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FAQ: Resources

This section contains references for more information. Specifically, books (including good beginner books), magazines, addresses of some organizations (useful for finding your local fish club), and mail-order supply houses.

Resources for plants and plant-related equipment can be found in a separate plant resources section within the plant FAQ.

Copyright

The FAQs owe their existence to the contributors of the net, and as such it belongs to the readers of rec.aquaria and alt.aquaria. Articles with attributions are copyrighted by their original authors. Copies of the FAQs can be made freely, as long as it is distributed at no charge, and the disclaimers and the copyright notice are included.

FAQ: Good Beginner Books

Contributed by Oleg Kiselev

Most aquarium books are reasonable in their advice. Do be careful of older books which were written before some of the more recent advances in the science of aquaria were made. Issues such as the nitrogen cycle will probably not be covered well. Libraries are an excellent source of books, and one should go the library first before spending any money.

Sample of Popular Titles

Many of the ``Fishkeeper's Guide'' Books by Tetra press are quite good, and are available for around $6-$10. For plant books, Barron's and Tetra's (~$5-6) are suggested.

Freshwater Books

A decent aquarium reference book need not be expensive or very detailed. What it must have is:

There are many books that satisfy these requirements. They are very inexpensive and there is no excuse for someone to spend $20+ on the fish that will die in 3-4 weeks instead of buying a book that would prevent these losses for a lot less money.

For under $10:

Simon&Schuster's Pocket Guide to Aquarium Fishes lists for $7 and can be found for $4 in discount book shops. Not an ``end-all'' reference volume but at least it does not lie too much. I probably like it because it has an excellent photo of Aphyosemion filamentosum that looks just about like the A. filamentosum I have. (ISBN 0-671-25451-0)

At Crown Books and other ``remaindered'' book sellers, you will find a book edited by Dick Mills that is called The Concise Encyclopedia of Tropical Aquarium Fishes if it's published by Crescent (and Tetra's Junior Atlas of Tropical Aquarium Fishes if it's published by Tetra). It covers all the basic ideas about setting up an aquarium and has descriptions and fair quality photos of over 300 species of fish (the book is not in front of me so can't give you more detail). It's published by Salamander Press in Europe and Tetra (Crescent) in US. (Crescent edition ISBN 0-517-66776-2)

At Tower Books and other ``mainstream'' bookseller chains and larger book stores, you will find Barron's series of translation of German aquarium books, all between $5 and $8, concentrating on specific categories of fish (Killifishes (ISBN 0-8120-4475-4), Cichlids (ISBN 0-8120-4597-1)), or breeding (Ines Scheurman's Aquarium Fish Breeding (ISBN 0-8120-4474-6)), or general aquarium maintenance, or plants. All of these books give a beginner a solid introduction to what and why of the the filtration, water chemistry and so on. Any of these books make an excellent starting point. They don't have very many color photos, which probably contributed to the low price, but have a lot of drawings.

Also near the $10 mark (and a lot less through mail-order), are the Tetra/Salamander series of ``Fishkeeper's Guide To...'' books. They are available at a number of ``normal'' book stores and I recommend ``... Healthy Aquarium'' and ``...Community Fishes'' as the better beginner books. The rest of the series is quite good as well and any one of these books should be a great start.

``The Innes Book'' -- First published in 1935, it is a thick volume that has gone through a dozen publishers and something like 50 editions. The newer ones will probably be a bit more up to date, but the older ones are not bad, either. They range from $2 to $15 and my preference is for the oldest editions. Don't expect the fish names to match the current nomenclature or in some case even the real species -- for the last 40 years ``The Innes Book'' has had a picture of A. filamentosum for their Aphyosemion gardneri.

These are the cheapest books. If you are willing to spend $15-20 (and you better be willing to spend that much on the books if you are go to spend that much on the fish!), the number of books is larger and the amount of information increases.

