new fish store in Lisle

trackfast

trackfast

Princess Trainer
I saw the posting on CL and I know another member had mentioned it on chat. I stopped by this store today and met the proprietor. His name is Brian and he seems like a nice guy. He said he had been reefing for about twenty years and finally decided to make a go of it as a business. He hasn't named the place yet but it shares the same space as the "CarWise" business. No fish for sale yet just corals.

Store Address:

5401 Patton Drive
Suite 105
Lisle, IL 60532
(630) 853-5564

It's just west of Route 53 and north of Maple Ave.

Sat/Sun: 11:00-5:00 and also by appt. Only cash and checks until the first of the year.
 
We didn't talk prices; i'm not ready for more corals yet. He had bigger pieces that he said he could frag per request.
 
i see. well then i will have to call him up and see what the dealeo is on prices. did he have alot of good stuff?
 
I'm out of town for a few days, but this place is literally right across the street from where I live. I'll be sure to get in there as soon as I can and post up a detailed review for everyone.
 
So, I stopped in here last friday to check the place out, and I thought I would add some info about the place.

As the OP mentioned, its a bit difficult to find for now, since there is only a sign for "carwise", which is the business he shares the space with. Brian, the owner, was a really nice guy. Seemed pretty knowledgeable, and has been reefing for a long time.

The place isn't really big, its basically a nice garage/warehouse in an office condominium park. Brian said he is still in the very beginning stages of setup, but for now there is basically a long L shaped look down tank, about 20ft long. It is about half stocked right now, and mostly larger colonies of corals, however he did say he would frag pretty much anything.

As for prices, they are pretty reasonable for the sizes. Unfortunately, I prefer smaller frags, which he didn't have many of, but I picked up a nice frag of green monti cap and a decent size frag (about 10 polyps) of purple death palys, for $30 total.

I would recommend checking his place out, it definitely has potential, especially once he picks up some momentum. I also told him about our community, and he said once he gets going, he will try to get on here with us. As of right now though, I think he's only open weekends.
 
I stopped in today and spent a couple hundred on a few items. They mostly have some larger sized colonies and now have some impressive frags for $5 and up. He's going to start selling dry goods in a month and fish are expected in soon too. Go in and chat him up and he might throw in a free item or too. He gave one of the kids a free urchin today and asked if I wanted one as well, but I declined. I don't need them in my tank knocking over my stuff.

His livestock is decently priced and in line with the other LFS in the chicagoland area. The quality is great as are the sizes. I walked out with a long tentacle plate coral, frogspawn, colony of sun corral, lord acan frag and a maxima clam.
 
Brian is awesome. I sold him a bunch a tanks when we took over the old upscale aquatics place.

I've bought a bit from him and talked alot with him.

48"x48"x40' troft. Has over 3000lbs of LR in it and tons of coral. He's willing to frag most of anything he has for you. His store name is ReefWise. Open thur-fri 4-8 and Sat-Sun 10-4 I think.

Stop by and check him out. Not many places around with colonies priced this low or willing to frag for you.
 
Wildisme said:
Brian is awesome. I sold him a bunch a tanks when we took over the old upscale aquatics place.

I've bought a bit from him and talked alot with him.

48"x48"x40' troft. Has over 3000lbs of LR in it and tons of coral. He's willing to frag most of anything he has for you. His store name is ReefWise. Open thur-fri 4-8 and Sat-Sun 10-4 I think.

Stop by and check him out. Not many places around with colonies priced this low or willing to frag for you.
Click to expand...


Took over upscale aquatics?????? New Owner??????
 
I think Wildisme took over the space vacated by Upscale Aquatics. UA is moving further North on Rt 59 in Naperville. Reefwise got some of the old equipment. Someone please correct me if I got the story wrong.
 
update, one of my peers went over there, curing 2000 lbs of rock means anything about his staying power? I think so, I'm excited about this new one, lets see some work to get him on this site? eh? eh?

skull talks about all the time someone from the sponsors just sharing info, I guess the owner is VERY knowledgeable.
 
Brian is extremely knowledgable. This had been his passion for 20 years and he decided to make a living out of it.

I just spent over an hr talking with him and picked up a nice green long tentacle plate coral.

As far as sponsorship. It's in his mind. I told him it would be a good idea for him to come to chicagoreefs as a sponsor. So far he has been on Craigslist and word of mouth only. Hopefully he takes me advice and signs up on here.

Also it's 3000lbs ;-)
 
Had snails ;-) lol

He's got the tanks for fish and CUC but hasn't gotten around to getting them all built out. He's got plenty of snails, around 600 he just dumped into the troft and available.

Other then coral and snails hes got some Rods food: Original, Predator, herbivorous, and fish only.

He's working on it, gotta remember this is all outta his pocket to get this done right, and slow and steady wins the race.
 
I love that Brian is doing it the business sense wise. from what my buddy said hes coming from construction, so he's going to bring some savvy to this right.

this is no capture the sea!

if he can't realistically afford to bring in fish yet, use the massive 20 year old colonies to get it started, that's smart.
 
I stop in to see Brian last nite, great store he is taking his time and doing it right. He is intersted in Chicagoreefs may be a sponsor but needs a walk through on what to do. His store has a great future. :)
 
A buddy and I stopped in there a few weeks ago and picked up a few things.
Brian was really nice and explained alot. He should be getting supplies and fish soon.

He is taking his time and doing it right.

I picked up snails and crabs from him and my buddy picked up a huge huge cup coral from him(did I mention it was huge?)

He had some really nice frags for 5.00-10.00 as well
 
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