Where do I begin?
I found Kirt's shop through this website, and all I can say is thank you. We had been mainly buying from Strictly Fish, which is a great store, but has some fish that I don't believe should ever be sold by anyone who cares about fish.
Our first trip to All About Fish was this weekend, and it was such an awesome experience. We spent a good two hours there browsing his fish, chatting with him, and getting a better idea how we wanted to set up our new 100g. He highly recommended the ADA line of substrate, but didn't push the sale on us, which was greatly appreciated.
So many LFS employees are out to make a sale right off the bat, and won't even talk to you if you are just shopping. That is so not the case with Kirt. Every time we've been back since (we walked out with 4 SAE's on our first trip) he's been there and been so willing to talk and give feedback.
We also had a bit of luck, as we were looking for a lighting retrofit kit for our new tank, and had been getting a serious run around from other stores. Not only did Kirt understand what we were looking for, but as luck has it, a lighting vendor just happened to be sitting on his couch while we were there. We ended up getting everything we needed for an amazing price, and had it the next day! When we went back to pick up the lighting, we also bought out his remaining supply of the ADA Amazonian substrate! (Sorry folks, I'm sure he'll get more in soon!
).
I just love this store, and I would, and have been, highly recommending this store to anyone that will listen. We went back today and picked up an awesome vampire shrimp and two bushy nose pleco's, and his remaining supply (at least I think so) of the ADA Black Wood.
My husband jokes that I'm stalking Kirt, but I'm just passionate about good fish stores, that give accurate information, and take the time to educate, talk to, and form a relationship with their customer base. Also, being a huge Goo-Obo Gudgeon fan, and coming to find out that he helped bring the species to the US definitely is a plus!
AND, last, but definitely not least, his dog, Bailyn, is the most adorable thing EVER!