Between $15 and $20

The books get larger, more colorful and complete:

van Ramshorst's Aquarium Encyclopedia published by HPBooks and sold by Waldenbooks is a translation from Dutch and at $17.95 is among the better ``shopping list'' aquarium books. It is full of very good quality color photos, covers over 570 species of fish, 80 species of plants, all aspects of aquarium design, building, set-up, decor, etc. Not much on filtration, but that's all in the FAQ, so not a big flaw for a USENET reader.

Crown Books used to sell The Living Aquarium, a translation from Swedish published by Crescent Books. It's close to $20 and does not have descriptions of too many species, but has a lot of detailed diagrams, goes into the black arts of filtration and lighting and attempts to cover cold water and tropical fresh water, cold water and tropical marine and brackish aquaria, suggesting the species and decor for them. It also has a section on building aquaria, as all European books seem to.

More Expensive and/or Specialty Books

There are many other books that are not cheap even when you buy them mail-order (a sure way to save 50% on the price). Many of these books cost so much because of the large number of color photos in them and because of the production values that went in. You will have to decide for yourself if it's worth your money to buy these and if you will find something really worth while in them (I have spent several hundred $$$ on such books over the last few years and do not regret buying any of them). If nothing else, these books make great coffee table books that are bound to get all sorts of comments from house guests.

Where to Find the Cheapest Books

Look through the used book stores. Books from 20-30 years ago may have wrong Latin names for some of the fish, claim that certain species of now-common fish are hard to breed, and may have less than adequate coverage of filtration, but those books are still excellent general references and (should) cost very little.

What Not to Buy

AVOID any books by TFH that are less than 100 pages or have a word ``Beginner'' in the title. Leaf through the book: if you see lots of photos of products placed so that brand names are obvious and easy to read, or you find a bunch of photos of grinning gap-toothed kids holding up various pieces of equipment or poking their hands into an aquarium -- put this book away and never look at it again. These books are (in my opinion) utter garbage.

There are a few exceptions to that rule in the TFH line: Dr. Jubb's ``Nothobranchius'', 2 volumes of Jocher's ``Spawning Problem Fishes'' and Windelow's ``Aquatic Plants'', but they fall into the ``specialty'' category).

FAQ: Magazines

Freshwater and Marine Aquarium (monthly) 

          P.O. Box 487,
          Sierra Madre, CA 91024
          Phone (626) 355-1476
          1yr/12 iss.    $23.00
          2yr/24 iss.    $45.00

          Outside US     $30.00/yr  (no 2 year subscr.)

Tropical Fish Hobbyist (monthly) 

          One TFH Plaza,
          Neptune City, NJ 07753
          Phone (908) 988-8400

          1yr/12 iss.    $40.00

          Foreign - add $11.00/yr

     **note:   The edition found in retail stores often does NOT
               have mail order ads; the home subscription edition
               does.  Do not buy one at the store for m/o
               addresses without checking it out first.

Aquarium Fish Magazine (monthly) 

          The following special offer is made by AFM for readers of
          the *.aquaria newsgroups.
Date: 12 Apr 95 09:26:26 EDT
From: Edward Bauman <edbauman@pipeline.com>

As a special offer to members of the Internet *.aquaria newsgroups, subscriptions to Aquarium Fish Magazine are being made available at a special price. You can receive a 2-year subscription for only $24.97. This offer applies to both new subscriptions and renewals, and represents a significant savings over the normal subscription cost of 2 years for $38.00. In other words, you get 2 years for the price of 1.

To take advantage of this offer, send a check or money order, or VISA or Mastercard account number and expiration date to the address below. You must include the subscription department in the address in order to receive the special price. 

                       Aquarium Fish Magazine
                       Subscription Dept. 3NET
                       P.O. Box 6040
                       Mission Viejo, CA 92690
                       USA

Canadian subscribers please add $10.50 and foreign subscribers please add $16 to
the subscription price. Please pay by international money order or with VISA or Mastercard (Access).

