has anyone visisted living arts lately?

[xiongster]

i was wondering if anyone went to living arts lately and know what kind of saltwater fish do they currently have in stock? i also want to know how much their live sand and live rocks are too if they sell? Thanks!

[Fishfirst]

Right now I think they have the best selection in Madison... I could be biased though

[sslak]

I was there a couple weekends ago. They had a great selection. They had a really nice potters angel, and a few really nice flasher wrasses that you don't see very often. I picked up a tank bred bengaii cardinal. They didn't have a midas blenny which is what I really wanted, but they had just about every other blenny, tailspot, canary, bicolor, and a huge starry blenny.

It's worth a look. Personally, it's the only fish store in Madison I buy from.

[xiongster]

yea now looking for pair of clowns and cleaner shrimp

[sslak]

They did have a nice pair of clowns and several cleaner shrimp when I was there on Saturday.

[BadgerReefer]

Expect to pay about double whatever you could from an online retailer. And sometimes a lot of livestock has ich.

[Fishfirst]

Badger Reefer:
Thank you for your concerns on pricing and health issues. Having a store front and dealing directly with customers has its advantages and disadvantages.
I know that our prices are sometimes much higher, and sometimes much lower than online. That is due to a couple things (as I know our markup is similar to that of most stores).
1) Location: there is a big difference between a $20 yellow tang from the Philippines and a $45 yellow tang from Hawaii. Labor for collecting these fish in the states is much higher than paying someone from a third world country. However, the benefit that this fish recieves by being taken from an area like Hawaii justifies the higher price. The shorter transit time combined with more advanced holding systems as well as using a short supply chain (that is industry speak for getting the fish from collection to store faster) all factor in to the overall health of the fish upon arrival and, more importantly, the stronger a fish is when you take it home. As a result, we lose fewer fish, our customers lose fewer fish, and everyone is happy. We try to import from the best areas for high survival rates but it sometimes comes at a price.
2) Overhead Costs: As you might know, overhead is higher on a store front than online. You have a store front, employees to deal with customers face to face versus just scooping up fish for orders. You get direct customer service and you pay for it by paying a few dollars extra sometimes.
3) Buying power: Large online companies have a lot of buying power because they have a nationwide market. That gives them an advantage in that they can buy 12 Scribbled Angels for 40% off the usual price that we have to pay because we can only have a market for maybe one or two of these fish per year. We have certain species that we can do this for and we have some really great deals to be had here.
4) Shipping: Simply, We pay for it. You don't.

The second issue that you brought up is the issue of disease. Dealing with disease can be extremely tricky. And I'll give you a few reasons why sometimes you will see a sick fish in our care.
1) Vendors aren't perfect: Then again who is? Problems do arise where a fish just didn't ship well, comes in sick, or is having problems adjusting to captive life. A lot can happen while shipping. Animals get too cold, too hot, delayed due to weather, a box breaks, a bag breaks, they were put in to small of a bag, and the list goes on and on.
2) Fish get sick: Like humans, fish get sick, and without the proper care to bring them back to health they can die. Cryptocaryon irritans, Oodinium, various flukes are one of our easiest problems to fix. We have a wonderful success rate of curing these fish and getting them healthy for sale again. My advice is to be patient, watch a fish for a while, and have us put it on hold for 48 hours if you are unsure. We are always happy to oblige.
3) Nothing is absolute: Diseases can slip by, and there is just nothing any vendor can do to prevent that completely without spending a small fortune. That is why it is important to quarantine no matter where your fish/inverts/corals come from, or at the very least have proper UV sterilization.

Lastly, I feel I have gone above and beyond to work with you on prices and bent over backwards to accommodate you with certain equipment. If you have any other problems or concerns please contact me during normal business hours.

Thank You and Happy Fish Keeping,
Paul Poeschl
Manager of Living Art Aquarium
608-827-6144

[Socratic Monologue]

i was wondering if anyone went to living arts lately and know what kind of saltwater fish do they currently have in stock? i also want to know how much their live sand and live rocks are too if they sell? Thanks!

Expect to pay about double whatever you could from an online retailer. And sometimes a lot of livestock has ich.

I'm having trouble understanding how the response is relevant to the OP's question. The price of rock, maybe? Besides, the original post is over three months old. I'm guessing xiongster has found his fish and rock.

Just to add fuel to the fire, though: when comparing online to LFS prices, you have to compare online WYSIWYG only, since that is what a LFS is selling (i.e you are not just buying 'powder blue tang, medium', you are buying that powder blue). So Live Aquaria's prices don't count; Divers Den is the real comparison, and by my calculations, DD charges at least as much as Living Art, plus shipping. DD currently has a McCosker's wrasse for $60, a 5" undulated trigger for $70, and a small, kinda dirty looking foxface for $50 -- I've never seen these sorts of fish at Living Art for much more than these prices. Also, I haven't seen ick in Living Art for my last dozen visits or so, and very rarely before that, and never on "a lot" of the livestock, and never on SW fish that I can recall.

[Rueg]

I was there last Wednesday - everything looked very healthy. Wasn't looking at freshwater though - just saltwater.

[Tin_Whistler]

Just to add fuel to the fire, though: when comparing online to LFS prices, you have to compare online WYSIWYG only, since that is what a LFS is selling (i.e you are not just buying 'powder blue tang, medium', you are buying that powder blue).

That's an outstanding point I haven't thought of before. And personally I wouldn't buy fish locally from any other store.

Their livestock pricing is reasonable, and their fish normally seem to be in good health. As for the ich comment, Find me a LFS that doesn't have ich. The stores would have to keep separate QT tanks and treat all their fish with either Hypo, or copper for 4-6 weeks, and spend a fortune holding onto fish they could be selling. I don't think any LFS could stay in business if they chose to operate that way.

For some of the dry goods I can't justify paying some of the price differences. But if I need something quickly, or the price isn't that huge of a jump vs online, I'd prefer to buy it locally to help keep the stores in business.

I will say I feel crowded in that store though, it's way too small. Hopefully business stays good for them and they can eventually move to a larger location.

[Nemomma]

Love that their website posts all of their new arrivals.

[skeeter03]

I just want to say that after my first visit to LA....I will continue to go there before any of my local stores. Being new to the saltwater world I learned my lesson from purchasing corals from our local Petland. What I paid for the frags I got at petland ....that was overpriced. I also got flatworms since they failed to tell me to dip them. LA answered all my questions and sold me a product that took care of my flatworms. Weeks later we returned and bought a very nice quality frag of a hammer coral at a very reasonable price. That coral is now dividing only after a short time. I will return to this store every time I am in Madison.

[gustomatic]

I do not post often, however I could not be happier with the products and services purchased from LA. Yes, I ordered inverts online, however they were never the same quality as LA. In my years as a reefer I have purchased all fish from LA. They never sell me incompatable items and the fish have all been healthy.

The store is busy, and sometimes you have to wait for service. I feel that is a result of the inividual care they give each customer.

I highly recommend LA

Jeff Gust

ps I just visited the store last weekend. Purchased a True Perc, some snails and some quite large Berghia Nudibranchs. All looked well in the store.

[creik]

I would agree. LA is the only place to go in the greater Madison area at the moment. Are they perfect? No, but NOBODY is. What is key is that they try to do the best they can. The more support in way of traffic/sales they get, the better they will get, in terms of service, supplies, and live stock.
IT is a free world, if I dont like the place, I can simply avoid it. Otherwise, give them the professional courtesy to not simply bash them. We will all be better off for it.