Sea Save

[mogurnda]

I lost all the herbivorous fish in my reef when I was away in October, and I also wanted a redlip blenny for the 65. Because I am trying to find quality places that try to support sustainable collection, I decided to give Sea Save, in Glen Burnie a shot. Thus starts a long story that doesn't end very well.

 

First I tried to contact them via email. No reply. Then I got them on the phone, and spent time explaining what I wanted: a doliatus rabbitfish, a redlip blenny and a redspotted blenny. It seemed strange that they didn't like the use of latin names, and apparently had not dealt in these species before. Nonetheless, I gave them a deposit over the phone, and waited for my fish.

 

They got the redlip in pretty soon, but seemed happy to hold the fish until the others came in. Weeks passed, and the shipment never seemed to come in. Thanksgiving, weather, even a hostile takeover attempt thwarted the arrival of my fish.

 

The fish finally arrived. Despite what the website says about quarantine, they would only hold the fish 2-3 days before putting them on the open market. So I went to get them Saturday. The rabbit looked a bit skinny, but OK, the redlip blenny was very skinny, and the redspotted blenny, well, I will have to wait until it colors up fully to figure out what kind of blenny it is, but I am betting on it being a bicolor.

 

When I pointed out the scrawniness of the blenny, I receive zero comment back. When I noted that my redspotted blenny had no red spots, and was the wrong color, I got a blank look, and something like "this is what the wholesaler sent us." More stories about the attempted takeover. I was so taken aback by the whole event, I paid the balance and left.

 

After acclimation, the fish went into a 20 gallon quarantine with live rock for filtration and grazing (no way they would go straight to my tanks). The blennies settled in OK, but haven't been feeding well. The rabbit looked a bit stressed, but not too bad. Next morning, the rabbit was dead.

 

I called about a guarantee, and there isn't one. I am not used to losing fish, even from online shipments, so I didn't ask at the beginning. Anyway, I asked the guy "I waited over a month, paid my money, and now have one dead fish, one that's the wrong species and one that is so skinny it may not survive quarantine, can you tell me why I would shop there again?" He couldn't.

 

The shop itself was clean, the people were pleasant, and the tanks looked generally good, but I left with the impression that these people don't really know fish or business very well. I have been keeping fish for 35+ years, worked at shops all through college, and I don't think I have had an experience that was less professional than my dealings with these people. I am not sure what their goal with the business is, but I don't imagine they will be able to recover from their recent setbacks if my experience is typical.

 

Anyone with a more positive experience is welcome to chime in.

 

My money will go to places where I know I will get healthy livestock, and people know what they are doing. Makes me appreciate Scales and Inland Aquatics all the more.

[lancer99]

Dave,

I am sorry to hear that. My only experience with them was visiting them once because they had FL aquacultured rock. As you mentioned, the shop and tanks were clean, and the two guys working there when I visited were both very nice...although I could have done without them staring at me as I (admittedly very slowly) picked out the pieces I wanted to buy.

 

They are in an out of way location, probably don't have a lot of capital, probably new to the business game, and (I'm guessing) haven't had a lot of custom orders.

 

But they are running a business, and when you run a business, sometimes you have to take a loss to learn a lesson.

 

Perhaps the hardest business lesson to learn, is that you can guarantee that a customer will come back, if you just say "no problem, we'll refund your money."

 

I genuinely do like their mission statement, their shop, and their enthusiasm.....hope their (assuming) lack of capital won't screw up their customer service.

 

-R

PS The gorgonian frag you gave me has overgrown a Syringodium by about 1/2"...that should be an interesting mix!