Has the hobby diminished in the Houston Area? (1 Viewer)

[BigRick]

There's a definite decline in brick & mortar LFS. But I can't figure out if it's due to overall contraction in the hobby itself or shops are just being replaced by online vendors.

Or tariffs and permits.

 

[Tangs]

Yes. I dont have a sump. I have a white container in my aquarium full of car wash sponges. I have small protien skimmer unit. I only do small partial water change using a natural bottom vacuum every other month. Every other month I clean or throw away filter media. I run 2 hang on the back filters. I use rodi water. I do not test the water. It is good enough for hardy corals like mushrooms hammers bubbles and leathers. Fish like damsels including clowns and tangs.

 

[Tangs]

Yes. I dont have a sump. I have a white container in my aquarium full of car wash sponges. I have small protien skimmer unit. I only do small partial water change using a natural bottom vacuum every other month. Every other month I clean or throw away filter media. I run 2 hang on the back filters. I use rodi water. I do not test the water. It is good enough for hardy corals like mushrooms hammers bubbles and leathers. Fish like damsels including clowns and tangs.

It is not expensive to run. I also sell (some are propagated) corals and now fish only to a good home

 

[Stickboy97]

I stopped buying fish from local stores a long time ago; way too expensive and they were rarely healthy. If you look around, chat with others, etc there are several people around town who can help you get fish semi-direct at a much lower price, that you can actually afford, & if the fish dies it isn't a disaster. Plus, Amazon, BRS, etc have put the dry good market online at such great deals, why go out & shop. It sucks for the B & M stores, but it is how things work these days.

Same with corals. Too many purchased from the local shops had pests or were dead in a few weeks. I buy everything from other local reefers now. There are a lot of them around town.

This forum & R2R have both declined a bunch, I assumed it was due to people's personal spending habits, in the good times people spend on hobbies, in the slower times they don't.

 

[Tangs]

Yes that is true. I am not selling much...not like I used to but did make a killing selling my Yellow Tang and made a 30 percent profit selling my med. naso. Sarnia is worse off than Houston. Few weeks ago they announced almost 100 good paying jobs are leaving this area for yours. I really enjoy going to coral reef stores and seeing what they have and look for good deals. 2 weeks ago saw an adult shark in one store on display....I have seen them lots. ..
but I went to a coral reef shop I have never been to before and saw as a guess 800 gallon oval tank full of awesome fish including a 1.5 foot as guess baby reef shark for sale. If I was super rich but not necessarily happier I would get him. ya

 

[Cody]

We had 3 years in a row of floods, the financial panic of covid, and a freeze. Now we have companies claiming inflation so they can jack up prices making them record profits for execs and share holders while not paying us employees more.

I know Aquarium World was kept afloat by maintenance including koi ponds, but one of the floods nuked most the koi ponds they maintained and those people were in no hurry to get new ponds when they had other flood damage to worry about. That happened at the same time that 290 construction killed their foot traffic.

Everyone got a 20-30% haircut on income since the pandemic due to inflation. Like you said, corporate greed played a big part, but not here to assign blame. Either way, this is a luxury hobby. It's the last to be added and the first to go when money is a factor.

 

[Tangs]

I made 30 percent profit on my Naso Tang because I got him as a medium size at a very good price from an Aquarium store chain. In less than a year he grew to a large which are worth a lot more. I was able to sell him at a discounted price. So much so that it was worth his while to travel 2 hours each way.

 

[reeftopia]

Another blow to the industry was Hawaii shutting down. $30 tangs now $300

 

[Tangs]

Yes. I bought my Yellow tang for around converted to us 75. 5 years ago. For me silly having a fish worth that much so sold him for around 250 us. He was sold to a very good home who will take care and value him more than myself. I sent texts to make sure he was ok and offered advice that he said he did or even better. ya

 

[KTXreef]

It is not all gloom and doom. There are a few that are working hard to keep cost down and pass that on to the customer. The first thing is to keep local shops in business. This is how a lot of people first get into the hobby and will keep new people replacing the people that leave the hobby. The next is to help people be successful in the hobby. It is tough to recover from a loss but with a strong community and support it can happen fast. I know that I see people all the time that do not know about this group. I tell them and they are excited to know there is a place to go for help that is local. I think that this next year will be tough for everyone lets just help each other out and keep showing new people our great tanks.

 

[Reefahholic]

I haven’t had a yellow tang for the first time in many years. Sadly, I just can’t pay $250-$300+ for a fish that was $20-30 all day.

 

[Reefahholic]

There’s still a lot of LFS and Reefers here holding down Houston.

Like this guy…swing by and show him some love.

 

[BigRick]

I haven’t had a yellow tang for the first time in many years. Sadly, I just can’t pay $250-$300+ for a fish that was $20-30 all day.

Sadly they'll never be $30 again.. maybe $99...

 

[gregg]

i got a big one on marsh the other day for $150

 

[reeftopia]

yellow tangs are still high because no one is importing them yet. know for a fact dealers were getting them for $5 before the freeze. It want take long once the freeze
is over they will become very abundant. ocean is full of them.

 

[Ignacio0607]

People like me also have stopped selling corals because frankly I don’t want to deal with all the people seeing a coral online for $450 a frag see me charging $175 for the same thing and then saying here is $50 for it take it. Yeah no I would rather throw it in the trash than deal with that. There are a ton of us here in Houston that are just done with dealing with these type of locals in the hobby so we keep the goods to ourselves

I would gladly pay 175 show me the goodies !!

 

[Cody]

There’s still a lot of LFS and Reefers here holding down Houston.

Like this guy…swing by and show him some love.

Is he still in business?

 

[Reefahholic]

Is he still in business?

Yes he is. Swing by. He’s got some nice frags in there right now.