Paul Nylund

Review of Coop. Acuario

Best of both worlds!

Best of both worlds!

Turning your hobby or passion into a viable, bill paying business is a pretty hard thing to do, and failed businesses close their doors nearly every day.

In the last 4 years or so, Cory and the Co-Op crew have successfully taken his passion for tropical fish, combined with some solid business savvy, and built a thriving, high quality, eco-friendly and customer service oriented tropical fish store.
I've been successfully keeping tropical fish as an adult for the last 3 years or so, and all of my 7 current tanks have at least one thing from this store living in them or working under or on the back of them.

I recently stocked a 100G freshwater tank with a school of 6 Jurupari, 11 Cory cats, and a small school of 6 Roseline sharks from the Co-Op. All of them have survived, are healthy and eating, and look great in my tank. Cory took the time to show me pictures of what the Jurupari might look like as adults, and we worked through the rest of the stock plan together, based on my inputs regarding what I wanted, what would look good, and what would survive with my tankmate choices and the water I'm using out of the community well we're on over on Bainbridge Island.

The roselines weren't available the day I was there, so I ordered them, Cory landed them, quarantined them for a week, and made sure they were healthy and ready to go when I could back across to pick them up. I was running late for the ferry when picking them up on Saturday, so I called ahead and Lamont had them bagged up and ready to go when I arrived. My browsing time in the shop was severely cut short (sadly), but we made the ferry with minutes to spare!

It's a business, and like any business, has to make a profit to stay solvent, and since he doesn't have the buying power of the giant box stores, you will probably find some things at those stores for less money than you might spend at the Co-Op. The Co-Op also doesn't stock EVERY genre of fish all the time, so you won't find African cichlids or a ton of the big Central American fish, but for the range of freshwater, community friendly fish and plants they specialize in, I promise you that you will not find better quality livestock or more knowledgeable service than those at the Co-Op, which in my book makes it worth the trip EVERY SINGLE time. Cory is in it for the long haul, and not necessarily the short term profit, and as a long time fish enthusiast himself (along with his employees), you greatly benefit from this long view of your experience in the fishkeeping hobby.

We're awfully fortunate in the greater Seattle area to have several great choices of independent local fish stores, and they all have their plusses and minuses, but for my dollar, you cannot beat the Aquarium Co-Op, and your experience in the hobby will be greatly enhanced with a positive, long term relationship with this store, its owner and employees!