Review of a recent purchase of 7 catfish from Fish BolZ, Atlanta, GA

[thebiggerthebetter]

Hey All, I was asked to review my recent long-distance purchase from Bruce Wright of Fish BolZ, Atlanta, GA. I got four tig catfish and three dorado catfish. This brick-and-mortar LFS has good reviews and generally positive feedback. They carry an unusual stock, I'd say of much interest to MFKers. Bruce seems like a nice, knowledgeable, easy to deal with guy on the phone and I am told in person too.

The cats were priced exceedingly competitively - $125 a tig and $65 a dorado, which is a huge plus too. So my order totaled $700. It was shipped airport to airport.

Overall, my rating would be 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The fish came in alive and have been doing ok so far in my tanks. It's been ~10 days. That's the main thing and the basis for the rating.

There were a few minor wrinkles and one that I'd call significant. The smaller problems hardly need to be discussed - asked for good photos, got one poor photo; was told dorados were 3" or larger, they were 2"; the styrofoam box was busted in pieces inside the cardbox because the styrobox was smaller than the cardbox.

Another problem that I hope is a smaller one or not a problem at all is that 2-3 tigs out of the 4 displayed an S-shaped backbone in acclimation (see first video below). 1-2 displayed it worse. I think it could have been from stress (broken styro provided little sound proofing en route) but can't be sure it is not a defect. Bruce says he doesn't know if the tigs are wild caught or raised in captivity. Neither does he know collection location. The second video below was shot yesterday and the tigs still display a hint of the S-shape to their spines but it is 90%+ gone. So I am very hopeful.

The significant shortcoming (in my view) is that the shipping was quoted at $40 but I had to pay $90 to SWA to get my fish at the airport.

I asked Bruce to repay me the difference of $50, to which he said this wasn't a quote (which I got via SMS) but a guideline for me to have in mind and that I should pursue the SWA to get my money back. I am attaching a photograph of our text exchange where the shipping cost is cited by Bruce and the SWA air bill for you to make up your mind.

I'm not upset whatsoever, nor hung up on $50. It's not a biggie but I can't exclude it from my review and remain fair.

One interesting thing Bruce does is that he insures the animals with the airlines instead of providing DOA warranty from him. If it works like he says, it'd be very smart and efficient but because no other online vendor does it like that (who I dealt with), I'm left wondering how widely applicable would this practice be. We have plenty vendors here and they can chime in. Bruce films a video of the fish being alive in front of the receiving airline personnel and a customer films the fish right upon receiving the box in front of the air cargo worker. All was fine in my case. Bruce said airline pays back double if fish are dead. He had one occurrence like that before. Says he ships a ton and very experienced.

To sum it up, I believe the LFS and Bruce must be great when dealing face to face. I probably would buy from Bruce again over the phone (unless he bans me) but would clarify everything about the fish I am buying much more thoroughly and also pay for shipping to him, not on delivery.

I will fetch the link to this thread to him, so he can defend himself if he chose to and in all fairness point out my shortcomings that he experienced in our transaction, as I am more than sure there were some. I have good will towards him, hope he doesn't harbor hard feelings either.

 

[Drstrangelove]

Thanks for the detailed write-up. I bookmarked it because I'm always on the lookout for places that will supply hard to find stock.

Having been in business a long time, I was surprised at some of the issues, which are normally ironed out soon after start up (e.g., the freight confusion and the size error.) One is easily addressed by over communicating in emails or better yet, attaching a written guidance, while the other (size errors of 2" versus 3") is so simple: measure carefully.

Hopefully they all work out to be healthy in the long run.

 

[Oddball]

I hope things work out for you. I'd also verify the insurance coverage for live shipments. I bought full insurance for my fish relo. After losing a female FRT from a towmotor runover, I filed a claim that the airline declined. I asked about the insurance I paid for and was told that, normally, the airlines will sell you all of the insurance you want. But, they will not honor claims for live animal losses. The policy is to only reimburse the shipping costs on live animal cargo.

 

[herman moorr]

At the least hope this results in good healthy fish for you. I've only received one order from airport so my experience is limited but similar situation happen as I was quoted one thing for large cichla and once I arrived in was another. This was about 4 years ago but the point is as buyers we expect these experiences to be at the up most in service and quality of product. Really hope fish continue to improve and turn out good for you in future. I can definitely see the smaller things adding up to mediocre experience.

 

[Woefulrelic]

I hope things work out for you. I'd also verify the insurance coverage for live shipments. I bought full insurance for my fish relo. After losing a female FRT from a towmotor runover, I filed a claim that the airline declined. I asked about the insurance I paid for and was told that, normally, the airlines will sell you all of the insurance you want. But, they will not honor claims for live animal losses. The policy is to only reimburse the shipping costs on live animal cargo.

Have you been very active in your fish keeping years? I hope I don't have so misfortune to look forward to if I'm in long enough

 

[dat_tiger]

Hey All, I was asked to review my recent long-distance purchase from Bruce Wright of Fish BolZ, Atlanta, GA. I got four tig catfish and three dorado catfish. This brick-and-mortar LFS has good reviews and generally positive feedback. They carry an unusual stock, I'd say of much interest to MFKers. Bruce seems like a nice, knowledgeable, easy to deal with guy on the phone and I am told in person too.

