# Aquatics and Exotics in Cincinnati



## t2000kw (Jul 29, 2006)

Someone mentioned to me that Aquatics and Exotics in Cincinnati was a fairly safe place to buy aquarium fish.

I've not done well with fish from our local pet store or the AA in Columbus. Much better with fish from Jack's, nearly zero losses or problems. 

Since some of you live in the Cincinnati area, maybe you could tell me about the place, where it is (or if there are several, the closest to the NE end of the city), and if they would likely have cardinal or neon tetras or both. 

I might make it a point to stop there after the next meeting we attend that is in Cincinnati. 

Also, since it would be a 1.5 to 2 hour trip home from there, should I bring along a foam container for the ride home?


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

I have only bought fish from them once - a pair of marcii rainbows - and they were absolutely fantastic. We also did an shrimp group order and that went very well too. That's about all I can say on their quality, but I will tell you that there's only one A&E and it's on Hamilton Avenue. Foam containers can't hurt, but if your car has heat you'll be fine.

Of course, I never have problems with the fish I buy from Monfort Aquarium. They've been around longer than anybody for good reason!


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## CincyCichlids (Oct 14, 2005)

Foam or a cooler won't hurt. If you're buying a lot of fish let them know you have a bit of a trip. They usually do a good job of bagging, but they may leave more air in the bag if you tell them the trip is longer than usual. I've bought fish there for a long time. The help is great, if Jason, Dominic, or Christy (or Kristen.. never can remember), they're all very knowledgeable. While you're in the area, you'll want to stop by Dave at All About Pets. Although it may not be as nice to look at, you can't beat the deals he has on everything from slightly used filters to aquariums. Plus he stocks some cool cichlids at times too. 

HTH


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## t2000kw (Jul 29, 2006)

These places sound like it would be worth spending some time in Cincinnati just checking out the shops.

Could someone give me some addresses, maybe phone numbers for the Montfort Aquarium, and All About Pets?

I found a basic web site for A & E that has their address and phone number. There's an All About Pets in West Chester on Google Maps. Is this the one? If so, I wouldn't need an address or phone number for that one, either.

I don't live in Cincinnati (and not familiar with where things are located) so this could give me a way of locating them and asking a question or two ahead of time, maybe saving a trip to one of them.


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

t2000, where do you live? Have you tried byerly's in colmubus if that's where youre from...? They arent too bad. Columbus doesn't have many fish stores who have great health, so IMO it's pretty much normal to QT all new fish from anywhere. The Jack's on Morse Road isn't bad, but I never buy freshwater from there, only coral once ina blue moon. (im picky).

I too am looking for other fish stores to check out. I just like looking around at different places.


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## t2000kw (Jul 29, 2006)

I live in Chillicothe. I've been to Byerly's and it was OK, but I don't remember where it is. I wasn't overly impressed, though. I was looking for a diatom filter at the time and the one salesperson didn't even know what that was. 

Maybe they're more knowledgeable about their fish. 

Still, with cardinals and neons I'd like to find a private breeder in mid or southern Ohio. Or find a place that has them in stock and had had them for a week or two so the stress of shipping is over with. It seems that these particular breeds are very sensitive to shipping stresses.


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## JRJ (Feb 9, 2005)

Of course, we all know any time you buy live fish, you run a chance of loosing them. A&E is a good place and I like them because they are brutally honest about issues like this. Beware though, because anyone selling fish from wholesalers will tell you they no control of whether they are sent sick fish or not or even what species they end up with. Often a local shop like A&E will order one thing but get another. They are at the mercy of sources who really couldn't give a dam. Many people in the hobby have noted the steady decline in the quality of the fish stock over the last 30 years provided by big fish farms breeding in ponds in Florida.

I personally think the best bet is to buy from local breeders who are doing it for the love of it or order from a quality importer like Anubias Design.

Good luck, you'll need it.



t2000kw said:


> Someone mentioned to me that Aquatics and Exotics in Cincinnati was a fairly safe place to buy aquarium fish.
> 
> I've not done well with fish from our local pet store or the AA in Columbus. Much better with fish from Jack's, nearly zero losses or problems.
> 
> ...


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## JRJ (Feb 9, 2005)

t2000kw said:


> Still, with cardinals and neons I'd like to find a private breeder in mid or southern Ohio. Or find a place that has them in stock and had had them for a week or two so the stress of shipping is over with. It seems that these particular breeds are very sensitive to shipping stresses.


You're right about those species. I bought 15 cardinals two weeks ago and I'm down to 4. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose, but I'd like better odds. A couple of years ago I bought 40 from Jason and lost 3 or 4. A year later the tank got ich when I added 4 Puntius denisoni and I lost everything.

