Tropic Isle aquarium - Framingham, MA

[owenz]

Good: selection of fish. They really do have a lot of healthy looking fish on hand at all times -- and if you want something exotic like an octopus, they are the best.

Bad:

1. Dry Good Recommendations - I went to the store for fresh water goods for years. So I know the employees. When I went to set up my 46G SW tank, several senior employees gather around to tell me I absolutely needed a protein skimmer, mechanical filter, and a wet/dry sump filter to run a reef tank. Having done a decent amount of research, I asked about people who used only protein skimmers and power jets for their reef tanks. The employees (a group of about three of them) all insisted that nitrates would be out of control without the mechanical filtration and sump. I rejected their advice, as it would have costs at least $500. Having now spent a year running a SW tank (with a skimmer and power heads), I know their advice could only be the product of two things: (1) seriously outdated reef knowledge or (2) an attempt to gouge me as a customer. Either way, it was ugly.

2. Live Stock Recommendations - After cycling my tank, I went back to Tropic Isle to look for some fish last year. This time I met with the owner, Ellis London. Mr. London asked me about the tank. I told him that it was a 46G and there was some algae in there. Upon hearing there was algae in the tank, he encouraged me to buy a blue tang and an algae blenny, at a total cost of about $130. There were no other fish in the tank. I later kicked myself for buying fish without first researching them -- but at the time, I trusted Mr. London's advice. Needless to say, there is not room for an algae blenny and a tang in a 46G tank. On my only other occation in the store since then, I was told put a Mandarin in the tank -- despite having told the employee it was a new tank (and only 46G). Having done some research, I discarded the Mandarin advice -- which was even worse than Mr. London's advice.

All and all, I would say my experience with Tropic Isle has been quite negative. The advice I've received from there has been, in a word, terrible.

 

[richardong]

I went there several times since started the hobby few months ago. I had done some searching about pricing online, although never been to other local fish store beside Tropic Isle, I knew their price a bit high. Because of sometime just need to buy one or two items in urgent and not bother to order online, I didn't mind to be stupid sometime for paying the higher price. Everytime the items i bought from that store, i checked online store, their price almost double regardless of livestock or dry goods. Its radiculous for what their charge compare to other retails. Beside, i believe they get the supply with wholesale price or bulk discount, wonder how many percents of profit they want to markup in order to kill your wallet. I don't think i would be going back as best as possible.

 

[loru1588]

To Owenz; Are you trying to say that your 46 gallon tank was too small for a blue tang , algae blenny and mandarin due to too many fish or that each of these fish would not do well in a 46 gallon tank? The algae blenny would be fine in a 46. The mandarin would be also as long the tank were mature with live rock for a decent colony of copepods and such. The blue tang would eventually outgrow a 46, true, but how big was it at the time and do you plan to upgrade to a larger aquarium at some time?

To richardong; Dry good prices are higher due to the high overhead and the amount of different and available in stock items not found in most LFS. No LFS can compete with online prices and stay in business. You are paying for the service as well as the convenience of having the item in hand. Mr. London does not get any special discount due to the volume ordered any longer. Wholesalers/distibuters don't care any more. AGA aquarium prices have gone up almost 40% in just the last 2 months. 2 price increases in less than 30 days. As for the fish prices being higher than online, you have to take into account the frieght we pay on our shipments and you have to take in to account the postage you will pay when you order from a livestock website. You also have the opportunity to be present to pick out an individual fish and not have to rely on someone else choosing for you. We also have coupons available on the website to help offset the cost of your purchases.

Again, as I have said many times before I cannot speak for anyone else, but the information I try to relay to all my customers is from my own personnal experence of over 35 years in the marine hobby as well as a lifetime of aquarium keeping.

Things are relative. We gave out coupons for the Boston Reefers 2 meetings ago. With the coupon a 5 gallon bucket of IO salt normally $65 would cost $53. I had one guy tell me that he could drive down to NYC and get the same salt for $60 any day. So he wasn't going to buy it from us. I'm no math genius but gas cost for a round trip to NYC even if you get 30 mpg is going to be more than $7. Also had someone tell me $6.98, 2/12.98, or 3/18.98 at the time for peppermint shrimp was too high. He could order them on line at $6 each. There was a $30 minimum and shipping would be $15. Again I'm no math genius but that comes out to $7.50 a shrimp in my book.

