Local Fish stores

What LFS do you frequent? Are there any other than in Minot and Bismark that carry saltwater stuff?

Purfect Pets in Minot has a decent selection of fish (Saltwater and Fresh). They also sell coral. They owner CJ is also very helpful and knowledgeable.

Do they sell saltwater by the gallon there? Any idea how much? I may need a little during the move.

They do sell saltwater, however I have no idea what they charge.

Purr-fect pets is the only place in Minot in my opinion to buy any pet related things in Minot. He doesn't carry SPS most of the time and carries the common LPS such as torches, brains, etc. The owner CJ is awesome, very helpful. Once you get to know him he'll tell ya when he's going to do an order and will take requests.
Purr-fect pets carries premixed salt water, it's the Carib Sea Sea-pure in the 4.4 gallons for $18 and the smaller size jugs, no clue on size or price. I've used it for 2+ years and have never had any issues with it. They carry Oceanic and Reef Crystals for salt mixes. He just picked up a new distributor so he can get just about anything you need and carries a decent selection of FW stuff. He's also very reasonable on his prices.

As for Bismarck there's the Oceans Paradise. He only deals in SW stuff, he breeds a couple different types of clowns and pajama cardinals. It's a small store, but he's got a lot of stuff and a very cool wave tank. He's very knowledgeable on things, I haven't dealt to much with the new guy he has. I try to take a trip down there every 3-4 months.

Thanks! I'll have to try going down there.
18$ is crazy expensive compared to out here. its usually 1$ a gallon and goes on sale for $.49 a gallon at least once a month, but we are right on the ocean. How come you don't make your own water? I'm not planning on having SPS this go around. I want to keep the tank as simple as possible. I'm sure a few will end up in there though.

dwolson2 wrote:

Thanks! I'll have to try going down there.
18$ is crazy expensive compared to out here. its usually 1$ a gallon and goes on sale for $.49 a gallon at least once a month, but we are right on the ocean. How come you don't make your own water? I'm not planning on having SPS this go around. I want to keep the tank as simple as possible. I'm sure a few will end up in there though.

They don't mix it at the store, it's a Carib-sea product that gets shipped in from a distributor. I go that route because of laziness honestly, I only need 1 jug a week.

Thats not too high of a demand. Maybe we can work out a deal when I get out there. I usually have around 40-50gal on hand.

dwolson2 wrote:

Thats not too high of a demand. Maybe we can work out a deal when I get out there. I usually have around 40-50gal on hand.

I'm up for it. I'm sure what I'd get from you would be more consistent from you than the stuff I'm getting now. I only have a 20g tank so I only have to do a 4g water change, the premixed is just handy.



To add to the local pet stores, we're getting a Petco unfortunately.

Our petco out here isn't that bad. They clearance out some stuff for S/W that is actually pretty good sometimes. Also, its a cheap place to get frozen cubes of food.

I'd rather support the local guy than a chain store. Plus Purr-fect pets is the only place to get coral in Minot, if they go out of business Bismarck is the next closest. I'm 75 miles from Minot, so Bismarck is 165 miles one way for me and I'd probably give up the hobby, that's to far for me to go get corals.
Purr-fect pets just got a stand up cooler for frozen food, price wise he's usually close to the prices of chain stores.

Sweet. I like supporting the lfs if their prices are decent. If they are outrageous, I'm sorry but I just can't justify it.

I stopped by purr fect pets.  Lady was nice.  Also,  I told her I would set up a tank quickly and get a fish.  She thought I meant same day and told me (in other words) that I would need to cycle it first.  I'm glad she said that.  Makes me feel good about the store.

I haven't had much to do with the new lady, but she seems really nice.  The assistant manager they had before could be a prick but he knew his stuff and once you got to know him he was nice, kind of like a grumpy old man.
The kid Zack is picking up pretty quick on stuff also.
CJ has a vast amount of knowledge and his info is pretty sound, and if he doesn't know the answer he won't bullshit you he'll tell you flat out he doesn't know.  There's only 1 person at the other pet stores I'd trust getting advice from and that's Rich at R&J's but he only works there periodically.  I still wouldn't buy anything from R&J though.  I'll browse there selection and if I see something I like I'll see if CJ can get it.  If I see a killer deal on FW stuff I'll pick it up from R&J's, I picked up some peacock gudgeons that they had labelled as miscellaneous for a $1 a piece.
Welcome to North Dakota!

Thanks for the welcome! I swung by there again today, as I needed just a little more RODI water. I started my RODI about 11pm last night, but i wasn't going to get the tank filled before I left so I bought 10 gals. I'm going to go back and post up a flyer of the site so we can hopefully grow the "club"