53 replies to this topic

[malawiman85]

Allright ladies, take it outside.

[dazzabozza]

I was just stating my personal opinion, this was just in reply to someone else saying they got clown loaches with ich from Currambine. But my grievance was also with a few sponsors as well as i have had such bad experiances with a few.

Hi Raymaner

I read through the entire thread again to see if the mods had missed the negative feedback.

From what I can see CF Currambine has not been singled out with negative feedback, it's quite the opposite, they're getting some good promo from the members which is allowed. Kark mentions he had 2 loaches with Ich (not uncommon) but never stated where they came from unless livestock falls under "supplies".

Thanks all for the advice.
The Currambine city farmers is where I got my tank and supplies, I hit Jason who works there up for plenty of great advice before actually going for the Juwel tank, handy that they are right around the corner from me.

Just when I thought I was ready to start stocking the tank the 2 small loaches that I had in there got Ich, so I now have to wait another 2 weeks while I wait for that to clear up.

Can't wait to go and start looking for the rest of the fish, I will definitely give the places suggested above a visit.
I will post an update when I've got em all.

There's lots of generalisation and strong opinions throughout this thread. Take it all as a grain of salt, get out there and build your own opinions backed up with some actual fact / experiences. There are no perfect stores, there will always be sick fish, some stores just manage it better than others. Auzziebuddy provides some of the best advice below. No matter where you go there are no guarantees. Be a responsible buyer rather than just pointing the finger at a store. Choose wisely (get help if necessary) and treat (consider) every fish you buy as a potential risk to your fish at home.

Agreed malawiman gumtree can be hazardous if you are not careful.
Hence doing plenty of research and contacting reputable breeders, who supply quite a few stores anyway, and or take someone who knows with you.
But on the flip side I've had problem fish, disease, dead fish and sub standard fish from every place I've been to. Every place. Not all the time and not with every purchase, but even so treat every fish you buy as if its gonna infect your whole tank. Quarantine and treat before adding any fish.
Jmo

(where possible Quarantine and "treat" if required)

Comments re: chains not accepting trade-ins I see this as their quality control. Imagine what bugs they would be exposing themselves to and they may not have the staff there to manage it (knowledge in fish health, treatments, prevention etc.) it would be a ticking time bomb. One area that should be given some consideration is dealing with local breeders but who knows maybe they're locked in with the big supplier/s under some sort of agreement.


The club's stance is WE support those who support US (the sponsors). We've chosen to stick with the Local Fish Store model where in most instances you are likely to find knowledgeable / experienced staff which in-turn assist fish keepers in meeting one of the PCS's goals of responsible husbandry. We also take into consideration the quality of the livestock, conditions etc. when choosing sponsors which can shift over time. Unfortunately with chains they are seen as 1 and to date we haven't picked out individual stores to be sponsors because we can't differentiate regardless of how good the staff are. Although the additional donations would be a good injection to the Club it's not what we're about. It's important to recognise the important role the LFS plays in the industry and also the relationships they build with hobbyists and breeders. Swings and roundabouts...

Edited by dazzabozza, 06 April 2014 - 10:04 AM.
Graddo's reply removed due to negative feedback and personal attack.

[Luke134]

Just a side note, City Farmers get their stock from Bay Fish, as do lots of the LFS. The BayFish rep for Perth is Brad from Malaga Aquariums, a very knowledgable man. If a bad batch of fish comes through your LFS is just as likely to receive it as City Farmers. The important thing isn't who's selling it, but whether or not that sick fish has been noticed and isolated/quarantined and treated as required. Mistakes can always happen, and things can go un-noticed for longer than they should have, it's buyer beware Speak to the people you are buying the livestock/equipment/food/plant off of and work out if they have the correct knowledge and go from there. I have had bad experiences with most shops in Perth, mostly due to human error and simple mistakes, what makes the difference is how stores back that up with good customer service. I have and always will be a loyal supporter of Morley Aquariums, I can remember when I was about 10. I bought a suspect bag of baby brine shrimp and over the next 2 days I lost most of my fish. They could have told me 'tough luck, not our fault', but instead Paul have me store credit. That 1 action restored my faith in the store and I have now spent easily 100 times the value of those few fish with them.

[bigjohnnofish]

good post dazzabozza 

 

just to clear it up - majority of chain stores have an agreement with bayfish that goes something like this..... bayfish install and setup the fish tanks ready for use at their cost/or reduced cost in the chain store and in return are the sole supplier for the shop... some minor exclusions are made to purchase off local wholesalers only... it could be a 90/10 condition.... 

