LFS visits
 

Well I sort of made the rounds today. Went to Big Al's and the same as always it was not worth the trip. Then off to Wai's where little has changed. If I made any remark I would be repeating myself. I did pick up a Yellow Goby for my 20H. Then off to Ocean's. That was more interesting. I picked up a Yellow Shrimp, which nobody had seen to date. I met Stretch there, and had a good conversation. I also met Aussyfishy, and anjoyed a chat. I saw a couple of Ritteri, and a LTA that had been there for more than a month, and appeared to be doing very well. The LTA had an Anemone Shrimp living in it. BTW I posted a picture of the shrimp in the "Reef" section. :biggrin: :rolleyes:

A bit of rhetoric - we spend a lot of time stating how many problems the local stores have, and how much we dislike them, and yet we still shop there. Shouldn't we be talking with our wallets, or does it make more sense to attempt to influence policy and practice through friendly and supportive gestures?

A point well taken, and discarded by me. It is a question of supply and demand. I wanted a Yellow Goby. Mr. Wai is the only one who carries them. Ergo that is where I bought it. I may have even saved a life. It won't starve to death in my tank unless it decides to do so on its own. My personal feeling for the guy has not changed. I have no problem at all with the other shop where I purchased a couple of critters. :razz: :eek:

i think it is pretty sad to dislike/hate LFS when you are an active reef/marine livestock keeper.. people just got misleaded and think LFS are "EVIL" i agree there are some bad operation of business which lacks ethic, but not every store/employee is like that. :eek:

what i want to say is, there are always 2 ways to look at things, optimistic and pessimistic. i can't blame people whom got burnt once or twice never be able to accept new workers in LFS, but i would like to tell you all if you all give a chance for new things, chances are you will be a much more happy reefer! they are the ones that support you too! me being a new generation of employee in this industry will try every effort to upgrade myself, but i hate people who "thinks" that all workers in LFS are stupid and know nothing... i accept knowledge challenges everyday i worked and i have never found anyone read aquarium literature as much as i do. i cannot say i am the best, but i am not stupid and WILL NOT give stupid or bias advice. i give people opinions so that customers really understand what i am talking about. i always have customers hang out in our store and talk/discuss, they need not to buy stuff, but it is like a place to gather and share.

people often having a hard time accepting the fact that there are someone in the LFS knows more than them, truth might be blunt, but they are the truth.

please when telling OPINIONATED (Holding stubbornly and often unreasonably to one's own opinions.) views about others or on any subjects, please state that it is your opinion, it is not the truth that all reefers dislike LFS. who is we? all calgarians? just you and your siblings and closed firends?? " :lol: :rolleyes: we" can be very very broad and you are attempting to mislead others by painting a picture to let everybody feels that no one in calgary supports LFS and it is worthless.

and i spell everthing right. i am not an ILLITERATE (Ignorant of the fundamentals of a given art or branch of knowledge: ) by oxford dictionary :exclaim:

UHH no my friend you do NOT spell everything right. :eek: , and don't be too paranoid. I am sure nobody hates you. I enjoyed talking to you guys. Make sure you do what your sidekick (I missed his name, because I was not introduced) said. Set up that table and chairs, and I am sure we will drop in for a chat. :biggrin: :rolleyes:

Oh Bob, Oh Bob. You can spell but your grammer is not that great. :biggrin:

Sometimes I spell things left instead of right.

such as boB???

Mmmm, I don't know about that. I am sure it is not perfect, but then whose is on this board eh :question: :razz:

me me me me me :mrgreen:

Steve

I guess I won't say anything about your spelling of acquired then, as it is probably spelt left. :biggrin: :razz:

Dear oh dear did I spell acquire wrong somewhere? I guess I "left" out a letter or something? Whoops-a-doodle.

it is really happy to see bob in the shop, and keeps a open mind of things... not alot of people can do this these days... thanks BOB. (it spell right no matter what direction.) :redface: "did i really spell anything wrong?" :smile:

I take it back, there is nothing really misspelled. Therte is something wrong with your sentences. There are words missing etc. I don't quite know why. :redface:

Syntactical issues mostly. And addressing oneself in the third person and as genderless ("it is really happy") is not common in English. But we get the point. :lol:

It is really happy sounds like Gollum. We get the point, but it is funny that the person doing the writing does not talk like that. :biggrin:

:razz: :mrgreen:

yeah... i have a master thesis to write so i have to polish my skills... luckily i have a gf which write better than i do... :razz:

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: corrected

Masters thesis, eh? Whatcha studying?

Did you have to write a GRE for your program? :neutral:

Speaking of Ocean, was there today looking at a few baby Synchiropus splendidus that were <2" long. Twenty bucks each. Cute little buggers, active and full-bodied... If an adult can survive in a 120 or better, how about a baby? (Just throwing that out there...)
:biggrin:
They still have a Heteractis magnifica stuck to the side of the "anemone" tank, but it seems to be languishing since I last looked in on it a couple of weeks ago. If anyone wants to save it, now's the time... :wink:

They still have those little guys? I bought the biggest one he had last weekend. Really nice colors, too bad she doesn't come out into the open :rolleyes:

Thank you for correctingmy post BOB! :razz:

Today i met AJ, and his sons, and yeah, hi!

Now the anemone... it is still eating and we try to give it good light and water quality, maybe some suggestion to better keep them in a shop setting? anyone?
:biggrin:

I am a economics major and now thinking of a master's thesis for my MA.
any suggestion for that as well?

Just wanna thank you for members whom have met me in the shop, your opinion and views are everything to us!

please check the vendor post often for arrival notice. :razz:

Good to meet you too.
Get that Magnificent/Ritteri into the big softie tank on the right, with the MH fixtures over it. The current and light there is MUCH closer to what these very demanding anemones need - MH and vigorous flow. (This is what I've read, and been told by some expert aquarists who have managed to keep them successfully.) It will likely take on some of the brilliance they are known for, and be a much easier sale. :wink:

Keep feeding it - good job. I hear they really like mysis shrimp by the chunk...

