New marble mama
- Thread starter flamenco-t
- Start date
I got her from Shawn. It was a pure luck in getting her, I was looking at his list since a buddy of mine wanted some hystrix and just happen to stumbled upon it.
My review with shawn is 50/50 honestly, in the 3-4 times dealing with him, I've had my share of rays coming in skinny with bone showing (few years ago) and recently as well. A few years ago, I lost 2 our of 3 rays that came in skinny and malnourished. Recently, I still get 1-2 of them but nothing that can't be nursed back to health. On this order, the hystrix that he ordered died in QT. It's the risk of getting a wild caught rays in my opinion, especially brown rays. They don't get the "special" treatment that black rays get from the fisherman, exporter and importer. I am not surprised if they pack 5-6 hystrix in a single bag from south america, while blacks are transported in one fish per bag.
Would I buy from Shawn again, propably yes. His prices are usually a lot lower than most and I am willing to bet that most if not all the hystrix came from the same wholesaler (one of the reason why we see them being offered by 3-4 vendors around the same time) If you're willing to take the risk and nurse it back to health, it may be a good gamble to take on. I only paid $ 250 for her, I QT'ed her for 3 months just to be on the safe side.
My review with shawn is 50/50 honestly, in the 3-4 times dealing with him, I've had my share of rays coming in skinny with bone showing (few years ago) and recently as well. A few years ago, I lost 2 our of 3 rays that came in skinny and malnourished. Recently, I still get 1-2 of them but nothing that can't be nursed back to health. On this order, the hystrix that he ordered died in QT. It's the risk of getting a wild caught rays in my opinion, especially brown rays. They don't get the "special" treatment that black rays get from the fisherman, exporter and importer. I am not surprised if they pack 5-6 hystrix in a single bag from south america, while blacks are transported in one fish per bag.
Would I buy from Shawn again, propably yes. His prices are usually a lot lower than most and I am willing to bet that most if not all the hystrix came from the same wholesaler (one of the reason why we see them being offered by 3-4 vendors around the same time) If you're willing to take the risk and nurse it back to health, it may be a good gamble to take on. I only paid $ 250 for her, I QT'ed her for 3 months just to be on the safe side.
Hard to beat that buy, I bet you could easily sell her for double that IF you would have wanted to..... 
Really kind of odd that there's always been a small group of us that continue to buy from Shawn time after time, and yet so many bad reviews out there. Wonder why it is that he seems to keep a group of us happy?
Suppose it has anything to do with the amount of money being spent or more to do with how the individual handles themselves throughout the sale? Or is it just a difference in how we handle ourselves after the sale?
Really kind of odd that there's always been a small group of us that continue to buy from Shawn time after time, and yet so many bad reviews out there. Wonder why it is that he seems to keep a group of us happy?
Suppose it has anything to do with the amount of money being spent or more to do with how the individual handles themselves throughout the sale? Or is it just a difference in how we handle ourselves after the sale?
Hard to beat that buy, I bet you could easily sell her for double that IF you would have wanted to.....
Really kind of odd that there's always been a small group of us that continue to buy from Shawn time after time, and yet so many bad reviews out there. Wonder why it is that he seems to keep a group of us happy?
Suppose it has anything to do with the amount of money being spent or more to do with how the individual handles themselves throughout the sale? Or is it just a difference in how we handle ourselves after the sale?
I think some of the problem is that most people do not realize what they're buying, not ALL hystrix are alike, I don't expect a wild caught baby hystrix to take chopped crawlers right away, in all honestly I have never had any that does. Usually blackworms for a few weeks and slowly transitioning them into chopped crawlers then frozen food/pellets. So when there's a CB hystrix being offered for $ 300 and WC for $ 165, you should have already know the risk of buying the WC vs CB ones right away.
I don't blame shawn but in my opinion, he's more suited to deal with wholesalers versus direct public. Just for the sake of eliminating the mis-understanding. Most of "newbies" don't really know the difference between CB and WC, most if not all of them think a hystrix is a hystrix when in fact, one requires a lot more care and nursing than the others.
Yeah, I could've sold it for double before even owning it LOL 
She came in okay condition, not 100% healthy but not malnourished either. She was as good as WC can be IMO, but for the money that I pay, I'd take the risk anyday.
I bought a large henlei (14") and marble from laz few years ago, both were WC and after 3 months that Laz had had him, he was still showing bones. I had to feed him about 20 crawlers and 5- 10 shrimps per day for about a month to get some weight on him. It does take sometime to nourish and skinny ray, it may even take longer for a larger ray.
Stan
She came in okay condition, not 100% healthy but not malnourished either. She was as good as WC can be IMO, but for the money that I pay, I'd take the risk anyday.
I bought a large henlei (14") and marble from laz few years ago, both were WC and after 3 months that Laz had had him, he was still showing bones. I had to feed him about 20 crawlers and 5- 10 shrimps per day for about a month to get some weight on him. It does take sometime to nourish and skinny ray, it may even take longer for a larger ray.
Stan
Hard to beat that buy, I bet you could easily sell her for double that IF you would have wanted to.....
Really kind of odd that there's always been a small group of us that continue to buy from Shawn time after time, and yet so many bad reviews out there. Wonder why it is that he seems to keep a group of us happy?
Suppose it has anything to do with the amount of money being spent or more to do with how the individual handles themselves throughout the sale? Or is it just a difference in how we handle ourselves after the sale?
