GotchaOf note, I said not more expensive on average than other online dealers, not LFS.
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GotchaOf note, I said not more expensive on average than other online dealers, not LFS.
I buy most of mine online as well. But I think it's difficult for me to say that my LFS is take advantage of people though, knowing that they have a lot more overhead cost to operate a store than online store do.I buy most of my fish online now. LFS here are not very good and charge way too much on most livestock. It's very hard to support someone that always try to take advantage of you. Besides, many online suppliers give one week live guarantee.
Most of my shipment came in cooler than 78F. I believe this is done to keep the water from going foul and the fish less stress. I run my tank at 74-76F so it works out well for me.Does anyone know if the heat pads (I'll call them temperature control pads) are set to 78 degrees? I just got a fish from LA on Friday. I opened the box in a dark room to make sure he was still alive and was surprised to find that the bag felt cool (it is 80+ degrees in the shop). I put a temperature probe in the box to monitor it while it was on my toolbox and the temperature stayed between 76-77 degrees all day.
This will make sense, because in the winter or in the belly of a cargo plane the box would need to be heated. When it's on a UPS truck in the Summer, it will need to be cooled. So on a summer trip, it would need to be heated on the plane and cooled on the truck. Pretty ingenious if that is the case.
I'm also going to save the box (never occurred to me before) if I make a trip to a "not so LFS" to keep the water warm.
I buy most of mine online as well. But I think it's difficult for me to say that my LFS is take advantage of people though, knowing that they have a lot more overhead cost to operate a store than online store do.
The Tang on DD that is $130 is 4.5", which is medium large, not medium small... the fishes max size is 9".
The prices on LA Powder Blues:
So the DD fish is only $30 more than the LA equivalent.
Look... I don't want to come across as a DD/LA apologist, because I'm not... but it sure seems to me that you're out to get them... you obviously really like tsmcorals, and that's great. I think it awesome to have a place you know and trust, and in turn try and advertise for them. Just be careful you aren't doing it by making iffy statements about other vendors. I'm glad you mentioned tsmcorals... I will certainly keep my eyes on the fish there.
But overhead is less because they can be in industrial area rather then a retail area.In most cases, I think that is true that online etailers have lower overhead. I am not sure if that is the case with the aquatic trade. Can you imagine the cost of maintaining hundreds of tanks? The heating and salt costs must be astronomical.
Bought an Achilles tang last week from LA, is a juvenile about 2 1/2-3 inches. Already eating pellets and picking at selcon soaked nori. Showed up on time and well packaged. Fish was healthy and active, no signs of disease. Now happily swimming in qt.
But at the same time I feel it is very irresponsible of someone representing this hobby not to pump the brakes and inform me of the weight of my decisions.
I totally agree. A lot of the LFS just want to move product (and who can blame them, that's why they are open). Telling someone that they should isolate a new expensive fish for a month kind of kills the thrill and someone might change their mind. Like you, I had a bad velvet outbreak (heartbreaking) and now I will QT everything going forward.
In qt, copper slightly above therapeutic levels ~ 0.6-0.7. Reason I order online is because my LFS isn't concerned about disease and illness. When I was a noob he didn't inform me on qt'ing fish, he just sold me whatever I wanted. It's not entirely his fault b/c I should have researched more instead of diving in green. But at the same time I feel it is very irresponsible of someone representing this hobby not to pump the brakes and inform me of the weight of my decisions. After a bad case of velvet and losing many fish I now qt everything. The alternative is 1.5 hours away from me and they qt all their stock but are quite pricey.
I used to think that qt'ing would be painful; but I guess it has become the norm. I do keep the qt'ed fish in the same room as my main tank so that I get to look at them just as often. I just make sure not too close - and nothing is shared between QT and DT.