OK, it looks like we have had enough fun here.
Here is my take on the situation:
1) Very, very few brick and mortar stores 'guarantee' SW livestock. Period.
To hold that out as a 'negative' against Aquatic Dreams is not a reasonable attitude, as they are not alone in this policy; they are in the vast majority.
You keep saying "I just want everyone here to know their policy"...
News Flash: EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS THIS.
THIS IS THE SALT WATER LIVESTOCK POLICY OF PRETTY MUCH EVERY BRICK AND MORTAR STORE IN THE UNITED STATES.
No one is shocked, surprised, or now comtemplating a boycott over this 'news'. Maximnick, if you are indeed truly surprised that there was no guarantee on the fish, than I must question how long you have been in this hobby. (And maybe, it is not a good hobby for you to be in, a this WILL happen to you again)
These are (still, for the most part) WILD Marine creatures, harvested from the oceans of the world. We then take this wild creature and hope that it will adjust from a natural environment of billions of gallons / miles of reef, to a man - made environment of usually less than a few square feet and a hundred gallons of artificial saltwater. We try and feed it foods that it often would not encounter in the wild, and house it often with other fish species from different parts of the globe.
These are not domesticated guppies that have been tank - bred for the past 200 generations and used to living in a glass box. Sometimes they just don't make it. Hence, the 'no guarantee' thing.
2) As far as your possible responsibility / involvement in the fishes demise...which you assert is "none":
Personally, I would not recommend drip - aclimating ANY fish whose entire transit from store to home was (your words, I believe) "15 minutes in an air conditioned car..." IMO it is quite possible a hour long drip - acclimation period MAY have stressed this fish out. I only drip - acclimate livestock that has been shipped (since there is at least a 24 - hour transit time involved). In my 37 years in this hobby I have never drip - acclimated a fish that I have just picked up from a LFS - unless I literally bought it while it was still in the wholesaler's shipping bag.
3) Aquatic Dreams is a store that has an overwhelmingly positive relationship with the members of WMAS. Relationships founded upon years of going above and beyond in terms of customer service and satisfaction. Whether or not Aquatic Dreams is supportive of this Club is not relevant, because good relationships between a store and a customer are independent of the Club's relationship with that store. Even if your story has merit, I highly doubt it will influence anyone else's opinions. And we all know that there are 2 sides to every story. You have given us 1 of those sides.
4) I want EVERYONE who read this 7 - page thread to note that the Presidency did not "immediately shut this 'negative' LFS thread down to protect a store" as some detractors like to claim we do.
We allow
any topic thread to progress if there is something to be gained for our Members and readers. I now feel this thread has run its course, and there is nothing more to add value. (Really, that was probably 30 posts ago, but I did not see this until now
)
So we are done here.
This thread will be locked and left here for a short time (to allow readers time to see this response)
Thank you - and have a pleasant day
Edited by BobC63 - July 24 2014 at 12:08pm