anyone in VA.

ebsochin

Member
I know of two places. Tonya's Super Pet Center and Fish Safari. Both have good stock, but Fish Safari is pricey!!! Just for example, a 1-2 inch Flame angel for $60. Thats nuts. Tonya's is pretty good, except their fish seem to get sick alot. I have resorted to buying live goods online. Much better quality and NO ICH! Hope this helps.
 
I used to manage at a aj and know I am to buzy to keep up with it all. so it is time to break down one and keep the other.
 

ebsochin

Member
are those 2 places in va beach?
Tonya's is in Hampton on Mercury Blvd. and Fish Safari is in VA Beach. Just my $.02, don't bother with Fish Safari except for Salt or the occasional fish deal. Their corals are way over priced and they don't even sell the good looking ones. They must use them for fragging. But like I said before, I get my fish online from SWF because of the quality and health. Just my opinion.
 

cimpow137

Member
hmm i tried to get my parents to take me there numerous times but they were like nooo we dont want to and there is a petworl up in gloucester too and ive been to that one a couple times but its nothing great
 

va2kgt

New Member
the flame angels at fish safari are from xmas island and i bought one for 35 bucks, and the 3-4 inch flame angels are from vonuatu?sp and are 80. i bought one of each, the vonuatu ones are huge in comparison to xmas island. The best per world in the hampton roads area is defnately pet world in denbeigh right near denbeigh boulevard. the guy who owns it takes all the good fish from the supplier and send them there, the rest go to the other pet world. Tonyas fish are always sick and dying because the kid there doesnt know as much as he wishes he does (still more than me but i dont run a saltwater fish store) and are usually exorbitantly overpriced when fish die in shipping, ex one day he lost half the shipment and had to try to sell royal grammas for 35 bucks to get his money back...yeah right. Fish safari is the best selection and experienced that i have been to even though its a tiny store. animan jungles is like walmart and the fish seem to be poorquality
 

gregvabch

Active Member
fish safari is the best pet store in virginia beach. the owner, leroy, is a marine biologist. don't get me wrong, he likes to hold on to the good stuff from time to time, only because he doesn't follow the rule about "not gettin high on your own supply" everyone working there knows what they're doing. their livestock prices are sometimes higher then what you would pay for something online, but don't forget to add shipping costs to have a 40 dollar coral overnighted to your house. animal jungle is a mad house. you can find good deals there because they're a chain so they have more money to play with but they have a high turnover rate of employees, and good luck finding someone in the saltwater section to help you, especially on the weekends. all pet discounters in the hilltop shopping center is decent, but their liverock is never anything great and it seems like their anemone's are always wilting away, mainly because they don't keep them under enough light. i've never been to tonya's, don't think i will go from what you guys are saying.
 

jon_boy

New Member
FYI, anyone in the hampton roads, VA area...at a local petstore named tonyas pet center, i would just like to let everyone know how f'ing crooked they really are there...most of the fish there end up dying...the main sw guy (brian), claims to propogate coral in his home in his 17 saltwater tanks, yet the only tank that he has there is a darn betta tank for his son...and FOR THE MOST DISHONEST THING OF ANY LFS... they periodically have like a "midnight madness sale" and they give like 25% percent or so off on everything, the only catch is THEY MARK ALL THE PRICES UP TO COMPENSATE FOR THE DISCOUNTS, you ask how i know this? b/c i know someone who used to work there
 

gregvabch

Active Member
ok, another vote for not going to tonya's. never been there, definitely won't go out of my way to, i've heard nothing but bad things about that place on this board. i checked out pets and things off of little creek and tidewater drive. kinda run down but they had some decent prices. not sure what's going on with their only coral tank, kinda nasty looking IMO.
 

beerformep

Member
Pets n Things in norfolk has the best prices of any around here (trust me I frequent them all). They dont have a lot of coral but when they get them there at least half of what fish safari wants.
 

beerformep

Member
Southern shopping center,Little Creek and Tidewater.
They dont keep alot of fish but there's always a decent selection.There buy far more friendlyto,as they will hold fish and they will not sell fish that just came in.
 

gregvabch

Active Member
yeah, that's the one i went to the other day. they had some nice lookin powder browns in there, i bought a brain from them, little guy.
 
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