Morish Idol at MWC..

[ckusnierek]

So I was at MWC last week and they had a Morish Idol that was on it's death bed. I talked to the other guy there can't remember his name (not Jim ot Gordon) Anyway I told him how it mad it made me when I saw stuff like that. He told me he agreed but they had NO control on the livestock they receive.

Any thoughts????

[1-900-REEF]

Don't they specify species when they order their fish?

[ckusnierek]

From what I understand...

they can request "special orders" but get what ever they get.

[1-900-REEF]

It's sad. I've seen way too many fish over the years that have no chance of living. All sold to clueless buyers that can't understand why saltwater fish are so hard to keep.
Probably some local in Indonesia or somewhere collecting the fish, & either doesn't know, or just making a quick buck.

[LedZeppelinfan101]

That's a bunch of bull. Come on, no control over what they get? What do they do, send money and hope they get what they need? That's pretty irresponsible of MWC. They of all people should know better.

[Junkzoo]

Being on the other side of a LFS counter in the ol days, i can tell you that other than the "monthly" specials IE: "assorted damsels/assorted clowns etc. , etc., most times a order by a LFS (back when i co-owned one) most all of a livestock order was what was chosen.Sure you hardly ever got 100% of what you ordered, and they had sub'd a tang for a tang you did not order. But for the most part,(if you did not hand pick in person from the wholeseller) the more common fish like yellow tangs and such were shown on a order sheet, and stuff like less common (certain wrasses/blennies/angels etc)more likely were special ordered/chosen.
Granted MWC might have a scenario where they get whatever they want, or have it as a dollar or fish count amount (5 boxes o fish/3 boxes o inverts) a week or shipment , with not too much say in what they get, but i really doubt it.I would think chain shop would have it this way ("Ya get what we send ya")
The times i odered livestock, i told them how many of this/that(Ex: 20 yellow tangs/5 volitans), and would get 5-10 of "assorted wrasse/damsels etc. just to mix it up a bit. I knew my importers well, and knew i would get good stuff, and not stuff that would do well in captivity.
And if i had a customer that wanted a Moorish Idol, or whatever,(and i knew this customer had a pretty good chance on giving it every oportunity to let it thrive)I would have to special order it for them.If a newbie saw a blue ribbon eel in our tanks, and wanted us to order one for him(the one in the tank woulda been for a good/experienced hobbyist, who BTW had kept them for many many years in good health)i would tell them i would prob not be able to get another one (and end up lying as to why)
But just to get a Idol to sell it to whoever came in and wanted one,,that's not good business IMO.
I happen to know lots of people that have had stuff the are on the scale of being "hard to care for " w/ lousy track records of surviving, and they have been able to care for these fish/inverts for a very long time, but to have stuff just to retail them to anyone with the oney, that is just wrong.

Sorry to ramble, just wanted to offer a lil insight / opinion

[grallster]

That's funny, I asked Jim once and he said he picked off a inventory list they sent them. The guy at the store probably just gave you some BS because he didn't want to make it look like their fault.

[Junkzoo]

Originally Posted by grallster

That's funny, I asked Jim once and he said he picked off a inventory list they sent them. The guy at the store probably just gave you some BS because he didn't want to make it look like their fault.

Thats what likely happened IMO

[azpharmd1]

They put in an order, but may not receive everything that's ordered. On another note, why is Petco allowed to handle saltwater fish? I went into the Granger Petco yesterday to return an emergency bag of salt I picked up only to find three yellow Tangs among other fish dying a slow death. Absolutely uncalled for!!!!!!! Why do they bother? BTW, $26 for a 50 gallon Instant Ocean bag of salt??? I did a combined order online with a friend and a 160 gallon bucket only cost $35 shipped.

[bklynmet]

Originally Posted by Junkzoo

Thats what likely happened IMO

I agree..

[digitalis]

Originally Posted by azpharmd1

I did a combined order online with a friend and a 160 gallon bucket only cost $35 shipped.

OT, but on a side note, Petsmart price matches online prices. I always print out the DFS page with the IO. Right now, it's $29.59, and go to the store and walk out with it. I've done it twice now. For less than $30, I'm tempted to go do it again. I'm going to need salt soon.

[digitalis]

From what I know about Moorish Idols, they are extremely difficult fish to keep, and a lot of people actually will not have one because they take so much work to keep happy. Liveaquaria says "for many hobbyists, it is also one of the most difficult fish to keep because it is so difficult to feed. For all but the most expert hobbyist, it is better admired in the ocean or in a public aquarium rather than in a home tank." It also says a tank of at LEAST 125 gallons.
I don't think I'd want one. Just my opinion.

[rugar20]

did they have some blue hippos and clowns also with the idol because with it being xmas and all and finding nemo still a pretty popular movie people would come in asking for a fish like scar and there you go they can buy it and if the kids are with the parents screaming i want scar i want scar it would be hard for the parent to say no when they have it there. So my opinion is the only reason it is there now when I have never seen one before in there is to capitalize on teh whole christmas thing

[grallster]

It's kind of ironic how in the movie Scar was the oldest fish that had been in captivity the longest....opposite of how it is in real life.
There was an article in TFH last month where the author kept track of 382 Moorish Idols imported and after 2 years only 19 were still alive. After 5 years all 382 were dead. The author killed 8 of them himself (personally, I would have quit after one).

[digitalis]

It's sad. A fish like that, with that kind of history of captivity should not be kept in an aquarium. I agree with LiveAquaria, that the true expert would rather see them in the wild. I would never be so selfish as to keep a fish that I was almost sure was going to die if I kept it.