wandj

WOW Christian, you should be a detective or investigative reporter. When I opened my box, I did not immediately blame the airline, I told them I would check with my shipper. I told my shipper the packs were cold but he swore to me that he had to show the contents of the box to the ELS counter staff and he shook the packs and put them in at that time. He said they were working. Now, this is just his word. I have no proof of that. I'm just the dumb shmuck at the end of the line. The fish were missing for awhile and WJ still won't tell me what happened. BUT, I just called WJ cargo (18669522746) and spoke with the lady handling my case (Rekha), and she said my case was handed over to "accounting" on April 4. She said I would get paid. (I don't know how much) I really still don't know the facts of the other parties here, I just know what I encountered. I have also been told by staff at a LFS that if the box was left on some ramp for awhile, it would get cold no matter if they heat packs were working or not. I just don't know ppl. All I can say now, is that if WJ pays me back, I will be satisfied. I just hope they put measures in place to ensure all animals are kept in the proper area. This will cover their butts. Only if they get "lost", will they be obviously at fault. Anyway, if I get a check from WJ, are they admitting that this problem (with my case) was their fault?

BTW, as per my first post, no one has told me if they saw the story in the paper. Hmm.

Very risky, which is probably why retailers charge so much for fish...to make up for all their losses. I don't think I will ever ship or receive fish via air or any method for that matter. Unless it's something I can't find/get locally from a LFS. But, I did get 2M/2F wild Placidochromis sp Jalo Reef. Price US$140 and 3 x Jalo juvies (2 inch) @ US$12 ea from the U.S.A. I don't think very many people here in Canada have them. This shipment went practically perfect. Northwest airlines. All fish in excellent condition. Ok, don't mean to hijack my own thread, but I doubt I will be flying fish anymore. Thanks all.

How do you work the "quote" button? Anyway, thank you MW for having a little compassion for me. I was very upset and I'm sure Rinkel (guy in Calgary) was very upset too. We didn't do anything wrong...just opened up boxes of our dead fish and wasted lots of time, money and heart in doing so. Believe me, I did ask my shipper to explain exactly how he put the packs in. When I got the box, I put that pack against my cheek and it was dead as a door nail. I don't know why, he swore it was working. And WJ still won't tell me what exactly happened to these fish en-route. Where were they for all that time? I don't know what happened so I can't explain parts of the story I don't have. The facts are: fish on very short flight in alleged "heated, pressurized cargo hold" show up dead. End of story. I just want to say this can happen to you. I have shipped fish a few times and 3 times with WJ. This was the first failure. One out of three is not very good. One thing you can do if you do ship, mark the box extremely well and make sure to make yourself very clear in what the contents are and stress that they have to be kept warm. I don't know if my shipper did that. I can only go by what he tells me. (He did ship to me once b4 with no trouble)

Ok, my point was that I lost fish in a very similar fashion to the the guy in Calgary. I didn't realize some ppl wanted so many details. The point in my first post was my anger at the AIRLINE, not my shipper. I guess I could spent half an hour typing the whole story with every detail, but I really don't have the time, I'm sorry. WJ still has not told me what happened with my case. As for the guy in Calgary, who is the reason why I started this post, how can WJ mess up a 2 hour flight from Edmonton to Calgary? Aquarium Illusions are not a bunch of idiots. I trust they know how to pack fish. From what I read in the paper, the fish were not "lost" like mine were. His case is much worse than mine.

Let me provide some more details. I see that if I don't, things are getting off tangent. WJ told me that they only ship animals in their "pressurized and heated cargo hold". This is a separate area that is just as comfortable to be in as the cabin. I was told this TWICE by WJ at 2 different shipping dates. Another point, they LOST my fish. I was to pick them up at 6pm. I waited around for a couple of hours and told they probably were not taken off the plane and went to Vancouver and I could come back the next day when the plane was back in Edmonton. Of course I told the guy at the counter they would be dead by then, but there was nothing I could do. So I left. I live 1.5 hours away from Edmonton. About 15 minutes from my home, I got a call saying they "found" my fish and they were at the Cargo bldg. The guy told me they could send them out to me via cab but I would have to pay the cab $125, or I could turn around and come back. I turned around and went back. I arrived back at the cargo blg at 9:20pm. Opened up the box and fish were cold and very dead. I can only figure that they were NOT put in the proper cargo area (heated and pressurized) and/or they were left outside on a ramp for a VERY long time. It was -15C that day. Hope this explains things a bit more.