BTW, cardinals are very hard to breed and almost all stock sold now is wild caught which makes me wonder what we're doing to the Amazon basin.

talk to you later,

Russ


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

a lot of fish are still wild caught and then the stores cant really dictate what they come in with. cardinals are caught during the dry season.... so I would think it's a little stressful for them. 

anywho, i went to byerly's today and they werent well stocked at all. they moved to henderson road. but they are willing to get in the uncommon fish, like teleocichlia, which you will never ever ever find anywhere but online. then, the $15 is cheap compared to $10 online plus $40-60 shipping. it all depends on what youre looking for.

Also, from a retail stand point, most places dont sell diatom filters. im not really suprised they didnt know much about them. i dont know many (any) people that use one. im just saying you cant gauge a store on if they know a product when they dont carry it.


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## t2000kw (Jul 29, 2006)

JRJ said:


> A couple of years ago I bought 40 from Jason and lost 3 or 4. A year later the tank got ich when I added 4 Puntius denisoni and I lost everything.


Did you do a 2-week quarantine or just take a chance with adding them right to the tank?

(Have no idea what Puntius denisoni are like other than a picture I saw in Google images.)

We've had that kind of problem before, even some problems with fancy goldfish, that required whole-tank treatment with Clout or some other product, depending on the problem (we've had ick brought in also before).

_(I was able to buy some Clout and some other good stuff at a reduced price a while back at PetSmart. Pond-sized tablets good for 100 gallons. I had a school grade lab scale I bought at a yard sale for $5 that only needed a counterweight (made one for it out of a screw and some washers). I scrape off what I need from a tablet until I get the right amount for the dose. Much cheaper this way, but fortunately we haven't needed much of it.)_

We now do a 2-week quarantine on all fish unless they're going in a new tank by themselves, like we did with the angelfish. The only time we've deviated from that is when we were given some small discus from a local private angelfish breeder.

Lost one neon overnight out of 10 in the QT tank. Better than with the last batch from the closest LFS. I can handle small losses. PetSmart apparently lowers the losses for the customer by doing their own 2-week holding period in a regional warehouse before taking them to the stores. The in-store losses are supposedly low. If we only lose 1 or 2 we'll go back and get more at the $1 sale price (ends Sunday). Cardinals looked good in the Grove City store but were almost $4, so I chose neons this time. Will try cardinals again in the future, though. And I'd like to try to breed them.

_By the way (and I'll probably post this sometime) it would be nice if one of you who have had success with breeding discus could PM me your email address so I can give it to this fellow (and keep it for my own future reference for when I decide to breed them). His pair breed a lot but eat the eggs, and when he tries to raise them without the parents he has very high losses. He feels he needs a pair proven to not eat the eggs. That's the simplest way around the problem, but he should be able to raise them himself. I think he could use some advice. I'd like to try myself someday but I want to see these 3 that I have left (lost one a few days ago) grow up and see if two pair off or if I have three of the same sex. _


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## t2000kw (Jul 29, 2006)

Six said:


> Also, from a retail stand point, most places dont sell diatom filters. im not really suprised they didnt know much about them. i dont know many (any) people that use one. im just saying you cant gauge a store on if they know a product when they dont carry it.


Perhaps that's how I should look at that. Also, the person might have been new. Even PetSmart, which sells at least one model online, doesn't have them in the retail store, at least in Grove City.

The diatom filters are good for clearing up green water, cloudiness, or cleaning up after setting up a newly planted tank before you add fish.

Except for the latter issue, though, it's important to get to the root of the problem and not just treat the symptom. And it can scare the crap out of very small fish the first few times. Our goldfish love the current it provides!

Don


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## JRJ (Feb 9, 2005)

t2000kw said:


> Did you do a 2-week quarantine or just take a chance with adding them right to the tank? [/I]


Guilty as charged. That was one of the few times, I didn't isolate them before putting them into one of my main tanks. I paid for it and the fish did too. :toimonst:

-Russ


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## t2000kw (Jul 29, 2006)

It's probably happened to all of us at some time. We do make rare exceptions now, like when we get some fish from someone we know. I put the discus someone gave me right in with two angelfish since I knew the breeder/hobbyist and I knew his angels (which I got from him another time) were all healthy. When you can visit the original source (where they've been for a long time), it's not as risky.



JRJ said:


> Guilty as charged. That was one of the few times, I didn't isolate them before putting them into one of my main tanks. I paid for it and the fish did too. :toimonst:
> 
> -Russ


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