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| - Las Vegas seems lacking in Tropical Fish Stores compared to California so I will go easy on this review.
I just started up my 15 gal tank that lay dormant for a few years; according to some Feng Shui experts this is the year of the Fire Monkey and a water feature is needed in the SE corner of everyone's dwelling space: this was excuse enough to set up my tank.
I went to a big box store to start and they had a good selection of fish, but nothing too exotic: equipment was OK but nothing exceptional. I loaded the tank with natural wood as I was thinking some kind of black water set up. I soon found that my original equipment was slightly limited so I looked at the big box store's equipment selection and confirmed it to be lacking; that is when I went on a quest to visit some local shops.
Out of the four shops I wanted to visit, two of them were shut down... I want to a "Reef" shop and was surprised at how busy they were but they were SEVERELY lacking in equipment and fish: service seemed good though...
...last stop was Lucky Tropical Fish and it is the BEST IN TOWN of the two shops I went to. They had a massive amount of equipment and tanks but the equipment was lower end with a small scattering (like 4 SKUS) of higher end equipment from Ehiem (hanging tank filters, auto feeders) and others. ...great selection of tank bulkhead hardware. Speaking of tanks these guys had just about everything you could want from micro tanks (like 2 quarts made with curved glass) to huge 8 foot plexi tanks with built in filter... weird shapes too like curved corner tanks and 40 gallon column tanks. Some of these were tapped and reef ready, most included a stand and hood, and others were basic.
Surprisingly, some of the basic items I was looking for were not available: lift tubes for UG filters, clear PVC tubing in various sizes for external pump setup, intake/spray bar. I know it is a trend to shun UG filters but a shop like this should have more of the basics.
What they lacked in hardware, they made up in fresh and salt water fish. Cichlids were well represented in all sizes with the usual suspects from African Lakes along with some unusual species; missing were Jewell Cichlids. Extensive selection of Catfish large and small with some exotics like the "Stingray Cat" (which is actually a loach) was for sale.
The salt water selection was equally extensive from basic to exotic. The live rock was incredible from small chips to lager specimens.
If I was in California back in the 1990's I would give this store 3 stars: but it is the best I have seen in Vegas so it gets a 4 when they step up their basic equipment game, they would get a 5.
Follow up review of Lucky Tropical Fish 2-19-16
Lucky has restocked on their basics like UG lift tubes, nets and tanks and rounds up to a decent selection... Lucky is still the best game in Las Vegas but still falls short in higher end equipment.
Lucky Tropical Fish really shines with their live stock: when I went there late afternoon on Friday, there were many people in the shop, this is a good thing as live stock and equipment is rotated out.
Insane exotics in good quantity insurers you get a good choice on the fish you want... and some you might have not thought of like "stingray catfish" (which is actually a kind of loach). Silver and Australian Arowanas are available in different sizes. 10 inch "Fresh Water Barracuda" is another rare find and at $300 a pair, it might be worth it for some people.
They have a decent selection of foods (and BTW: they have ample supplies for turtle set ups) from flake to frozen but nothing exotic.
Sorely missing is any live foods in ANY shop in Las Vegas save for feeder gold fish and shrimp. No live Tubifex worms. No live Brine Shrimp. No live glass worms. No live Fatheads... nothing.
I want to give lucky a 5 but still rates a 4 until they improve on one of their deficient categories: 1. better live foods 2. better selection of frozen foods 3. wider selection of basic equipment 4. wider selection of high end equipment 5. consistent selection (always in stock) of basic equipment.
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