Sea World Salem NH...

[LosingSleep]

I understand that sometimes fish don't make it but, are they dying so fast that it's hard to keep up(department employees standing around) and remove them form the tanks? Dead emerald crabs, dead and dying mandarin fish(and many others), corals with no color(frags that had color two weeks ago are now half bleached and or dying).

Sad really.

If this is inappropriate please remove.

 

[BOSTONBAKEDBEAN]

eh they seem to be one or 2 notches above [another shop] sometimes.
2 years ago the place was sweet

 

[ReefRookie]

sea world has been going down hill. along with [another shop]. i would still hold sea world above [another shop]. ][Another shop] barely carries anything worth buying anymore


Moderators comments, Greg H.

Please keep comments restricted to one vendor/store or they will be removed. You will have wasted your effort typing.

 

[Greg Hiller]

>If this is inappropriate please remove.<

No, not inappropriate, but you should try and be specific about what you are reporting....something like....'I went into the shop today and saw X'

 

[vinny]

Not sure about their coral but the last few fish I bought from them all died.

 

[biggyclops]

i like looking there but i usually go somewhere else when i see something i like... mostly because of the price and finding someone that will be willing to help..

 

[fanaglethebagle]

I also dont like buying fish there. However I like being able to handle the LR and they have a wonderful reptile/amphibian section.

 

[LunaReef]

Yeah, I saw the same thing when I was in there a few weekends ago...quite a few dead/dying fish in the saltwater tanks and employees standing around doing nothing about it. Sadly, the saltwater section does seem to have gone downhill...

On the other hand, the day I was there the freshwater tanks looked very nice and an employee was over there tending to them.

 

[DavidY]

The last time I was there around the beginning of January, their corals looked pretty good to me. I haven't been there recently though. Was Chris (the saltwater manager) there?

 

[LunaReef]

Oh, I know who that guy is...he was not there the day I was in there - at least, not on the sales floor if he was working.

In re-reading my previous post, I should have added that I did buy some live rock from them that day. It was 20% off so I had my doubts but it looked OK and didn't stink so I figured it was worth a try. It turned out to be really nice live rock...loaded with pods, feather dusters, some coraline algae, and what I thought was a small dead coral of some sort ended up being a cool sponge that came back to life.

 

[reefinghabit]

as a fellow employee of sea world pets inc. i realize during new shipments and orders, that there is always die off. we must have just recieved our new order and unfortunatley due to shipping and weather conditions not all forms of life survive. we at sea world do our best at maintaining show conditions, for all our customers. unfortunatley since we do cover many areas of the floor, sometimes we are not always 100 percent on top of every specimen in our care. we perform 2 dead pulls per day. i am one of the employees who maintains our systems and is in charge of looking after and over our livestock. thank u for all of your comments and concerns. you will be pleased to see our tank raised corals as they are 100 percent hardier than captive harvested specimens. marc

 

[origreefer]

Was a good place years ago. Terrible now. Service is absolute worse! I can stand in front of a tank with a Grant in my hand and no one will ever ask me if I need help. Dead fish in many tanks. i only go there no so daughter can look at the cats.

 

[pillowfish]

What about the dying blue and gold in the bird room.....Sorta difficult NOT to notice a bird of this size A) laying on the bottom of a WAY too small cage B) laying on the bottom of it's WAY too small cage lethargic, lifeless and obviously in labored breathing....Will never disgrace myself personally by returning to this store, it's sickening!

 

[Chris L]

as a new part time employee of seaworld
i am not sure what you saw in the bird area but i can tell you that joanne ( who runs the bird area ) takes better care of her birds then any other place i have ever seen. she has people drop off birds that are sick, problem pluckers and just not wanted birds . and she brings them back to health and basially saves their lives. this may be what you saw. she also works with wildlife rescue as well. anyone that deals with big birds knows she is very good at what she does so you may have just seen a snapshot and made an unfair assumption.( which is understandable ).

as far as the store going downhill, yes it has, but thankfully it is under new ownership and the changes are being made to bring it back to its former self. the staff is being worked on as well as the animals and product that is being stocked there. it will not be an overnight fix but the wheels are in motion so i hope everyone will give it a second chance.

the freshwater department is being run by tricia who is very knowledgeable and willing to take thetime to help anyone out from setting up a new tank to fixing an existing problem.

matt is back in the reptile area who again is very knowledgable and wants to make it the best he can ( check out the new turtle pond he put together, very cool )

saltwater is still under construction so to speak and we hope to have that fixed sooner then the rest. we are going to be bringing in the more hardy and common fish as well as more small nano type fish and less larger delicate fish (we do however get some fish that we do not order from time to time like the gruopers so do not think we are ordering them please )

it will take time but i can say the problems that are being pointed out are being acknowledged and are being dealt with.
thank you for your input and we always welcome more.
p.s. if anyone here or anyone you know has any problem please have them see me and i will do my best to fix it.

 

[pillowfish]

I'm sorry but I guess this is where our views differ a bit..I work as well with 2 non-profit orgs here in mass to rescue, re-hab and re-home exotic birds(and we get all types not just the big guys!) This is the only reason I have a 29 yr. old galah too=as she was a rescue(who was a plucker, but not to the extreme degree). I looked through all the cages in the bird room...I did not take a passing glance at this one bird and make an assumption(In fact I you would like I will be more than happy to send you or post the photographs of the bird I am speaking of-the photos were taken yesterday.) I cannnot speak about the woman who runs the "bird room" at Sea World, she may be in fact an amazing person who does love all these birds so much and spend many mnay of her own hours caring for these birds to find good homes. I hve never met her-and I am not passing judgement on someone I don't know...what I do know is what I saw=PERIOD. Whether it was a one item episode or a re-occuring theme, that is not really a point that is worth argueing, as it really is futile and pointless...Point being is this, if you know the animals-you realize that stress is a HUGE factor in health and happiness...the cage the bird was housed in was not even large enough for a medium sized bird-let alone one of the largest. It is not difficult to remove a sick/stressed or injured animal to a quarantine/hospital cage away from people and off of display for sale! It may seem like a snapsnot judgement-but sorry I have worked with these animals long enough I know a little bit..And I will end here as this is SW forum and probably not the correct venue for this off-topic(sorta) experience.

 

[Chris L]

pillowfish pm is sent

 

[DavidY]

Geez, I always like visiting Sea World. I've also been really impressed with the bird section. The large birds usually have free roam and are usually not confined to a cage whenever I visit there. I also like the reptile, pond, fish and reef sections too. I've seen just as many dead or dying livestock in the other more popular stores. I don't understand why Sea World is getting a bashing here.

 

[bluehd60]

i recently bought two tangs from seaworld and they are very healthy. when i went in the store i thought the service was pretty good, i wasnt waiting around for a long time to be waited on. i think all of the fish stores have thier good points and bad, you could go in one day and it be very good and the next day make you not want to come back.

 

[fanaglethebagle]

I find them to be very hit or miss, but they do have one of the best taco bells around right next door

 

[LuckyReefer]

I was an employee of theirs about 10 years ago and I believe it has had a slight decline in quality of the critters we are interested in. I do have to say that there have been alot of changes to that place over the years but now as mentioned earlier in this post the "new owner" will straighten it out. There was basically a dispute between the owners "divorced couple" for a couple years now about the place sooo yeah I guess we will see.

Overall I have bought my regal tang there and one other "can't remember which one" recently that are doing GREAT!.. so I guess it depends on when you get em'