Buyer beware of the Fish Den, NY

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MaiaDee

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Jun 14, 2012
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Payson, AZ
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Maia
Well, I have learned my lesson about buying fish on the internet. Research, ask for photos, be very specific in your expectations.

I found this guy on Aquabid (petpeve is the name there) and bought through his website (The Fish Den). He did not have stellar reviews on Aquabid, but since the negative was all from one disgruntled customer and the other reviews were positive, I figured everyone makes mistakes once in a while.

So I went ahead and ordered 6 discus. Well, here is the email I sent him last night. I think it pretty much says it all:

Dear Fish Den,

I wanted to take a moment to let you know how disappointing the discus you sent me are.

First issue was the sloppy packaging. Both of the Turquoises' bags leaked during shipping. One of the fish didn't even have enough water left to completely cover him. I feel very lucky we were able to save him.

Secondly, both the Cobalt Blue discus you sent are obviously stunted. As a breeder/dealer, I would think it would be obvious to you immediately that these are not good/healthy fish. Their football shape and large eyes are very evident and every discus keeper knows that is not the condition a responsible breeder should be selling.

Thirdly, the Pigeon Bloods are both peppered. Again, a responsible breeder would not send these fish to buyer unless the condition had been clearly communicated.

As I've only had the fish in my care for 4 days, I think it's obvious that you sent me sub par discus, not poor conditions on my part.

It's now apparent to me why your prices seemed so "reasonable". Had you communicated the fish you were sending at the prices you quoted were not genetically sound, that I was risking receiving below average fish, I would have nothing to complain about. Unfortunately for me, I trusted you and the reviews on Aquabid. Never again.

 

platytudes

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Oh dear, I'm sorry! It's always worth it to spend a little more and buy from someone that others recommend and trust...I'm sure folks on here can point you in the right direction. Have you received a reply yet?

It is kind of fishy how all the pics appear to be stock photos...and the website looks very primitive. All of those people saying "very professional, great packaging, beautiful fish" etc. would probably have fooled me too, though.
 
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MaiaDee

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Jun 14, 2012
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Payson, AZ
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Oh dear, I'm sorry! It's always worth it to spend a little more and buy from someone that others recommend and trust...I'm sure folks on here can point you in the right direction. Have you received a reply yet?
Nope, no reply. I don't really expect one. I doubt that he'll offer anything to me, especially now that I've taken my complaints public :mad2: I've also started a thread on the Simply Discus forum about this guy.

I'm taking it as a learning experience. Hopefully I'll be able to grow out the stunted ones to at least a decent shape, but there is nothing I can do about peppering. :(

I just wanted to warn others away from this guy. To a newbie in discus, his pics looked pretty and prices reasonable. Now I know why. A case of getting what I paid for, I suppose.
 

nerdyrcdriver

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Sep 1, 2011
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Do you have any pics you have taken yourself?

I think they would serve as a good example to a newbie to discus on what not to get from a local place or any where for that matter.
 

MaiaDee

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Good idea, platy.

Here you go:

This is Ace and Stripy. Neither are shaped right.

P1090746.JPG
This is Duce. Note the "football" or "spade" shape and large eyes (Ace also in the pic above).
P1090745.JPG
Left to right are Liz and Pepper. If you look closely at where Pepper's dorsal fin connects to his body, you can see the black. That is peppering. Hard to see in the photo, but if he's stressed, like during WCs, most of his body and fins are peppered. i'm afraid it may show up more as he ages...
d2.jpg

They are juveniles. None are over 3 inches yet, so there's hope Ace and Duce especially will be able to overcome the stunting. I'm feeding them a variety of really good foods and do usually three 75% WCs a day.

P1090746.JPG P1090745.JPG d2.jpg
 

nerdyrcdriver

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Lol, I have the same anti monster avatar as platy (got it from her). :)

I am no expert on these fish, and I am sure there are issues. But they are still beautiful looking fish imo. But I dont breed fish, so if one isnt quite how it should be, it adds a little character to me. I dont want one to be always stressed or anything.
 

MaiaDee

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Jun 14, 2012
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Truthfully, Nick, I love the fish. I'm only complaining because they are not a quality I would have paid for, but what's done is done and they are my little piggy fish now :) Somebody got to love the one's that aren't up to par, and I'm ok with it.

I just don't want other people to go to this guy thinking they are getting a good deal like I did. They are pretty fish, aren't they. They're a ton of work right now, being juvies, but it's not really hard, and they are so interactive. They'll already eat from my fingers and I LOVE that. I walk by the tank, and they fly over to see if I'm going to feed them...really neat personalities.

I'm not trying to be all negative nelly...I learned the hard way to buy from someone known and recommended. Just trying to spare others that lesson. :)
 

platytudes

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They definitely don't look right. They may be active and otherwise healthy, but to me it's glaringly obvious that they're stunted. (The "peppering" I am less aware of, but I am sure maintaining color and pattern integrity is one of the things that is so complicated about breeding discus.)

3x 75% water changer PER day? Wow, is that really necessary? ;) See, this is why I'll never touch a discus. Waaaay too much work!

I hope you will be able to grow them out into proper shapes...they certainly couldn't ask for a better caretaker!

The times I have seen discus at the LFS (I have one LFS who specializes in them, so they look like textbook examples of discus) they're very boring to me. They just swim slowly back and forth and don't do anything. To me, they look more like a screensaver than real fish. The whole bare bottom tank thing is definitely not my thing either. I know many people adore them, though.
 

SubRosa

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Jul 3, 2009
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Looking at the prices he sells his fish at, it's readily apparent he's dealing in mass produced Asian Discus, produced on farms where quantity is more important than quality. If you had a tank of 50 right out of the bag to pick from yourself you could probably grab a couple nice fish, but there'd be a bunch of chicken heads too. What would you suggest he do with the less than desirable ones, given that he's not making that much per fish to begin with? Sorry to be blunt, but you get what you pay for.
 
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