New Fish

[Travis8896]

I picked up some new fish from gerbers yesterday. I got a baby one spot foxface a green coral goby and a scooter blenny ill get some pictures uploaded later tonight.

[Travis8896]

Got a question tho what do you all think of gerbers?

[Mussin]

Never been there... worth the drive?

[bbtm64]

I like Gerber's. Just wish I lived closer to them. I have bought a lot from them, for that reason. But what I have purchased has done reasonably well.

[Travis8896]

Its not bad but unless I get another gift card in not gonna go back. When I went the tanks were pretty dirty and that kinda put me off, and the prices were about equal to jacks the selection was decent. I guess I really just didn't like the warehouse set up because I really enjoy going to places that have large dts because I love to see large established tanks plus it give my mom something to look at.

I'm glad I went to gerbers tho because the quality was good and they had some harder to find fish, which of coarse  is out of my price range but if u have more money to spend it would be a good place to go.

[Viggen]

Yea, most of their tanks are quite old making it very difficult to see the fish in there.  Their quality I think has improved a lot vs what it was 5-10+ years ago..... The biggest reason I do not buy fish from them is the large acrylic tanks that have the fish i am interested in are just to scratched for me to get a good idea of the fishes health/condition

Like with any fish store some days they are loaded with cool stuff..... Other days empty

[Travis8896]

I felt the same way plus I really like seeing the big show tanks lol but they don't have any

[Chris]

I went there yesterday,too. Was planning to buy a zoas colony, but it was already sold.
I bought a couple fish and corals from them in the past. Never had a problem.
About the pricing, they R more expensive then the online stores, but locally, that's the best store u can find.
Jack's??? I would never buy fish from them. No one should.

[bbtm64]

All my fish, inverts and most of my corals have come from Jack's. I've never had a problem with any of them. I've lost a few but that's due to my fluctuating nitrate and the recent heat.

It has a lot to do with the store you deal with.

[Chris]

Not sure about the one in springfield, but the one here on smithville rd sucks.
I went there the first day to pick up a valve for my air pump, and saw there are 5 yellow tang in a really small tank. They were doing not good at all, all of them have ick.
Three days later, I went there again because the valve broke already, and saw that the tangs were looking much worse.
they just left the sick fish there doing nothing.
Also, another time i talked with the manager about trade in some cichlids for store credits. The manager said he want them, so i drive all the way back home to get 5 mated pairs. Guess how much I got.
He give me $1 dollar not even cash but store credit for 10 fish which was selling for $5 each.
 I just had too many unhappy experience with jacks.

All my fish, inverts and most of my corals have come from Jack's. I've never had a problem with any of them. I've lost a few but that's due to my fluctuating nitrate and the recent heat.

It has a lot to do with the store you deal with.

[Neogenesis]

It has a lot to do with the store you deal with.

You hit the nail on the head with that statement.  Our local PSP was always very good until they fired their saltwater guy, now their tanks and livestock are shit.  It's a good thing he and another local started up a store.....otherwise I might have tore down my tank because I'm not driving an hour or two everytime I want to go look for something new for my tank!!

[Viggen]

100% the employees at the store.  Jacks gets their saltwater fish from a wholesaler I have used several times and they have excellent quality fish. What kills jacks is most stores do not have anyone that has a clue on saltwater, scared to touch it thus it gets negleced and fish get sick and die.  The sugar creek store had a nice selection however the person that ran it just got a job out of state so time will tell how long it stays healthy.  That smithville store has always been very crappy.....

They are there to make money and there is no reason to pay more for fish when someone brings them in vs from a wholesaler.  Thus $1 for a $5 retail doesn't seem to bad.  For saltwater if you bring in a yellow tang that they would sell for say $50-60.... Their cost is $15-18 from the wholesaler they use.

[Chris]

the thing I'm worrying is their saltwater tanks r using the same filtration system. which means possibly all fish carry same disease their yellow tangs have. Buying a fish there could be too risk. maybe u r right, all jacks stores have good stuff, but not the smithville rd store.

If they gave me $1 each, That's a reasonable price. But they gave me $1for all 10 fish!! Which means 10 cents each for a $5 retail. that's even won't cover the gas money and the zip bags I'm using to transport them.

 

100% the employees at the store.  Jacks gets their saltwater fish from a wholesaler I have used several times and they have excellent quality fish. What kills jacks is most stores do not have anyone that has a clue on saltwater, scared to touch it thus it gets negleced and fish get sick and die.  The sugar creek store had a nice selection however the person that ran it just got a job out of state so time will tell how long it stays healthy.  That smithville store has always been very crappy.....

They are there to make money and there is no reason to pay more for fish when someone brings them in vs from a wholesaler.  Thus $1 for a $5 retail doesn't seem to bad.  For saltwater if you bring in a yellow tang that they would sell for say $50-60.... Their cost is $15-18 from the wholesaler they use.

[Neogenesis]

generally, each wall unit has it's own filtration system.  Not know how many units they have, I would suspect they aren't completely shared.

[Viggen]

yea.... many times the reef side is separate from the fish side.  The sugarcreek store keeps copper in their fish side all the time but like stated most at their stores are completely clueless with saltwater stuff.  Thus it seems like many of the jacks stores are dropping saltwater and only doing freshwater, just like pretty much all other large chain pet stores. 

Wow... .10 ea does suck.....

[Travis8896]

The one in Sidney isn't to bad but that's probably because they have 2-3 people that sorta know what their doing

[Twizted1]

He only thing ill buy at the Jack's in sidney is the rugged air line I make my drippers out of.

Here are pics Travis has been trying to post.

[Travis8896]

I only buy right when the shipment comes in

[bbtm64]

Nice fish Travis. I've always liked scooters.

[Travis8896]

Thanx I like scooters to but my favorite of what I got is the fox face its so young its only like 2 inches

[bbtm64]

I worked for Jack's for about 6 years. My biggest complaint is they didn't have an in store QT. The fish and invert system are separate but each system shares it own filter system, or used to anyway.

I've also seen a decline in the willingness to learn. I spent a ton if time reading and observing both the fresh and salt systems. I wanted to learn. It seems a lot of their employees are just there for the paycheck. I had customers that would only deal with me, which was a pretty good feeling, lol.

[Travis8896]

That's y I pretty much only deal with Reilly

[Neogenesis]

My biggest complaint is they didn't have an in store QT.

That's my biggest complaint about any salt store, and there is only one I've visited that is quarantining any sick stock.  Most try to treat in tanks without separating them from the rest of their stock.  While they can quarantine everything that comes in, anything that looks or act funny gets pulled from display until they know it's healthy.  For this very reason I only buy livestock from this store as I know what's coming out will be in good shape.

[bbtm64]

The only place I visited that had a QT system was Byerly's, in Columbus. I was sad when I heard they closed up.

[Neogenesis]

Changing Tide Aquatics here in Findlay quarantines anything that doesn't look right.....and in fact I believe they just added another 6 or 8 tanks to their QT system.

[Travis8896]

Changing Tide Aquatics here in Findlay quarantines anything that doesn't look right.....and in fact I believe they just added another 6 or 8 tanks to their QT system.

I can't wait to visit their just have to find time

[Neogenesis]

It's worth the drive......can't wait till my magnificent foxface comes in.  :-)

[Travis8896]

That's what I believe from what I've heard