Practical Fishkeeping (British mag) 

          MOTORSPORT
          RR1 Box 200 D.
          Jonesburg MO 63351-9616

          US     - $42.00 per year

KOI USA (bi-monthly) 

          KOI USA
          P.O. Box 1
          Midway City, CA 92665
          U.S.A.

          6 issues per year
          $15 in U.S., US$ 19.50 in Canada

Marine Fish Monthly 

        Publishing Concepts Corp.
        3243 Highway 61
        East Luttrell, TN  37779

        1yr/12 iss.     $20.00
        Canada          $28.00/yr
        Foreign         $35.00/yr (US $ required)

        1-800-937-3963 for subscription by phone

FAQ: Aquaria Organizations and Societies

Contributed by Rick Clark, Jim Lilly <73552.1402@compuserve.com>, FAAS, and a bunch of other people

If you would like to have your society listed here (or an outdated listing corrected), please contact us; we don't generally have time to research this ourselves, so we rely on the societies to contact us with corrections. Thank you!

Note that club web pages are accessible as links off the WWW version of this FAQ, but do not appear in the posted version. If you have a browser, scoot it on over to http://faq.thekrib.com/organizations.html or one of the mirrors.

National/International Aquarium Societies

American Cichlid Association
P.O. Box 5351, Naperville, IL 60567-5351

Aquatic Gardeners Asssociation
83 Cathcart St., London, Ontario, Canada N6L 3L9

Canadian Killifish Association

International Betta Congress
923 Wadsworth St., Syracuse, NY 13208-2419

North American Discus Society
6939 Justin Drive, Mississauga, Ont, Canada, L4T 1M4

Rainbowfish Study Group of North America Gary Lange
2590 Cheshire, Florissant, MO 63033

American Livebearer Association
Timothy J. Brady, Membership Chairman 5 Zerbe Street, Cressona, PA 17929-1513 tjbrady@fast.net

Federation of American Aquarium Societies (FAAS) Hedy Padgett (Membership Chair) 4816 E. 64th. Street Indianapolis, IN 46220-4728

Assocation of Aquarist, Mr Chris Ralph (Chairman) 610 Abbey Rd, Popley 4, Basingstoke, Hants RG24 9ET, UK

British Rainbowfish and Gobies Society, Len Eldridge (Editor) 64 Molesham Way, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 1NX, UK Email: 100707.245@compuservw.com

TVCATS (Thames Valley Catfish Society), Tim Allen (Editor) 12 Sun Crescent, Oakley, Aylesbury, Bucks HP18 9RF, UK

Club Snail
2030 NE 42nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97213

Local Aquarium Societies - United States

Aqualand Aquatic Society
P.O. Box 1345 Bristol, CT 06010-1345

Atlanta Area Aquarium Association
Mark Barnett, 130 Springbrook Lane, Stockbridge, GA 30281

Air Capital A.S.
P.O. Box 3235, Wichita, KS 67201-3235

Alamo A.S., Inc.
319 Byrnes, San Antonio, TX 78209

Allegheny River Valley A.S.
P.O. Box 415, Olean, NY, 14760-0415

Aquarium Club of Lancaster County
218 E. Clay St., Lancaster, PA 17602

Aquarium Hobbyists of Amarillo
1009 S. Kentucky, Amarillo, TX 79012

Aqua Land Aquatic Society
Karl Chadbourne, 231 Bayberry Dr., Bristol, CT 06010

Aquarium Society of Durham
P.O. Box 25218, Durham, NC, 27702-2518

Ashtabula County Aquarium Club
ashco@usa.net

Baltimore/Washington Area Aquaria Society 3915 Blackburn Ln, #42, Burtonsville, MD 20866 email: bwaas@hotmail.com

Black River Aquarium Society, Inc.
Jack Adinolfi, P.O. BOX 92, Ludlow, VT 05149-0092

Boston A.S.
255 Central St., Holliston, MA 01746-2011

Brooklyn A.S.
P.O. Box 290610, Brooklyn, NY 11229-0011

Bucks County A.S., Ltd.
Gary Jones, 237 Apple St., Levittown, PA 19057-1211

California Organization of Aquatic Show Trop. 13581 Arizona St., #2, Westminster, CA 92683-2361

