I have been trying to set up my own heavily planted freshwater fish tank for a couple months now and it’s going well except I can’t find anyone local with live plants so I decided when we were at the Startford Antique Center that we should check out a fish store when we were in the area. Only problem was my phone was not reading my location correctly so I had to give this duty to my navigator and he had no idea the shop just a mile down the road was a saltwater store. I knew immediately when driving in as it’s called Max Reefs which… well there aren’t any reefs in freshwater are there.
Most saltwater fish stores are tiny, hidden, and only open for three random hours a week. They have far more in common with a speakeasy than a pet store but this place? YIKES. It was by far the biggest saltwater shop I’d ever been in. It was in an old warehouse building so the ceilings were high giving it an even more spacious look. And unlike the other stores I’ve been to the lighting was maxed out and everything was so bright!
I immediately was taken by a fish I’d never seen before – a spotted grouper – and his darling personality as he danced about trying to get my attention. There were rows and rows of fish here in little holding tanks. This facility looked far more like a distributor than a shop but the variety was crazy! They had fully grown clowns of every kind – even a pair of lightning maroons which just made my jaw drop. GORGEOUS. And all the fish were so healthy! And lively! They also had some really big starfish, some sea urchins, a few different kinds of shrimp, and an unfathomable array of corals and coral frags for every price range, both hard and soft.
They were light on supplies but did have a fridge/freezer of various foods and three sizable tubs of live rock (both brown and purple) as well as a pile of dead rock as well. I really delighted in checking out this store and am sorry I was in no position to buy anything (although seriously if I did have a big ass saltwater tank that spotted grouper would have come with me and maybe that pair of lightning maroon clows because MAN where they pretty!) If you live in the area or you’re just looking for variety I highly suggest giving this place a visit – and since some of you have requested I check out more fish stores both fresh and saltwater this won’t be the last blog entry on such places. Happy fish keeping!
