Were is the best marine shop?

[Nicks]

I thought this was about good shops???

I vote for Massey as a good lsf as his tanks always look good although he needs to move more stock and get a few more customers...SO LETS TELL PEOPLE ABOUT HIM!!!!!

Heard good things about Northland seems a good bloke with a passion for reefs.

Hollywood, well I will hold judgement on them as Dave is a nice bloke but I donot think they have grasped the basics in modern reef keeping and that F#$%@# flatworm.

Jensens, I like jansens they are expensive and some of the staff havent got a clue but not a bad selection of livestock although the they need some good equipment.

But I am back to the UK in a couple of months, so I can look at some real reef shops, just wish I was earning UK wages to afford lots of goodies.

On another point.... Why are we worried about the shops and those aweful importers

If each one of use consistantly fragged our corals or set up a frag unit(whick I am later this year) we should be able to quality frags for $20+ each and at least go a little bit of the way to helping out keen reefers with home grown stock.

there will always be a demand for larger specimen corals, but the best thing about this hobby is getting frags and watching the grow and in some cases watching softies take over your tank

NickS

[craig]

with out those awefull importers your tank would be empty

[Pies]

with out those awefull importers your tank would be empty

Id just set my own up!

Not all the importers are bad, infact its not really the importers that most of us have a problem with. Its that $190.00 yellow tang retailers that are EVIL AND MUST BE STOPED.

Pieman

[anal fin]

I buy all my stuff from redwood's in christchurch they are very well priced and have excellent staff who know their stuff...

I brought one thing from another shop which i wont name and it diedhe

We all wish things where FREE or lots CHEAPER but if you want it you pay the price .... well sometimes

[anal fin]

Just another rant...

I cant say i have seen any shop in christchurch even come close to the prices redwoods offer, mind you even if i did i dont think i would buy from them the assistance redwoods offer is by far the best they treat you like a normal person and offer great advice..

Two thumbs up to them I say.... plus lots of gold stars ***********

[TeeCee]

Hear hear Anal_fin - I have heard some things about redwoods that I'd rather not have but so far I have been nothing but really happy with the stock and service - and while you might get the odd thing cheaper elsewheer - they take the cake for consistantly lower prices. Mind you , having said that - I'm talking freshwater not marine - no idea how they stack up saltwater wise.

[Pies]

I have brought stock from Redwood, it went like this:

Clownfish - Incorrect ID and whitespot

Clownfish - Incorrect ID

Mandarin - So skinnyu its bones were sticking through its skin (have photos)

Coral - Incorrect ID

Feather duster wormx2 2x Empty tubes on arrival

I have talked to Debbie and her father (bob?) and was appauled with the customer service, attitude and product. Basically I was told (via emails, I still have) that they didn't care, they were doing me a favor anyway and if I don;t like their product than I am free to take my business elsewhere.

Also when they moved premisis the first shipment of marine fish they got in was wiped out because they over dosed it with coppy and burned all the fish to death, nice...

So thats my opnion of Redwoods. I suspect they are OK from an LFS point of view, but from my perspective "worst pet shop I have every delt with" 0/10.

Pies

[Debbie]

:-?

Hi List, this is my first post. (Sorry for the huge size!)

Firstly I would like to say a big thankyou to Anal Fin & Tee Cee for their comments

Mark (Pies) has mentioned my name on the list so I feel I have the right of reply. (On my behalf not Bob's). Yes Mark, I have the e-mails too! that you mention and I think it would only be fair to the rest of the list to show those e-mails .................. !! to allow the list to make up their own mind after your slanderous comments earlier!

I personally feel disappointed with your comments and that you feel this way.

Debbie

First e-mail after sending shipment: (NOTE THE COMMENT OF THE FEATHER DUSTERS, WHICH HE HAS JUST TOLD THE LIST THAT WERE EMPTY??)

Hi Debbie

The order arrived at my door at exactly 8:30am this morning.