Central Florida A.S.
1017 Alpug Ave., Oviedo, FL 32765

Central Illinois Aquarist
PO Box 225, Pekin, IL 61555-0225

Central New York A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 566, Syracuse, NY 13206

Central Valley A.S.
1990 Rohrer Dr., Turlock, CA 95382-1945

Central Wisconsin A.S.
5339 Hwy 54 E Plover, WI 54467

Champaign Area Fish Exchange
Greg Wooters, 1231 Joanne, Champaign, IL 61821

Chautauqua County Aq. Assn., Inc.
Joe Rozen, 149 South Ocelot St., Dunkirk, NY 14048

Circle City Aq. Club
P.O. Box 55165, Indianapolis, In 46205-0165

Cleveland A.S.
26011 Hendon Road, Beachwood, OH 44122

Cleveland Saltwater Enthusiasts Assn. 3896 Boston Road, Brunswick OH 44212-1262

Colorado A.S.
P.O. Box 1253, Arvada, CO 80005

Columbus Area Fish Enthusiast
3522 Rivercrest Dr., Columbus, OH 43223

Danbury Area A.S.
PO Box 8017, New Fairfield, CT 06812

Delaware County A.S.
P.O. Box 521, Ridley Park, PA 19078

Diamond State A.S.
Richard Adler, 5420 Valley Green Dr., Apt. C-2, Wilmington, DE 19808

Dry Wash Aquarium Society
c/o Don Kinney II, 8245 N. 27th Ave. #1115, Phoenix, Az. 85051

Eastern Iowa Aq. Society
Buck Stark, P.O. BOX 2327, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406

Elm City Aquarium Society
86 Middle Road, Guilford, CT 06437

Erie Aquarium Society
4829 Leacock Rd., Edinboro, PA 16412

The Exotic Fish Society of Hartford, Inc 25 Charter Road, Ellington, CT 06029

Federation Of Texas A.S.
3502 Carter Creek Pkwy, Bryan, TX 77802

Fort Wayne Cichlid 502 Park Ave. - Box 260, Antwerp, OH 45813

Great Lakes Cichlid Society
1113 Sunset Road, Mayfield Hts, OH 44124

Greater Akron A.S.
P.O. Box 494, Akron, OH 44309-0494

Greater Chicago Cichlid Assn
241 Oxford Ct., Bloomingdale, IL 60108

Greater Cincinnati A.S.
P.O. Box 11495, Cincinnati, OH 45211

Greater City A.S.
Berek Haus, 197-05 90th Ave., Hollis, NY 11423

Greater Dayton A.S.
288 Virginia Ave., Centerville, OH 45458

Greater Detroit A.S.
P.O. Box C, Royal Oak, MI 48068

Greater Fairfield County A.S.
P.O. Box 141, Lancaster, OH 43130

Greater Lafayette A.S.
516 N. 27th St., Lafayette, IN 47904

Great Lakes Cichlid Society
Butch Capaldi, 890 Orchard Road, Willoughby, OH 44094

Greater Pittsburgh A.S.
P.O. Box 22452, Pittsburgh, PA 15122-0452

Greater Portland A.S.
P.O. Box 6752, Portland, OR 97228-6752 voice mail drop (503) 699-8086

Greater Seattle A.S.
306 NW 82nd Street, Seattle WA 98117 E-mail eriko@wrq.com

Green Water A.S.
P.O. Box 611, Bedford Park, IL 60499-0611

Heart of America A.S.
P.O. Box 412867, Kansas City, Missouri 64141-2867

Honolulu Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 235791, Honolulu, HI 96823-3513

Houston Aq. Soc.
Michelle Sykes, 15926 Pfeiffer Dr. Houston, TX 77081 unicoon@wt.net

