TL;DR: This is a LONG story with a happy ending, but I think it's important to share because it shows the commitment to quality and customer satisfaction of this vendor.
May 2022
I ordered a Tomini Tang and Yellow Watchman Goby back in May of 2022. The Tomini tang arrived looking good, but the watchman goby unfortunately was DOA. I emailed Dr. Reef and he said he would replace, it no problem. On day 11, I randomly found the Tomini tang dead in my tank. To this day, we still don't know what happened but chalked it up to stress. He was eating and active in the days before and seemed to have settled into the tank despite skittish, hiding from me every time I was near the tank. Everyone I asked said this is normal for many Tominis.
Dr. Reef mailed me a new YWG and another Tomini tang even though it was AFTER the 7 day guarantee. He didn't even charge me for shipping.
June 2022
The replacements arrived and the YWG was looking great, but the Tomini tang appeared super stressed. It was lying on it's side, lethargic and breathing heavy in the bag despite being packaged in a large volume of water. I emailed Dr. Reef immediately for advice and had a response in less than 5 mins suggesting a methylene blue bath w/ an airstone and to update him on how it goes. I tried this and unfortunately the Tomini tang didn't survive the acclimation process.
Once again, Dr. Reef offers to send a new Tomini. No shipping fees AGAIN.
September 2022
Today I received my 3rd replacement Tomini tang and he looked very lively in the bag. I had setup a QT tank for him in case the salinity was lower to reduce stress, but I tested and it was 35 ppt on the nose. I floated for 30 mins and released directly into the display tank. He appears to be doing well. I'm going to be babying this fish with a full day of lights out and then heavy feeding a huge variety of foods and vitamins I'm stocked up on to make sure he does well.
I paid $224 for these two fish back in May and I imagine shipping overnight 3 separate times to me was at least $160, plus three coolers and heat packs, etc. This is not even counting the wholesale cost of the fish themselves. I'm sure Dr. Reef made nothing off my order or he may have actually lost money.
Despite this long, drawn out process communication was always great and he was very responsive. After the second Tomini tang died, I didn't have it in me to ask for 3rd replacement but he said he would try again and if that didn't work we could try a different species of fish. It was very apparent he was going to get me live, healthy fish no matter what it takes.
I'm just blown away by the dedication to making a happy customer, even when there's little to no money being made. I truly believe that this was just a terrible string of bad luck because the fish were all well-packaged in coolers with heat-sealed bags, lots of water and appropriate heating/cooling packs.
If you're looking for QT fish, I KNOW Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish will take care of you...
May 2022
I ordered a Tomini Tang and Yellow Watchman Goby back in May of 2022. The Tomini tang arrived looking good, but the watchman goby unfortunately was DOA. I emailed Dr. Reef and he said he would replace, it no problem. On day 11, I randomly found the Tomini tang dead in my tank. To this day, we still don't know what happened but chalked it up to stress. He was eating and active in the days before and seemed to have settled into the tank despite skittish, hiding from me every time I was near the tank. Everyone I asked said this is normal for many Tominis.
Dr. Reef mailed me a new YWG and another Tomini tang even though it was AFTER the 7 day guarantee. He didn't even charge me for shipping.
June 2022
The replacements arrived and the YWG was looking great, but the Tomini tang appeared super stressed. It was lying on it's side, lethargic and breathing heavy in the bag despite being packaged in a large volume of water. I emailed Dr. Reef immediately for advice and had a response in less than 5 mins suggesting a methylene blue bath w/ an airstone and to update him on how it goes. I tried this and unfortunately the Tomini tang didn't survive the acclimation process.
Once again, Dr. Reef offers to send a new Tomini. No shipping fees AGAIN.
September 2022
Today I received my 3rd replacement Tomini tang and he looked very lively in the bag. I had setup a QT tank for him in case the salinity was lower to reduce stress, but I tested and it was 35 ppt on the nose. I floated for 30 mins and released directly into the display tank. He appears to be doing well. I'm going to be babying this fish with a full day of lights out and then heavy feeding a huge variety of foods and vitamins I'm stocked up on to make sure he does well.
I paid $224 for these two fish back in May and I imagine shipping overnight 3 separate times to me was at least $160, plus three coolers and heat packs, etc. This is not even counting the wholesale cost of the fish themselves. I'm sure Dr. Reef made nothing off my order or he may have actually lost money.
Despite this long, drawn out process communication was always great and he was very responsive. After the second Tomini tang died, I didn't have it in me to ask for 3rd replacement but he said he would try again and if that didn't work we could try a different species of fish. It was very apparent he was going to get me live, healthy fish no matter what it takes.
I'm just blown away by the dedication to making a happy customer, even when there's little to no money being made. I truly believe that this was just a terrible string of bad luck because the fish were all well-packaged in coolers with heat-sealed bags, lots of water and appropriate heating/cooling packs.
If you're looking for QT fish, I KNOW Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish will take care of you...
