cheap fish tank from craigslist?? 180g $299 new??

[Aqua Pro Builder]

I found some prices are good but not that incredible. One of my friend owns a LFS but I would never ask him about cost. This is my business style. But everythime when I see his fish comes in, he had a lot of dead fish and furthermore, a lot more will die eventually before they get sold. Therefore, as for a business man who is selling live stock would not mark up just 20% or 40%. I frequently see more than one third of discus and silver arowana die when they open the boxes. If you wanna see it for yourself-go to the tiny LFS(something like Star Aquarium) on Mott street. The shop is so small that they don't have a holding place to hide their stuff. A lot of the dogs selling for a thousand dollar can be bought at $400!!! My sister did that at least twice. That implies the cost could be around 1/3 of the selling price in live stock in order to cover the death rate.

 

[griMReefer]

I found some prices are good but not that incredible. One of my friend owns a LFS but I would never ask him about cost. This is my business style. But everythime when I see his fish comes in, he had a lot of dead fish and furthermore, a lot more will die eventually before they get sold. Therefore, as for a business man who is selling live stock would not mark up just 20% or 40%. I frequently see more than one third of discus and silver arowana die when they open the boxes. If you wanna see it for yourself-go to the tiny LFS(something like Star Aquarium) on Mott street. The shop is so small that they don't have a holding place to hide their stuff. A lot of the dogs selling for a thousand dollar can be bought at $400!!! My sister did that at least twice. That implies the cost could be around 1/3 of the selling price in live stock in order to cover the death rate.

totally, its the naked truth - from wholesaler to the customer, all the middlemen know the golden rule is to "move them out" (ie get them sold) before they die. an even smaller fraction of inverts (than fish) survive acclimation, you might get in a 24 lot of skunk cleaners and only like 6 alive 72 hrs after. sad sad sad all those deaths. wholesalers have "Sales" on whatever they have in bulk so thats why you see so many of the same species coming into the store, like 24 (atlantic) pygmy angels they got at $5.00 each or 24 lawnmower blennies at $2.50 each. objectively, the fish aren't worth even that but whatever we pay retail is just the service of the ornament based on relative availability and transport rather than any true goods value on its life.

alongside drip method, a good trick with preventing all those shrimp heartattacks seems to be to keep some sort of rock or algae for them to graze on even during that acclimation.

the other trick the industry is catching onto is those chambers, basically when the fish or shrimp/lobster is compartamentalized, the shipping stress is not followed by the prolonged fight-or-flight immunosupression that happens if the animals have to share the same acclimation or holding tank. thus the single animal can concentrate on rest and grazing for replenishment, as long as water flow and quality is not compromized.

 

[DEEPWATER]

wingo maybe you can talk the guy into letting you do freight instead of the subcharge?
i don't see why they doing all shipments UPS -ONLY for $500+ order where UPS overnight would get close to $400-500 for overniting 2-3 double boxes of livestock ...

air freight is the only real way to do a wholesale buy , LAX to JFK or LGA

(caveat emptor: picking up cargo at LGA is chaotic as the stupid cab drivers honk at you when you go into cargo like you're a stupid while THEY are the ones perpetually blocking the cargo driveways LOL)

or just ask deep for a similar group deal, i bet he has similar price lists if not better la ws'ers r a dime a dozen, my friend out in LA gets everything for me ws but then i still gotta pay fedex overnight, freight is the only way to really $ave. just my 2 cents. dang them west coast peeps got it made.

Freight is the way to go ,LAX to JFK for 100 or so LBS is only $86 to $122 at the most i evr paid for a single order with over 40 item ,including ,inverts corls and fish

TO be honest he has some nice prices.here are a few tings to think about.
No im not bashing ..just giving heads up

A. do you know what you are going to get or just by the ad your going ?
B.what if you dont like wht you get ?
C.what if he send you the worng stuff?
D.what if it comes in all died?
E>what if it only makes it in your tank for a few days?

Just watch your money .Shipping is where he make his money .That way he wont speak to you Ink.Other wise good luck.
If you guy want asign some1 to make up a list of stuff they want and ill get a price list on it for you (if they have it in stock that is ) that the best i can do,Also im not in FL so i do pay for shipping which make my cost a bit higher then these guy :spin:

 

[DEEPWATER]

I order the same way dont get me worng ,I ask for what i want ,via phone ,I never see exactly what i get ,but im not a 1 time byer from the suppliers and they have been in business long time.As you can see i trust them with them my orders . but to give a comp $500 for livestock and $250 for shipping ,Total$750
as long as you can pick up same day.I can do a GB for you guys

 

[Myopia]

Anyone know the quality of the tank? Does acrylic crack easy? Do the do good work? And has anyone checked the place out? Hehe many questions, eh?

 

[Myopia]

Anyone?

 

[griMReefer]

i agree with deep -- you dont see what you get, but you know what, liveaquaria, marinedepotlive, exoticfish, etc -- you don't get to see the fish when you buy mail order retail -- either. :letitallo

like $70 for a yellow assessor WTF??? i may as well go back to gettin all my stuff from UW. i dunno.

the good thing with some of the CA suppliers is they have a lower minimum on THUR and FRI because thats when they have less in stock overall. so if you have a friend over there check out the suppliers in Canoga Park and LA.

on acrylics myopia i like that they're lighter and more clarity and don't crack like glass does. most west coast wholesalers stock tanks only for PICKUP customers. shipping is like outta da q except on acrylic and still craigslist is the best unless ur rich.

 

[Myopia]

i agree with deep -- you dont see what you get, but you know what, liveaquaria, marinedepotlive, exoticfish, etc -- you don't get to see the fish when you buy mail order retail -- either. :letitallo

like $70 for a yellow assessor WTF??? i may as well go back to gettin all my stuff from UW. i dunno.

the good thing with some of the CA suppliers is they have a lower minimum on THUR and FRI because thats when they have less in stock overall. so if you have a friend over there check out the suppliers in Canoga Park and LA.

on acrylics myopia i like that they're lighter and more clarity and don't crack like glass does. most west coast wholesalers stock tanks only for PICKUP customers. shipping is like outta da q except on acrylic and still craigslist is the best unless ur rich.

Think'll they ship, if I group but and it comes in an excess of $500. I know it out of the question but from what you said, acrylic seems better than glass and at that price I might just go for it, I still have to take into perspective the shipping costs!