Indianapolis A.S., Inc.
Al Anderson, 6246 North Rural., Indianapolis IN 46220 killiman@indy.net 430 2nd Ave. N.E., Carmel, IN 46032

Jacksonville A.S.
P.O. Box 156, Jacksonville, FL 32207

Kitsap A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 1145, Silverdale, WA 98383

Lehigh Valley A.S.
Karen Haas 5145 Spruce Rd. Emmaus, PA 18049. lvas@fast.net

Long Island A.S.
214 Holly Lane, Smithtown, NY 11787

Lorain County A.S.
P.O. Box 185, Elyria, OH 44036-0185

Louisville Trop. Fish Fanciers, Inc. P.O. Box 6774, Louisville, KY 40207-6774

Maine State Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 487, N. Berwick, ME 03906

Medina County A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 1485, Medina, OH 44258

Mid-Atlantic Cichlid Keepers (MACK)
PO BOX 303, Drexel Hill, PA 19026

Mid-South A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 11744, Memphis, TN 38111

Missouri A.S., Inc.
John Van Asch, 505 S. 20th St., Belleville, IL 62223

Minnesota Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 130483, Roseville, MN 55113 phone contact- Brad & Nancy Swanson 612-522-4399

Missouri A.S., Inc.
36 Wagon Wheel, Fenton, MO 63026

Mobile A.S.
11450 Boe Rd. Ext., Grand Bay, AL 36541

Motor City A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 60, Roseville, MI 48066

Nassau County Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 33, Oakdale, NY 11769

New York-Penn Council
3317 Asbury Rd., Erie, PA 16506

North Country A.S.
PO Box 46, Potsdam, NY 13676

North East Alabama A.S.
3524 Alexandria Rd., Anniston, AL 36201

North Jersey A.S.
P.O. Box 591 Nutley, NJ 07110
e-mail: ajaprea@pica.army.mil, phone (908) 541-1392

Norwalk A.S. of Fairfield County
P.O. Box 84, South Norwalk CT 06852

Ohio Cichlid Assn, Inc.
C/O Dan Woodland, 7330 Ames Road, Parma, Ohio 44129

Pacific Coast Cichlid Association
P.O. Box 28145, San Jose, CA 95128

Penn. Fish Culturists Assn.
6804 No. 10th St., Philadelphia, PA 19126

Potomac Valley A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 664, Merrifield, VA 22116

Rocky Mountain Cichlid Assn.
9242 E. Eastman Place, Denver, CO 80231

Sacramento A.S.
P.O. Box 160545, Sacramento, CA 95816-0545

San Diego Tropical Fish Soc., Inc.
P.O. Box 4156, N. Park Sta., San Diego, CA 92164

San Fransisco A.S.
(415) 387-6626

San Fransisco Bay Area Aquatic Plant Society 7 Gateview Court, San Fransisco 94116-1941

Sheboygan A.S.
P.O. Box 954, Sheboygan, WI 53082

Singing Sands A.S.
P.O. Box 134, Michigan City, IN 46360

Southeast Minnesota A.S.
Dan Andrews, 206 S. Main, Chatsfield, MN 55923

Southern California Cichlid Association 4195 Chino Hills Pkwy. #362, Chino Hills, CA 91709

Southern Colorado A.S.
Dale Grover, 807 Fontmore Rd., Colorado Springs, CO 80904

Southtowns Fish Fanciers, Inc.
John Burdick, 8639 S. Main St., Eden, NY 14057

Southwestern Michigan Aq. Soc.
Scott Tetzlaff, 226 Burton SW, Grand Rapids MI 49507

South Sound A.S.
948 Summit Lakeshore Rd., N.W., Olympia, WA 98502

Southeast Minnesota A.S.
PO Box 9093, Rochester, MN 55903-9093

Southern Colorado A.S.
P.O. Box 16078, Colorado Springs, CO 80935

Southwestern Michigan A.S., Inc.
P.O. Box 3175, Kalamazoo, MI 49003-3175

Stark County Aqua Life Enthusiasts, Inc. P.O. Box 8384, Canton, OH 44711

Story City A.S.
920 Fairview St., #8, Story City, IA 50248

Tampa Bay Aquarium Society
Al Knowles, 1101 West Kirby Lane, Tampa FL 33604 (813) 932-5447

