Dr reef vs marine collectors.

[endlessrealm]

Hi. I just want to see everybodys experience on dr reef vs marine collectors. I like dr reef. But there was few concerns here, about giving people ich. Whats your experience been like with either one. I didnt hear nothing bad about marine collectors but they are a lot of money.

 

[Bozburn]

I have gotten the majority of my fish from Marine Collectors and have never had a bad experience. My blonde naso was having digestive issues and I called Elliot and we talked for a solid 30 minutes about it and he gave me some advice that helped out as well as stayed in touch.

I have gotten a blonde naso, CBB, Wrasse, Goby and Royal Gramma from them and they are always in great condition when received. I know they are pricy but I didn't want to take any chances since I don't have a QT system set up yet.

Would highly recommend!

 

[brandon429]

you can source wild with a high % likelihood of diseases, being suppressed and balanced from the diet/feed/dilution/water quality and habitat they're used to but now moved into a barren home reef aquarium, or, you can buy the second step of that where a pro pre readies them and removes probably 80-90% of that risk

the final entry to your tank is your resp

not Dr. Reef's

the fact he can do so well that the majority don't have to be responsible for the final observation step, like a zoo would do, means he's meeting a market niche demand anyone can appreciate.

what a zoo would do is source the safest bet animals matched for tank environs

and then run their own observation/ fallow setup before entry and that's the best you can do in reefing fish keeping ethics

a zoo doesn't use a sterile bright barely cycled scary bright qt tank, forum reefers do that shortcut

a pro has an observation fallow system with no disease vectors, muted lighting, hiding spots, low reflectivity, aged and ready to receive, such that pre-observation can't be whined as harmful to fish. they might even preemptively treat known risky species, in addition to what Dr. Reef does, because they're not in a hurry to get into the display. they want to be deliberate, thinking for the long haul.

all the people you read whining about disease from Dr's stock were lazy but not in a flippant way, they paid for prepped fish, but in the end they wanted to cut prep corners.

if I was a fishkeeper I'd apply all of Jay's prep advice from the stickies in his forum to fish sourced by Dr. Reef.

 

[brandon429]

***none of this is harshed at you

excellent prep+ reading to consider any sort of help for disease prevention. it's to address the known surge of posts about people who really did get an outbreak after buying but recall that biosecurity article I posted, about adding wet things to a reef tank from a pet store?

how many hundreds of aquarists claiming to catch disease from Dr. Reef bothered to outline their setup/biosecurity details in the complaint? leaks in/disease vectors/ happen and are unstated. the fish guy gets the total blame

to have a fair % likelihood on known degree of cross contamination disease import among those complaints, try and fathom how many people do you actually know that practices biosecurity at the pet store, the living populous?

0 for me. there's a few online that do, from his buyer stock, but the vast majority just added snails shortly after the new fish breaking that expensive handling protocol and they didn't tell us that part. they don't even realize it themselves for the most part, not everyone has read the biosecurity/input controls article from Jay.

 

[hunterallen40]

I'm rather surprised to hear that... Could you please elaborate?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

you can source wild with a high % likelihood of diseases, being suppressed and balanced from the diet/feed/dilution/water quality and habitat they're used to but now moved into a barren home reef aquarium, or, you can buy the second step of that where a pro pre readies them and removes probably 80-90% of that risk

the final entry to your tank is your resp

not Dr. Reef's

the fact he can do so well that the majority don't have to be responsible for the final observation step, like a zoo would do, means he's meeting a market niche demand anyone can appreciate.

what a zoo would do is source the safest bet animals matched for tank environs

and then run their own observation/ fallow setup before entry and that's the best you can do in reefing fish keeping ethics

a zoo doesn't use a sterile bright barely cycled scary bright qt tank, forum reefers do that shortcut

a pro has an observation fallow system with no disease vectors, muted lighting, hiding spots, low reflectivity, aged and ready to receive, such that pre-observation can't be whined as harmful to fish. they might even preemptively treat known risky species, in addition to what Dr. Reef does, because they're not in a hurry to get into the display. they want to be deliberate, thinking for the long haul.

all the people you read whining about disease from Dr's stock were lazy but not in a flippant way, they paid for prepped fish, but in the end they wanted to cut prep corners.

if I was a fishkeeper I'd apply all of Jay's prep advice from the stickies in his forum to fish sourced by Dr. Reef.

It sounds like a waste of money to buy fish from him then if you need to perform your own quarantine in the same fashion as if he had never touched it.

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

Ordered 4 tangs from Marine Collectors. 2 tangs in 2 purchases. First Naso died within days, so I tried again, and the second did the same thing. Both arrived acting like zombies and wouldn’t touch food. The other two tangs, a yellow and blue hippo, are thriving. Fwiw, not the remotest sign of ich from either of them.

