CB pets

[Ram_Puppy]

was in CB pets today and brought my cleaning crew up to snuff, 5 new pacific trochus and 5 nassarius snails + a tuxedo urchin. I can't remember off the top of my head what the pricing was, but they are running a feef janitor pricing package oout there, the more you buy, the better the price... I was very satisfied... I put the trochus(5), nassarius (5) the tuxedo, and two baby PJ cardinals in the tank yesterday, The PJ's mark the first vertebrate inhabitants in the tanks 6 month life (fo far it has been a few zebra crabs, one emerald crab, a colt coral, red sea xenia, star polyps, the pretty shroom, a couple trochus and lots of pods... the tank is very healthy.)

Anyhow, The guys at CB pets are always nice and They are running some nice deals, have some very nice corals (on a lot of their corals now it is 30 bucks for any one frag, 25 if you buy two or more, I think that excludes colonies on larger rocks)

I was also amazed this morning, it's really the first time I have fed the tank since everything in it either ate algae or was photosynthetic (or could feed off the more than ample pod population.) the nassarius snails came out of the sand like a bullet like a gun... crazy! what fun... I fed cyclopseez, and the pj's seemed to love it as well. I will be picking up some more frozen foods for them soon. I know they will opportunisticly feed on pods, they seem to like cyclopseeze, and from my research It seems they prefer a meaty diet, I know what types of food to feed them, just wondering if you guys have noticed anything in particular that they have gone nuts over? (treats and the like.) Thanks

[wkopplin]

CB usually has a good selection of stuff in and they know their stuff. I might head out there today and pick up a tuxedo.

[Oldman]

I can add my satisfaction with CB Pets. They helped me get started in establishing my first saltwater tank -- have bought my live rock, several fish, and corals there over the last 4 months and have been very pleased. Tank is doing well - except for a BTA that apparently has not made it.

[Ram_Puppy]

wek, I think they have two tuxedoes left... I forgot to mention there was a frag of leather on the tuxedo I bought, they did not charge me for it.

[wkopplin]

That is good to hear they have a couple left. I also got a lot of my live rock there and it is very nice stuff. Their drygoods prices are also reasonable. I have found them to be within a reasonable amount of the online stores and you do not have to wait for the stuff to arrive!

[Ram_Puppy]

they do have some nice live rock.. I am thinking I will be getting all my future stuff from them.

[Reef69]

its a nice store except for the oer priced black and white ocellaris they get every 5 years

[Ram_Puppy]

I belive their ocellaris are ORA, all captive bred fish are more expensive... and I doubt you will find them for less. I have had CB pets meet me on price where they can, and when they can't they tell me I am better off buying from such and such...

[GaryP]

One thing I would also like to add is that they quarantine their fish. Ask to see their quarantine set-up in the back the next time you are there.

The balck and white clowns are very much in demand right now and are hard to get. CB's price for ORA clowns reflects market price and not necessarily a huge mark up by Mark & Richard.

OK, one more thing. Richard is a frequent contributor here. He has given some of the best advice and info that I have seen here. CB's and Aquatic Warehouse are the only SA based LFS that are MAAST sponsors that I know of. Someone please correct me if I am wrong on this.

Gary

[Reef69]

I have been at CB pets before..nice store, great set ups and great customer service, would recommend it any day..Speaking of the black and white clowns, any idea when they will have some more, and how much they cost?..thnks..

[DeletedAccount]

CB's prices are occasionally high because, as Gary said, they are one of only two salt stores here that QT fish, plus they buy good quality stock to begin with. Also, as some have said, the captive bred are much hiogher priced and much more in demand, and very much worth the extra $$$. CB does NOT scr*w the customer. They are top notch!

[wkopplin]

I have never had a fish purchased from CB die on me. They would not let me buy a fish last week because it was still in QT and they needed to make sure it was OK for a few more days. I have no problem paying up a little for that kind of service. If they save me from buying just one fish that does not die because it is not eating or has some parasite, it is well worth it. Not to mention, they have several people there that really help out and give good advice.

I have even found their dry goods prices to be reasonable AND they have Cyclops-eeze. A big plus in my book.

[Reef69]

black and white ocellaris arent from ORA, ORA doesnt raise black and whites..

[Andrew]

Hope this clears things up:
ORA hasn't updated their website in a while, but they are producing more species than it lists, such as the black and white clowns, bangaii and pajama cardinals, yellow assessor, clown gobies, and I believe several other types of dottybacks, besides their normal offerings of clowns and gobies :). ORA's price charged to retailers on the black clowns has risen recently due to the high demand.

HTH

Andrew

[Reef69]

well, since their site doesnt say that, i didnt know..thnks for the update Andrew .

[Andrew]

sure, no prob.

Andrew

[GaryP]

I don't think the B&W clowns are a unique species. I think they are a color morph of ocellaris. I'm sure that someone that knows more than I do can clarify this point.

Gary

[Andrew]

They (b&w clowns) are endemic to west Australia, but, I believe it is still the same species, A. ocellaris (and it is not a captive bred color morph).

Andrew

[GaryP]

I sent a PM to Richard asking him to post something on this thread. I thought Mark told me they were from ORA when I bought one there. If I am wrong, I apologize for the misinformation.

Gary

[kaiser]

As far as I know Andrew works at CBPets

[GaryP]

Oppps, My booboo. That Andrew!

Sorry Andrew,
Gary

[Richard]

Yes the B&W ocellaris are from ORA. According to ORA the original breeding stock came from a small Australian population that are all black and white. That population is now protected from collection so most likely any B&W ocellaris you see will either be from ORA or bred from ORA stock(I'm talking about A. ocellaris not A. percula). They are still A. ocellaris though and are not classified as a subspecies. Color does not generally impact scientific classification so unless there are some actual anatomical differences they would not be classified as a subspecies.

I hope to get some more in next week if they are available. Our pricing is always just based off of what we pay. As ORA's price varies so will ours. Not to get on a soapbox here but this hobby isn't expensive because I'm getting rich (I wish that was the case :x ), it's just an expensive hobby.

As Andrew said, ORA's website is not up to date as far as the species they are producing. They just built a new facility and hopefully will be producing even more species in the future. I'm told that they are setting up some very large systems in which they hope to be able to produce some tang species. That would be very cool IMO.

[Andrew]

Yes the B&W ocellaris are from ORA. According to ORA the original breeding stock came from a small Australian population that are all black and white. That population is now protected from collection so most likely any B&W ocellaris you see will either be from ORA or bred from ORA stock(I'm talking about A. ocellaris not A. percula). They are still A. ocellaris though and are not classified as a subspecies. Color does not generally impact scientific classification so unless there are some actual anatomical differences they would not be classified as a subspecies.


Sorry if I confused you Gary, that's what I was trying to say.

Andrew