The Suburban A.S.
P.O. Box 101, Prospect Hts, IL 60070

Texas Area Killifish Organization
Michelle Sykes, 15926 Pfeiffer Dr. Houston, TX 77081 unicoon@wt.net

Tropical Aquarists Of Northern - Ohio Club Bonnie Tamura, 941 N. State St., Painesville, OH 44077

Tri-County Tropical Fish Soc.
312 Oaklawn Terr., Creve Coeur, IL 61611

Tropical Fish Club of Burlington
RR #1, Box 1548, Huntington, VT 05462

Tropical Fish Club of Erie County
5725 Herman Hill Rd., Hamburg, NY 14075

Tropical Fish Society Rhode Island
44 Homecrest Ave. Slatersville, RI 02876

Western New York A.S.
P.O. Box 472, Hiler Branch, Buffalo, NY 14223

Worcester A.S.
P.O. Box 972, Worcester, MA 01613-0972

Youngstown Area Tropical Fish
P.O. Box 5190, Youngstown, OH 44514

Local Aquarium Societies - Canada

Aquarium Society of Winnipeg
P.O. Box 301, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C 2H6

Brampton Aquarium Club
5372 Drenkelly Ct., Mississauga, Ontario, CANADA L5M-2H4

Calgary Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 63180, 2604 Kensington Rd. NW, Calagary, AB T2W 4C9 Contact: Birgit McKinnon, (403) 249-8733, email : 21290576@3web.net

Huronia and District A.S.
RR 3, 9th Con. W., Orillia, Ontario, Canada L3V 6H3

Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 38037, 256 King Str. N., Waterloo, ON, Canada. N2J 4T9

Montreal A.S.
P.O. Box 653, Station B, Montreal, Que., Canada H3B 3K3

Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society
Box 31033, Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2B 8S8

Regina A.S.
P.O. Box 3654, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4P 3N8

Sarnia Aquarium Society
P.O. Box 542, Sarnia Ontario Canada N7T 2M7 tspiece@sar-net.com

Saskatoon A.S.
Box 371, Saskatoon Saskathewan, Canada S7K 3L3

Societie D'aquariophilie De Montreal 2450 Workman, Montreal, QUE, Canada H3J 1L8

Local Aquarium Societies - Other

Asoc. Nacional Acuarofila Mexicana, AC APDO Postal 73-112, Santa Cruz Atoyac, Mexico, DF 03310

Asoci. Acuaristas Aguadilla
P.O. Box 102, Aguadilla, PR 00605

Bermuda Fry-Angle Club
P.O. Box WK272, Warwick, WKBX, Bermuda

Grupo Mexicano De Ciclidofilos
Cordillera Karakorum 223b, Lomas 3a. Seccion, San Luis Potosi, S.L.P., 78216 Mexico
Tel/fax 052-48-253168
cm886@freenet.carleton.ca

South London Aquarist Society
How Pang (Chairman), 11 Ramsdale Rd, Tooting, London Sw17 9BP, UK Howpang@demon.uk.com

FAQ: Mail-Order Houses

Mail-Order Aquarium Supplies

Although prices are lower through mail order, one must consider the cost of the shipping and handling, the delay time if product is not in stock, and the fact that the mail order company will typically not answer detailed questions. Your local retailer on the other hand must pay for the overhead of inventory, and often times are willing to answer questions. We need to collectively ensure the survival of good, helpful stores with fair prices.

Service Comparisons

Here is a quick comparison of five of the most popular mail-order houses, That Fish Place (TFP), Mail Order Pet Shop (MOPS), Pet Warehouse (PW), Wet Thumb Aquatics, and Daleco. Addresses and phone numbers are listed later in this section. 

