Keeping it Weird!

Well Oklahoma was just that, OK. I ended up finishing my run a day early, so I bummed around OKC last friday before catching my flight home.

This week I was in Austin, TX. Flew in late in the afternoon on Monday, and also finished a day early so I had all day today to bum around the weird city. (this is where the title of today's blog comes from. Austin's self proclaimed motto is "Keep Austin Weird" and if you have ever been here, this is absolutely the best way to describe the city) I love Austin, it has an amazingly eclectic mix of just about everything. The fish store scene is ok, I would have expected something more from the capital of Texas, but in the few shops that are around there are a couple of hidden gems, and the food is absolutely unbelievable!

On Wednesday, I got to visit one of my favorite shops, and quite possible the most unique LFS I have ever been to. The shop is the one and onle Austin Aqua-Dome! Yep it is called DOME, because it is located in a DOME! Not a Thunderdome, or Superdome, but a freaking AQUAdome! AAD has 3 employees, Gary the owner, Terri the FW manager, and Hunter the salty fella. They are an aquatics only shop that has been under current ownership since 1998. They do fw, sw, corals, frags, dry goods, and ponds and such behind "the Dome". Here are some pics so that you, the humble reader can get the Dome experience!

This is the Austin Aqua Dome from the outside (I cheat this pic is from Jan, everything is green now!)

A shot from behind the counter looking as some of the dry goods. Behind the last rack on the right is a staircase heading...Upstairs! to the saltwater livestock area...Upstairs!

The entry to the FW catacombs from the front dry goods department.

A look from the back of the FW catacombs to the entry in the photo above.

Isnt it cool how the rows of square tanks follow the curve of the Dome?

From the absolute back of the shop. My back is on the back door with tanks along the wall to the left and right of me and rows and rows and aisle and aisles of livestock options!

Now we are upstairs looking at the SW fish holding systems. The maps on the end of each of the tanks are the locales that those particular fish hail from!

A look across the top of the SW area with corals on the left, fish on the right and the cool Sun portal at the very top of the Dome!

I always manage to pick something up from these guys. Last visit it was a nice Micromussa colony, this time is was a wicked favia colony, a leopard wrasse some columbellid snails that they had breeding like weeds. The fact that these guys are a gold dealer in Seachem's Select Dealer program is simple the icing on the....DOME!