Hi Von, there are many LFS and reefers near you.
For starters, check out the San Fernando Valley Reefers web site
www.sfvr.net. They have monthly meeting and frag swaps, and are all very nice people (wink wink). Many have "connections."
In terms of LFS from nearest to farthest:
*= must visit
1. Fumi's Tropical Fish in Granada Hills - on Chatsworth & White Oak. nice family-owned LFS, not much reef or SW stuff. talk to Adam.
2. *Creatures from the Sea in Reseda- Andrew used to have a store on Reseda near CSUN, now just e-mail him
http://creaturesfromthesea.com/ for the hookup...
3. *Rainbow Pet in Arleta - on Woodman and Nordoff. The best fish selection and prices in the valley. Talk to Miguel about the $30 box of Instant Ocean 200g. This is the busiest or 2nd busiest LFS in the valley (tied with Aquarium City)
4. Aquarium Works- the official supporter of SFVR
5. Sylmar Pets- on Hubbard. Fresh water stuff, but ok for feeder fish
6. Pet Supreme in Sylmar- on foothill near across from Home Depot. Good for supplies.
7. Exotic Life in Chatsworth- on Topanga Cyn and Lassen- OK, used to be better.
8. Underwater Depot in Sherman Oaks- on Ventura Blvd, pretty decent.
9. Advanced Aquatics in Newhall- on Newhall blvd, good in a pinch
10. *Pasadena Tropical Fish- on Colorado Blvd. They have 20% off new stock Sun 2-4pm. Steve knows his stuff.
Theres a lot of good stuff in Thousand Oaks, especially Fanstastic Frags one of the sponsors for this website. Also some stuff in Valencia.
The local wholesaler is *Oculus Aquatics in Van Nuys near the airport but you need a connection to get into there (wink wink).
At least a dozen LFS have closed down in the past 3 years, so please support some of these above.
Have fun!
