Since we were already in Maine I decided to take this last opportunity to check out a different fish shop in the hopes of finding another betta or maybe something else interesting I could keep in a jar for a few days before going home. Alas even though they had the best betta rack I have yet encountered (with each pen containing it’s own plant) it seems they were just about sold out with only two left. No worries I was also here to take a gander at everything else.
The freshwater fish were different than the ones I was used to seeing and all seemed very healthy. I really liked the Diamond Tetras! And they had a lot of plants to choose from. Sadly, I already either had all of them or have killed them. This hobby may be getting a bit out of control… *whistles*
They also had a saltwater section with a wonderful large variety of small and medium coral frags at very reasonable prices as well as some fish – mostly clowns. After poking at these we made our way to the reptile room and had fun trying to find what was in each enclosure as these too were full of plants and hiding nooks. They had some snakes, a gorgeous and healthy-looking chameleon, and some adorable frogs and geckoes. All very healthy and happy looking.
I may not have found what I wanted on this day but I definitely keeping the info for this place for the next time I’m up here! I was impressed!
I had tried earlier on in the morning to check out Moonstone Beach to see if I could find some cool rocks for my fish tank but as I drove up I found the road and probably parking lot beyond flooded. Well… since I’m in the area anyway let’s see if I can find some other destination to spoil my fish. And boy did I find it!
From the outside it looked like just another plaza pet store so I wasn’t holding my breath for anything special. However, when I walked in I was greeted immediately with a very long wall of well stocked healthy fish of all kinds. And plants! Sure, the plants were mostly the super common beginners plants but my God were they cheap and healthy looking. $3.99 a bundle. I had been routinely paying $12 for bundles half the size. And these extremely reasonable prices seemed to extend to the fish. $6 for a rummy nose tetra and there was a whole tank of them. Having lost two batches of those, one to ick, one to a power outage, I had to talk myself down from buying more on that specific day (though I will very likely be back some day before going home to NH the same day!)
I looked around the rest of the store and found a small critter section. There I found the biggest zebra finches I’ve seen in my life, almost as big as the budgies they were housed next to! The feeder section also had enormous crickets, just huge. No idea what they were feeding them but wow! They were almost as big as the also exceptionally low priced (70 cents a head) dubia roaches.
Beyond that was a small quiet reptile section with two boas, a few empty enclosures, and an adorable fuzzy tarantula chilling in a nice actual enclosure, not a tub like you usually see! I must say the fact pet shops are starting to take an active part in helping people buy appropriately sized enclosures is really refreshing to see!
I was also happy to see this place had a tank full of live brine shrimp as a food option for the fish. I really suck at raising these myself so I was intrigued by finding a fresh supply. They also had a small saltwater section with a 40-something dollar Picasso clown fish I would have totally wanted if I had a saltwater set up. Gorgeous. Their coral frags were $20 a piece but larger than you’d usually find in that price range. Dare I say their goldfish section was also really decent and had some very pretty ones – which I don’t normally say as I’m not the biggest goldfish fan.
I decided to buy a couple plants and a couple packages of frozen food. This is the first time I tried buying anything with spirulina mixed in so I wasn’t sure my spoiled fish would want it. A baseless fear. They went NUTS for it!!
The man at the counter signed me up for a rewards program – a dollar off every 40 spent – and told me they have fish shipments usually twice a week, plant shipments once a month, and are open to special orders. Dangerous. Looks like I’ll be coming back to this place…
I’m setting up my own heavily planted 55-gallon fish tank and up until now I have been buying plants (and shrimp!) online but I had a bad nitrate spike and figured I could use some more plants quick to help resolve the issue. And so I asked the allmighty Google gods if there were any mom-and-pop shops still in existence in the area. The answer was…. not a lot. Most have been obliterated by PetCo and PetSmart which is a bleeding shame. I can tell you so many stories of a misspent youth perusing all these tiny weird pet shops of the past. You NEVER knew what you were about to walk into and the diversity of animals was amazing! But alas. Today was not a day for nostalgia. I had an errand to complete!
That’s how I ended up at Forest Wonders. Honestly, I have no idea how this place escaped my radar but it looks like it’s been here a long while. It sits in the same plaza as a hydroponics store (how ironic is that?) and a smoke shop. The outside is garishly decorated in a probably desperate attempt to flag down whim shoppers. I get it. it must be tough being a mom-and-pop pet store these days.
Inside I was greeted with this absolutely darling black kitty, clearly in heat and out of her kitten loving mind, just rolling around in the window like an Amsterdamian hooker. Her physique was that of a Siamese, probably a cross. I have SUCH a soft spot for Siamese crosses. I gave her scritches and continued on. There were a few isles of fish stuff, a nice variety actually. And then there was the actual fish. This is the first time I have seen feeder guppies in decades. Seriously. I think they were 50 cents a piece and all in a huge tank next to the feeder goldfish. (All the previous pet stores were selling their guppies for 5 or 6 bucks a pop no matter how butt ugly they were.) And then we got to the real deal. Here there was the best assortment of fish by far that I have seen in the area. Mostly all in little two and a half gallon holding tanks but not overcrowded, just fancy. There were a number of cheaper L-series plecos, two “rope fish” that looked like eels to me, an electric catfish, a foot long arowana, and some more common fair. In the corner was a marine set up but it was mostly empty – only had two fish – a spirited maroon clownfish (who took a piece of my heart) and some other fish I would have totally taken home and nursed if I had a saltwater tank. Despite all the other fish looking fantastic this one looked thin as fuck and stressed. She took a bigger part of my heart. GAH.
Around the corner was a row of bettas and some of them were actually pretty! (Sorry, I just think most are kind of fugly. It’s a matter of personal taste I know.) And then beyond them was a whole room of critters which was soooo fun. Canaries and finches of odd varieties and colors, a gaggle of parakeets, a smattering of common lizards, and even a few fury things including a long-haired rex mouse and a degu. Thank god I am really allergic to mice because that little fucker was cuuuuuuute! This room was all dark and when the woman realized I was in there she turned on the lights for me. That’s when everything here became even cuter. They had a good diversity of critters. This really reminded me of the golden age of pet shops and it didn’t smell bad. It was all very clean.
Back into the main part of the pet store I noticed one large tank divided into four with large fish in it including some absolutely stunning huge L-series plecos. My heart may have fluttered a bit. But alas, I was here for plants! So I asked if I had missed them. There were maybe five in with the bettas, tiny little sprigs, all super common plants I already had in my tank except for the last which looked like a very small scallion someone shoved in a fish tank appropriately titled “water onion.” I looked at it dubiously, shrugged my shoulders, said thank you and left. All and all I think this is a great place if you’re looking for critters – fancy fish, birds, rodents, and reptiles. I regret I didn’t buy anything but I’m not going to lie – I might be back for fish someday.
