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Originally Posted by BC_Grl
Mitch, that is a cool icon. Where did you get it?
btw- I must say I liked that pic of you. Do you actually cook? 
I'm one for talk- my husband cooks about 90-95% of the time (but don't tell him mine tastes better though  )
Btw- where is cowtown? |
Jeanna - I got the icon from:
http://mysmilies.com/
I was looking for one that was beating a dead horse, but found that one instead!
Yes, I am THE cook in the house!....(right dear?)
Right after that pic, I filled the bag with 2 bottles of wine and let it sit overnight.
.........well, maybe a little
less than 2 bottles......
Cowtown = Calgary. I remember that sign on one of the roads entering Calgary when I was growing up.
Deb, to answer your question directly - I don't know. But FWIW, it's not really necessary, is it?
The very nature of a business dealing in live animals is controversial. Passion and business do not mix. You can't have 5000 gallon tanks with mass macro algae forests and cascading plancton reactors and a supply of constant live food for each fish to be displayed until it's sold and still make money without selling each fish for 2 thousand dollars. You can't exactly keep it on the front driveway in the hot sun and expect the fish to live until it's sold, either. So each LFS has to make up it's mind how in between those two extremes it's going to run it's business.
(Deb, I know that you know this stuff already, but this is for people that are not really familiar with business)
In the bigger picture, what are we, about 10 people here that purchase from Wai's? - and only occasionally? - and some buy on price first? I doubt that we are really that big of a portion of his sales. I buy there because I prefer to see what I am getting when it comes to livestock. I've been to almost every other LFS in town, and Wai's is where I get the best service and advice. I can get into discussions with Danny about chemical issues with our water, with shipping practices, woodworking, business dealings in general, supplier issues and pretty much anything having to do with keeping a reef. No, we don't agree on everything. He's been in the business for about 20 years. He's seen it all, and all the fads. He used to be an Aquaricare dealer (I think that's the name, anyways....you know, those algae turf scrubbers...). He's the owner. He works 7 days a week there. He builds custom fish tanks and cabinets - and top quality. (He's shown me some of the cabinets before he delivers them.) He recognizes me when I come in.
With other fish stores in town, I talk with the employees....sometimes....
At big Als, they do greet me and stuff, but it's usually by an employee that warns me about the dangers of a trigger, has never heard of Aquamedic, Aqualine, ESV - but they have a MH "conversion kit" that converts my flourescent fixture over to MH for $1500.00. They didn't know what a double ended MH bulb was.
At Riverfront, I can be the ONLY customer in the store and NOT ONE person will come up and offer any assistance. There are a few people standing in the back, smoking, just watching me.....what's up with that!? Do I look like a narc or something?.......I can be in there for half an hour, for pete's sake! Then I just leave. And on my way out I walk by the "reptile room" that has lots of critters, some with a couple of blind baby mice squirming on the woodchip floor of the glass tank being eyed by some kind of "dragon".
Pisces is probably my second choice, after Wai's, to buy stuff from - but again, it's staffed by employees that may or may not know me, and they have no where near the coral display that Danny does.
There are a few instances that stick out in my mind with my dealings with Danny - I went in there once to ask him how to keep algae from growing on a sick Euphyllia I had. He told me about water quality, iodine dip for the infection, water circulation, ect, and then he says that he has some algae growing on an acro that he got in, and then he pulls out a pair of tweezers from behind the counter and proceeds to clean the acro of some hair algae that had started growing on it! How many other LFS's would do that? Some of the other things that he has had to contend with are people trying to start their own coral farming operation in Calgary. One guy in particular would come into his store and start handing out business cards, telling Danny's customers that they could buy corals cheaper from him out of his home. Wai's is also frequented by employees from other LFS' that are sent to find out what Danny sells stuff for, and then they adjust their prices accordingly. - Just under Danny's prices, of course.
I think that the people that frequent these BB's have a passion for fish and corals that is unfortunately rare. I see Jayson on here, but not J&L. They both have mail order businesses. Danny does not. Why isn't J&L on here? (J&L and SWC are both great to deal with, BTW)
It takes a lot of time to read and post on these boards, and I don't expect it's worth it to Danny.
It wasn't me, BTW, that informed him about the cyanide thread - it was a friend of his out of town. - and that issue isn't even about him anymore. It's about the internet and business and libel.
If you want to discuss things with Danny, then go and discuss it with him.
Deb, I'm sure that you've read this thread, but for those of you that haven't, and are tired of paying full retail......read this:
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=23&start=0
Mitch