Aquageek450
Active Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2016
- Messages
- 170
- Reaction score
- 52
Hi guys, I would like to share a my experience with purchasing a Borbonius Anthias from NYaquatics. I know they are a site sponsor here on the forums, and in my opinion they are lacking in their customer support and I would like to know your opinion on my situation.
I have wanted a Borbonius Anthias for a long time, but due to them being expensive and having limited availability I never pulled the trigger. Around Black Friday I saw NYaquatics had some in stock and they were priced at $249 which was a relatively good deal. Being extremely hesitant to purchase an expensive fish like this online, I told myself “people ship fish everyday” and I completed my purchase. The following Monday (Cyber Monday) I saw NYaquatics had posted they were selling the Borbonius Anthias for even cheaper than $249, so I contacted Michael and asked for a price adjustment since my order hadn’t processed yet. He agreed and refunded me the difference. So I believe I ended up paying $175 for the Borbonius. The fish shipped out that week and arrived to me.
When the fish arrived I opened the box and it was alive and swimming in the bag. I did notice immediately that the fish we swimming a little crooked and hugging the one corner of the bag. Being that I have never purchased a fish online, I just figured the fish was adjusting from transit. I acclimated the Anthias and introduced him into the DT. I’ve never had any issues with fish as far as disease go nor have I ever had any reason to worry. When the fish went into the tank, he immediately bolted into a small cave in the rock work, which is usually what a new fish will do until it is adjusted. A few days went by with no signs of the fish, I wasn’t sure if he was even alive but I figured he was still just scared and would come out eventually. After a couple more days, I went to feed the tank and the Anthias came out of hiding to get some food, I could see he was swimming head down and seemed to be struggling to position himself where he wanted. I still just assumed he was a small fish that was in a new tank and that he would adjust over time. Now he would come out to eat, but immediately struggle to get back into his rock cave after eating. And he would never come out to roam the tank. So after another week or so, maybe longer I began to wonder what the deal was with this fish. I did some research on the forums and read that deepwatwr fish are sometimes not decompressed properly when caught and they will have gas trapped in their air bladder. It dawned on me that maybe this was the issue with this fish. I payed close attention to him the next time I fed him and I noticed his swim bladder area was very puffy about the size of a small marble. I never thought to look for this being that I’ve never had a fish with this issue before. It made sense that he would hid in the rockwork to prevent floating to the water surface. All since of a swim bladder issue.
At this time I sent Michael at NYaquatics an email asking him if he had any ideas how I could remedy this issue. His reply was simply “no other fish from this batch had this issue, try some antibiotics” and that was it. Zero concern in any other aspect. Basically just telling me I was out of luck. Everything I read online states that there are no antibiotics to treat this and the only way to fix this issue is to vent the swim bladder. To me, since there was no support from NYaquatics this was my only option to save the fish, I knew he would die eventually if I didn’t.
I just recently reached back out to Michael at NYaquatics and told him that I have done everything in my power to save this fish, I have spent a lot of money on supplies and setting up a QT for the fish. The fish is somewhat better, but still swims with his head down and will never be able to survive in the main DT. Michael basically told me to kick rocks and that there was nothing he could do for me. I told him that I have videos and images I could share with him showing the fish arrived like this, he still refused to help in anyway. All I wanted was a replacement fish, and I see he still has them in stock on his website.
Looking back, I saw the signs that the fish had a swim bladder issue when he first arrived in the bag, I could tell he wasn’t swimming like normal but I honestly just thought he was in shock from shipping. There was no way for me to immediately tell this fish had an issue, I’m only a hobbiest like everyone else. And being that the fish hid in the rock work for the first while it took some time for me to diagnose what was even going on.
I know that NYaquatics is a site sponsor and I was hoping that he would step up and handle this situation much better than he did. Especially being that this is an expensive fish. And I’m not asking for a refund, just a replacement fish. Hopefully if nothing else this post will help others think twice before doing business with NYaquatics and maybe R2R can revaluate who they allow to be sponsors on the site. Zero customer support from this company.
