American help pls! - LFS, NYC

[Allan]

Hi All,

I have been to North America quite a few times lately, but have yet not seen anything near a serious aquarium fish dealer.

Last week, I was in Chicago. I stumbled on several petstores in the giant shopping malls, but the selection of fish was narrow and very main stream, mostly colourfull live bearers and tetras.

Next, I'll be goint to New York again. I'll be visiting NYC (Manhatten), Germantown and Albany.

Can anyone recommend a store, that has a wider range of Catfish and other fish, also maybe some oddballs?
- I won't be bringing any home, but still like to see whats out there.

Also, fish and equipment for garden ponds would be appreciated.

Looking for fishing eqipt. i found Cabelas and Bass Pro in no time.... Both gigagtic stores, with an extreme and wide selection.... Can it really be true, that the only thing you don't have in a bigger and better way than us is fish stores

Thanks!
Allan

[MatsP]

I can't talk about NY - it's been nearly 20 years since I even set foot in NY State - and that was only to get from one airplane to another.

But when I was in Austin, TX a couple of years ago, Dave Rinaldo recommended a few shops. And considering that Austin has a population of about 1 million, you'd expect there to be a few really good shops. And there were 4-5 shops that were OK, but nothing amazing.

On the other hand, I'm used to England, where if you know where to go and what to look for, you can probably find a reasonable shop within half an hours drive or so.

--
Mats

[Richard B]

Not long been back from NY.

Forum Mod. Dinyar who lives there, mentioned in advance that there was nothing much worth seeing - he gets his stuff mail order. Plenty of wholesaler type places but retailers? Apparantly not.....

That said there is the New York aquarium on Coney Island that is supposed to be very good although i didn't get the chance to visit as the beluga whales i was interested to see are away on a breeding project somewhere

[jimoo]

From Chicago it is (or was) often worth the 1hr trip up to Milwaukee (Hoffa's, etc).

In NYC you might have some luck in Chinatown. Things will be dark, not labeled, etc, but I've seen some unusual fish in some of their tanks.

[AlaskanCorydoras]

Perhaps a better question to ask at my OTHER favorite fish site: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/new-york/