Rookie Mistake - Help?

Heck

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2024
92
131
36
Sacramento, CA
Well, the 3 Mystus Leucophasis I ordered did not arrive - I've been scammed! The seller is "Aquarium Zone Hatchery" on eBay. There were several red flags that should have tipped me off, but I had a heck of a time finding anyone who had the fish in stock and I guess I didn't want to believe it. The seller is clearly just dropshipping - selling items he doesn't actually have, and then simply ordering them for the buyer from someone who does have them when he gets an order (most of his Cichlids seem to be from Amazon - the same photos and descriptions are on Amazon at the same price, but with free shipping.) The ebay scammer charges $20+ for shipping, so if I ordered the cichlids from him (perhaps assuming that he was the breeder and would have higher qualityfish than an Amazon selller - until recently his profile said "we hand raise every fish"), he'd simply order them for me on Amazon with free shipping at the same price, and pocket the $20 difference I paid for shipping. The listing for the Mystus I ordered used a photo with Aqua Imports's logo watermarked in the corner - they do offer the fish on their site but have been out of stock for a while. I emailed them to double check whether they were affiliated with the ebay seller; they are not, and they were unaware that he was using a photo with their logo on it. A day after that exchange, the ebay listing for MLs with their watermarked photo disappeared - seems like they took action to make sure they would not be associated with a random seller providing a bad experience.

The dropshipping model works okay, and in general I don't have a huge problem with it - every retailer buys items cheaper and sells them at a markup; that's how stores work, and I'm fine with paying that markup for my groceries for the convenience of not having to drive to one farm to pick up eggs and another to get cheese. Even with online shopping it's not a big deal - prices vary from seller to seller and if I want the cheapest price it's on me to find it. If the dude can make his living buying cheap and selling high, seems like a lousy way to make a living but fine.

But the problem arose when he sold me fish that he didn't have and *couldn't actually get.* I paid for FedEx 2-day shipping, received a USPS tracking number, and waited patiently until I realized that the tracking number said the package had not actually shipped. At this point, my anxious and worried bleeding heart was picturing a box of fish dying forgotten in the back room at a post office somewhere. So I reached out to the seller and received no response to several inquiries over several days. Finally I left a nasty feedback, and *immediately* received a nice note from the seller saying that the fish were shipping and asking me to revise my feedback. Turns out, you can only revise ebay feedback once, so if I had changed it to a good review and still not received fish, he'd still be left with a good review. It's a neat gig for him when it works, but in my opinion, when he realized that he had sold me fish that he couldn't get, he should have simply sent me a nice note saying he had made a mistake and didn't have them in stock after all and refunded my money. I would have been disappointed but these things happen, and I wouldn't have realized that he was just a dropshipper.

But he didn't do that - he left me hanging waiting for and worrying about fish that never actually existed, so I went Mama Bear in the defense of these poor forgotten imaginary fish. I told him I'd revise my bad feedback when I received my fish alive and well, and suggested that he upgrade the shipping from USPS to FedEx overnight, since I had paid for FedEx 2-day, and the upgrade could be at his expense to improve my customer service experience. He agreed, and immediately sent me a tracking number saying he had dropped my fish off with FedEx. So I called FedEx - the label was created, but no package received.

Out of curiosity, I ordered a cheap net from him - it arrived in less than 24 hours, directly from Amazon with a gift receipt. I used the gift receipt to initiate a return, so I'll get my money back from Amazon rather than the eBay dork, and he can have the net back - it's unused; he can resell it.

Meanwhile I'd been contacting LFS's in my area (there are a ton of them) with no luck. A guy in a local-ish Facebook group posted his brand new ML and I commented to ask where he got it. He told me, so I called that shop but was unable to reach them. I told the Facebook guy, who was positive they still had some and *contacted his shop on my behalf to confirm.* Nice guy - he didn't have to do any of that. He told me who to call at the store, and when I called yesterday, the LFS guy said, "hey, you must be Mike's friend! I have one left and I'll hold it for you if you'll come today." So I drove 2+ hours there yesterday and they had one beautiful, healthy-looking baby ML left, packed him up for me, and it's settling in here just fine so far.

Sorry for that rant - I didn't post a new thread so hopefully I haven't wasted anyone's time who didn't want to read it. I have never been in the position before of wanting a fish and realizing it was hard to find, and I had no idea that an inexpensive fish would be worth someone's time to scam me. I'll get my money back from ebay, and if for some reason I don't, it won't be the most expensive life lesson I ever learned.

