My personal observation abt ML

[BarraCudaTM]

the last part was meant for spade

[spade]

the last part was meant for spade

my residential anemone is in the east, my working anemone is in the west. so normally i drop by ML to c c look look after work

[Phewbacca]

Congrats Spadey on becoming the resident clownfish!!!

perhaps we can start calling you krusty now...

"the itchy and scratchy show"

[eprouve]

The Truth:

My real name is Spade Ko

Hahaha... too bad no one else got it. Or did anyone?

So you stop by ML often? We may have met and never known it!

So about ML... never heard anything negative be it during Patrick's time or now. Well seriously (and I read this in a marine guide book before) whether a LFS is good or bad/blacklisted doesn't depend solely on their prices.

Many fish hobbilests will agree that more than prices; the variety, quality of stock and goods and knowledge of staff are big pluses ML posess no matter how new Henry is to the business.

To be frank... I bought two hermits from him the other day ($9 each) and he showed me the cost of bringing them in... $7.30 that works out to a profit of $1.70 per hermit crab. To me, its a reasonable profit margin for a place like his.

He's taken the trouble to clean out his tanks and source for quality goods from Sri Lanka (which in my experience) have proven to be much better than those that come in from Indonesia. I was there on a few occasions when his goods have just arrived. The death rates are higher than if the goods were imported from somewhere nearer, like Indonesia. And he always advises people to come back two days later instead of buying them in a hurry. He needs to acclimatise/quarantine the fish first.

Such attention and consideration of his customers which he put before his own business concerns (like more losses due to more death if he kept the stock rather than sell them off as quickly as possible) is admirable. He also makes effort to pay personal attention to you even when the shop is busy.

So yes, I agree that his prices may be a little on the high side... but I am not going to blacklist him just because of that... because I have learnt some things from him, benefitted much from our conversations and discussions and have bought stock that don't die (unlike both farms in LCK and Pasir Ris... where I've bought stock that died the next day in the quarantine tank, not just on one occassion!) He doesn't give ridiculous recommendations to products you don't need and caution you against products which he sell, but don't have any experience with.

Just my two and a half cents worth.

[pet]

I'll try not screw up someone's business, but the real fact is that all or most LFS have their supply come from the same source. Just observe...when one LFS has the specific coral, most LFS has it as well. It's individual shopkeeper's business style that set the price. The middle man in Bali, philippine or even ORCA Pacific, sells to these LFS the same price and flight charges will be equal! The final price depends on the survival rate of the life_stock.

I personally feel that CoralFarm demands respect in this aspect, as they have good discount + fix pricing = good business ethnic. The rest of the LFS, simply price on site, that's as they wish; the same product will be different price to different buyer.

A word of advise if you think coral farm has bad service....with that type of setup, how many hundred Kilos of coral U need to purchase to demand service? Good time to wake up.........

Regards,

Pet

[Chris]

I agree that ML's prices is more ex though I go there very often and know Chan, Patrick and Henry well. However, variety and advice and seervice has gone up too as like price. So, you be the judge of your own choice.

[divinesloth]

Hi

I'll add my 2 cents worth here. I feel that a LFS should be not be judged solely on the pricing of their products but also by their work ethics. Shops that give bad and outdated advice, shops that is out to make quick bucks and shops that do not attend to customers needs are more worthy of making into the blacklist than just price.

, no war.

[Sharky]

He raised the price to $18 yesterday for the mushrooms!! It was my first visit to ML and the prices that he quoted for hardware, fish and inverts ruined my initial impression of him. I left his shop with two turbo snails at $2 apiece.

[etan]

yes,ML's price has definitely went up since Henry took over but we r seeing jus as good service from him n more varities as from Patrick. I think it boils down to each indiviual whether you feel comfortable with him or the price, or you can shop ard. only problem is in the west, there is not much marine LFS and any savings from further sources would be wipe off by transport cost and inconveince.

[Dinosaur]

He raised the price to $18 yesterday for the mushrooms!! It was my first visit to ML and the prices that he quoted for hardware, fish and inverts ruined my initial impression of him. I left his shop with two turbo snails at $2 apiece.

Yeah! Turbo snail that was ariflown in right? That's why it cost $2 for such a small one ............. <_<

[Dinosaur]

yes,ML's price has definitely went up since Henry took over but we r seeing jus as good service from him n more varities as from Patrick. I think it boils down to each indiviual whether you feel comfortable with him or the price, or you can shop ard. only problem is in the west, there is not much marine LFS and any savings from further sources would be wipe off by transport cost and inconveince.

Hmm ........ perhaps that is the reason why his price is 'different' from other LFS shops.

Seriously, after the banned of hard corals, I see that the variety drops. While.. I have stop buying fishes and even if they comes in hard corals, there is only a few pieces to choose from.

I would prefer farm instead. IMO, farm have much more variety and bigger pool for selection.

[dodo]

Dino ,

i guess i agree wif u in tis case...after some frantic visits to some previously unknown farm these few weeks, i guess we can find a greater variety & cheaper LS in farms.

butta, problem is transport, the risk of bacteria infections & some undesirable organism tat could be found in farms' LS .e.g Flatworms etc.... hence we have to exercise extreme care if we buy of LS from farms

[Dinosaur]

Dino ,

i guess i agree wif u in tis case...after some frantic visits to some previously unknown farm these few weeks, i guess we can find a greater variety & cheaper LS in farms.

butta, problem is transport, the risk of bacteria infections & some undesirable organism tat could be found in farms' LS .e.g Flatworms etc.... hence we have to exercise extreme care if we buy of LS from farms

yeah! yeah!

MayB this weekend or next weekend we can go tour round Singapore.

erm .... where u stay?

[dodo]

i can 4get abt visiting LFS at the moment...becos there is alot of events coming up lately

btw...i thk we are

[Dinosaur]

i can 4get abt visiting LFS at the moment...becos there is alot of events coming up lately

btw...i thk we are

Who cares mann ........ Its my topic u knaw?

*joking nia*