Certified Quarantined Fish Shipped To Your Door...

[revhtree]

No plans, no motives, just a simple question from someone who would pay quite a bit more for quarantined fish and was wondering if others would as well!

Would you pay more for certificated quarantined fish that you could acclimate and drop straight in the tank? If so how much more would you pay? 2x 3x 5x?

I personally would pay up to 3x more.

 

[DeepSouth]

While I would be willing to pay more for healthy quarantined fish.. I would be skeptical of whether or not the fish was actually quarantined.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

I would pay more for a Properly Quarantine fish but what kind of warranty the seller will offer?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I would pay more for a Properly Quarantine fish but what kind of warranty the seller will offer?

Agreed. I'd pay more so long as there's a reasonable guarantee to go with it.

 

[WVNed]

I have never had a problem. All I see is I am going to be paying 2-3 times what I pay now for the same fish.

 

[N2950H]

While I would be willing to pay more for healthy quarantined fish.. I would be skeptical of whether or not the fish was actually quarantined.

I tend to agree with this. Unfortunately in today's world you just can't depend on people to do what they say they will. Even if they start with the best of intentions, corners eventually get cut to save a buck and before you know it they're operating just like everyone else.

I'm sure there are a handful of exceptions, but I've learned to not rely on anyone but myself over the years. I don't think I'd pay any extra for this until a vendor has established a reputation over many years.

 

[WVNed]

All I see this doing is shoving the actuarial table for fish in the sellers direction.

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

Revtree,

Funny you mention this we were just talking about this the other day at the store. With all the extra space we have, we were considering trying this for some of our locals. Curious what others think.

 

[WVNed]

I would pay more for a fish quarantined someplace I could see.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I'd pay more, but I still wouldn't drop it straight in the tank. The additional money up front might be worth it to me to have a potentially healthier fish to begin with in QT. That's why I prefer Diver's Den over Live Aquaria; I don't expect it to be 100% disease free but I do expect it to have a better starting chance.

I remember thinking when HumbleFish was starting his business that one flaw for the model on the business side is that no matter what you do, once you send that fish out it is at the mercy of whatever the customer has in his system. You could be 100% sure as a business that you performed all the right QT measures, but if that fish ends up in a tank with ich and contracts it, now what? Refund the money? Argue who's right? Send a replacement to get sick again? All you need is a couple reviews from some yahoo saying "I bought from XYZ and the QT piece is bogus because my fish died" and you've got a problem. In the end you potentially don't have any model better than Diver's Den but with higher expenses.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Revtree,

Funny you mention this we were just talking about this the other day at the store. With all the extra space we have, we were thinking about trying this for some of our locals. Curios what others think.

Will be a good reason to make the trip to your store to get some healthy fish and a few corals.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Revtree,

Funny you mention this we were just talking about this the other day at the store. With all the extra space we have, we were thinking about trying this for some of our locals. Curios what others think.

My local shop will order the fish, and quarantine it for free...... If it doesn’t survive I don’t pay a dime. They have pretty great customer service

 

[MnFish1]

No plans, no motives, just a simple question from someone who would pay quite a bit more for quarantined fish and was wondering if others would as well!

Would you pay more for certificated quarantined fish that you could acclimate and drop straight in the tank? If so how much more would you pay? 2x 3x 5x?

I personally would pay up to 3x more.

First- 2x, 3x, etc what - an internet site? An LFS? etc

I picked 2x - that said part of it depends on what 'certified' means. Does it mean the fish arrives disease free? Does it mean the fish arrives disease free with some kind of proof of QT? Does it mean the fish have a warranty against disease for 2 weeks, 3 months, 6 months against disease?

The problem is (on both sides) - how can the buyer be sure that a complete proper QT was done? On the seller side - how can the seller be sure he's selling his QT'd fish to an owner that doesn't have disease lurking in their tank (thus the new fish will get it). Because of part 2 (the seller risk) - I can't imagine that the warranty provided could possibly be 'that good'. To me the amount I'd pay relates only to the certification/warrnaty I receive.