Firstly I would like to say how impressed I was with the way everything was packaged. All stock was double bagged. The contents of the box was packed to avoid anything from being knocked around in the box. Everything was taped closed, with a clearly marked box "Fragile, THIS WAY UP" etc. Also the bag that contained the fish had ample water and oxygen which greatly helps with the health of the shipping stock.

So thanks to whoever packaged up my order, very happy.

After approx a 2hr acclimitisation period, floated in sump with a drip the stock was added to my tank.

The 3 Feather Duster worms opened within about 5 minutes of being placed into the tank. They appear to be in perfect condition with no visible damage. Very happy with them!

The Mixed rock was exactly as I expected, and opened within 15min of the first lights coming on in the tank. Again am very happy with it.

The Scooter Blenny was exploring the tank after about 10 minutes of being placed into the tank. I know I mentioned this to you before, but this fish is VERY skinny. It has very taunt skin, and visible bones where the skin is streatched. This is quite common for dragonetts, as they are very tuff animals to feed, often only eating 'copods' from live rock tanks and not taking frozen or dry foods. He seams happy enough though, so I hope he fattens up nicely and will be OK. I am not overly concerned about it, but felt I should mention it to you.

Overall I am happy with the order, and look forward to recieving a list from you when your Hawaii shipment clears is quarantine. I am sure I will be purchasing more livestock from you in the future.

Thanks for all your help and patience, taking the photos and always responding to my mails.

Cheers! Mark

2nd e-mail about his fish death:

Debbie

Woke up this morning and saw the scooter blenny i purchased last week

had died. He had been very shy yesterday and I was quite concerned. He had

been quite active up until then.

I believe that this fish died simply because it was weakened by being skinny. I remember bringing this up with you prior to purchasing the fish,

and after it arrived. I wouldn't have purchased it if I had known how

poor its condition was. These fish are very hard to keep in tanks without aged

live rock, the same as the manderin fish (they are the same species, its not a blenny at all). By looking at pictures on the internet as well as fish in other aquairums it is obvious that this fish was extremely malnurished.I am slightly disapointed as its the first fish to have died in the tank,and I know all my water paramaters etc are fine, as are all the other fish and inverts.

Just thought I should let you know, as I am quite dissapointed. Regards Mark

My Reply

I have forwarded your e-mail to Bob who replies as follows:

He has another blenny of the same shipment still in the same system with

no problems, as mentioned he also has had one of these blennies for over a

year and it still looks in his description "boney". It obviously was happy

enough for the last week and you mentioned in your e-mail that you were

not concerned about the fish. It you had any concerns after seeing the photos

you should have cancelled your order.

On the few marine "out of Christchurch" sales we have had we have never had any problems or complaints. We did have an invertebrate returned from Auckland as the Latin name was wrong and we accepted this fine. The out

of town sales have been very time consuming and it is a lot harder to send one or two fish in a box with the cooling effect etc but we have done this to help our out of town customers.

We always hear that everyone's water is fine after they lose a fish but we

can only compare with our system and we have not had any problems with the existing stock and other blenny of same species that is still in the

system (Bob said that he picked out the best/largest one for you, so on that basis the other blenny should have died also)

You are disappointed and we can appreciate that. Obviously you are not

happy with our stock (and we feel it is OK or we would not send it) so it might pay to source your stock elsewhere from now, as we do not want to repeat your disappointment. We will cancel your existing order.

Regards

Debbie Fawcett

Mark's Reply

Debbie & Bob

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

Redwood Aquatics have a good reputation, which is the reason why I choose

to deal with you. I would like you to understand that I felt I should give

you feedback, as I would do the same if it had come from my local fish

store. My feedback was not intended as an attack, and I am not asking for

anything, it is just honest feedback.

You have a very good point about me being happy enough to keep this fish,you are right, if was so unhappy I should have made an effort to return it.

I have been happy with the service from you, and although I have had a

disappointment, I understand that it is out of your control, this however doesn't stop me from being disappointed. I hope

this makes sense.