Just like you pay an extra 70 cents or more for a gallon of milk at the convenience store because you know they have it and you can take it with you now.

Sorry for any bad advice you guys got, evereyone has an off day. Come see me personally if you want and I'll do my best to help you along with your tanks.

Dan

 

[fanaglethebagle]

I was actually there today, I actually got pretty miffed (yes I just said miffed)

I was looking at the corals, some looked pretty cool (If my mom would win the lottery)
I start looking through all the tanks on the wall, and havent seen one withought aptasia, not bad because Im not buying rocks, but on the snails?!?!

I see a school of coral catfish about inch longers 10$ each (cool, they usually give discount prices if you buy quantities.) not in this case. Not only does the guy tell me how huge they get (like they will live that long ) and that they will kill everything in the tank, what a salesman
Not only did he explain how awful fish they were, but I could only get the full price on them. Eventually we left with 10 gallons of RO (1$ a gallon) and a slab of mysis, I was pretty bugged.Please do not include names of other stores in the TI thread.

 

[fanaglethebagle]

P.S. they wont sell me fish cause im under 18, and this includes a betta I was trying to get my dad for christmas

 

[loru1588]

Dear Fanagle,

As the Assistant Manager of Tropic Isle I'd like to reply to help answer your statements/questions below, first let me say if you are going to comment on anything or anybody, please have your facts straight.

"I was looking at the corals, some looked pretty cool (If my mom would win the lottery)"

Our corals are not that far out of line with several shops I visit on a fairly regular basis. Not many LFS can compete with on line shops as far as price goes for corals as well as dry goods. Is Tropic Isle higher priced on some items, yes, we are. We have to be in order to keep the place running and be able to carry in stock the selection of items we have. That's the simplest explaination I can give.

"I start looking through all the tanks on the wall, and havent seen one withought aptasia, not bad because Im not buying rocks, but on the snails?!?!

The invert system does have some aptasia. A simple fact of keeping the invert system drug free. I do my best to bounce around a couple of dozen peppermint shrimp to help keep them in check. I also INTENTINALLY keep one of the upper tanks with a colony of aptasia to show new hobbyists what to look for. It's far from being an epidemic and I doubt a snail was crawling around with one on its back. We do have a hermit crab that recently upgraded to an old turbo snail shell the had a glass anemone on it. Maybe that's what you saw. The rock tanks are actually six seperate systems independant of the invert system.

"I see a school of coral catfish about inch longers 10$ each"

We have 2 coral catfish at present about 2 inches long each.

"(cool, they usually give discount prices if you buy quantities.) not in this case."

True, we sometimes give quantity discounts on certain fish. The discounted price is listed on the price card(s). Coral catish aren't one of the chosen.

" Not only does the guy tell me how huge they get (like they will live that long ) and that they will kill everything in the tank, what a salesman"

I was doing a water test behind the cube system at this point and what the salesman said was" ...they get huge and could EAT most of what you have in your tank."
Would you prefer he lied to you ?? As for " (like they will live that long ) ", is this because you believe we carry inferior livestock or that you aren't capable of keeping them? I don't quite understand.

" Not only did he explain how awful fish they were, but I could only get the full price on them."

Again, would you prefer he lied? See explaination above about pricing. He probably wouldn't have sold them to you any way because store policy is to not sell poisonous or potentially environmentally damaging fish to minors. Better safe than sorry, as they say.

" Eventually we left with 10 gallons of RO (1$ a gallon) and a slab of mysis, I was pretty bugged."

Bugged because the RO was $1 a gallon or that the salesman answered your questions truthfully?? I'm not sure what you mean here.

" I actually found the service at Edit Another store name ("uh, I dont know" is usually how they help me )"

So , in closing it seems you would rather deal with a clueless salesperson that would sell you anything you asked for than someone who would actually try and stear you in a safe and responsible direction then? Is that your point?
__________________+

 

[sw300galma]

Dear Fanagle,

As the Assistant Manager of Tropic Isle I'd like to reply to help answer your statements/questions below.