Which store are you at?

Ocean's I believe.

Ocean Aquarium, Center St north at about 24th ave. In a little strip mall.
Bit of a hike for you, Jonny.
:biggrin:

No doubt. While you're up in the north you could stop by my place for that acro frag. :rolleyes: :razz:

yeah, it would be a great idea if we can put it into the softie tank with MH and flow, but once it attach to a rock or hide behind all the rock work, it would be a impossible sale... maybe i have to build it a little corner, with eggcrate?? not sure... any idea? maybe put a strong powerhead in the existing tank?

another problem i "foresee" is that since the shop only have MH in 2 of the tanks, and i think i cannot stock 2 anemone together, they touch and might get damage... space is of concern...

i guess in a shop setting, sacrifice must be made, until there exist a balance between cost and benefit... any opinions on improving the state of the anemone habitant yet not costing the shop an arm and a leg?

:rolleyes: :razz:

Split a tank with eggcrate, slap 250w halides over it (available pretty cheap, look into Sun Aquatics stuff), put each of your anemones in a separate compartment. I don't feel there is any excuse for not providing an acceptable level of care. Theoretically you could save money if less of your anemones die before they are sold.

Thanks guys! Never been inside but been buy many times.

Oh, and - they had a small Purple Tang with HLLE, on special for $50.

Nice fish, but needs care... Mom Tang kind of care.

well, teevee, if it is this cheap, can you get a store going and see what happens?

i will see what i can do... as for your idea :rolleyes:
i already put a powerhead into the anemone tank... as i said, budget is really tight and i must find a balance between cost and benefits.

Aussiefishy, I'd love to come into your store and take a look at your ritteri. I've kept one for three years now. Definitely my favourite species.

It is unfortunate they get so large. I have more than I can handle with the one I have right now.

The "rules" with this species is, as much light as possible, as much current as possible, and plenty of food. I agree with the already-suggested mysis. Other things, small chopped up pieces of shrimp, maybe some fish (silversides? not too much though), basically seafood.

Now. If yours is eating (and keeping down the food it is offered), this is a good sign. He is sitting on the glass though, because he is looking for a spot with more current and/or more light. Instinctly, they move upwards if they are not getting enough of what they're looking for. In the wild, you will find these anemones at the very top of the reef.

The best way to keep them from wandering is to make a pillar (or "bommie") of rocks and have the anemone sit on top. This will mimic it's natural environment. For current, maybe aim two powerheads at each other, have the point where the currents converge/meet just slightly adjacent to the anemone. This will create some great laminar flow. You want the point of convergence to be slightly adjacent because we don't want to aim the powerheads right at the anemone (powerhead output is an unnatural flow type). If possible, have a source of light directly above. Halides are best.

I know it would be annoying to have it attach to a rock, but, ... well two things. One, it will look better. Someone will likely buy it more easily. You can either sell the rock with it (this is what I'd do, actually). Or, if you use a smooth surfaced rock, you might be able to tease the anemone off. This has both advantages and disadvantages. A smooth surfaced rock is what he'd likely be attached to in the wild. A smooth surface will be easier to coax him off. But, coaxing an anemone off a rock is never fun, and if rushed, can lead to injury of the foot. So, it's a judgment call I suppose. I know if it was me, I'd just try to sell it with the rock.

Take this all as free advice. I don't know the first thing about running a store, and I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it myself. I do know, however, a small bit about anemones and I'm happy to offer to any advice to anyone who wants to listen to me. :lol:

I thought you were an economics major. I gave you a suggestion to save you money in the long run, do a cost-benefit analysis. You don't need to do exactly what I said. If you look around you will find that metal halide setups aren't that expensive if you put them together yourself.

oh now i am getting comment on my specialty of studies....

thank you for your advise on the anemone... as we look at the sales we are selling these anemone within a timeframe of between 7-21 days... and the shop currently are not planning on getting another HQI setup... we do not use MH. the way i think about this issue is how much anemone can i sell to cover the expense on them... this is the store's cost-benefit analysis. i am not sure if i am correct but i think it is a sensible way of how a petstore is to be operated.

i do not want to start an argument on store ethics but i don't think our store's setup is abusing the anemone, at least we are not trying to abuse it and provide the worse possible habitat for them. tony's opinion is well accounted for and i am happy to try-out the powerheads. see how it goes.

we have 2 ritteri's, one is sold... today and the other is still healthy.
if you want to talk about how fish store are handling their livestock, i am confident to say we are not the worst but the point is we are not trying to be one. that is why i am taking my own time to come and talk about this. i am not paid for the time i spend in this forum and i do not get any benefits from se4lling anything in the shop rather than my hourly pay.

please remember one thing, i don't owned the shop, and by all means i am a hobbiest. but i have a fair view on things. :redface:

thank you
:smile:

and if possible, may i meet tony in the shop on sunday from 1230-1730?

LFS care
 

Pet stores are not designed to hold creatures for a long period of time and to pick on one because of something you have noticed is unfair. I could find something that isnt recommended in just about every LFS I go into. Take it one step further and take a look at the dogs and cats next time your in a pet store, I have never read any piece of literature that recommends keeping cats and dogs in 3x3 square cages, but it goes on every day.

Back to fish, they are pulled from thier natural habitat, put in a holding container for days (weeks), put in a plastic bag, shipped around the globe, put in a tank at a pet store and finally put in the aquarists aquarium. I see one cruel thing in this chain (can you pick it out). Unless your tank is fully captive bred you shouldnt be throwing any stones.