Refreshing Trip To LFS

[ShooterRick]

My wife and I did alittle LFS scouting in the greater Baton Rouge Louisiana area today. I checked out 4 LFS stores. About an hour from our house I ran into a place called Aqua Hut. First off, compared to the other 3 this store was emaculately clean! I mean every tank, every floor, everywhere you looked was spotless. They have been in buisness 10 yrs and unlike the others they only deal in Salt water fish and corals. The owner John greeted us shortly on arrival. As always I was suspicious of the sales pitch. I asked a simple ? based on another stores recommendation. "Do I need to supplement my tank if I do regular water changes?" I leaned back expecting the OH YES you do and we have some great ones to show you! To my surprise the answere was "only if you are not maintaining your tank properly so why waste your money" WOW!

This place had a wonderful selection of fine corals and healthy looking fish. In fact they had all but one on my wish list at pretty good prices. Did I buy a fish? Well unfortunatley my wife saw the flame angels and I expressed my concern about them as being reef safe. John told my wife that it was a hit and miss situation with corals but she was insistant. (I have to not only live with this women but must insure she is involved in my reef build and stays positive). John told both of us that if we choose to purchase the Flame he would write on our reciept that we could bring it back for a full refund if it was not a good tank member. At this point the trust was building.

We talked a bit more and I explained that I have kept fish for some time but was a novice to corals. He quickly bagged 3 frags: Green Star Polyp, Candy Cane, a rock with a frag size Kenyan tree coral and one green stripe mushroom, of course my wifes flame angel, and told me what to do with the coral frags and that it was his treat since we drove an hour and he didn't have the 2 spot Bristletooth tang I wanted in stock. He took my email info and said he would send me a heads up when one was coming in.

I am impressed and will do buisness there again.

[chavez]

WOW is right, i wish i had an LFS like that here in Manitoba Canada i only have 3 to choose from and everyone here tries their hardest to make a sale even if the know it will hurt me in the very near future. For example i like moorish idols they are very pretty fish but they are also the hardest to keep and not reef safe. My lfs told me no worries this fish is easy and anyone can take care of it and its perfectly reef safe, and wanted to charge me 200$ for it.... knowing better i left it in his tank and not mine.

[Reefing Madness]

My wife and I did alittle LFS scouting in the greater Baton Rouge Louisiana area today. I checked out 4 LFS stores. About an hour from our house I ran into a place called Aqua Hut. First off, compared to the other 3 this store was emaculately clean! I mean every tank, every floor, everywhere you looked was spotless. They have been in buisness 10 yrs and unlike the others they only deal in Salt water fish and corals. The owner John greeted us shortly on arrival. As always I was suspicious of the sales pitch. I asked a simple ? based on another stores recommendation. "Do I need to supplement my tank if I do regular water changes?" I leaned back expecting the OH YES you do and we have some great ones to show you! To my surprise the answere was "only if you are not maintaining your tank properly so why waste your money" WOW!

This place had a wonderful selection of fine corals and healthy looking fish. In fact they had all but one on my wish list at pretty good prices. Did I buy a fish? Well unfortunatley my wife saw the flame angels and I expressed my concern about them as being reef safe. John told my wife that it was a hit and miss situation with corals but she was insistant. (I have to not only live with this women but must insure she is involved in my reef build and stays positive). John told both of us that if we choose to purchase the Flame he would write on our reciept that we could bring it back for a full refund if it was not a good tank member. At this point the trust was building.

We talked a bit more and I explained that I have kept fish for some time but was a novice to corals. He quickly bagged 3 frags: Green Star Polyp, Candy Cane, a rock with a frag size Kenyan tree coral and one green stripe mushroom, of course my wifes flame angel, and told me what to do with the coral frags and that it was his treat since we drove an hour and he didn't have the 2 spot Bristletooth tang I wanted in stock. He took my email info and said he would send me a heads up when one was coming in.

I am impressed and will do buisness there again.

Absolutely Fantastic!!!! Sounds like the guy I go to. Thats a keeper right there.

[ShooterRick]

Absolutely Fantastic!!!! Sounds like the guy I go to. Thats a keeper right there.

I was impressed enoeph to send him an email last night late to express my thanks, something I hardly will ever do after being in buisness 27 years myself. I mean it is expected from me that a buisness treat their customers well, and provide honest information. It is their job! So for me to do so means I was very pleased. To my surprise this morning I had a email from John the owner thanking me for my purchase and that to call anytime I needed info or anything else. This guy knows how to cultivate a client.

[pgsasi]

WoW.. that must be a great feeling... For me though, I have trouble communicating with the guys at store cause none of them speak any English... So its all here in this forum I learn... Between 2006 and now, I have learnt a LOT... and almost 90% of the knowledge I have is from reading posts/replies and asking questions here... So keep up the posts... Cheers