Glad you are here.

Fisrt off, You can't please everyone all the time, I understand that. Bacially if you see the same issue cropping up from many different people..Then that's a real Issue.


As I weekly buyer i enjoy coming in every wednesday and looking through the fish. As stated in many many posts, your fish selection is outstanding along with quality and quantity...Prices are on the high side of the curve...but inline with other places...I know it's not cheap to run that place...

On the other hand the dry goods and equiptment in some cases are bit on the astronomical side. We are ok with the fact that you can't compete with the online places...Very few instances where a store can compete with an online place... But you need to be in the same ballpark. 100% or more over the online or petco's and petsmarts out there is bit out of whack.

Also the register help (I wont name names) are about as friendly as a bunch of triggers lol I know everyone has bad days...but everyday can't have a bad day.

I think if you keep watching people concerns you will be able to help us out alot and we would all appreciate it, as it's such a great store...

 

[fanaglethebagle]

I was going to say alot of that stuff, but I was still kind of biased at that point. The fish selection is great! And usually so is the coral. And there is alot of really good dry goods, however I didnt research once and got a seaclone 100 there for I believe 140$ and it was around 70 at multiple other places.

 

[besl]

I've been holding back on my tale of woe with TI, but I feel compelled to provide my experience, particularly for those starting out and new to the hobby. I read this thread with complaints of staff and drygood prices, and even some good praise about TI livestock - well my experience has been dramatically different. I purchased many (many) fish at Tropic Isle and many (many) perished. The TI staff always convinced me it was my tank parameters, husbandry tactics, whatever. Sad to say, I bought this nonsense and wrote it off to my tank parameters not being up to par despite what my water tests were telling me, saltwater fish being so sensitive, that I am not good at this hobby, etc, etc. My most recent experience was a few months ago when I purchased 2 false percs. Both died 2 days after I brought them home from TI. When I called TI, they immediately started implicating my water quality as usual, reminded me that I am past the window to return the fish, and that if I did return to the store I needed to bring a water sample with me. This was on a Monday evening about 1 hour before store closing that I returned. The salesperson who took the sample must have evaluated every known test to mankind including DNA sampling as he was gone for quite some time. This provided me ample time to roam the saltwater tanks - with absolutely no exageration I saw many dead fish in the tanks as well as fish with abnormal behaviors (swimming upside down and such). I was at the false perc tanks (they had quite a few clownfish tanks as they received 250 false percs the previous week), and were now down to 1 partial tank. The salesperson returned finally and advised he could find nothing wrong with my water (I could see the shear dissapointment on his face that he could no longer implicate my water). Now the both of us standing by the perc tanks, I asked where all the percs went since 2 days earlier and he acknowledged that "well we obviosuly didn't sell them all". Since this episode, I have stocked my tank from another lfs in Boston - I won't mention the name - and I have not lost 1 fish yet (I am now up to 9 fish and all are doing well). Was it my water quality? husbandry? It appears not! I now know it had to be the (horrible) quality of Tropic Isle livestock. For those that like TI, I would suggest stopping by during off peak hours as I did and see for yourself what really goes on in their tanks. For those that have done well with their TI livestock, I am very happy for you. As for my experience, it is a shame of all the disease and deaths that I had to experience (not to mention the tremendous financial impact by shopping at TI) before I ventured elsewhere and learned that fish can stay alive and be very healthy if they start out that way!

 

[Puffer]

you figure if you drop a few hundred bucks in a store the checkout girl would probably recognize you. nope. every time it's a new experience. everytime she needs to see my ID if i use a credit card. everytime it's the blank stare.
sure, i'm no big ticket customer, but i go in there A LOT. not looking for a new best friend, just acknowledgement, or a 'hello' and 'thanks'.

the older woman (who is there almost always) turns and walks in the other direction if she sees me. i have never asked anything of her. it's sort of weird. the one time i have had her be amicable and outgoingly friendly was when a parent was present (in their late 50s). when that happened she's all smiles and helpful.