Meanwhile, in the Crime Box, the redtailed shark is being a real jerk to the sun cats. They're a little bigger than he is, and all he's been doing is body slamming them - nothing that could really hurt them, but they were scared at first. They have stopped being scared, and everyone has claimed a territory and things are settling down. The synodontis eupterus, by far my largest fish (and the most entertaining, interactive fish I've ever met), DGAF about the drama and swims around completely unbothered by the other fish, neither starting fights nor engaging in them. Interestingly, the pale spot on his dorsal fin - which was present when I got him and became pure white over the first week - has disappeared entirely. I don't know if that is due to time/healing or nutrition; I read that pale spots like that on eupterus can be due to insufficient veggies in the diet, so I picked up some Hikari algae wafers and other better foods. He doesn't like the algae wafers but will eat them if he's hungry and I'm not offering anything better, so I start with one of those broken into small pieces at feeding time, wait til he eats a bit of that, and then give them something "better" for dessert after he's eaten some salad.

I've added some manzanita branches to the Crime Box - they are pretty, and break up the swimming space to allow the picked-on fish an easy way to evade Megalodon, the redtailed bully. I've clipped some garlic to the protruding branches, allowing the bulbs and leaves to stay out of the water and the roots to grow down. The Garlic Forest is doing quite well and if the enthusiastic root growth continues it'll provide more top level hiding opportunities. I also have some sweet potatoes growing in one of my HOBs and they're doing well - unlike a lot of my plant experiments, sweet potatoes are well documented for their ability to grow this way and produce great roots while also being pretty above the water. Once their roots are more established I plan to hang the plants in the Garlic Trees as well - we'll see.

Pic of Crime Box's current state for the amusement of anyone who bothered to read all this.

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Heck

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2024
92
131
36
Sacramento, CA
This is so ridiculous I almost feel like posting a new thread about it, but I'm not sure it's worth clogging the forums with my drama and jackassery.

The ebay dropshipper came through. Bad business that left me worrying about fish lost in the mail that he hadn't actually shipped - yes. Uncommunicative and unhelpful - yes. True scam - no!

It's funny - all of this could have been avoided if he had simply messaged me with an excuse. I'm not super patient, but he could have said he miscounted and needed time to get more, or it was too hot out to ship safely, or he was in the hospital, etc, and as impatient as I am, I would have been disappointed but understanding. He could have strung me along for a *long* time with sob stories 😂

I initiated a complaint with ebay. Their automated menu had an option to choose "I want a refund" or "I still want the item." And my dumb ass clicked "I still want the item."

And he F'ing shipped them. It is June, and the seller and I are both in California, so I question the wisdom of his decision to include a heat pack in the box, but they arrived.

I will admit to playing fast and loose with quarantine. Even after my sad ich loss. Even though I know better. I'm sorry.

But there's no way I'm putting random ebay fish from a seller I distrust in my currently happy and healthy tank. But I was completely taken by surprise - even when the box arrived, I assumed that it contained farts rather than fish (I even made Mr. Heck leave work to come film my first ever unboxing video so I could document myself opening a box of farts - we are self-employed and work from home on the same property, so it was a less than one minute drive for him to come record).

To my shock, the box actually contained 3 live mystus leucophasis, bagged separately. Sooooooo I got my currently empty 55 gallon tank off my porch. The 125 gallon Crime Box has 2 HOB filters, so I put one in the 55. I have the heater that came with the 55 (no longer in regular use since the debacle in which I failed to realize it couldn't handle 125 gallons and was replaced in that tank), and I have the fantastic luxury that my well water comes out of the hose safe for aquarium use and a nice temperature, as well - yesterday it filled the tank at 78° before I turned the heater on. Added some aged manzanita I've been hoarding and a couple of live plants, and boom - instant quarantine tank.

Soooooo now to the problem, which is quite simple - I have 4 mystus leucophasis.

The current plan is quarantine the ebay fish for a month and then move them over and see what happens, keeping the 55 running but unstocked as a place to put bullies (or anyone who's being bullied), but uh...

Oops.

The sun cats can go back - they're interesting, but I'm not attached, and I'm concerned that I may have gotten wrong information about their ability to thrive in a 125 gallon tank long term (a lot of people said they usually don't get huge in the aquarium, and I relied on that, but that may have been too optimistic of me). The LFS guy who sold me the mystus over the weekend said that he will take them and has room to hold them til someone buys them if I decide to hang on to hang on to them til they're bigger and then move them on. I'd rather not drive 2 hours each way to give away fish, but if I can't find someone I trust closer, it's a good option.

The Synodontis Eupterus, Stegosaurus, is non-negotiable, as is his buttface amigo Megalodon the redtailed black shark (nobody likes Meg except Steg, but Steg is King Fish and gets what he wants).

In theory I *think* 4 MLs, 1 Eupterus, and 1 rtbs can do okay in a 125 long term as long as none of the MLs gets especially large (in terms of swimming room and water quality, I mean), but I have read enough and observed enough to know that this could get ugly.

I can move Stegosaurus and Megalodon to the 55 to keep them safe from the battling MLs - I'd hate to downsize on Steg, because he deserves only the best, but he'd be okay.

I'm adding new hiding spots to the Crime Box every day, and I imagine that'll help, and the New Criminals are too small to hurt the other fish at the moment (and will still be by the end of their quarantine), but I'm just not sure how this will play out.