Anyone see the article in the Edmonton Sun "Buyer angry as flying fish die"? It's about Aquarium Illusions shipping some very rare saltwaters to a guy in Calgary. Fish were popsicles on arrival. 2 hour flight. Same exact thing happened to me exactly a month ago. I had some Salmon Silver Aro's (remember I was trying to get those?) shipped from Kelowna. 2 hour flight. Dead. Box was cold, water was cold, heat pack not even giving off heat anymore. I tried to put in a claim. Getting a run-around. They still won't tell me what happened or how this happened. Won't give me any answers. So, just like the story in the paper, I just sent my story to the Alberta SPCA as well. Makes me sick they are still killing fish and don't give a sh*t. They haven't done a thing to ensure they don't keep killing animals. Also, my fish were not the only thing they "lost". There was a lady in the office with me who had 2 puppies "missing". She was from Sherwood Park I think. I wonder if they killed her dogs too.

Yes. But I have been out of Chemistry classes so long I don't know how to explain it. I'm sure someone else can. I'm sure there is a reason why my pH meter has a temperature dial.

I just put all 3 of my JD's in my big tank (300gal) that were housed in separate tanks. Within a day, 2 of them were jawlocking and fighting but completely leaving the other one (smaller one) alone. I took out the one that I could catch and it went to BA's. The one left behind had not bothered the "smaller" one at all. They seem to get along very well. They even swim together. My conclusion is that I had 2 males fighting and one female. Seems a 300 gal tank is still not big enough for 2 males to share. Maybe I'll have a spawn some day if I do have a male and female left. Just concerned about the other fish in my tank. Where would they go if the JD's started spawning?

I wish you had pictures....especially before and after. Try to get your boss to work on this bimbo in giving that poor fish back to the pet store.

I just picked mine up from my LFS. It was on sale from $400 down to $300. For a town that is famous for gouging folks, this price is not as bad as it could have been. I would never pay regular price for it. Now that I know it has been sold for $270 elsewhere. Not hooked up yet. Waiting for a day off. Good to know it is highly praised.

Didn't I see someone here with a yellow duck oranment on the bottom of his tank? I didn't say anything at the time, but now is the time. -roll-

The auction closed. No one wanted it (really?). Here it is again: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auc...wana&1143133801 Looks like something was nipping at its anal fin too. This is in Calif so I doubt I would spoil this persons' chances of selling the fish here to someone in AB, so my opinion is that the fish was not taken care of very well? I heard it gets a crooked spine if it is in a tank too small. So maybe this is an example of keeping aro's in too small tanks? I'm only speculating. Does anyone else have any guesses as to how it happened?

I'm not sure I put this link here right, but this is a link to an Aro on Aquabid. Closes soon. Check out this poor beasts back. Poor thing. It might have drop-eye too. http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auc...wana&1142874386

It's a 2 way street. The animals need just as much protection from kids as kids need protection from animals. A kid could fall in an inappropriately placed tank and drown. And, the animals could suffer a miserable death. Here is a true story. My mom told me they had goldfish as kids. The goldfish were found dead one morning with little human teeth marks in them. Apparantly my aunt got hungry or something. And mom got me goldfish as a kid too. They only seemed to last a couple of weeks. I thought it was strange for their "tank" to be an ice cream pail, no filter, no air stone, etc. But what did I know? Shame on mommy.

Maybe the Jardini knew that it better get it first!

-When you go on holidays to Las Vegas and have fish arranged to be shipped to the airport (from California) the day you leave so you can sneak them in your carry-on bag for the trip home. -When you drive all the way to the U.S.A to pick up some fish. I drove 17 hours once. -When you ask the beau if you can plug up the fireplace that never gets used and ask to have a tank put on the mantle in front of it. -Yes, I have also had to pay $2000 for an electrician to come in and re-wire the basement because of all my tanks. -When you set up livestock tubs in the home-theatre room and turn them into grow-out ponds. I could go on and on....

Yes, there is a raging debate about the black/blue thing. I guess only time will tell if it stays blue. However, there is a "salmon" Silver I was going to get. It is a Silver with pink fins. So maybe there is a "blue" Black. It still won't eat. I tried crickets and all that is happening is that the fish still won't eat and the damn things are escaping and now they're crawling around my house somewhere. Oh well, the cats will find them.

Thank you so much for the good word. The more I look at it, the more I really am getting attached. (I call it "it" cuz it's easier than typing "him/her" all the time) And I am surprised no one has said I was ripped off or something like that since the fish was from BA and they have notoriously high prices. I am a bit like the old man on Jurassic Park; when I like something, my attitude is "spare no expense". This is a happy experience for me. I am just crossing my fingers on it starting to eat. I have never seen an Aro with its mouth open. (This is my first one and have never really gazed at them long before). Right now I have a large Red Wiggler clasped in a plastic tong and it is hanging near the surface of the water. It wiggles away, but it still ignores it. Might seem weird, but I would like to train it to take food from these plastic tongs. Why? Well, once it is in the big tank, I would like to be able to serve it its meal without the other fish stealing all the food before it gets a chance. I have seen the staff at BA feed their Aros and the sharks in their shark-tank this way and it seems like a good idea. Not?

