Why not make a list of the fish you want and ask them to get it for you..I am almost 100% positive they can get get it .I had Ralph get me a Chevron tang a few years back (when they weren't as popular as they are now)not only did he come thru for me but held it in his store for 2 weeks and to top it off he honored the sale price..and that was when he was in Yonkers..Believe I fell your pain
1. He has had my list for some time. Everything that he has delivered has been in great condition. He installed a U/V sterilizer and there has been no sign of ich.
2. Some of the things on my list are apparently more difficult for him to obtain.
3. Ralph's Black Friday sale has had stunning inventory (e.g. Blue Ringed Octopus... not that I would recommend one).
a. Fish dealers can't get the hot captive bred mandarins unless they take a lot of relatively generic clownfish. I may be wrong here but in my mind there is a correlation between a massive Black Friday 180 box order and obtaining some hard to get items.
b. A Ford dealer won't get the hot new Shelby GT500 unless they also take a lot of Ford Fiestas. If you want to buy a Ford Fiesta from the dealer, you can get a discount; however, if you want the hot in demand car, you get no discount. You pay list price if you are lucky.
4. I would gladly pay the list price for difficult to get items (have a strong preference for avoiding lines) and don't see that as bashing anyone.
5. I am a huge fan of Ralph's... and would like to see him do well. He and his brother have been nothing but very nice.
6. If the trade of wait times/amazing prices works for you, great. It obviously does for many, many people. I don't know the fish business but I assume any prices advertised as "not available to other vendors" are at/below wholesale.