 

arrr so thats what brad was doing snooping around a midland pet shop the other week

 

one other issue i think is overlooked as far as "BUGS" go - bayfish collect their stock from overseas (greater risk of bugs IMO) and from a lot of local breeders in queensland.... bayfish and AI are notoriously noted for delivering some fish with whitespot etc.... they have such a huge turnover and workload that every fish cant be inspected for possible disease... do you think if i ordered a 1000 neon tetras they would count them and inspect them and remove any dodgy looking ones ??? no need to answer we all know what the answer will be

but thats fish... and we know what fish stands for @#$% it %$#@ happens

[TheTexasCichlidMasacre]

alot of lfs here buy a decent ammount of local bred fish...

Edited by TheTexasCichlidMasacre, 14 April 2014 - 02:19 AM.

[Michaeal-959]

I currently work at city farmers. Yes fish get white spot, you can't blame the store as white spot is a organism that is introduced to a aquarium through the addition of new fish. My store receives a load of fish every week. Personally I used to have a cichlid tank which I to majority of my fish from city farmers and never had a problem. The filtration at my store is amazing tbh I was very impressed with the system but the downfall is that each section are connected through sumps so if whitespot was to reach the stage where it falls off it would go through a whole system like wild fire. I'm not going to name a store but a worker lied to my face and said "if a fish dies in a tank we won't sell other fish from that tank for the day." Later watching them take out a dead fish and not do anything about the tank. If you buy a fish like a guppy which is not a strong fish you can't blame the store for it dying.

[Bombshocked]

yes you can if the fish is weak it shouldn't be sold its like someone selling you a sandwitch and then u get sick.. its there fault

[malawiman85]

I agree with anubias. If I buy a fish that breaks out in ich whilst in quarantine, im gonna be annoyed. Fish should be in good health plain and simple. Retailers need to control the risk of disease for commercial loss prevention, loss of reputation and repeat business and poor reviews on forums such as this. If retailers dont bother or cant take reasonable steps to look after their stock and their customers then they dont deserve our business. I know there are no guarantees but you cant say bugger it, its to hard.

[Michael the fish fanatic]

What city farmers should do is if they want to filter all the tanks through one big filter is that they should quarantine the fish in a separate system for 2 or more weeks and make sure they are in good health before selling them. One of the bad experiences I have had with fish from chain stores is I bought 2 angelfish and a Siamese flying fox and I had them in quarantine for 3 days before the 2 angels died and I examined their white bodies only to find ick. I do not think that a worker at these chain stores should get blamed it's the owner/boss of the company as they should make a quarantining facility or something.

[Morley Aquariums]

Actually there are guarantees. The current austalian consumer laws state that all products & services sold up to the value of $40,000 are guaranteed. The time frame for this cannot be restricted, instead is the value of the products vs expected lifespan ( clear as mud this, i spent a frustrating 2hrs with a rep from the ministry of commerce trying to get some clarification).
This guarantee includes all pets & actually specifies that this includes fish. If you but a fish & the cause of death is obviously the fault of the store, you are entitled to replacement or refund.
This is a tough one as the store cannot really be responsible for how a fish is handled once it walks out the door, so can argue the point.
We guarantee all our fish for 48 hours regardless of cause of death as long as water sample provided ( even if the customers fault eg; if the sample is full of ammonia, we will still replace once the issue is resolved).
Whitespot we will cover if it appears within 4 days of purchase as it was likely infected prior to purchase, after this time it is more likely due to a stress related to the new environment eg; a temperature drop. ( whitepot can happen in any tank even if no new fish added).
If you see a sign that states no refunds/ replacements on fish, point out that this is an illegal sign & should be removed.

[Bowdy]

I like your policies in regards to the issue Paul. Well done.

[BristledOne]

Paul to the rescue! Thanks for the informative post.

 

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but another advantage of Morley Aquariums is they don't use a sump for filtration on their tanks but instead each tank has it's own separate filter. Preventing any illness that one tank may have from spreading to the next?

[Morley Aquariums]

Yes, we do run all our tanks independently on undergravels, just an old fashioned guy.
A combined system through a single filter is risky, but can be safe when combined with uv sterilizers & regular maintenence/ monitoring - not my strong point lol.
Getting asked about the guarantee laws, just to clarify, this only applies to registered businesses, not private sales or auctions such as ebay ( buy it now does however if a business seller).

[Fox]

We guarantee all our fish for 48 hours regardless of cause of death as long as water sample provided ( even if the customers fault eg; if the sample is full of ammonia, we will still replace once the issue is resolved).
Whitespot we will cover if it appears within 4 days of purchase as it was likely infected prior to purchase, after this time it is more likely due to a stress related to the new environment eg; a temperature drop. ( whitepot can happen in any tank even if no new fish added).
If you see a sign that states no refunds/ replacements on fish, point out that this is an illegal sign & should be removed.

That is a very VERY good business practice! Well done Paul.