I’d like to know your thoughts on this issue, I believe I did everything I could to help this fish and to handle this situation given the resources I had. Am I wrong in thinking I should be sent a replacement fish?
I have wanted a Borbonius Anthias for a long time, but due to them being expensive and having limited availability I never pulled the trigger. Around Black Friday I saw NYaquatics had some in stock and they were priced at $249 which was a relatively good deal. Being extremely hesitant to purchase an expensive fish like this online, I told myself “people ship fish everyday” and I completed my purchase. The following Monday (Cyber Monday) I saw NYaquatics had posted they were selling the Borbonius Anthias for even cheaper than $249, so I contacted Michael and asked for a price adjustment since my order hadn’t processed yet. He agreed and refunded me the difference. So I believe I ended up paying $175 for the Borbonius. The fish shipped out that week and arrived to me.
When the fish arrived I opened the box and it was alive and swimming in the bag. I did notice immediately that the fish we swimming a little crooked and hugging the one corner of the bag. Being that I have never purchased a fish online, I just figured the fish was adjusting from transit. I acclimated the Anthias and introduced him into the DT. I’ve never had any issues with fish as far as disease go nor have I ever had any reason to worry. When the fish went into the tank, he immediately bolted into a small cave in the rock work, which is usually what a new fish will do until it is adjusted. A few days went by with no signs of the fish, I wasn’t sure if he was even alive but I figured he was still just scared and would come out eventually. After a couple more days, I went to feed the tank and the Anthias came out of hiding to get some food, I could see he was swimming head down and seemed to be struggling to position himself where he wanted. I still just assumed he was a small fish that was in a new tank and that he would adjust over time. Now he would come out to eat, but immediately struggle to get back into his rock cave after eating. And he would never come out to roam the tank. So after another week or so, maybe longer I began to wonder what the deal was with this fish. I did some research on the forums and read that deepwatwr fish are sometimes not decompressed properly when caught and they will have gas trapped in their air bladder. It dawned on me that maybe this was the issue with this fish. I payed close attention to him the next time I fed him and I noticed his swim bladder area was very puffy about the size of a small marble. I never thought to look for this being that I’ve never had a fish with this issue before. It made sense that he would hid in the rockwork to prevent floating to the water surface. All since of a swim bladder issue.
At this time I sent Michael at NYaquatics an email asking him if he had any ideas how I could remedy this issue. His reply was simply “no other fish from this batch had this issue, try some antibiotics” and that was it. Zero concern in any other aspect. Basically just telling me I was out of luck. Everything I read online states that there are no antibiotics to treat this and the only way to fix this issue is to vent the swim bladder. To me, since there was no support from NYaquatics this was my only option to save the fish, I knew he would die eventually if I didn’t.
I just recently reached back out to Michael at NYaquatics and told him that I have done everything in my power to save this fish, I have spent a lot of money on supplies and setting up a QT for the fish. The fish is somewhat better, but still swims with his head down and will never be able to survive in the main DT. Michael basically told me to kick rocks and that there was nothing he could do for me. I told him that I have videos and images I could share with him showing the fish arrived like this, he still refused to help in anyway. All I wanted was a replacement fish, and I see he still has them in stock on his website.
Looking back, I saw the signs that the fish had a swim bladder issue when he first arrived in the bag, I could tell he wasn’t swimming like normal but I honestly just thought he was in shock from shipping. There was no way for me to immediately tell this fish had an issue, I’m only a hobbiest like everyone else. And being that the fish hid in the rock work for the first while it took some time for me to diagnose what was even going on.
I know that NYaquatics is a site sponsor and I was hoping that he would step up and handle this situation much better than he did. Especially being that this is an expensive fish. And I’m not asking for a refund, just a replacement fish. Hopefully if nothing else this post will help others think twice before doing business with NYaquatics and maybe R2R can revaluate who they allow to be sponsors on the site. Zero customer support from this company.
I’d like to know your thoughts on this issue, I believe I did everything I could to help this fish and to handle this situation given the resources I had. Am I wrong in thinking I should be sent a replacement fish?