Hi, since this thread has been going on strong and hot, I thought that I might as well shime in on the topic.

I have similar experience as theLIQUIDzoo, I always find the store owner's wife, that old lady, rude and brush-offish. Unlike theLIQUIDzoo, I have never seen her smile nor laugh. I often tried to peek at her a couple of times and see if I can cought a glimpse of smile from her ever-so-uptight expression. And I also find the check out girl to be aloof, and borderline rude.

As for the employees, I actually have OK and good experience. Maybe this is because I only deal with 2 persons only. Jason and, later, Leo. They were always very honest and upfront with me. Very knowledgable. I have known Leo ever since he was with Skipton, and Jason, he happened to be the first sales person I dealt with during my first visit. And maybe that is why I have good interaction with them.

I think corporate culture, be it a fortune 500 company, or a fish store, in this case, always started from the top. I think many of the negative experience/interaction that you guys had with the employees stemed from the top. Lack of example from the owner (female), and specific instruction will result in a everybody for himself kind of situation, be it employees or customers. It would falls onto the employees mood and discretion to be helpful and friendly, and, the customers to be charming and courteous (as mentioned by one of the TI employee in this threads). Falling short in any of the prerequisites will eventually leads to a negative interactions.

It doesn't have to be so. All it need is just a little bit of "lead by example" from the top down. Lets face it, TI still has an awesome collections of livestock for reefers. As for the price...well, we need another thread for this.

Cheers!

 

[loru1588]

To besl,

Store policy states full replacement within 24 hours and 1/2 replacement within 7 days IF a the dead or troublesom fish is returned with as seperate sample of tank water and the origianal sales reciept. The water sample is to simply confirm whether it is a water condition problem. No sense of replacing a fish if the reason for the death is the water. If the water tests out bad a credit would be issued. As long as you don't lose the credit slip it's good until you use it (up to 7 years !!) I remember the problem we had with the tanks around the time you mention. Someone overdosed the systems with Formalin and the rest is history. You should have been issued a credit to use at your convenience. For this I appologize. See me when you have the opportunity and I will issue a 1/2 price credit for the clowns.

Good, bad or indifferent we can't control other peoples personalities. I won't go any further with this subject.

As for Leo, I couldn't ask to have a better and more knowledable manager. Jason is the fish room manager and he has and desires a very faithful following.

To all:
We in the fish room all try to do our best to give the customer the best and most honest information possible. We are currently going through a little employee adjustment period and we hope in the near future to have a more knowedgable and possibly more cheerful staff.

Thanks for your time,

Dan

 

[billm]

so you won't offer a full credit even though you just admitted ti screwed up?nice.

 

[besl]

Tropic Isle replies: "...I remember the problem we had with the tanks around the time you mention. Someone overdosed the systems with Formalin and the rest is history. You should have been issued a credit to use at your convenience. For this I appologize. See me when you have the opportunity and I will issue a 1/2 price credit for the clowns."

loru1588, let me get this straight... you're offering me 1/2 price credit for acknowledging you sold me sick fish that TI mistreated - thank you for reinforcing what I all ready know to be true about TI - not only won't you ever see me back to collect on this pitiful offer, but you can stop sending me the discount coupons for your overpriced and sick livestock. What about all the other similar occasions I experienced at TI. All I know is the situation I experienced was not an isolated occurrence and each time the TI staff made me feel completely incompetent implicating my tanks water quality or my husbandry skills.

Since this last occurrence I described with the clown fish, I have taken my business elsewhere and I have not had a single loss or diseased fish. I learned the hard way from Tropic Isle and I am getting so much more satisfaction and enjoyment from this hobby with a lot less stress since using the other lfs in Boston.

"1/2 price credit" - no thanks - I've already lost enough money from inferior Tropic Isle livestock.

 

[loru1588]

To besl,

The incident with the formalin happened AFTER you purchased the fish. I am offering you a credit without any proof of purchase or sales reciept as a goodwill gesture. I am sure the staff here was doing a free test your water to eliminate the possibility of a problem and not to implicate you as a "bad aquarist". We test ammonia, nirtite , nitrate, ph, alkalinity, phosphate, dissolved oxygen, and calcium. Some of these tests require specific time parameters for an accurate reading. The offer still stands despite your reluctance.

