Mandinga Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 I grew up in a town that was...well...lacking reef aquaria interest. 15 years ago I was introduced to this hobby of saltwater. I was fortunate enough to have ONE fish store in town (not counting PETCO) who was brave enough to carry the "oh so difficult coral". They had a good variety of polyps(NOT ZOOS), mushrooms, and the occasional and rare specie of Cladiella. LR was a new phenomenon. It may seem far fetched, but we were enamored by the common/boring coral of today. There was no such thing as a 40k Lokani, or a Blue Tort! 15 years ago, my fiancee and I would drive 300 miles to a reef store that was keeping SPS...WHOAAA! This reefkeeper was an icon to us... Present day PDX is FILLED with fantastic LFS who specialize in this intriguing hobby! Maybe not everyone appreciates this hobby like I do...I have seen it grow from an incubation stage to a full on scientific obsession. I love it. So, after moving to PDX from a desolate reef desert town, I decided to make a pilgrimage of sorts...one that would take me to all the LFS in the area. In the coming posts I will give you a photo journal roundup of the reef scene in PDX. Stay tuned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smann Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 From the title my first thought was you were going to organise a tour for all to go together, kind of like the microbrew tour bus's, .......(whistle) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saltfinsax Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Hey you may have something there, as we stop at every store we drink a Micro..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 All journeys must begin somewhere, and since I am located in Newberg, this journey may as well begin here in the Berg. If there exists a reef black hole in PDX metro, it seems to be in Newberg. There used to be a reef store here in The Berg, however tough economic times have forced small pet shops to focus on the real moneymakers...cichlids, tetras, and ferrets. Oh well. There seems to be multiple anomalies present in other spots in PDX metro. Palaces like Soutas, Hollywood, WestSide, Rose City, among others, open their doors to drooling hobbyists like you and I. The PDX LFS (local fish store) scene is alive and thriving! Well worth exploring. This journey was mapped out carefully. A 6-year old girl, keen on reefs, and a 30-year old man, with a camera, vowed to visit all saltwater/reef stores in the PDX area. No small task. On this BB there are roughly 23 sponsors...that makes 23 destinations. However, upon closer inspection we found that not all the sponsors are storefronts. *Note to self -- call before you visit. Our best plan of attack seemed purely locational. We would visit the closest reef stores first, and then later we would hit the 40 milers... Hollywood Aquarium was first. Hollywood Aquarium is the type of place I felt very good about as I walked in the front door. Nice neighborhood. Nice location. Clean. Now is the time I should apologize for using a cell phone camera...the photos get better Hollywood has an impressive array of dry goods and tanks. The high class neighborhood is well served by Hollywood. They have nice stuff. Their dry goods and reef supply section is one of the best in the area. They also have some great livestock. I believe there are two main display tanks, and they are impressive. Both of them are well over 300 gallons. One tank is a soft coral/anemone paradise, while the other plays host to a beautiful shark. 6-year old's love sharks...so do old dudes! If you want a cool fish, check out Hollywood. From sharks to rare triggers, they have it all. On top of this, they also have an impressive selection of LPS and softies for sale. Their SPS stock is limited (exclusively T5 lighting). After an hour of chatting with an owner of Hollywood, it became clear that they specialize in maintenance and custom installation! COOL! Here is a company, rooted in Lake Oswego, installing and maintaining tanks all over the Portland metro area. In an agile market, Hollywood Aquarium is paving the way when it comes to maintenance and installations. From a hobbyist standpoint, I appreciate a company like this, diversifying in a market where tangs are assembled in a factory overseas. I said Tangs. Hobbyists NEED local fish stores! Hobbyists need them for alot more than a hermit crab every now and then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Interesting I like the approach. I am interested in seeing the rest of the photo's. Never been in Soutas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 I have to say that Rick soutas and Travis upscale is some of the best store around town with keeping sps corals, Rick and Travis have tough me alot, Tom