I'll put my 2¢ in since I prefer to shop at Aqua Terra rather than Caesar's. I mainly go for RODI, corals and the occasional fish since I only have a nano tank but I have had nothing but positive results with all that I buy from there except for one polyp rock that evaluation melted away but I also had that rock for over a year so I can't blame anyone but myself for that. Plus we all know that sometimes no matter what you do polyps just melt away because all my other Zoas and Palys are just fine.
I used to shop at Caesar's exclusively mainly because it was the one shop that didn't go away but when I did finally get the okay to do a saltwater tank I started with Caesar's. Needless to say it started well, got my tank cycled and then every fish I got from them got ich and died. Corals did okay, I still have a Frogspawn from them which started out as one head and is now about six heads. Needless to say went fallow for a while then tried fish again but this time found Fish Pros and Hari and my tank has been fine so far. He even special ordered the for me like my Lettuce Nudibranch, which are all my bryopsis then died. I think it was pretty old because before she died she was constantly laying eggs but I did not have a male to fertilize them so that circle of life ended.
I know which tank you're talking about, it's the one in the far right corner when you walk into the frag room from the main entrance. That tank send to always change stock, I've seen it be clams, softies, anemones, misc inverts and corals. To be honest I think of all the tanks there that one is more like the we have no space for now tank so put them in there until we can make room in the other tanks. Yes I've seen it at it's worse and I've seen it clean. I've seen all the tanks there go through growing pains but now it seems he has more staff and more people buying stuff that they can properly maintain all the tanks. I'm not saying they are perfect but they do try as do most fish stores including Caesar's and to some degree Petco. Yes it's a bummer you got Dino, stuff happens not only from LFS purchases but from buying from people too. I got my bryopsis from a Zoa frag from a fellow reefer, thought I picked it clean but obviously didn't. This is how I see it in all the years I've been in and out of this hobby or any hobby that I've done, **** happens so learn from it. But for things like dealing with LFS always try them a few times before totally writing them off. Talk to different people and see what their experiences are. Build a repore with them. I say this because I used to work at one a long time ago and yes in the beginning I didn't know anything but as time went by I learned from experiences and from others. Like today I take to Hari for a while, probably a good 30-45 minutes. We talked about how fish were caught in different areas of the world. He asked me about my time in Hawaii and how it was working at the LFS I worked at, what kinds of fish I saw, how they were caught. He told me about his experiences and his findings about different places. Even before Hari owned the shop I always talked to him and built a repore and I've had nothing but positive experiences. Maybe I've been lucky, maybe I also take my time before I pull the trigger on any purchases, no scratch that because I bought my RBTA from there and it had just arrived 2 days before.
BTW I bought an Algae Blenny from Caesar's a few weeks ago and he doing great. Sometimes I think I'm a sucker for punishment.
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