angels just spawned too - yikes, lots of fry.


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## bigpow (Oct 3, 2004)

Don't want to be thread troll, but I don't like Albany aquarium.
Why?
They had a tank full of sick baby clown loach (skinny disease) and they were asking for 7$ each?!
They must be nuts!

My local LFS sells baby clown loach (healthy ones albeit one or two skinny) for 1.95$ each!!!

Must be the heat & humidity, affecting certain people's brain function.


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## skids (Mar 23, 2004)

I was in there at least monthly the last 5 months. I bought 5 clowns from AA in March and they are growing fast and putting on weight. I'm not disagreeing with you but They are the only store in the bay area with 100% quarantine. I'm confident if you brought it to Guy or Renee's attention they would have listened carefully and acted that same day to treat , requarantine or return as needed. I think 2" clowns wholesale at $4 so 7 doesn't seem like an unresonable profit margin. As I understand there is no treatment considered 100% effective for skinny disease. I have noticed a lot of the young clowns this year are long and skinny but not necessarily sick. I am no expert though. generally this is one of the few LFS in Bay Area you walk into and will not find dead fish. Add sick plants as well. They are extremely knowledageble and getting stiff competion (as all high end independants) from the chain stores. It's in our best interest to support them unless you are satisfied with my recent experience at PetXXXX in Hayward: "Hi do you have any rams?" resonse from Fish manager: "Uh, is that a salt water fish , I don't think so, our salt selection is not that great right now" " ME: "No, it's a south american cichlid , freshwater also known as Gold Ram, german blue or blue ram. " Manager:"Well then definietly not we only have convicts.I do have goldfish, they are gold..."


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by skids:
> It's in our best interest to support them unless you are satisfied with my recent experience at PetXXXX in Hayward: "Hi do you have any rams?" resonse from Fish manager: "Uh, is that a salt water fish , I don't think so, our salt selection is not that great right now" " ME: "No, it's a south american cichlid , freshwater also known as Gold Ram, german blue or blue ram. " Manager:"Well then definietly not we only have convicts.I do have goldfish, they are gold..."


ROFL!!! At least you got a good laugh







.

I was still living in El Cerrito when the P**Co was opened in the Plaza. Being that it was only a few blocks from Albany Aquarium, I was somewhat concerned for their (Albany's) business. But you know, anybody who has ever shopped there knows they sell healthy livestock, and know what a risk it is to introduce anything from a place like P**Co into their own healthy tanks. So the old customers remained loyal to them, and it seems that people who have gotten into the hobby via P**Co also eventually end up discovering Albany when they start looking for more specialized aquarium supplies. All in all, I think P**Co's opening up in the Plaza actually *improved* business for Albany.

I'll admit I'm a cheapskate, but if the goods at Albany are only a little more expensive than anywhere else, I'm more than happy to spend the extra to help support their business. I think the biggest competition is on-line outfitters. I'll confess to buying a lot of stuff from companies like Big Al's and Drs. Foster & Smith - especially stuff that I don't need right away. But this is actually what's hurting small retail shops most. Contrary to what consumers believe, there's not a heck of a lot of profit to be made on fish and plants, *especially* when a business like Albany absorbs such HUGE losses by quarantining all of their fish. They have to mark up not only the livestock, but the hard goods to stay in business, but now that you can find these items on-line for sometimes half of what you'd pay at a retail store, the retailers get screwed in a major way.

It's unfortunate... I think new customers go into Albany Aquarium and see the prices of their fish and go into sticker shock. Then they see the prices of the hard goods and wonder if the decimal point was misplaced. If you have the chance to chat with the owner for a bit, you understand the reasons for the mark-ups and that in the long run, you're getting a pretty sweet deal.

-Naomi


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## imported_Creature (Feb 6, 2003)

I agree with the quality of the livestock at AA. About six months ago I was looking for a large school of cardinals and purchased 70 from his quarantined stock in the basement. They were awefully small, but they filled out in no time and still have all 70 of them.

Now the plants....are another matter. I like the variety and the rare specimens that are offered, but everytime I've visited, the plants were of poor quality. I guess you have to get them right after they arrive.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Now the plants....are another matter. I like the variety and the rare specimens that are offered, but everytime I've visited, the plants were of poor quality. I guess you have to get them right after they arrive.


You really need to visit on the Monday or Tuesday after they receive a shipment. I typically only get to go there over the weekends, but the one time I did mannage to go on a Monday (after they received their plants on Sunday) the selection was light night and day. There must be a lot of lucky individuals like *gnome* who can get there during the week and deprive the rest of us of the splendor of the new arrivals







.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by bharada:
> There must be a lot of lucky individuals like _gnome_ who can get there during the week and deprive the rest of us of the splendor of the new arrivals
> ...


DOH! I definitely deserved that...







LOL!!!

Yes, shipments vary in content, and every now and then, the inspectors end up confiscating a whole bunch of stuff "for further inspection". Of course by the time they release them, they're unsalvageable... What's really bad are the misidentifications. I think they once lost an entire order of H. difformis because the customs people mistook it for water sprite. I was surprised when they actually managed to successfully acquire Ceratopteris siliquosa, which looks very similar to its banned cousin, C. thalictroides (sp?).

But yes - if you don't get there within 2-3 days of a new shipment, you'll see some of the plants at their worst, esp. crypts. Crypts will recover from melt, even in the store, but other plants like Elatine triandra will arrive in questionable shape and completely disintegrate within a day or two.