at upscale is the one got me started all this, thanks Tom, to me reef tank is more than just a tank, since I have a store I see how hard it is to keep my display tank look nice and shiny, but the way I see it is no matter if you're a store or a hobbyist don't worry about how the store tank look or if their corals are dying or loosing their color as long they try to give you some of their nice and healthy piece just to make you happy, people from east coast are paying hundreds of dollars just for some of the oregon blue tort or microlatas from soutas and upscale we are so lucky to have so many great store around, all I have to say is reefing is in your heart not in your eyes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 The next stop on the PDX reef bus LFS tour: Soutas Saltwater. Chooooo Choooo Soutas is located in a part of SE Portland in which I have never been, 2404 Southeast Gladstone Street. The neighborhood seems like a mix of industry and residential. The building is cleverly placed between residential houses. I felt as though I was going over to my neighbors to check out his kick a@# saltwater tank! Location, gold star. The windowless exterior of Soutas is deceiving. It almost seems as though there may be a mechanic inside, working on Grandma's Volvo, but instead we have a coral enthusiast's wonderland. The first thing you see as you enter Soutas is the large display tank, into which you are forced to gander...it is located right next to the door. *camera used -- cell phone -- I figured that if I gave you all GREAT pictures to see, then some of the excitement of your first visit may be lost...or, maybe I'm just un-edumacated in the ways of camera technology/know how.* Soutas dry goods selection, while slender in proportion, is well thought out. There is no wasted space for birds, reptiles or Cichlids. This is a reef store only and it is outfitted very nicely for the reef enthusiast. The coral selection was impressive to say the least. If you are looking for fish, you may want to try another store, but when it comes to coral, SPS specifically, Ricky has it! I counted 6 LARGE frag tanks that were stocked fuller than my daughters stocking on Christmas morning. This place has been in business for a long time and they certainly know how to grow, propagate and sell coral. The only downside's to Soutas are these: Too far from where I live, but that's more my problem! Limited invert and fish stock. The upsides have a laundry list...don't miss this place! The best thing I saw while at Soutas was this -- Looks good enough to eat! Thanks for having me Ricky Jr., see you next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 Next up will be Nick and Rose City Aquarium. Looking forward to this one. [/img] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Reef Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 The next stop on the PDX reef bus LFS tour: Soutas Saltwater. Chooooo Choooo Soutas is located in a part of SE Portland in which I have never been, 2404 Southeast Gladstone Street. The neighborhood seems like a mix of industry and residential. The building is cleverly placed between residential houses. I felt as though I was going over to my neighbors to check out his kick a@# saltwater tank! Location, gold star. The windowless exterior of Soutas is deceiving. It almost seems as though there may be a mechanic inside, working on Grandma's Volvo, but instead we have a coral enthusiast's wonderland. The first thing you see as you enter Soutas is the large display tank, into which you are forced to gander...it is located right next to the door. *camera used -- cell phone -- I figured that if I gave you all GREAT pictures to see, then some of the excitement of your first visit may be lost...or, maybe I'm just un-edumacated in the ways of camera technology/know how.* Soutas dry goods selection, while slender in proportion, is well thought out. There is no wasted space for birds, reptiles or Cichlids. This is a reef store only and it is outfitted very nicely for the reef enthusiast. The coral selection was impressive to say the least. If you are looking for fish, you may want to try another store, but when it comes to coral, SPS specifically, Ricky has it! I counted 6 LARGE frag tanks that were stocked fuller than my daughters stocking on Christmas morning. This place has been in business for a long time and they certainly know how to grow, propagate and sell coral. The only downside's to Soutas are these: Too far from where I live, but that's more my problem! Limited invert and fish stock. The upsides have a laundry list...don't miss this place! The best thing I saw while at Soutas was this -- Looks good enough to eat! Thanks for having me Ricky Jr., see you next time. Thanks for all the compliments and the great review, but you