Does anyone know if coral / fish distribution centers...

[hairtrigger]

Let you shop there with their wholesale costs. (Kind of like online with swf.com, but better.) Or do you just have to suck it up and go to an LFS?

 

[tigerlover]

wholesalers are just that, wholesalers, so if you wanna buy mass quantities of their goods, not just one or two things, go ahead.

 

[richard rendos]

HairTrigger - Atlanta has their very own fresh and salt water wholesaler...SunPet. They are by the airport, but they are a wholesaler (you have to have a business license for a pet related business to shop there). They have a pretty cool setup, though. If they will let you look around at their setup, you would be in awe.

 

[hairtrigger]

Richard... that's exactly the company I was inquiring about. Because I am pretty sure the LFS I used to work at bought from them. I was wondering how worthwhile it would be then, since you can't just shop there, to get a license. Split it between friends. THen shop there. The money you save might end up being more than the cost of a license. I have no idea how much they are though. But, it may be worthwhile given how much money I put into my !@#%@^$&@^$#@& reef.

 

[richard rendos]

Well, you need to find out how much a business license costs in GA...then remember that you have a $200 minimum that you must meet on each order. Their corals are not great because they don't have any lights over them, only skylights in the ceiling about 20-25 feet up. Their fish and live rock selection is great along with a lot of dry goods. May be worth it...may not.

 

[leigh]

if you find somewhere though that really specializes, normally you get that sort of discount already cause their overhead is less. ie. around here we have tropicorium that just does tons and tons of corals--there's a room pretty much exclusively dedicated to ricordia. the breed bangai too. so if you want ricordia or bangai their prices are pretty stellar. really any coral their prices are great. on the flip side though, they want $20 for a lil weenie queen conch...obviously not their specialty. it all depends on where you are and what the locals are into...
(and for the record tropicorium has separate hours for wholesalers and us normal people--i get the impression the prices are pretty comparable just the hours for us are much more limited--i'd ask your place if they have any special hours for non-wholesale folk).