Thoughts on Dr. Reef

[brandon429]

Let the record reflect in all fairness, I'm too lazy to prep marine fish myself, it's not worth the hassle for me. The time invested, the detailed aseptic handling steps just shy of level 4 ppe

Nope

Good thing I don't keep them, I think fish are kind of boring only corals are fun. That lucky mode gives me nobody to pin failures on

I never in a million years would think purchasing from Fishotel or Dr Reef means I can skip preps if I wanted fish

I would buy from one of them *so that my home qt and prep systems* get the best possible healthy disease free entrants

The final responsibility is on me, never ever ever ever ever someone else. My own qt and lengthy evaluation periods would catch the get- throughs, if i liked fish enough to bother with all that

 

[cdnco2004]

I have made a number of purchases from Dr Reef. I only had issues with 1 order. One of the two fish was not doing well after shipment. Was on deaths door when I opened the box. But was still alive and I was able to nurse back to good health. The other purchases I have made have all been great. Getting pre QTed fish helps to make sure your fish arrive healthy, but nothing is guaranteed. Nothing is 100%. So of course there are still issues from time to time. They are not miracle workers. More than likely the issue I ran into was just shipping stress. The fish survived.

 

[dbroncos]

Ordered from him multiple times and never had an issue great communication and fish.

 

[BigMax]

I purchased an Aussie Harlequin Tusk and an adult Emperor Angel from Dr. Reef about 5 weeks ago. The shipping container, plus water, weighed just under 50 lbs. The fish arrived in perfect condition, triple-bagged with lots of water, showing no signs of stress whatsoever. They were both feeding vigorously the same evening. They are very nice specimens.

Unfortunately, the emperor stopped eating for about 7 days after the 3rd week in quarantine (I have each fish in their own 70-gallon quarantine tank). I never add anything directly to my display tank; I want them to adjust to their feeding regimen and keep them under observation. The emperor is once again eating, but only live clams in the half shell. Hopefully, I'll get him through this and back to a normal diet. There were no external signs of any disease or flukes, so it's difficult to say, but I assume it's some sort of internal organ disorder.

All things considered, can I blame the current malady on Dr. Reef? Absolutely not. Everything I could observe on my end was first-rate. I was concerned at one point about cyanide poisoning, as the emperor is a Philippines fish, but he's past the window of time that a cyanide-poisoned fish would typically be alive. I've been in the hobby for decades and will definitely do business with them again. As mentioned in another post, many of the issues are brought on by the hobbyists themselves, and the seller is seen as the culprit. It becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction other than the initial receipt, such as a DOA (Dead On Arrival).

 

[Spare time]

My only concern is that the fish in copper power are treated between 1.75-2.25ppm. Below 2ppm is not going to work. The QT timeline for copper is also short (2 weeks) but it is better than nothing and they go into a 14 day observation afterwards. Other than that its a million times better than buying non quarentined. The prices seem fair and I would tell people to shop there before buying elsewhere without a QT.

 

[cdnco2004]

I purchased an Aussie Harlequin Tusk and an adult Emperor Angel from Dr. Reef about 5 weeks ago. The shipping container, plus water, weighed just under 50 lbs. The fish arrived in perfect condition, triple-bagged with lots of water, showing no signs of stress whatsoever. They were both feeding vigorously the same evening. They are very nice specimens.

Unfortunately, the emperor stopped eating for about 7 days after the 3rd week in quarantine (I have each fish in their own 70-gallon quarantine tank). I never add anything directly to my display tank; I want them to adjust to their feeding regimen and keep them under observation. The emperor is once again eating, but only live clams in the half shell. Hopefully, I'll get him through this and back to a normal diet. There were no external signs of any disease or flukes, so it's difficult to say, but I assume it's some sort of internal organ disorder.

All things considered, can I blame the current malady on Dr. Reef? Absolutely not. Everything I could observe on my end was first-rate. I was concerned at one point about cyanide poisoning, as the emperor is a Philippines fish, but he's past the window of time that a cyanide-poisoned fish would typically be alive. I've been in the hobby for decades and will definitely do business with them again. As mentioned in another post, many of the issues are brought on by the hobbyists themselves, and the seller is seen as the culprit. It becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction other than the initial receipt, such as a DOA (Dead On Arrival).

The last fish I got from Dr Reef was a Queen Angle, Majestic Angle, Flame Back Angle and a cleaner wrasse. Mine was packaged as well as yours. Packaging was one of the best I have gotten (always had been great with Dr Reef). Each in their own bag. 60lbs of water. I had to take water out of the observation tanks to be able to float the bags there was just so much water in each bag (which is a great thing).

 

[Synthgp]

I just ordered my first fish from Dr. Reef’s with a scheduled ship this Wednesday/arrival Thursday and will share my experience and pictures for added context.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I was wondering how the QT fish were from Dr. Reef. I'm trying to get a Midas Blenny and Royal Gramma, I just want to make sure the general consensus is that they're healthy fish upon arrival. I know he only does 2 weeks of QT and that has me skeptical.

