Texas Tropical...UGHHH!!!

[susandeangelis]

Just want to let everyone know my experience w/ Tx Trop. yesterday. I went in to sell a breeding pr. of FW Angelfish- I've raised them from babies and they were nice fish! They (I think the mgr) looked at them critically (expected) and told me he would give me $5.50 (???!!!) for them or $11. on consignment. I said angels this size go for $20. and up? He told me "Not here". Then the other guy said "we have another pair right now for $11. I couldn't believe it. My problem is that I have a bunch of testosterone loaded (or equivalent...) males and the female is ready to lay again. I gave them up reluctantly. I walked around looking at the tanks and when I came to the larger angels an employee was walking by. I asked him how much the angels were since there was no price on the tank? (Interesting because all the other fish were priced and I had called and told them I was coming- coincidence??) He told me the angels were $19.99 each! I don't know about you but I don't like being lied to or ripped off!!! Also, observed very unsanitary practise w/ the net when he pulled my fish back out- he actually dragged the net on the dirty floor and I had to ask him to please use a clean net to get my fish!! Just wanted you to know... they have lost my business for good. I went to Darby's on 35N and he commented that they were nice fish and gave me $30. They have my business from now on.

[Ram_Puppy]

Susan, there are a lot of good stores around here that are sponsors of MAAST.

My favorite (and everyone has their own favorites) is CB Pets.

Specific Points that you mentioned that CB addresses:

1) They typically will not buy a fish back from the hobbyist, they have their own reasons for this, but I respect it. They do however buy some fish from local breeders I think. You would need to check w/ Mark and Richard to see if they are interested in setting up that type of relationship with you.

2) All fish that come into the store are quarantined for a minimum of 2 weeks unless they are specialty fish that wouldn't do well in a quarantine tank (such as mandarin dragonettes that need a tank full of copepods to thrive)

3) All nets go into a bucket of water treated with a net dip that sterilizes it on contact.

The quarantine alone is a good enough reason to give your patronage to a store like this, as so very few stores do it. It is run by hobbyists that LOVE what they do, and the progress the hobby as well. The sponsor good organizations like MAAST, and they take the time to answer your questions if you take the time to ask.

They are not the only MAAST sponsor that does these things, and I admit a fair amount of bias as I consider the owners to be friends. check out our sponsors links and you will find there are a lot of stores both in San Antonio and Austin that do the hobbyist proud, and there are some great on-line vendors too.

Thanks for telling us about your experience.

[GaryP]

Remember that they are paying you wholesale price and not retail. Most stores will pay you the equivalent of what they would pay for it from a wholesaler. The standard mark up for the shipped price is 100%. $10 wholesale becomes $20 retail. I am not defending TT, but rather giving you the background on the business side of an LFS. No LFS is going to give you retail price on livestock. How do they make any money that way?

[Richard]

We do not buy livestock from hobbyist at all. If a hobbyist shows up with a fish we will take it (maybe) for free. We will not give ANYTHING for it, no money, no credit, no discount, nothing!

Why? Because almost every time we have it has been nothing but a big headache and is just not worth the trouble.

I could give a hundred examples but I'll just give one...
"Will you buy this fish"
"How much do you want for it?"
"I don't know, How much will you give me?"
"Uhh..you have to give a price when you want to sell something"
"I don't know maybe 10 or 20 dollars"
"OK...I'll give you 10 bucks"
"10 BUCKS! YOUR TRYING TO RIP ME OFF"

Nobody is under any obligation to buy anything for any amount just because someone wants to sell it.

[Bill S]

Having spent some time - albiet MANY years ago - working for a LFS, I can echo what is said above.

I wouldn't expect my LFS to pay me for a fish I brought in. If they wanted to give me something in trade, that would be cool, but I certainly wouldn't expect it. That is UNLESS you are breeding for profit. That's a whole 'nother story. But usually, I'm just looking for a "home". Better than flushing.

Nets should ALWAYS go into a solution. It's kind of like the windshield washer water at the gas station - ugh.

Now, personally, TT is not near the top of my choices.

[NaCl_H2O]

"10 BUCKS! YOUR TRYING TO RIP ME OFF"
:lol

[gjuarez]

LOL. That is a funny story.

[mathias]

Texas tropical especially chris always takes good care of me... sorry you had a bad experience but I enjoy the people at that location.... I just buy lifestock from them and never had a problem...

[captexas]

The net thing is one issue that I agree on, but the $$ issue should have been expected. TT is a business, and like any business their goal is to buy things for as little as possible and then sell them for as much as they can get, it's a little thing called profit. Also, when an LFS takes fish that a hobbyist can no longer take care of, they are doing them a big favor. If you are in it for the money then you should try to sell to a private party. Kind of like trying to sell a used car. A dealer is not going to pay you anything near what it's worth as they have to then do the legwork of reselling it and must buy it at a low enough price to then mark it up to a price where not only will someone else buy it from them, but to also make some profit on it, otherwise there is no point in buying it from you to begin with.

You should feel very lucky to have decided to take the fish elsewhere and to then get $30 for them, more than what you first had. Think I would have bought a lotto ticket after that :)

[LoneStar]

Chris is da man at Texas Tropical. Every time I have been there, the customer service has been awesome. Even returning non-livestock purchases, they always have helped me out. I have a freshwater tank that I am eventually going to break down and all the livestock is going back to TT. I'm not looking for any money for them, I just don't want to kill them. If I do get any money, I'm sure it will just get spent on saltwater stuff from them anyway.....

Just like 90% of what you buy, you will never get back what you paid for. And since the only thing I have bought for my freshwater tank over the past year would be a handfull of food, I might break even. lol