actually caught us at a very bad time. :P We had to catch up on some projects we were working on and the store definitely wasn't as "Up to date" as it normally is. Water quality and health of the occupants in it always comes first before aesthetic's (I.E. Coraline on front of glass). We normally have a huge selection of Net/Hand/Tank Raised/Mac Certified fish in stock. A wide range of Tangs, Lionfish, Seahorses, Blennies, Gobies, Damsels, Triggers, Cardinals, Wrasses, Anthias, Dartfish, Angels, and Pipefish are some of the most common fish you should see in. You came in during the end of our last shipment. There's still a few good fish to go round, but we'll be getting some more in here soon. The invertebrates were on the same level as the fish when you came in. We usually have a good selection of nassarius snails (vibex & distortus), margarita snails, trochus (black foot, white foot, red foot), tiger/zebra turbos, pacific turbos, normal astreas, ninja star astreas, blue leg reef hermits, mexican red leg reef hermits, anemones rose/green, crocea clams, maxima clams, derasa clams, emerald crabs, peppermint shrimp, blood shrimp, cleaner shrimp, banded coral shrimp, large neon blue leg hermits, electric lipped scallops, random starfish and quite a few other interesting critters. What we had in at the time though was mainly nassarius snails (vibex & distortus), margarita snails, tiger/zebra turbos, normal astreas, blue leg reef hermits, mexican red leg reef hermits, anemones rose/green, crocea clams, maxima clam, cleaner shrimp, banded coral shrimp, large neon blue leg hermits, electric lipped scallop, a random starfish. One of the things we don't like bringing in however are Sea-Hares. We believe that these creatures deaths are easily caused by a lack of food in tanks and the majority of them should be left in the wild. Some people have reported great luck, but the majority of them die. We have kept our dolabella genus in with massive amounts of chaetomorpha algae for quite a while and it has thrived. He takes up the palm of my hand. He's a well fed, slimy, yet cute creature and we're glad to have him, but we suggest putting these into a refugium with algae for maximum life capacity. Taking them out of the refugium and placing them right next to a hair algae clumps can be useful, but putting him back into the refugium is advised after he has navigated away from the area. This is a completely different subject though, so I'll stop rambling on. We are currently aquaculturing over 135+ corals ranging from SPS, LPS, and Soft Corals. I definitely advise anyone who loves coral as much as we do to come in. I guarantee you won't be disappointed! Best regards, Ricky Soutas Jr. -Soutas Saltwater & Reef Inc.- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayTheSavageFraser Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Great stuff!! I can't wait to see the rest!!! THis is fun!! I wanted to do something like this. But, when the economy finally hit my neck of the woods I had to abandon my plan! Great job and great writing!! Love it!! Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Keep up the good work! It is nice to see a good review of all of the stores. There are alot of people who have never been to many of these stores and this gives them a reason to go!!! If you ever are in my neck of the woods, feel free to toss me a pm or give me a call if you want to swing by and check out the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayTheSavageFraser Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Yeah!! You gotta includes garretts "Black Market" Shop!! It is pretty awesome!! I loved spending time in it!!! I woulda stayed longer but his mom was screaming "GARRRETT, THEY BETTER BE BUYING THAT 500 GALLON TANK!!!" LOL!! Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racefan Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Your picture of Soutas' display tank did not do it justice. That sucker is gorgeous, I could stand & stare at that all day. Keep up the good work, I'm liking it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beckie Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Two thoughts..........Great job dad! Very interesting & informative! Beckie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Reef Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Your picture of Soutas' display tank did not do it justice. That sucker is gorgeous' date=' I could stand & stare at that all day. Keep up the good work, I'm liking it![/quote'] I'll try to take some pictures here soon, It's starting to look a little better now after that horrendous summer heat we had! Best regards, Ricky Soutas Jr. -Soutas Saltwater & Reef Inc.- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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