Reefing in Hawaii

[JPUSAF]

Good morning all.

The military saw fit for me to be moved from Florida to Hawaii. Don't get me wrong Hawaii is beautiful and there is much to do but I'm not exactly thrilled about the job. So, to ease my blues I decided to reestablish my 150g that I had ran while living in St Petersburg. Unfortuantely, the LFSs I have found are poorly kept and stocked compaired to the stores I frequented in St Pete/Tampa. I then decided to just order the live sand I prefer from online. I was surprised at the average shipping costs for 100lbs of live sand to be around $650. Long story short, does anyone know of a good LFS on Oahu or online site that is Hawaii friendly. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated as I would love to have my tank up and running again.

[Shayan]

Hi and Welcome

I don't know any particular LFS in Hawaii however, during my last trip to Kauai I visited a LFS there and was shocked by their lack of inventory. When I talked with the LFS owner about it he said that there are a lot of regulations in state of hawaii that bars them from selling or bringing most of non local species (fish/coral/invert...) to the islands legally. I am not sure how credible his statements were but I think this might be the reason that LFS near you is also poorly stocked

[JPUSAF]

Thanks for the comment, Shayan. Based on that I called one of the stores I've been to in the past week and asked what the deal was. According to this store due to state regulations it is illegal to own, sell, or import coral. It is also illegal to import both live rock and sand. The only fish species that can be legally owned, sold/purchased are native species.

Wow....so, I have a lot of money invested into a hobby that is for the most part highly frowned upon here in Hawaii. Awesome. Such a shame too, I was really looking forward to setting up a "new" tank.

[TheBishop]

There is no live sand on an Island in the Pacific? why not go down to the beach and scoop up some?

[Shayan]

in most of the states it's illegal to remove sand from beaches, but I don't think they can enforce it all the time

[Shayan]

on the bright side, native fish there are usually pretty cheap!! so i guess you can make a really nice FOWLR tank filled with yellow tangs and other native species!

[PIMPALA]

My sister is a marine and she moved from Pensacola to Hawaii 2 years ago, and she said the same thing. The LFS there sucks, and you get in huge trouble if you even think about collecting anything yourself.

[Laikaikea]

on the bright side, native fish there are usually pretty cheap!! so i guess you can make a really nice FOWLR tank filled with yellow tangs and other native species!

Spot on there...I've only been able to keep fowlr here on Oahu. Ive been stationed out here for almost three years...although I enjoy HI, I can't wait until I can have a reef tank and can skip outrageous shipping fees. Other than the fish, most LFS carry many different hermits, shrimp, feather dusters and so forth.

The best LFS out here are Coral Fish Hawaii. Descent price on fish, expensive on equipment...but it evens out when not paying shipping.
Next one would be The Pet Depot in Ewa...small but they get some good fish occasionally and the owners are really awesome to work with. If you'd like to try something new...there is Aquascapes in Aiea....they do planted tanks

I also hear about these backdoor underground groups of people who trade things like cheato and what not...but its all hear say...

Good luck

[Laikaikea]

Also forgot to mention...if you become a member at the Waikiki aquarium...you can pickup free saltwater from them...my family membership was like $60 or so...dont really remember...all I know is it's well worth it...

[wscttwolfe]

that's rough, never woulda thought having a reef tank in hawaii would be the hardest place to have one

[PIMPALA]

that's rough, never woulda thought having a reef tank in hawaii would be the hardest place to have one

same here. when my sister told me she was moving there, i had a dream that i was living there too. I had like a 500 gallon tank, and every day i would swim out to the reefs, grab soccer ball size chunks of acros, and take them home for my tank. lol