Just received my anthias and mandarin goby from Dr Reef. He gave 2 additional anthias for free. All doing great! And much more affordable. I think that’s where I’ll be buying fish from from now on.

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

It sounds like a waste of money to buy fish from him then if you need to perform your own quarantine in the same fashion as if he had never touched it.

Truthfully I just put my orders from both vendors straight into the DT. 14 separate fish between the two vendors, no outbreaks of anything.

 

[Lavey29]

I'm rather surprised to hear that... Could you please elaborate?

I did multiple orders with them. 2 or 3 fish at a time. I picked the fish up in person so no shipping. I had about 80% die off within 24 to 48 hours. I asked to see their facility and how they do their QT in house and they refused to let me see the quality of their operation. Just wait outside. I started using one of my local LFS who also does in house QT with copper and prazi, etc... I purchased the same fish and had 100% success thus far long term.

 

[exnisstech]

If at all possible I would QT myself. JMO but trusting someone to QT my fish is like buying saltwater from the lfs and letting them do my testing. I just don't have the faith to trust someone else to do those things. A QT can be as simple as plastic tote with a hob filter and heater.

 

[Lavey29]

If at all possible I would QT myself. JMO but trusting someone to QT my fish is like buying saltwater from the lfs and letting them do my testing. I just don't have the faith to trust someone else to do those things. A QT can be as simple as plastic tote with a hob filter and heater.

Its getting the wife to approve that tote in the house thats the big problem.

 

[brandon429]

its the equivalent of gun trading where we take each other's word about a cleared chamber but never actually check. hey, I shot myself in the leg and that makes me mad

Dr Reef is a paid en masse chamber checker, right about 98% of the time. I would buy from him then just go ahead and clear the chamber myself in addition.

 

[exnisstech]

Its getting the wife to approve that tote in the house thats the big problem.

Marriage does have it's disadvantages lol.

 

[jda]

I assume that you mean for disease prep only?

The bottom line is that this is still on you. Both of them will have some lovers and some haters. Some will swear that they still got diseases from either of them - who knows what is what. In the end, they are human and mistakes do happen, so I would not trust too many things that you cannot see and be in control of.

I am not going to get on a soap box about QT since it is personal and there are so many variations, but I would suggest that you do not buy any fish that are known to have issue with the way that either of them treats for diseases. Not all fish can handle hypo, copper, etc. and some of it is better than others for some species.

 

[PhishMonger84]

Ordered 4 tangs from Marine Collectors. 2 tangs in 2 purchases. First Naso died within days, so I tried again, and the second did the same thing. Both arrived acting like zombies and wouldn’t touch food. The other two tangs, a yellow and blue hippo, are thriving. Fwiw, not the remotest sign of ich from either of them.

Just received my anthias and mandarin goby from Dr Reef. He gave 2 additional anthias for free. All doing great! And much more affordable. I think that’s where I’ll be buying fish from from now on.

how many anthias did you order that you got extras? i love extras

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It sounds like a waste of money to buy fish from him then if you need to perform your own quarantine in the same fashion as if he had never touched it.

It still helps. There are some issues that no quarantine process can manage (cyanide, etc.). Having the fish held by somebody else puts that loss on them, not you.

I quarantine ALL incoming fish - even those from other public aquariums. I might shorten/modify the protocol in some circumstances, but NO fish ever goes in with my main collection without some additional clearing/quarantine.

Jay

 

[Doctorgori]

Dr.Reef … my fish did not arrive on time and HE contacted me … also backed up the guarantee regardless …
As it turned out the fish arrived in very bad shape after 48 VERY hot hrs in a Carolina UPS truck (or whatever)… Both fish were on their side for almost 12hrs but thanks to being pretty fat & robust, both pulled through …
Endorse!

edit add: personally I “try” to either self QT or get a LFS to house the fish for me …
I will add that I’m not sold on it being the thing to do for every single species, IME some just can’t handle it (or perhaps need a alternate protocol)

Either way, you don’t want your tank to forever be in “Ich management” protocols for the rest of the tanks life… UV’s et stink

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

how many anthias did you order that you got extras? i love extras

Ordered 7 and got 9!

 

[rtparty]

I think 15 or so of my fish came from Mike aka Dr Reef. Can’t recommend him enough.

I know my limits and QTing fish is the last thing I want to do or will do. I’ll gladly pay a little more for someone far more qualified than I to see and treat diseases. Especially when my choices are my LFS or buy online. I KNOW every fish locally is sick. Stores around here do zero conditioning or QTing of any kind.

I can say I haven’t seen signs of any disease in my system. Ich being the least of my worries. Uronema, brook, velvet all scare me WAY more and I know I’m not getting any of those from Dr Reef.

 

[Doctorgori]

While we are at it, just my 2 cents but either get your stock from a good LFS or go “premium/specialized” retailer/middle man ….
There are 2 bigger outlets I’d avoid at all cost, No names mentioned