                TFP   MOP        PW   DLC   WTA
Price           1.5   1.2        2.0  2.5   1.0
Selection       1.6   1.9        2.3  1.5   3.0
Service         1.7   2.3        1.0  2.0   1.0
Processing      2.1   2.0        1.0  1.5   1.0
Completeness    1.6   2.1        1.3  2.0   2.0
Correctness     1.1   1.4        1.0  1.5   1.0
Damage          1.0   1.2        1.0  1.0   1.0

Sum             10.6  12.1       9.6  12    10
# Responses     11    10         3    2     1
Avg             1.5   1.7        1.3  1.7   1.4

Criteria

Price 

          Total cost of an average order.
          1 - excellent, 2 - good, 3 - fair, 4 - pet shop

Selection 

          Do they carry what you want?
          1 - anything you could possibly want, 2 - good, 3 - fair, 4 -
          poor.

Customer service 

          Are they pleasant on the phone? Do the sales people provide
          accurate product information? Are printed materials helpful?
          1 - excellent, 2 - good, 3 - fair, 4 - why are you calling and
          bothering them?

Order processing 

          How fast is your order processed? (When does it leave the
          warehouse? Not when do you actually receive it, as this varies
          with your location!)
          1 - same day, 2 - 1-3 days, 3- longer than three days.

Order completeness 

          Do they have what you ordered in stock?
          1 - rarely a stock out, 2 - occasional, 3 - often items are out
          of stock.

Order correctness 

          Did they send what you ordered?
          1 - never a problem, 2 - minor problems, 3 - common problem.

Order damage 

          Do you ever receive broken items?
          1 - never a problem, 2 - minor problems, 3 - common problem.

The Big Fish

That Fish Place
237 Centerville Rd.
Lancaster, PA 17603
800-733-3829

Clearly, a favored source for mail order. Best catalogue (very useful for ordering from other places). I received no "horror" stories, only one minor complaint.

Good Source for: Plants

Shipping: Actual Cost

Mail Order Pet Shop
250 W Executive Drive
Edgewood, NY 11717
800-366-7387 (ordering and product info) 800-326-6677 (customer service)

1338 North Market Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95834

Probably the total lowest cost place for supplies. However, it seems that people either love or hate them. I received several complaints about service and bulk products being shorted etc. People like their flat fee for shipping.

Shipping: $3.99 orders <= $45, $5.99 orders > $45 but < $100, $7.99 orders > $100. For $5 extra, they will 2-Day ship orders under 20 pounds.

Pet Warehouse
Dept. C45F
P.O. Box 310
Xenia, OH 45385
800-443-1160
FAX 800-513-1913

People like their quick service.

Shipping

$35 or < $5.95 $35-50 6.95 $60-75 7.95 $75-100 9.95 $100-150 10.95 $150 or > 11.95 2-day UPS delivery for $3.50 extra for items < 23 pounds

The Small Fry

Daleco
3556 N 400 E
Warsaw, IN 46580
800-987-1120
FAX 219-268-6302

Has many unusual items. Shipping is included in prices for orders over $50 but prices are sometimes higher than bigger places.

Good Source for: Live Food Cultures, Dupla Products, LaMotte Test Kits

Shipping: Free, orders under $50.00 require a $5.00 handling fee.

Wet Thumb Aquatic
52700 Base St.
New Baltimore, MI 48047
810-725-0960

Smaller outfit. Their selection is not great but prices are very good. They are more breeder oriented. They ship same day. Also, they happen to carry a great deal of merchandise, a lot that other companies do not even think about. Also, they are very willing to answer your questions.

Good Source for: Regenerative Blowers and Reverse Osmosis units.

Shipping

$25 or < 2.50 $25-45 3.50 $45-60 4.50 $60-75 5.50 $75 or > Free

Others mentioned but not ranked

Spectacular Sea System: Specializing in marine lighting and accessories ranked 3,3,1,1,1,1,1 305-941-3792

End of Resource FAQ.