I would still very much like you to send my order. And I do appreciate

the fact that it requires extra effort on you part to send stuff to your out

of town customers.

Sincerely

Mark

[Nicks]

with out those awefull importers your tank would be empty

Just having a dig

[Nicks]

YOU GO DEBBIE,

Give it to that Pies Guy, Straighten the slanderious B#@$%rd up.

You cannot please all of the people all of the time

This is the best thing about this site, you have to be thick skinned and keep you emails.

I am waiting to go to Redwood as soon a I can think of a reason for work to send me to the Mainland!!!

NickS

[anal fin]

I seemed to have opened a can of worms so to speak !!

Well what to say, I take my hat off to Debbie for her speedy relpy to the slander PIE's wrote.

This decisson was about the best shop and in my travels and dealings REDWOOD's " IS " the best shop. Their was NO need for what PIE's wrote, and after reading Debbies post it seems PIE's needs to redeem whats left ( if any ) of his self respect and simply say sorry to Debbie, Bob and the redwood's staff.

I have nothing but respect for the team at REDWOOD's and I'm rather angry that someone would slander there name without and due course.

Well all know that dealing with live stock is a fishy business and somethings are just out of our hands, things happen to the best of us but you have to take the good with the bad.

Well thats enough from me at this stage, I cant wait to see Pie's reply to this and Debbies post..

Pie's maybe your subject heading should be " SORRY "

Thanks Anal Fin xoxoxo

[JackJackJack]

he said/she said...

everyone has an opinion, thats why these kind of boards are good, and pies post may have been slightly (very slightly) off topic, but its hard to find any threads without an offtopic post.

everyone has an opinion, and i dont think there was too much slander in there.

i dont know who's right or whos wrong in this one, but if they want to express an opinion then they should feel free to.

[anal fin]

I'm all for someone to express their opinion ( thats what my first post was on this topic )but ones opinion must be TRUE when it relates to someones business dont you think.

I would be rather pissed if someone said something about my business on a web site which EVERYONE can look at, could be rather damaging to ones business.

[FishyBoi]

Hey guys, This is my first post in this forum.

I would like to suggest a good marine shop in the central north island -Rotorua. That has a good stock of fish and corals and fish supplies. and have shipments coming in all the time. There tanks are always clean and healthy and would recommend this shop to anyone passing through Rotorua. They are called Wonderworld Aquarium & Pet Centre and are located at 82 Clayton Road in Rotorua. I think they use to be the aquarium place located in kuirau park a few years back.

[Chris.L]

Hey guys, This is my first post in this forum.

I would like to suggest a good marine shop in the central north island -Rotorua. That has a good stock of fish and corals and fish supplies. and have shipments coming in all the time. There tanks are always clean and healthy and would recommend this shop to anyone passing through Rotorua. They are called Wonderworld Aquarium & Pet Centre and are located at 82 Clayton Road in Rotorua. I think they use to be the aquarium place located in kuirau park a few years back.

Thanks for the heads up. I was not aware that there was an aquarium place there. I will check it out when I next head up that way.

Cheers!

[Brianemone]

I went to check out the rotorua shop yesterday, and i wasnt really impressed at all, the prices where really high even for simple freshwater fish (22$ electric yellow cichlid)

They had four warm water marine tanks one with "live" coral that looked more dead than alive. the biggest tank was very dirty and not well organised at all. im not an expert at all and i don think i could do any better, but i expect a certain level of profesionalism from aquatic stores.

they did have one redeeming factor and that was that they obviously stock a decent range of marine fish. (they had a few beautifull strawberry basslets(80$)

another possitive was that i got to see the tirau store on the way down, they only had one marine tank (and another that was cold marine) but the anemone that tey have is fantastic, and the clown they had with it was very nice to. oh and they had a damsel (blue with a yellow tail) for only 40ish$.

oh and i dont like the rotorua store cause i crashed my car after visiting it