In doing a search near me the only reference is to West Melbourne aquatics. But it has since closed. There may very well be a nice reef store somewhere, however, all of the privately-owned pet stores in my area are really dirty and most of the time I think the freshwater fish are an after thought. The one specializing in aquariums had algae build up in many of the tanks, the water was not clear, I definitely would not be asking advice on how to maintain a tank. They had a couple of pretty saltwater tanks but for the most part I was put off by the condition of the store overall. Another had visible pest snails in thier tanks and had betta "kits" on special as you walked in the door....you can guess what they were. They looked like mothers day presents in place of flowers or something.
The Pet Smart on state rd 192 Melbourne Florida was the cleanest place I've seen yet with a young woman named Lori who at least was obviously loving her job. Still, I recognized the benifit of having stumbled across this forum before I looked for fish.
All of the major pet stores sell dozens on dozens of tanks hardly fit for snails let alone anything else. Not the employees fault but no wonder so many fish end up going home to thier demise.
On the entirely opposite end of my County, Titusville, I hoped to find a nice shop for freshwater. Same situation. Sadly the Petco in the Target Plaza is the cleanest place to buy fish. Even their betta cups have been spotless with active fish in them the several times I have been there.
In the middle of our county, Viera Florida, you have a Petco and Pet Smart within a couple of miles of each other. I would probably go with Petco as the older woman in the store understood what I was asking for when I asked for media to replace the filter cartridge (plastic card with carbon) that came with my tank. But the Pet Smart employee seemed too busy to do anything. Maybe someone called in sick and she was alone. Who knows.
I will continue to look. In the meantime if anyone knows of a shop in Volusia County (the next one below ours along the coast) give a shout. I will be watching this thread to see. Thanks for all the information here. Would have been disastrous for me otherwise.