Got a lead today of a local fish supplier who was wholesale (the last ten years), who is in the process of going retail, so took a ride to check it out. OMG I felt like I died and went to heaven. He is NOT yet open to the public, but was very willing to show us around, and really lit up when my husband started asking questions about his set up.
The owner has two sales angles... One is supplying fish, and the other is organically grown hydroponic plants (veggies, herbs, etc).... NO other items or supplies offered... My husband was in heaven over the way the filters worked ... fish water to the veggies and loops back to the fish via a drip system (multi buckets hanging from the ceiling with holes drilled into them that flow into each other, then down into the vats below), and NO filter media of any kind used (he did have an 02 somethingerother that hubby told me was basically a giant protein skimmer - a word I understood LOL)... I was clueless to how it all worked (husband was in awe LOL)... HUGE water wheels lined the vats the fish were in, which were run by current and air to turn them... Each fish holding area was 5' x 5' x every bit of 40' (double the vat width to accommodate the water wheel thingys LOL) divided into areas via netting (top and bottom)... Each vat was soooo full of fish (fish density) it was impossible to keep your eye on the same fish for more than 20 SECONDS or so. He had FIVE of these holding tanks/vats, but only 3 are being used right now. Not ONE dead or visually unhealthy fish seen, and I am totally AMAZED that there wasnt even a HINT of a fishy smell to the place. I cant even begin to speculate how many fish were there (thousands upon thousands). Even my little 20 gallon fish tank (with perfect water conditions) has a HINT of fishy smell to my SENSITIVE nose.
The person who told us about him was turned off, as he does not yet have the outside fish vats set up/display tanks, and was told to just tell him what TYPE of fish she wanted, and would pull it out of his massive vats for her to come pick up. I was very honest with him that we were only there today to check it out (we arrived at closing time BTW, his car was already running, and he turned all the lights back on to show us around) as we have fry we are raising, and other fish in our inside QT pond... We are looking at 2 weeks or so before we could come back. In the course of conversations, we also exchanged business cards, and told us if we bought multi fish for our clients, he would give us a discount. His prices were MORE than fair to begin with! In addition, he said to call ahead, and let him know when we would like to come to pick a few for ourselves, and he would HALF DRAIN the vats so we can hand pick what we wanted while there! I really think the special treatment was simply because of my husbands interests in how his fish & plants & filters all worked together, and not because we may install a few ponds each year.
I dont recall all of the prices for the standard Koi, I was more into reading the butterfly prices, which were priced higher. His top prices were for the 12+" fish, and those are the ones I was interested in... $75 for standard/$85 for butterflies... Most of the so called 12"+ fish were 12-14" IN BODY length, NOT counting tail length, and they had some of the LONGEST tail fins that I have even seen, with a good percentile closer to the 20" range (PLUS TAIL)! Unless you are buying from Craigslist (which we have done too LOL), fish RETAIL in this size range are easy $150, if not more here. Not 3 weeks ago, another suppler wanted $20 each for butterflies barely 4" with tails included, and they were blah looking (flat white with greyish black/muddy blotches)... His 4-6" butterflies were $8
We were in heaven over this place, so trying to figure out what could be WRONG here. He says they are from Malaysia, come with health certs, but doesnt take their word for it, and has them retested himself (and offered to show the certifications).
He does NOT have any of the more exotic colorings (no gin rins or shusui for example, but some lovely tancho with good red and otherwise standard colors), but the markings ARE better than what we have been seeing retailing around the area. The patterns, while better then what we are used to seeing locally ARE better, nothing all that unusual, where I would credit his fish more is in the physical structure. Some really nice heads and bodies and finnage...
The only other thing I can think of that was said is that he gets his fish in once a year, in Feb...
So WHAT should we be looking for in dealing with a dealer such as this one? I have been a dog breeder/exhibitor for the last 25 years, and all the obvious things looked great... Feel like I am missing something. Ya know that saying about being too good to be true?
The owner has two sales angles... One is supplying fish, and the other is organically grown hydroponic plants (veggies, herbs, etc).... NO other items or supplies offered... My husband was in heaven over the way the filters worked ... fish water to the veggies and loops back to the fish via a drip system (multi buckets hanging from the ceiling with holes drilled into them that flow into each other, then down into the vats below), and NO filter media of any kind used (he did have an 02 somethingerother that hubby told me was basically a giant protein skimmer - a word I understood LOL)... I was clueless to how it all worked (husband was in awe LOL)... HUGE water wheels lined the vats the fish were in, which were run by current and air to turn them... Each fish holding area was 5' x 5' x every bit of 40' (double the vat width to accommodate the water wheel thingys LOL) divided into areas via netting (top and bottom)... Each vat was soooo full of fish (fish density) it was impossible to keep your eye on the same fish for more than 20 SECONDS or so. He had FIVE of these holding tanks/vats, but only 3 are being used right now. Not ONE dead or visually unhealthy fish seen, and I am totally AMAZED that there wasnt even a HINT of a fishy smell to the place. I cant even begin to speculate how many fish were there (thousands upon thousands). Even my little 20 gallon fish tank (with perfect water conditions) has a HINT of fishy smell to my SENSITIVE nose.
The person who told us about him was turned off, as he does not yet have the outside fish vats set up/display tanks, and was told to just tell him what TYPE of fish she wanted, and would pull it out of his massive vats for her to come pick up. I was very honest with him that we were only there today to check it out (we arrived at closing time BTW, his car was already running, and he turned all the lights back on to show us around) as we have fry we are raising, and other fish in our inside QT pond... We are looking at 2 weeks or so before we could come back. In the course of conversations, we also exchanged business cards, and told us if we bought multi fish for our clients, he would give us a discount. His prices were MORE than fair to begin with! In addition, he said to call ahead, and let him know when we would like to come to pick a few for ourselves, and he would HALF DRAIN the vats so we can hand pick what we wanted while there! I really think the special treatment was simply because of my husbands interests in how his fish & plants & filters all worked together, and not because we may install a few ponds each year.
I dont recall all of the prices for the standard Koi, I was more into reading the butterfly prices, which were priced higher. His top prices were for the 12+" fish, and those are the ones I was interested in... $75 for standard/$85 for butterflies... Most of the so called 12"+ fish were 12-14" IN BODY length, NOT counting tail length, and they had some of the LONGEST tail fins that I have even seen, with a good percentile closer to the 20" range (PLUS TAIL)! Unless you are buying from Craigslist (which we have done too LOL), fish RETAIL in this size range are easy $150, if not more here. Not 3 weeks ago, another suppler wanted $20 each for butterflies barely 4" with tails included, and they were blah looking (flat white with greyish black/muddy blotches)... His 4-6" butterflies were $8
We were in heaven over this place, so trying to figure out what could be WRONG here. He says they are from Malaysia, come with health certs, but doesnt take their word for it, and has them retested himself (and offered to show the certifications).
He does NOT have any of the more exotic colorings (no gin rins or shusui for example, but some lovely tancho with good red and otherwise standard colors), but the markings ARE better than what we have been seeing retailing around the area. The patterns, while better then what we are used to seeing locally ARE better, nothing all that unusual, where I would credit his fish more is in the physical structure. Some really nice heads and bodies and finnage...
The only other thing I can think of that was said is that he gets his fish in once a year, in Feb...
So WHAT should we be looking for in dealing with a dealer such as this one? I have been a dog breeder/exhibitor for the last 25 years, and all the obvious things looked great... Feel like I am missing something. Ya know that saying about being too good to be true?