We qt for 30 days, not sure where you got 14 days.
First 14 days in copper and then additional 14 days in prazi and metro etc. so a total of 28 days.

Regarding humblefish, Look up our old posts prior to covid, we were supposed to start a business togther and he was to move to Kansas 1.5 hrs away from me and he never did and we had a political fall out. Thus you will never see anything positive there. Try posting anything positive at his website and see for yourself.

1 quick question: who made anyone including humblefish an authority of declaring someone a good qt business or not? There is not a single person department or authirity on this planet that can issue someone or a business a certificate of qtying business. its a simple protocol that every hobbyist practices in their own home difference is other businesses like ours do it on broad scale.

In 5 years of us doing this commercially we had only 16 cases reported for ich or velvet related issues and in most all cases people added non qted corals frags cuc or something in and only 1 case was unsolved but he had fallowed his tank prior to purchase and maybe it failed.
Over 9000 orders sold with average of 5 fish each, about 45k fish qted and only 1 unsolved incident is nearly 100% in this very uncertain business of qtying fish.

If ich or velvet was to come from our fish, knowing the parasite, tons of customers will has issues not 1 or 2 as all fish share same water. so likely the truth is somewhere in between.

We guarantee our fish without really putting in writing for obvious reasons but in every case mentioned above we replaced every fish to them including fish they didnt buy from us. That speaks for itself when it comes to customer service.

And regarding our doa policy nothing has never changed. Its either refund or store credit or replacement at no cost to customer on all livestock that arrived dead or was never shipped or missed. Credit and replacement on one's that die later on in guarantee period.

 

[cdnco2004]

We qt for 30 days, not sure where you got 14 days.
First 14 days in copper and then additional 14 days in prazi and mtero etc. so a total of 28 days.

Regarding humblefish, Look up our old posts prior to covid, we were supposed to start a business togther and he was to move to Kansas 1.5 hrs away from me and he never did and we havd a political fall out. Thus you will never see anything posituve there. Try posting anything positive at his website and see for yourself.

And regarding our doa policy nothing has ever changed. Its either refund or store credit or replacement as no cost to customer.

They don't bad mouth you persay on Humble.fish. Honestly Humble and most of the almost staff/mods don't make negative comments. Its mostly users that bash you. But there are a number of users that, like myself reply and give honest feedback of your services. I know whats his name Dierks who runs Fish Hotel (a competing QT service to Dr Reef for those who don't know what fish hotel is) said he respects you and your process and ability to QT as many fish as you do.

 

[Dr. Reef]

They don't bad mouth you persay on Humble.fish. Honestly Humble and most of the almost staff/mods don't make negative comments. Its mostly users that bash you. But there are a number of users that, like myself reply and give honest feedback of your services. I know whats his name Dierks who runs Fish Hotel (a competing QT service to Dr Reef for those who don't know what fish hotel is) said he respects you and your process and ability to QT as many fish as you do.

Good to know as I dont even goto that website.
I have nothing but respect for Humblefish as I am who I am today due to him pushing me into this business. If it wasnt for him I was only doing qtying locally. Hope we can be friends again one day.

 

[cdnco2004]

Good to know as I dont even goto that website.
I have nothing but respect for Humblefish as I am who I am today due to him pushing me into this business. If it wasnt for him I was only doing qtying locally only. Hope we can be friends again one day.

Yeah I mostly go there for medical related info. I know there may be hard feelings between you guys but I hope you can figure something out. I think it would be great if you could come back and be active their again. From my brief conversations with humble, I don't think he would object to you coming back. But I also know how busy you must be but I think it would be good.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Yeah I mostly go there for medical related info. I know there may be hard feelings between you guys but I hope you can figure something out. I think it would be great if you could come back and be active their again. From my brief conversations with humble, I don't think he would object to you coming back. But I also know how busy you must be but I think it would be good.

I wouldnt mind, but Its the principle of it, He told me to leave under mutual agreement, so I left. If he invites me back on mutual agreement, I will come back.
We are very busy as is, we have 4 months worth of orders in advance at most all times. We moved warehouse 4 times and finally again in October.
We went form 1000 sq ft to 2 warehouse in 6 months then added a 3rd warehouse now we are trying to combine into a 10000 sq ft warehouse.
We always listen to people what they have issues with and we always try to do what we can to change and fix the issue. We had communication issues we fixed it by hiring a call center that answers calls and emails 24/7.
So we are always trying to better ourselves, there was no model business to look at for what we do. We had to learn everything from trial and errror and from feedbacks. Critisism is healthy for us to change and grow.
Lease has been signed, New tanks ordered from Concept Aquaruims Calgary Canada.
Our goal is to have enough fish qted and ready on hand to be able to ship the order within 3-5 days of getting the order in.

 

[blecki]

I would order from Dr Reef again except that my tank is already overstocked with fish from him.

