Caution: Coralville Bay

Their saltwater guy left, i knew him pretty well. Their tanks havent looked good since.

 

Yep Patrick doesn't work there anymore.

 

This is true when purchasing from any retailer or local club member and although I don't have any affiliation with Coralville Beay (don't know if I've ever purchased there) the buyer always needs to examine the livestock and evaluate the risks in their purchase.

My concern is that this type of post may steer people away from the store that also has dry goods and freshwater stock.

Just my $0.02

-Eric

 

Ed has always had very high quality FW stock and a great person to learn from. Unfortunately when I was in college FW was all that I had so I didn't pay much attention to SW. Sad to hear the tanks haven't been in the best condition. Only visited the 'new' store once after the flood relocation.

 

Yea i was in their not long ago looking for some LR to start the cycle in a new tank i set up. Looked at the rock and it had Flatworms. So I opted for a bottle of Dr tims instead.

As for @Eric post about steering people away from the store. How many times have you been to pet land in ic or petco i dont go to either because the livestock isn't kept up with. I personally dont want to go in a store and see dying or sick fish just to buy dry good to keep a bad thing going. Thats why I like coral haven, SOM, pets play house, and @Bronsonsfish his store has always been really up to par. And he's been fighting that alage for a while but I know he's been trying everything possible to get rid of it. That's how I pick the stores i buy from how well the livestock is kept if it's a good store ill keep coming back if it's not taken care of then more than likely i wont be back as often if at all.

 

Yup it was patrick i was talking about, he left a like 8 months ago now, think he got a job in like new york or something like that?? Dont quite remember the details.

 

He works at Studio 13 now. He comes by and volunteers here at the shop for a couple hours every once in awhile.

 

Every store deals with issues, instead of burning the local shops at the stake it might be easier to offer helpful suggestions or ideas on how to solve the issues they are dealing with.

 

When I had the store, it was very often difficult to keep up with all the daily maintenance, especially when you had some customers that you literally spent 2 hours helping out. A few of those in a day really cuts down your free time.

I know there were several times when my tanks looked really bad, but sometimes there are so many hours in a day. It isnt that I didnt care, it was just I ran out of time.


I was very lucky to have about 6 customers who would just come in, hang out, and help me clean tanks, feed fish, carry salt to customers cars, etc. I will never ever forget it. It made a world of difference.

If we ever get another store, I will definitely repay the favor. I would suggest maybe doing the same if you like the owner and the store.

 

During the floods of '08 I helped Coralville Bay move some things. They already had a few feet of water in the basement at that point if I remember correctly. Help out your local shops, this is a community!