Please use the "Vendor Announcements" forum for shipment announcements. Thanks.

Not trying to restart this thread, but what we've been talking about here was exemplified today on RC...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=277679

I'm just getting back into this hobby after 20 years and after visiting all of the above LFS's I am astounded by the lack of knowledge and the lets get as much money from the uneducated as we can attitude.

In my previous experience, long ago, the few LFS that carried marine had incredibly knowledgable staff/owners who actually enjoyed the hobby, shared their knowledge eagerly with their customers and did not try to rip you off. When I see J&L's prices vs all the LFS here in Calgary and when I see the state that most of their tanks and livestock are in I'm disgusted!

Anyone out there for starting up a LFS that strives to get the best equipment at honest prices, give great service, treats livestock conscientiously, and take an actual interest in their clientele let me know I,m on board.

Sorry for the rant but just my .02 worth

Disgusted already? That didn't take long... :wink:
What do you consider "honest price"?

Mitch

When I see lighting systems at $150 more and replacement bulbs at $40 more. Then I begin to ? the honesty in their pricing. Now I understand every business needs to make a profit, but when does it become gauging?

My disgust was more in seeing dead livestock, I guess that would be deadstock, in several of the tanks. We can all go elsewhere if we want better prices, but it saddens me to see a beautiful marine specimen dead on the the bottom of the tank in a LFS and obviously having been there for awhile.

Cheers Scott

That is the reality of the business. Many fish die after the trauma of being removed from the ocean, shipped for many hours etc. I am sure the retailer does not want his fish to die. It would be better for him for you to buy the fish , and have it die in your tank. However, that being said, the cost of that dead fish has to be added to the cost of the fish you buy. That of course is one of the reasons for the high cost of marine fish. The retailer has to make money, or get out of the business.
As far as dry good go, the online seller can sell cheaper. He has no cost of renting a store, pay staff etc.

I understand that there is an unavoidable level of attrition, but please, that does not excuse the LFS from leaving dead fish in the tank for days as I have seen recently.

Whenever my sweetie join's me on "LFS crawls" it's almost alway's a sure bet that a dead fish will be seen somewhere. It bothers me to see that it's just ignored but I suppose I'm immune to it ? Not my little woman though. No sir. She'll march right up to the first staff member she see's and inform them of her findings and sugguest something be done about it !
She was once informed that "they were aware of that and they allow the other fish to consume the remains..." :eek: . That went over well... :rolleyes:

This is a fairly poor argument Bob. J&L is one of the cheapest sources for both livestock and dry goods in Canada, and they have a storefront and staff. There are costs associated with selling, whether you're online or not. A guy shipping fish out of his basement has to pay for the associated electricity, water, etc. Even drop shippers (as LiveAquaria.com is said to be) must pay for a location and associated costs, and the cost of holding the animals while they assemble the order.

Even more disappointing than dead fish in tanks is starving fish in tanks. The dead ones may have died during shipping. But there's no reason animals should be starving at the LFSs.

One of the reasons behind fish starving in LFS tanks is the fact that they were caught using cyanide, which I believe will also destroy the bacteria living in the intestines, so while a fish may have lots of food available, and may indeed be eating, the fish is getting no nutritional benefit.

The same goes for over medicating with copper.

I pretty sure about cyanide doing that, but I may be wrong. That's one of the problems associated with cyanide collection.

Not to mention that there they were, swimming in their nice comfy ocean, and all of a sudden they find themselves in a bare tank with lots of other fish.
There may be some stress associated with that too.... :wink:

Mitch