 

[HiggsUSA]

I wouldnt mind, but He himself told me to mutaully agree on departure so if he initiates a dialogue I am not opposed to it. Its principle, He told me to leave under mutual agreement I left. He invites me back on mutual agreement I will come back.
We are very busy as is, we have 4 months worth of orders in advance at most all times. We moved warehouse 4 times and finally again in October.
We went form 1000 sq ft to 2 warehouse in 6 months then added a 3rd warehouse now we are trying to combine into a 10000 sq ft warehouse.
We also hired a call center that answers calls and emails 24/7.
So we are always trying to better ourselves, there was no model business to look at for what we do. We had to learn everything from trial and errror and from feedbacks. Critisism is healthy for us to change and grow.
Lease has been signed, New tanks ordered from Concept Aquaruims Calgary Canada.
Our goal is to have enough fish qted and ready on hand to be able to ship the order within 3-5 days of getting the order in.

I, for one, appreciate what you guys are doing. I ordered from you recently and am excited to get that order in. My experience thus far has been great with prompt answers to my questions and updates to my order. I'm excited to see the day you guys reach that goal.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Anyone posted bad experience prior to post #32, I am offering $200 in livestock with free shipping.
Email us at [email protected] with your post # from this thread and we will happily give you livestock worth $200 and free shipping just as a gesture of good faith and honest business practices, Maybe we had a bad shipment. Please mention in your email what went wrong so we can fix and and give you a better service/livestock that you deserve.

As I always say, I dont do this for money but rather the passion I have for this hobby. Like to see healthy and diseasefree fish in every tank.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Anyone posted bad experience prior to post #32, I will offer you $200 with free shipping.
Email us at [email protected] with your post # from this thread and we will happily give you livestock worth $200 and free shipping just as a gesture of good faith and honest business practices, Maybe we had a bad shipment. Please mention in your email what went wrong so we can fix and and give you a better service/livestock that you deserve.

I’ve never used your service but I have spoken with you over the phone when I first got into the hobby and was looking for my first fish. We never made a deal mostly because I wanted to drive over to pick them up. Just shy of 2 hrs. I think you were in the process of moving.

But either way, you were very helpful in conversation and I always see you strive to make things right. And this post here is a perfect example.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

thats very generous of you. i just placed my first order last week and i cant wait to get it! wishing you the best!

 

[Dr. Reef]

I’ve never used your service but I have spoken with you over the phone when I first got into the hobby and was looking for my first fish. We never made a deal mostly because I wanted to drive over to pick them up. Just shy of 2 hrs. I think you were in the process of moving.

But either way, you were very helpful in conversation and I always see you strive to make things right. And this post here is a perfect example.

Hi
I am so thankful to your feedback. yes we have moved several times and once again we are moving.
I started from my garage. Then moved to a small warehouse then moved and moved and moved. lol.
As you see we are always doing the best to help our customers.
I had covid 5 times so we did shut down meeting people in person at 1 point.

By the way we do curbside pickups now.

Again we are not open to public due to insurance reasons. They wont allow us customer in as we are not open to public. And also for another reason which we observed in the past is when customers come in to pick up their fish they wanna see more fish and want to buy more fish on impulse. But most of our fish are tied to orders or are backup to orders and we cant definitly tell them yes or no on sale of that fish, it left bad taste. "I came all the way here to buy fish and you dont wanna sell me this additional fish" So we decided to do only curbside service.

Most all our fish are tied to orders or are backup to the order and we seem to look like we have many fish in tanks but honestly they are not 100% free and clear saleable livestock.
Sometimes we have to replace a doa or wrong or bad fish etc thus we cant just sell something we have in stock without going through several hundred orders.

We wont know the issues our customers are facing till they tell us. I visited every and I mean every wholesaler in USA to see how they manage and run their business. They were my only role models. We learned a lot from them speacially @qualitymarine
Please let us know where we go wrong so we can help improve our services.

 

[thaifood]

I just received my second order from Dr. Reef. As part of the order I paid for 2 Bengai Cardinals. When the order arrived there were 3 in the box. That was great as I was on the fence between 2 or 3 and to my surprise he put in a free one. Not suggesting you will get free fish from him, but I sure appreciated that. All my fish are doing well.

In my first order I did have a six-line wrasse that did not make it. He was not looking good on arrival, but I thought I had nursed him back. However, on the third or fourth day he died. Dr. Reef offered to replace or store credit even though it was not a DOA.

I am full on fish now, but if I need fish in the future I would not hesitate to order from him again. I do not have space for a QT and I am happy to pay him to do that for me.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I just received my second order from Dr. Reef. As part of the order I paid for 2 Bengai Cardinals. When the order arrived there were 3 in the box. That was great as I was on the fence between 2 or 3 and to my surprise he put in a free one. Not suggesting you will get free fish from him, but I sure appreciated that. All my fish are doing well.

In my first order I did have a six-line wrasse that did not make it. He was not looking good on arrival, but I thought I had nursed him back. However, on the third or fourth day he died. Dr. Reef offered to replace or store credit even though it was not a DOA.

I am full on fish now, but if I need fish in the future I would not hesitate to order from him again. I do not have space for a QT and I am happy to pay him to do that for me.

Some fish in our experience dont ship well. We always send some extra in that case.
If they all live, its your good luck. You can choose to keep/sell/gift the free one, Choice is yours.

some clowns, bangaii, some wrasses, anthias, you can expect extra free one in the bag