To billm,

Frankly, isn't it up to besl to decide whether my offer is fair or not??

 

[sw300galma]

loru1588,

If you want to make offers, that's great. But a word of advice, is do not get caught up in the bantering back and forth with people as this thread will go way off topic into a pissing match.

Best way to approach it is to PM the person directly.

I'm not a mod, but people please try to keep on track.
It's nice to have someone listen to our complaints and possibly help.

 

[besl]

Tropic Isle replies: "...I remember the problem we had with the tanks around the time you mention. Someone overdosed the systems with Formalin and the rest is history."

On this response you "remember the problem we had with the tanks... Someone overdosed the systems..." - I actually appreciated the fess up at this point - coming clean is a very noble thing to do.

Tropic Isle replies in a later post: "The incident with the formalin happened AFTER you purchased the fish."

Now I'm confused! At first you remember the situation and explain what happened as TI overdosed the tank as to why my percs died within 2 days. Now in this response you know for a fact that the overdose happened "AFTER" I purchased the fish. You don't know who I am, when I purchased the fish, but you emphatically state that Tropic Isle overdosed the tank "AFTER" my purchase. You are too funny!

Tropic Isle replies: "I am sure the staff here was doing a free test your water to eliminate the possibility of a problem and not to implicate you as a "bad aquarist"."

Now that I understand, please thank your staff for helping me out with a free test of my water - was that special treatment for selling me overdosed, sick fish or do you do this for all your customers? And please don't explain or rationalize how your staff made me feel - my post is sincere when I say they made me feel incompetent each and every time one of your fish got diseased or died within an unusually short duration of time after purchase.

This forum is intended to post personal experiences with vendors which I objectively presented. Readers of this post will clearly formulate their own opinions. I have moved on since my unfortunate experience at TI. There is no gain to banter this and I will only re-post if I feel I need to defend my experience or my feelings as I am the only one who can properly present either and I truly hope there is no need for either of us to post on the my particular situation again - as I mentioned I believe it is best to move on.

 

[loru1588]

To sw300galma,

Sage advice. Subject closed in my book.

PM sent

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Myk]

To Loru1588,

You seem to be a decent guy with good intention, but don't stress yourself for The Isle. I worked there for almost 3 years and I know the big guy isn't going to appreciate your extra efforts to try to help his store. Keep up the good work though, I know it's not easy trying to keep good relations with the customers while dealing with the pressures from the non-blue shirt wearing members of the staff.

I haven't been to the store in awhile and I don't know the current staff if there have been changes in the past year, but I do know Leo, Jason, and Kevin. They've got integrity and are honest and will do the best that they can to provide a quality service for TI customers. I worked with those guys for a long time. TI is a great resource for hobbyists looking for a good selection and for hard to find items, just have to be prepared ahead of time and know what you're looking for as the employees are under pressure from the top to move quickly and do alot in a short amount of time. Probably not the best place to go if you are a begginer and definately not cheap! Do your research before you shop there and my advice to anyone who goes to The Isle, avoid any employees that are not wearing a blue shirt and you should be in pretty good shape

 

[fanaglethebagle]

I must say it was a good job about a year ago dealing with some lady. She put 18 chromis in her week old tank, and one guy just yelled at her for trying to get a refund, I found it very funny

 

[billm]

To besl,

The incident with the formalin happened AFTER you purchased the fish. I am offering you a credit without any proof of purchase or sales reciept as a goodwill gesture. I am sure the staff here was doing a free test your water to eliminate the possibility of a problem and not to implicate you as a "bad aquarist". We test ammonia, nirtite , nitrate, ph, alkalinity, phosphate, dissolved oxygen, and calcium. Some of these tests require specific time parameters for an accurate reading. The offer still stands despite your reluctance.

To billm,

Frankly, isn't it up to besl to decide whether my offer is fair or not??

Maybe so,but for the price of two clowns you could have had a bunch of good P.R.,Just common sense.