Fish4U

Ok just to clearify I am Jerry's next door neighbor and this happend to me today. June 9, 2007. I was unable to register so he let me post under his name...mabey a bad mistake on his part because I am steaming mad.....

Extremly Mad right now !!! Purchased a new addition for the tank from Fish4U....(a cleaner shrimp) aclimated the shrimp through a 20 min float for temp, then a added 1/2 cup of my water every 5 minuts (I'm sure you know the rest). After introducing the new shrimp, he swam for a couple of minutes....I walked away to grab a drink.....45 minutes later the wife asks whats wrong.....to make a long story short it was dead.

Returned the shrimp to Fish4U within two hours.....only to be told that there was something wrong with my tank....and so began the testing.......in four months I haven't lost a thing.

In my tank I have:
4 fish (anthias and chromis), or 6 corals (yuma's, ricordias, zoa, Kenya)


The test showed the Parameters as follows:

Temp 78.4
pH 8.2
SG 1.025
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20ppm
Phosphate 0
Alkalinity 8 dKH
Ca 450
Mg 1300
Iodine .06

They refused to exchange or refund. They tried to tell me since I floated him for 20 minutes that there wasn't enough oxygen in the bag for him to survive........I was under the impression that fish and other saltwater creatures are shipped over night, every day of the year thus being in a bag longer than 20 mins.......they then said that if you don't drip acclimate shrimp, they will die every time (what a joke)!!!! After pulling teeth for about an hour they decided to give me 50% off a replacment..........I am still not happy with having to pay for the replacement......but he is still alive and doing fine in my tank after 2 hours......go figure........

I used to be a loyal customer of Fish4U, but I will never give them business again!!!

Beware of:

Fish4U

Until they quarantine or offer a 15 day return policy.......we will buy from Vividaquariums.com and suggest you do the same.........Lets teach the LFSs that they can't treat their customers this way.......

Boycott LFSs, espcially Fish4U, until the garrantee/return policy is improved.....



Edited by EagleEyez5 - June 09 2007 at 6:41pm

I'm sorry this happened to you. I lost a shrimp one time and believe it was because when I set the bag on the car seat the corner of the bag folded and pinched the shrimp. It is hard for me to believe they could have done something wrong that would have caused the shrimp to die so suddenly. It is necessary IMHO to drip acclimate shrimp. I have always been happy with Fish4U and will continue to shop there along with many of the other great Local Fish Stores we have here in the valley. Again I am sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

It does suck to lose things but thats just part of the hobby. Not much you can do. I've been lucky and have only lost a few minor things right off the bat but thats just the risk I assume by dealing with saltwater creatures which really shouldn't be anywhere near Utah to begin with (what ocean do we live by again?). Overall I think you should just suck this one up and if you really don't want to shop there again I guess that is your choice.

I am sorry for your loss but I agree with what has been said by the other posts.  We bought 2 peppermint shrimp from fsh 4 u a while back and within 4 hours they were dead.  We were mad but what do you do?  We went in to fish 4 u about a week later and bought some more stuff and told Kerrie (sp?) what had happened.  We weren't looking for a refund, just talking about the tank, she was the one that had sold us the shrimps and said that they had been a trade in that day.  She felt so bad she gave us 2 new shrimp.  She didn't have to do that nor did we expect it but we are grateful that she did.  I think that most of us in this hobby know that with Salt Water there really is no guarantee.  I hate losing money but can you imagine being a LFS and refunding money every time a fish died?  There is no way they could.  Everyone's water is different, everyone acclimates different,  it would just be too hard.   Again I am sorry for your loss, but I don't think blaming a LFS is the answer.  It could've happened to a fish from anywhere. 

Wow!!! my neighbor sure hit a nerve......

I realize that some of his comments were harsh....and the comment about Nazis was over the line.....I have talked to Chris hundreds of times and have to say he is a great guy that knows alot about fish tanks.....

I am not defending my neighbor on alot of his comments.....but he has a point about the garantee, or lack there of, that almost all the stores in Salt Lake don't offer.....From most online stores they give you a 15 day....I just hope that here in Utah someone will step up and do the same.....

I have spent over $1,300.00 at Fish4U in the last 3 months, and have also spent over $1,000.00 buying from Vivid in that same time.....I had two clowns die that I ordered from Vivid, and they replaced them free of charge.....I had one fish I bought from Fish4U bring cotton mouth into my tank, it died after a week, and about two weeks later the cotton mouth killed a Blue Tang, I had had in my tank for over a year...I tried to treat them for it to save them, but it didn't help.....I placed a quarantine tank on my system with a UV steralizer on the return line......and treated the tang in that tank for the two weeks until he died..

So I understand the frustration my nieghbor feels when a LFS doesn't have a quarantine system or garantee.....

Amie I have bought alot from online stores and they offer a 15 day garantee....so there is no 'chance', when getting it in a "bag through the mail"...I like my chances with 15 days...I have taken advantage of that garrantee twice in the last three months....also in one order I wasn't happy with the color on one of the corals I bought and they refunded half my money and let me keep the coral......in short I like the customer service offered by Vividaquariums.com......

Well I was just at Fish 4 U and talked to Chris and Amber (the girl that is always there) - but they told me that your neighbor got another cleaner shrimp for $10.

Fish4U has been a great supporter of the club and I guess that's why everyone is jumping in to defend them.  There are always bad and good experiences be it with lfs and online.  But if you let the store resolve the issue instead of ignoring you then it's a good business. 

To me it seems like Fish4U did their best to resolve the situation - more than a lot of stores would. 


Edited by sukie - June 09 2007 at 8:07pm

P.S. I will never buy a fish online. . . I rather see it in the store swimming around and eating 

Just my .02 cents.

i agree with everyone else on the board (amber) at fish 4 u is always very helpful and never rude to me or anyone that i have seen .i think you need to realize what hobby your in and stop crying like a baby .fish 4 U is one of my favorite lfs and it really upsets me that you are bashing them . i hope you never go back so they dont have to deal with rude people like you imo