what's happening to deep reef?

[ostrow]

Went there yesterday afternoon, and it was depressing as all heck. Wrasses "twisting in the wind" upside down, near death, as were triggers, tangs, everything. The entire fish room looked like a fish morgue.

I used to trumpet that place as the best for fish, and everyone can have an unlucky shipment. But this wasn't a shipment issue, this was literally every single fish in that back room was a mess.

Anyone know if somethings gone wrong with a once great store?

 

[bboersma79]

deep reef

deep reef

I stopped by yesterday as I was nearby for work and had heard good things....after visiting I can safely say that in its current state it is one of the worst LFS I have ever been to.

Not to mention it was the middle of the day with four employees there and no one really greeted or offered to help me. They had nothing of interest or quality in the store. My guess is they are closing or will be soon or perhaps that mall is not letting them renew a lease so they can redevelop. In any case I would not recommend the store to anyone.

I live near Old Town Aquarium and while they are expensive they run one of the best LFS in the area and are extremely knowledgeable and have very high quality livestock.

 

[bboersma79]

please merge this with the other thread, I obviously preseed the wrong button

 

[DragonFish]

I bought a flame angel there a few months ago and the day after I got it home it developed pop eye. It never recovered and the store wouldn't even give me a small discount on a replacement. I just can't trust them for fish anymore.

 

[whiirly]

This is the store in Downers grove right?

 

[badazztealcobra]

Yep.... I havent been there in months either, but when I told someone who lives close to there who has taken an interest into reefing to check it out, even he said the store looked brutal. Nobody asked him if he needed any help, it was filthy in there, and half the fish looked either dead or well on their way.

Not sure whats going on there.

 

[AuroraDave]

Joel. Are you talking about Deep Reef on 63rd? That really surprises me since they are my favorite store for "fish."
Especially wrasses! Jeff & Brett really knew their stuff and passed along a lot of good info on fish.

I hope it was a temporary change and gets back to normal.

 

[mhurley]

The last I heard from an unofficial source is that they were having some personnel issues...no true experts to care for livestock.

I went there twice in the past few months. First time was ok...I'd go back. I went back and yeck...didn't plan on returning after that.

 

[Naperville Reef]

i have noticed that there are new employees there since this summer or so. kind of scary when I know more about the fish than the employees...... :eek2:

there used to be a guy there with a pony tail, i think his name is Doug. he was real knowledgeable. probably no coincidence between him leaving and the stores struggles........

 

[yankeereefer]

I won't defend them or downtalk them cuz I periodically go there and refer people to 'em too

I'd agree the store has been a little iffy looking recently - I doubt they're closing though - They just put in the look down tub outside the fishroom

The fish may have been in a pretty bad state due to the holidays - I was there on Tue/Wed this week. They had just got in a shipment and were acclimating. Could be they're still stressed?

To me, the staff have never been really personable - The "kids" typically have to ask Jeff for pricing or care info.

My $.02
Yankee

 

[ostrow]

That all makes sense, Mike. Yeah, no Doug when I was there. The guy in the store couldn't tell a squamosa from a derasa clam (literally...I asked! )

Jeff is great and it was sad to see the livestock in such bad shape. It's one hting if it's newly acquired wrasses, but this was a general plague. I wanted to tell the guy who was buying half a dozen fish to take a closer look but, well, I didn't. I just left shaking my head.

With all the competition in the immediate area, I can't see how this can last long. I hope Jeff turns it around fast as this was THE place for quality, healthy fish.

 

[mnestroy]

I said the same thing over a month ago

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=980584

 

[zoebeaglezoe]

I was there on Thursday and I was surprised how bad some of the fish looked.

it's usually one of best store around for fish but Jeff has to step up and take care of things. I would have a real hard time buying a fish from him the way things are right now..................

 

[Hammercoral]

I just stopped in there yesterday 3 unicorn tangs at deaths door and most fish not looking very good. Was kinda shocked, I usually buy corals at Rods and fish at deep reef. Hopefully its just temporary.

 

[DaveBien]

When I was first looking into getting started again in SW I stopped by for the 1st time about 6 months ago. I have returned to look 2 other times since when I was passing by. All I saw there were fish in VERY small holding tanks in the back room and the FW looked awful. Each time the place was staffed only by "kids" ( nothing wrong with being young, but ...) who were more interested in talking to each other and listening to the radio or reading then anything else. In fact once it wasn't even open when it was supposed to be. (I just left) It has a real staffing problem. I hope the owner is as good as people have said he is and takes some strong measures. Hell, I thought the kids owned the place from the looks. The place WILL be out of business soon at this rate. I'd hate to see someone's business go down the drain (pun intended).

 

[criccio]

FWIW, Doug is now at the Petland in Wheaton.

And speaking of Petland, I ran into Paul (of the Naperville Petland) yesterday and he seemed quite relieved to be out of the fish business. In fact, I was walking out, and he was walking into a sushi restaurant.

I hope there's no issues with DR since Jeff has always ordered me quality fish.

 

[Motohead]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8856036#post8856036 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by criccio
FWIW, Doug is now at the Petland in Wheaton.

And speaking of Petland, I ran into Paul (of the Naperville Petland) yesterday and he seemed quite relieved to be out of the fish business. In fact, I was walking out, and he was walking into a sushi restaurant.

I hope there's no issues with DR since Jeff has always ordered me quality fish.

I talked to Paul not long myself as i live right by the naperville pet land. and he seemed quite happy to be out of there, i wounder what the new owners are going to do with the place tho.

to bad about Deep reef .

right now it seems as if all the salt care takers have been playing musical chairs everywhere in the area.

 

[Motohead]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8856036#post8856036 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by criccio
FWIW, Doug is now at the Petland in Wheaton.

And speaking of Petland, I ran into Paul (of the Naperville Petland) yesterday and he seemed quite relieved to be out of the fish business. In fact, I was walking out, and he was walking into a sushi restaurant.

I hope there's no issues with DR since Jeff has always ordered me quality fish.

I talked to Paul not long myself as i live right by the naperville pet land. and he seemed quite happy to be out of there, i wounder what the new owners are going to do with the place tho.

to bad about Deep reef .

right now it seems as if all the salt care takers have been playing musical chairs everywhere in the area.

 

[criccio]

The new owner is going to have a LFS as well with some saltwater, he seems to be a nice guy.

 

[mhurley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8856194#post8856194 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Motohead
i wounder what the new owners are going to do with the place tho.

New owner's name is Adam. The storefront says they're reopening in mid-January. From speaking with him once, he said the marine section is going to be the same size as it used to be. That's about all that was said.