Totally Fish is closed

[jamesbuf]

So I was checking out their website and I just found out they are closed. Check it out:

http://www.totallyfish.com/

 

I wonder what happened since they state "gross mismanagement by Something Fishy, INC". I'll be honest, I didn't shop there much since Scales opened. Better selection and better prices. Its always sad to see a LFS close though. I wonder what is going to happen to their sharks and livestock?

[mogurnda]

Ever since the move, their SW section was essentially a disaster. I liked their selection of africans, though, and will miss it.

[AndrewB]

Livestock was rescued by another store before the lights went out. The sharks unfortunately died some time before they closed.

[treesprite]

maybe "gross mismanagement" means they lost tons of money and had to close for financial reasons???

 

The Fish Factory in Gaithersburg is closing, but apparently only because the owner is retiring.

Edited November 25, 2007 by treesprite

[jamesbuf]

Livestock was rescued by another store before the lights went out. The sharks unfortunately died some time before they closed.

 

That sucks that all those sharks died. They had quite a few the last time I went there during a feeding.

[discretekarma]

My brother in law said he went their when they were closing and saw the front was totally cleaned out and the back still had livestock in it. He said there was uniformed people in there taking notes. He said it looked like humane society or something else similar. Not sure though. I used to go there every Tuesday when Ritas was buy one get one free on Tuesdays and their prices were good on fish but they always looked so unhealthy or dear. Their reef tank in the back against the wall always looked terrible too and covered in algae. I never bought anything there.

[treesprite]

Did he see something to actually indicate that it was the Humane Society? They could have been taking notes on other things. Does the Humane Society even go after people regarding fish care?

[tygger]

I guess the people managing the place aren't the same people managing their site because I wouldn't want, "Totally Fish, under the ownership and gross mismanagement of Something Fishy Inc." publicly stated. Sounds to me like there was a disagreement about how the company should be ran.

[NAGA]

Back in the day (10 years ago) Totally Fish was doing alright. Ken, the owner before they moved to this past location never moved up wiht the hobby/business. He just didn't do much but, I learned a lot from him and he was a good friend of mine for quite a while. He was in my wedding party in fact.

 

The original location got closed down a couple of years ago due to financial reasons as well. He got an influx of cash from an investor who put him up in this past location. He never really did anything with it especially with corals and salt fish. As others have previously mentioned he did do well with African Cichlids and kept a good selection of those but, nothing else it seemed. I only got by there about once a year and everytime I was unimpressed. If he opens another store it will be more of the same. He is not going to change.

[AndrewB]

The officers were from the Mont. County Police Animal Control. They make sure that the animals are not being abandoned or otherwise mistreated when something like this happens.

 

As far as the web site, there was definitely a schism in the management between two camps. One does still controls the web site and blames the store's problems on the other. It's not necessarily a reflection on reality, but there you have it.

 

As far as the rest goes, NAGA said it best....

[treesprite]

very sad situation