 

[MnFish1]

Revtree,

Funny you mention this we were just talking about this the other day at the store. With all the extra space we have, we were thinking about trying this for some of our locals. Curios what others think.

Our store does this.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I’m expecting backlash from this but I’m being honest. It’s sad we do not do this now. The way humans treat animals and mammals and nature is just tragic. I wouldn’t pay anything extra, I would expect the company to have human decency to provide the best care and medical to anything they take out of nature and or breed.

It’s always about money, what’s the profit? I have a better suggestion, how about get rich and we’ll known because the fish or corals you sell are super healthy and not at risk for disease. Yes it’s s life form, even healthy humans get sick, the same with animals. At the same time these poor fish are stressed to the max, not even given time to heal and sold as quick as possible. How does anyone find this ethical and moral? Yes I have a tank and corals, but at the same time I do everything possible within my power and technology today to keep them healthy and alive. But if we are willing to pay more, companies will take advantage of that, and how do we actually know? Trust now a days is a hard thing to earn as compared to older times. Yes they may give a warranty but the idea is not to have the first one die in the first place. Yes I can see of old age or something happening that’s life. But how many fish die from shipping and not being fully healthy before hand? Not to mention people who buy them and don’t even have proper tanks etc. (whole list of things). In terms of the topic why should we pay extra? I would hope the people I buy from care as much about their livestock as much as I do. It’s sad we have a price for life on animals pets etc.

 

[PYRU]

2x I would. I need some kind of verification though. A velvet outbreak with 2x the cost I'm going to have a meltdown

 

[Aardvark1134]

quarantine before shipping is not as useful as you think. Most peoples tanks have issues in them and their fish are just dealing with it. As soon as you put in a stressed out fish with a weak immune like a tang poof it's got ich. For it to be of value you would need to have one of the rare ich free reef tanks. They do exist but are very rare.

 

[dantimdad]

I would pay more for a fish quarantined someplace I could see.

We have discussed doing this for locals if we get a large enough space when we open the LFS.

We would add probably 50% to the price of the fish but that remains open to discussion.

 

[AZRipp]

As others have stated, I would be leery as to "if" and "how" fish were quarantined prior to me receiving them. The only way I would feel optimistic about it is if the seller would guarantee there wouldn't be an outbreak in your DT for 2 months with full replacement if it were to happen. On the flip side, this is an unrealistic request due to the seller having no control over how a person cares for their tank, fish already carrying something in the DT, or other fish introduced not sold by them.

 

[MnFish1]

quarantine before shipping is not as useful as you think. Most peoples tanks have issues in them and their fish are just dealing with it. As soon as you put in a stressed out fish with a weak immune like a tang poof it's got ich. For it to be of value you would need to have one of the rare ich free reef tanks. They do exist but are very rare.

Agreed - At least according to the poll - recently done (still ongoing) < 10 percent of all the respondents QT both fish and Coral. Thus 90% of tanks out there have the 'potential' of CI, etc in their tanks. (in all fairness - some people bought QT'd fish as per the comments on that thread - but if you're conservative <20% of people QT both coral and fish (according to standard protocols as listed here)....

It’s always about money, what’s the profit? I have a better suggestion, how about get rich and we’ll known because the fish or corals you sell are super healthy and not at risk for disease.

Sarah - isn't that the basis of the poll? what would you pay for fully quarantined fish? In other words the people that always sell super healthy fish that are not at risk of disease are likely Quarantined - and that involves a higher price (because it costs more for the seller to maintain those processes). You seem to be implying that its pure greed involved (i.e. the money) - in reality - its economics 101. If person A can buy a fish online (which I dont do) that costs 20$ and the same fish can be bought for $80 at an LFS - which fish do you think people will buy - probably the online fish - figuring that - well I can always buy 3 more and still break even as compared to buying the one expensive fish at the LFS.

The issue here is not the stores making money - its the consumers clamoring for lower prices (IMO) - nice post BTW