Glad to of found your club!!!!!!

[Zoaholic]

Hello eveyone,
My name is Brian, I currently live in Western NY., I am coming down to Asheville this weekend and staying for a week. My girl and I are looking into moving here and will be mostly driving around, looking at property ect. ect.
I am very into coral propagation, mostly zoos and ricordeas though I plan to get into everything, SPS and the like and plan on starting up a propagation buisness when I do finally move, within the next year when we both are done with school. My main website is being redesigned at the moment, my original site is still up at http://www.briansonlineaquarium.com Please feel free to take a browse. So how many fish stores are in the area? Which ones should I check out? Ant info would be great, I was just going to use a phone book when I got down there and just stumbled across this board today. I will be leaving Sunday morning so any responses are GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks again,
Brian

[rcorbitt]

Welcome to Western North Carolina, even if it is for only a week! There are only really three stores in the Asheville area: WNC Imports in Fletcher, Everything Fishy in east Asheville, and Fish Tails in North Asheville. There are a couple of other stores I would recommend within a couple hours drive. Hi Tide in Charlotte, NC, and Cappuccino Bay, in Atlanta, GA are much bigger, and carry SPS and zoos. Cap Bay has over 150 clams, and one of the best selections of coral in the country.

There are a couple of guys in the Upstate of South Carolina that are into propagation. Check out Rob's Reef (www.robsreef.com) and Tom Wyatt (tdwyatt on reefcentral.com)

Let us know when you get here, a propagation business will probably do well.

[Zoaholic]

rcorbitt,
Thanks, I will check out all of them except the one in GA. I am driving through Charlotte and then to VA to visit a few friends, though the one in GA sounds interesting. I have been holding off on starting a buisness untill I plant my feet permenently, and New York is wearing on me. I have full intentions of bringing all my current stock with me, thank god my girl is getting a degree in which her employer will more than likely pay for the move. ( Nurse Practioner ) leaving me free to only worry about my livestock. I hope to be down there by next summer, in the process of selling my properties up here, I hope to find some land while on this trip, looking for 20 - 100 acres within a 40 -50 minute drive from Asheville. Hope I have some luck! I am familiar with Robs Reef, I know him through Zoosrus.com. Talk to you soon,
Brian

[atzak]

Welcome,
HE left out one of my favorite shops, fins and critters, in Shelby. It's about an hour from Asheville, on hwy 74. He usually has a good selection of sps, and some nice frags at decent prices. You can still get a good deal on acreage on the north side of town, off I26 near Barnardsville, it seems the prices on realestate go up every month or so here, though.
Good luck!

[rcorbitt]

Doh!!! Sorry about that! Fins and Critters has great stuff, and really good prices. There is another one in Hickory that I also left out - Hickory Sea Aquarium. They have a couple of show tanks like no one else.

I agree with atzak about Barnardsville. Be warned, real estate in the Asheville area is the most expensive in North Carolina, while wages are at the bottom. The average home sells for around $200,000. The farther you go from Asheville, the more reasonable the pricing. Send me a PM, and I can steer you in the right direction for a REALTOR or real estate company. I worked for the Asheville Board of REALTORS for three years, so I know everybody in real estate; and I know the market.

You might even want to check out the Clyde area, just avoid the low areas. (Clyde has a flooding problem. Flood insurance is NOT available! See Hurricane Ivan for more information.)

[Zoaholic]

Thaks alot for all the information!!!

I will check out the areas you specified, and I will FOR SURE get ahold of you about realtors ect. after I scope out the area a little, thanks for the offer by the way. I don't want to be to close to the city I like a rural setting. Plus I plan on needing room for a building/green house for my endevour. So whats the reef scene like their?? I do alot of internet sales so I haven't looked at the overall addiction down there. I know I am spoiled by being in an area that has the second largest reef club in the country outside of Boston. Are there alot of other reefers in your club? How many? Is there anyother dicussion boards besides this one you partake in as a club, I know your not on RC yet?
Sorry for so many ?'s but I have been browsing for reefers or clubs in your area, NC,SC, ect for some time now and all the forums I have found are pretty dead, as in no new posts except every few months. Are their any fish hatcheries in your area??

Brian

[Zoaholic]

Another one,
Do you have your own club website??

Brian

[rcorbitt]

There aren't many members in our club, yet. We just had the first meeting in July. Our September meeting was postponed due to Hurricane Frann, and probably won't be rescheduled. (Hurricane Jeanne stops by tomorrow for a quick visit, and a few more inches of rain.)

We'll have the October meeting location posted in a week or so.

The bigger clubs are in Columbia, SC (www.columbiamarineaquariumclub.org) and Atlanta, GA. The big club in Atlanta (www.atlantareefclub.org) has 350 or so members. Recently, a splinter group formed, (www.atlanta-smas.org) and met yesterday with about 40 or so members. Our web site is a work in progress, www.ashevillereefclub.org.

As for hatcheries, I don't think there any in our immediate area. I know there are a couple of breeders in South Carolina, but beyond that... maybe someone else can answer this question for you.

BTW - Most of Western North Carolina is rural, even in the city. There are several live cams, and city websites worth a look. live-photo.com, www.wlos.com, goasheville.com

[Zoaholic]

And man did I want to stay!
You guys live in a BEAUTIFUL area!! I was in Waynesville on Ratcliff Rd, The girl and I are giving ourselfs 1 year to finish school and get our stuff together and I am THERE!
Rcorbitt, thanks for all the info, we will be looking to move into Waynesville. Will probably rent something for a while till I get a better feel for the surrounding area's. Asheville was a really cool city. Met alot of nice people. Food was good too.
I checked out the fish stores, it seemed as though they had alot of tanks with alot of room in them but not much livestock or corals. Maybe I hit them in between shipments. But very nice none the less. I'll make sure to keep in touch through the boards.

Brian

Rcorbitt- The names of any realtors that you know could help me out would be great! I hate to just walk in some where blind. THANKS. B