The cats were priced exceedingly competitively - $125 a tig and $65 a dorado, which is a huge plus too. So my order totaled $700. It was shipped airport to airport.

Overall, my rating would be 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The fish came in alive and have been doing ok so far in my tanks. It's been ~10 days. That's the main thing and the basis for the rating.

There were a few minor wrinkles and one that I'd call significant. The smaller problems hardly need to be discussed - asked for good photos, got one poor photo; was told dorados were 3" or larger, they were 2"; the styrofoam box was busted in pieces inside the cardbox because the styrobox was smaller than the cardbox.

Another problem that I hope is a smaller one or not a problem at all is that 2-3 tigs out of the 4 displayed an S-shaped backbone in acclimation (see first video below). 1-2 displayed it worse. I think it could have been from stress (broken styro provided little sound proofing en route) but can't be sure it is not a defect. Bruce says he doesn't know if the tigs are wild caught or raised in captivity. Neither does he know collection location. The second video below was shot yesterday and the tigs still display a hint of the S-shape to their spines but it is 90%+ gone. So I am very hopeful.

The significant shortcoming (in my view) is that the shipping was quoted at $40 but I had to pay $90 to SWA to get my fish at the airport.

I asked Bruce to repay me the difference of $50, to which he said this wasn't a quote (which I got via SMS) but a guideline for me to have in mind and that I should pursue the SWA to get my money back. I am attaching a photograph of our text exchange where the shipping cost is cited by Bruce and the SWA air bill for you to make up your mind.

I'm not upset whatsoever, nor hung up on $50. It's not a biggie but I can't exclude it from my review and remain fair.

One interesting thing Bruce does is that he insures the animals with the airlines instead of providing DOA warranty from him. If it works like he says, it'd be very smart and efficient but because no other online vendor does it like that (who I dealt with), I'm left wondering how widely applicable would this practice be. We have plenty vendors here and they can chime in. Bruce films a video of the fish being alive in front of the receiving airline personnel and a customer films the fish right upon receiving the box in front of the air cargo worker. All was fine in my case. Bruce said airline pays back double if fish are dead. He had one occurrence like that before. Says he ships a ton and very experienced.

To sum it up, I believe the LFS and Bruce must be great when dealing face to face. I probably would buy from Bruce again over the phone (unless he bans me) but would clarify everything about the fish I am buying much more thoroughly and also pay for shipping to him, not on delivery.

I will fetch the link to this thread to him, so he can defend himself if he chose to and in all fairness point out my shortcomings that he experienced in our transaction, as I am more than sure there were some. I have good will towards him, hope he doesn't harbor hard feelings either.

View attachment 1254808 View attachment 1254809

Do they have a stock list online with prices?

 

[J. H.]

Have you been very active in your fish keeping years? I hope I don't have so misfortune to look forward to if I'm in long enough [/QUOTE

Ha. you are talking to someone who bought an old church when his fish didn't fit in his house anymore.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it.

I hope things work out for you. I'd also verify the insurance coverage for live shipments. I bought full insurance for my fish relo. After losing a female FRT from a towmotor runover, I filed a claim that the airline declined. I asked about the insurance I paid for and was told that, normally, the airlines will sell you all of the insurance you want. But, they will not honor claims for live animal losses. The policy is to only reimburse the shipping costs on live animal cargo.

Precisely my experience and what I was told by Wes Wong, Raymond Chan, and other seasoned heavy hitters in online fish sales. When Bruce was telling me different, I was much surprised but willing to play along to learn.

Again, Bruce said he only had one DOA and the airline paid the customer double his purchase cost. Maybe he knows something we don't? My impression though is that Bruce expects the customer to submit a claim and do all the work. Perhaps that one successful customer was a tenacious litigation attorney haha

You made me look it up. So towmotor is a forklift. Ouch.

Have you been very active in your fish keeping years? I hope I don't have so misfortune to look forward to if I'm in long enough

Not sure what you mean by active in Phil's fish-keeping years and what misfortune you mean, Richard. Losing the FRT? Phil's a legendary keeper and breeder in his own right in fish-keeping and still keeps fish AFAIK after half a century of fish keeping...

Do they have a stock list online with prices?

I searched too but nope. I had to ask Bruce to send me his stock and price list. His number is 1-678-754-2238. Herman Moorr goes to Bruce's store every now and then too so he might be of help as well.

Anyone else here who's from Atlanta and knows Fish BolZ? Chime in, please.

 

[Woefulrelic]

I know he moved around a lot and was in the military, not sure how much it affected his fish keeping over the years. I just meant that the frt, the sawtooth thing, the border patrol and a number of other disasters he has seen.

 

[Oddball]

I've kept fish since I was 6 years old. Even while in the military. While deployed, friends and family tended to the fish. I even kept fish on the ships (in weapons systems water cooling rooms) that I bought overseas and brought back in 55 gallon poly barrels. Addicts will find a way.