smarsh97 November 14, 2008 Share November 14, 2008 since when did they get cheap prices. I have never been there that they had cheap prices. Everything is rare and from Sri Lanka and costs an arm and a leg. Sandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watson_barrett November 14, 2008 Share November 14, 2008 I personally love going to roozens but yes the tanks "looks" have taking a dive over the past 6 months or so and the "SPS" & Clam tank has always been a complete mess. I also like dealing with Jos much better than flannel harry, lol....I found that harry was feeding me a steading dose of bull on multiple occasions...plus i think jos prices things much better. It is certainly not the place to go if you are looking for SPS but if you want to see a nice variety of some really rare fish in the hobby, i would recommend it. I have bought virtually all of my fish there and have only had 1 not make it. You just have to use good judgement of which fish you purchase. You can look at thier fish and tell which are doing really well and which are not. Also, if i ask if they have something and they don't, 9 times out of 10, the next time i go they have a dozen of what i asked about... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBoy98 November 14, 2008 Share November 14, 2008 I have seen a wholesale distrubitor before. It was nice setup in Brazil. Family friend was in that line of business. He took us on a tour. It was cool to see all the fishes he got and in no way were they setup like how it is in Roozen's. That said, I have shopped there before. Their prices are cheap in most cases but their tanks are in terrible condition but you can find gems. I have never had issues with their livestock though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watson_barrett November 14, 2008 Share November 14, 2008 Since we are on the topic of roozens... Is there a comparable alternative or any alternative for that fact of the matter for people to go to who live in SOMD??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiCurtis November 14, 2008 Share November 14, 2008 no this is it. I grew up in temple hills and now live in Calvert co. and have shopped at rozzens for 20 years. they have stayed the same. I do miss larry's Rare stuff from the deep ocean . I have always hated there pricing method. If you want a top notch store there are 3 very good ones IMO they are in BRK,Aqua co, Ea Baltimore. yea all very far from us. Curtis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtC November 15, 2008 Share November 15, 2008 I have to say I agree with both sides on this one. The tanks look horrible to humans (especially to city humans) but that doesn't mean that the fish are unhappy with them either for chemistry or aptasia. Aptasia isn't a sign of fish disease and not necessarily a sign of excess nutrients. In Roozen's tanks some of those aptasia could be as old as sequoias. Calfo's coral prop book goes on for a hundred pages about how the most cost and energy efficient structure for commercial coral raising is a greenhouse. And that's what Roozen's is using. Everybody's book says if things in your tank are good don't change it. Nobody does less changing than Roozens. Lots of fish die all along the chain, but are they dying faster at Roozens because they've just made a long trip from LA, because Roozens water is worse, or are they doing better than at other places but Roozens is a bit slower at cleaning out the corpses? Probably only the stores that buy from Roozens have enough experience to say. And they must be selling to other businesses, because they sell little in the store and nothing online, yet they've been in business for years. And it's not on dry goods sales - I was looking at their test kits last time and most had long since expired on the shelf. Personally, I don't buy fish because they are exotics, the live rock in the bins has no living matter except for the aptasia, the experienced buyers play tag team when asking for prices, and if I have to pay an inflated price I'd much rather it goes to the people at any of a half-dozen stores where they treat me like a customer and a person . But if you are on a treasure hunt looking for an exotic then they are going to provide more surprises than anybody in the neighborhood. I just don't like the experience of shopping at Roozens - I haven't had trouble with such stock as I've bought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamal November 16, 2008 Share November 16, 2008 i know they sell to local stores. i had that convo with them when i first tried them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watson_barrett November 23, 2008 Share November 23, 2008 I was just there today, they cleaned up a lot of thier coral tanks and had the largest selection of sps i have ever seen there. They had a bunch in the back and they almost never have any back there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Reefs November 30, 2008 Share November 30, 2008 I have bought several fish from there before and most of them didnt make it and either had ick or some parasite problem... my friends powder blue and purple tang blew up with worms coming out of its stomach! :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dschflier November 30, 2008 Share November 30, 2008 Yeah I hate the WBUS(Worms Blowing Up Stomach) disease as well. Happens often but usually when I feed my fish reef chili . I think maybe some people have expectations which are a bit unrealistic. Some stores do well as boutique stores, selling everything after a good time in quarintine and the floors are spit shined and other stores do not. Roozens sells in volume and probbably has minimal overhead because everything has been paid for 100 years ago. I admire that. I have probbably bought 40 or 50 fish in the many years I have been in the hobby and really cant remember having any issues. Especially in tough economic times I think they put themselves in a good position because of the minimal overhead. Just my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylemagoo March 20, 2009 Share March 20, 2009 Roozen's rocks. What other fish store can boast two 5,000 gallon sumps, many more hundreds of aquarium gallons, and 1,000's of pounds of live rock to keep the water adequately filtered? And as far as the algae and aiptasia? So what? What does that have to do with water quality or quality of life for the fish? Nothing as far as I know. And for the dead fish? What other fish store doesn't experience die off when they receive their livestock? I have to believe that they all do, it's just that they make more of an effort to keep them out of sight from the customer. Obviously the guy is not there to keep a show tank with ozone, u/v and all the other techno gadgets common in the hobby. He is there to provide an abundant, varied and healthy supply of livestock for the marine hobbyist without a lot of overhead or extra cost. I rather like the Roozen model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme_tooth_decay March 20, 2009 Share March 20, 2009 Roozen's rocks. What other fish store can boast two 5,000 gallon sumps, many more hundreds of aquarium gallons, and 1,000's of pounds of live rock to keep the water adequately filtered? No one can compete with Roozen's selection. And as far as the algae and aiptasia? So what? What does that have to do with water quality or quality of life for the fish? Nothing as far as I know. In fact, having those water polishers results in better water quality. But, aiptasia and algae have been dramatically reduced at Roozen's. And for the dead fish? What other fish store doesn't experience die off when they receive their livestock? I have to believe that they all do, it's just that they make more of an effort to keep them out of sight from the customer. That is exactly right. When you consider the amount of fish Roozen's moves, the only surprising thing is that there aren't more corpses. I would not be surprised if their "corpse per fish moved" ratio is favorable to most anyone else's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moga March 20, 2009 Share March 20, 2009 the thing is..."They don't care!! whatever we are saying".. some of our sponsors here listen to the club members..and opinion of WAMAS.. They will keep doing whatever they have been doing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallyBackm March 20, 2009 Share March 20, 2009 I was there in early Feb and they had 2 tanks full of chalices. Jos told me that other MD stores have been in there to purchase them the day they come in. I agree with MOGA, they couldn't give 2 cents consideration about what people on WAMAS think about them. In fact, they consider WAMAS a competitor, for whatever strange reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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