I would really like to have a maximum of 2 tanks when the dust settles. I'd pictured moving my nano fish to the 55 and then leaving the 29 available for future quarantine (which I won't need because NO MORE FISH), but I may need to keep the 55 open just in case I have to separate some fish. I guess I do that, and if it turns out that I need it and end up with 2 tanks for Large Buttfaces, it is what it is. Guess if 3 tanks is too much work I could rehome the nano fish.

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Heck

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2024
92
131
36
Sacramento, CA
Quarantine tank with 3 eBay MLs, manzanita, and some sweet potatoes.

I've never been any good at keeping aquatic plants alive, and Steg the Eupterus seems pretty determined to help me kill them - the 125 has 2 surviving plants of 6 I started with a few weeks ago; one dwarf tiger lotus (if I had gotten to choose which plant might live, it would have been that one - so I'm pleased that it hasn't died yet and is starting to put out visible roots and new leaves) and one that I don't know what it is but will need to get an ID since it's happy with what I'm giving it. I've long since decided that, instead of getting plants (and, to an extent, fish) and then trying my best to meet their needs, it's better to figure out what thrives in the environment that I provide and then get more of that.

The naming rule is that I will only name fish if I can tell them apart. So the 125 contains Stegosaurus and Megalodon (rtbs), Ichthyosaurus and Gunther the sun cats (Gunther is much rounder than Ichthyosaurus, so based on the incredibly little I know about sexing catfish, I'd guess she's female?) and Jose the ML. The quarantined MLs and most of the nano tank are nameless, except for Red and Yellow the scarlet badis.

Anyway, so far so good, I guess.

In completely unrelated news, Banksy stepped on her filly, causing a pretty major crushing injury and laceration. I'll spare the photos unless anyone has read this and wants to see. The x-rays were clear, so the prognosis is pretty good, and the filly has been remarkably compliant for meds and bandage changes. There is a risk that the filly might never return to 100%, which would be a disappointment - I breed them to sell, I could really use the money, and she would like the sport/competition life - but on the other hand she is unrelated to the rest of my horses, with a compatible pedigree for breeding, and she is remarkably good quality with a top disposition, so if she's fated to spend her whole life barefoot and pregnant, that'll be a gift to the gene pool.

On Saturday night, Frida delivered a big black colt named Kyle. I'm delighted with him, but irritated that he's male. Frida consistently makes absolutely fabulous babies and I'm desperate to keep her genes in my breeding program, but her pedigree isn't strong enough to justify leaving a son intact for breeding (keeping a stallion is a whole other level of horsekeeping, and while I do have stallions, colts must check a long series of boxes - starting with pedigree - to justify the added work and expense; Frida's sons are excluded from the pool of potential stallion candidates based on Frida's pedigree being one that would not appeal to other breeders). In mammals, as in many other species, the sperm is responsible for the sex of the offspring, so it's not really fair to blame Frida, but I remain frustrated that she's had 5 boys in a row - I'm desperate for a Frida filly! On the bright side, her offspring are not only super quality but remarkably consistent - they're virtually identical aside from color, so potential buyers who have been following my breeding program already know what to expect, and they like it. And this one is black - unlike other domestic mammals, black is prized in horses, so he should sell quickly and for a good price. I remain disappointed that he isn't my keeper filly, but I'll wipe away my tears with cash.

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thebiggerthebetter

Senior Curator
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Dec 31, 2009
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Naples, FL, USA
Great reading Mrs Heck! Nice to see your fishy life evolving. FWIW our adult ML lived fine with 5 adult syno eupterus in a 240 gal "jerk" tank.
 
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thebiggerthebetter

Senior Curator
Staff member
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Dec 31, 2009
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Naples, FL, USA
But what am I going to do with FOUR of them? This is madness!
You got them of your own volition, if I remember it right. You will be in position to tell us what you are going to do with them :)
 
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Heck

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2024
92
131
36
Sacramento, CA
Yeah but I didn't expect them to live!

It's been almost a month so I'm starting to think about consolidating the fish. One problem with that is I'm really liking the 55 gallon (3 MLs, no other fish) as it is right now. Plus I have no idea how to CATCH the buggers - they're shifty and fast!

Megalodon the rtbs had a swollen eye the other day. I went to the Googles and decided it might be popeye, so I ordered a couple of meds which have not arrived yet. In the meantime the eye has healed and I'd never known there had been a problem, so I probably won't medicate. Best guess at the moment is that he FAFO'ed - the Sun Cats are growing at an alarming rate and now seem totally disinterested in putting up with his bullying attempts, and additionally, I've noticed Jose (the single ML in the 125) has taken up residence in a pipe that Meg had previously liked. I saw Meg try several times in a row to reclaim his pipe but the ML just told him to F off repeatedly until he eventually F'ed off. Poor Megalodon - he had gotten accustomed to being able to push the others around, but although he's probably 6" and change, the sun cats are approaching 6" themselves - and as I've seen, the 4" ML handles him no problem.

So that's the Crime Fish update. Nothing that exciting.

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