Well, I went to Big Als a few days ago and I bought the "Blue" Arowana. It's a color varient of the Black Arowana. I am sure it's wild-caught as it is just over a foot long and was in a tank by itself. Reg price was $430 but with my ACE card and BA points, it cost $375. I think it is gorgeous and I really like the finnage. I know it was eating in the store, but it won't eat yet. Should I be concerned? How long does it take for them to get their appetite back? He looks very healthy. Here is a pic. This is my first (and last) Arowana. (I hope). Does anyone have any advice? I have tried live Red Wigglers, Blackworms, food sticks and Mysis shrimp and it won't touch any of it yet. Should I try crickets? (Oh, and sorry the pics are not very good as I could only get part of him/her in focus in the shots)

Are you telling me they will have more tanks than Big Als? I'll believe that when I see it.

they return to the retailer and attempt to "grind" the price down. You know, I have been called "cheap", "thrifty", "greedy" and other names like "scrounge" when it comes to money. But it has NEVER been comfortable for me to try to bargain down a price. I suppose you have the right to try to bargain, but there is a LOT of risk bringing in ANY fish let alone rare ones. The retailers do take all the risk. They don't have a guarantee if the fish dies, hence the reason why they can get their fish pretty cheap but don't forget they still have to pay rent, utilities and wages. To each his/her own, but whenever I see someone trying to "grind" down the price, it sickens me. For those who do this, go shop at Walmart then. Then you can be happy you got what you paid for. For those who think a fish is way over priced, just leave the store. Someone will probably come along with a bigger wallet and pay it. And they will probably not complain about the price and just be happy they got their treasure.

I'm not sure how big the fry are with Rams, but if they are anywhere near the size of Rainbowfish "larvae", BBS is much too big for them and they won't be able to fit it in their mouths for about a week. Maybe Microworms, but vinegar eels for sure. It's possible they will need microscopic foods. If they can eat BBS, you will see them swimming around with orange bellies.

I have had my pair of adult wild Tefe discus for about a year. They were eating fine for quite awhile and then for no reason they went different ways. The fish on the right developed a huge appetite and will eat anything I put in the tank. NLS, flake, frozen, etc. It looks very healthy and gorgeous. The fish on the left stopped eating and would completely ignore everything I tried. It didn't even try to eat. A friend of mine thought the fish (both of them?) look "old", so I thought maybe the one that wouldn't eat was just getting ready to die. So I took it out and put it in a hospital tank. I thought maybe it didn't like my hard/alkaline water so I did add RO to the tank for awhile, but this had no effect. It still refused to touch any food. It has refused food for about 2 months...so far as I know. Before I forget, here is a pic of the pair. The fish on the left is the one that won't eat. Since this pic, it has gotten very skinny and drabby. Very prominent barring as well. I had pretty much given up hope on this thing. I didn't think it was sick...but it just wouldn't eat. I did try live Red Wigglers, but it ignored them too. (I heard Discus could be enticed to eat with live food). Just a couple of weeks ago I got a batch of live Blackworms from Riverfront (my LFS got them in for me). Just on a lark, I threw some in the fish's tank. I did not hang around to see if it ate because I was busy, but the next day I didn't see any worms on the bottom. I threw some more in, and to my absolute SHOCK, the bugger went after them like no tomorrow and ate like there was nothing wrong. The fish even pursued the worms and sucked them right in...no spitting or fooling around. Well, this convinced me the fish was not sick...never was. So I put it back in the main Discus tank. Today, I fed them all the live Blackworms and same thing...all the Discus went crazy for them. I did add a bit of garlic stuff to the worms, but they would eat them regardless. I knew the other Discus liked them because I already tried the worms on them. So here I am with a fish that was willing to starve to death but because I added the live BW's, it goes nuts for them. I don't know if it will always just eat these and nothing else, but at least I know I can get it to live. Fish can be strange. So I guess there is a reason for me to keep this type of worms around. Risky? Maybe. Discus are supposed to be the pickiest for getting internal infections from live food, so I guess time will tell. All I can do is ensure the worm cultures are kept as clean and fresh as possible. (Lots of water changes, etc) Still makes me scratch my head.

I don't know much about Lionfish and I don't even have a salt water tank, but I don't understand how adding hot water will destroy the venom. Can I assume that it is mainly the temperature that does the trick? (Why not cold water then?) Venom is delivered via a "stinger" directly into the flesh of its victim. So how do you get the hot water to affect the poison when it is already in your body? Wouldn't you get burned? Can someone pls explain? Thanks.