With their new plant-holding tank with CO2 injection, I've noticed that many plants look great for a lot longer. R. macranda looked beautiful even after a whole week.

Creature, if it's actually been six months since you were last there, you should go to see the new set-up upstairs. If you want to see some nice vegetation, I think they're expecting their next plant shipment July 11 (meaning they'll be available after that day). You should always call them first, though.

BTW, I've never kept cardinals, but from everything I have heard about them, that's quite impressive that you had all of them survive! They must be a beautiful sight to see...

-Naomi


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## Josh Simonson (Feb 4, 2004)

That's probably why all the difformis I've seen out here is emersed. I didn't realize that watersprite was banned, my killies better be good guards lest it escape!

I never buy hardware from a LFS, only (some) food, livestock and bottles of tap water conditioner, ect. If something costs more than $10 I'll find it online. I've also recently found that local aquarium societies and other hobbiests offer flora and fauna dirt cheap to free. I'd prefer the cash going to another hobbiest to offset the cost of his fishroom, than someone trying to pull a profit. What goes around comes around too, I just try to offset the $20+/month on my electric bill due to the lights.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

What are pearl shrimp? Is it a _Caradina_ or _Neocaradina_ species? Does anyone have any pics or links, etc? Just curious.

PS Are the tiger shrimp the ones pictured on Aquajapan.com?


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I have a hard time putting any kind of arbitrary $$$ limit on LFS purchases. Sometimes I just need stuff right away an am willing to pay a slight premium. On small items like test kits, food, etc... it depends on if the need comes at a time when I am able to place a decent sized order online to offset shipping.

I know i'll never buy replacement PC bulbs from any of the LFSs around here. Although there is a small store in Redwood City, Innovative Lighting Solutions, that is priced very competitively with the online stores. They're mainly an ebay business, but will accept walk-in customers.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Cavan:
> What are pearl shrimp? Is it a _Caradina_ or _Neocaradina_ species? Does anyone have any pics or links, etc? Just curious.
> ...


According to one site I'm familiar with, pearl shrimp are Macrobrachium luzifugem.

Yes, the ones on AquaJapan are Neocaridina sp. 'tiger' and are sort of given these arbitrary names at LFS's like "tiger shrimp" or sometimes "zebra shrimp." This becomes really confusing because there's yet another Neocaridina sp. that goes by the name "zebra shrimp." A LFS in Berkeley (Octopus's Garden) sells both of these, too. And both of them have been labelled as "zebra" shrimp, so I don't know...

But since you're all the way in Pittsburgh, it doesn't matter what OG sells







.

-Naomi


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I feel like such an idiot for never having stopped by OG. But after the first shock of hearing their price on shrimp (and the fact that I've been more interested in plants) I've never bothered. I'll have to take a drive up there soon.


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## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

Bill, OG has a fine selection of plants. It is definitely better than the average lfs in that respect. I'm not sure about the rare plants , but they have healthy fields of creeping jenny, red ludwigia, and other common plants of that sort. I haven't been there in half a year, so if you could update us on the plant situation over there, that would be terrific!


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I'll probably make a run there tomorrow during lunch. I'll let you all know if there's anything interesting.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> According to one site I'm familiar with, pearl shrimp are Macrobrachium luzifugem.


Aren't other species in that genus what people call prawns? That's a much smaller species? A local store had something similar in one of their sale tanks that started snapping up neons...



> quote:
> 
> But since you're all the way in Pittsburgh, it doesn't matter what OG sells .


A friend of mine has a 135 gallon show tank with a thriving population of cherry reds. There must be hundreds. I can have as many as I want. For free! So there!


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Well I made the trip out to OG today and picked up 20 Amanos for my 29g tank. Since I couldn't find any SAEs (his shipment from LA ended up with only two scraggly survivors







)I opted to just load up on shrimp for the time being.

As for plants, they did have more than the typical big box pet store, but not much of interest. Lots of swords, Anubius, Java fern/moss, something that looked like an Acorus. He did have some Blyxa 'Vietnam' in a display tank but said there wasn't enough to sell me some







.

I did ask how often he gets plants in, but was told that anything that's interesting walks into the store. So I guess you just need to drop in to see what people have traded in.

I'll definitely visit again next time I go up to Albany Aq.


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## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

"That's probably why all the difformis I've seen out here is emersed. I didn't realize that watersprite was banned, my killies better be good guards lest it escape!

I never buy hardware from a LFS, only (some) food, livestock and bottles of tap water conditioner, ect. If something costs more than $10 I'll find it online. I've also recently found that local aquarium societies and other hobbiests offer flora and fauna dirt cheap to free. I'd prefer the cash going to another hobbiest to offset the cost of his fishroom, than someone trying to pull a profit. What goes around comes around too, I just try to offset the $20+/month on my electric bill due to the lights. """

Josh, what local aquarium societies have you joined? I am also looking for something in the south bay to check out.


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## Josh Simonson (Feb 4, 2004)

I pay attention to BAKA, but that's about it. You can get killies there really cheap. Generally I'm more interested in liquidating trimmings than acquiring new stuff, since my fish very rarely die. Craigslist is a decent place to buy/sell. I've seen 2" discus there for $3/each. An add for plants there will get a handful of responses per day.


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## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

i'm not a big fan of albany aquarium either. the prices are often quite ridiculous.


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