The Carter's Aquarium Thread

[mothra]

Well Twins has their own thread so why not Carter's too ;)

I was there a few days ago. The main reef is looking a lot better than last month. Danny has a few decent looking SPS in there. Watch out for zooanthid eating nudibranchs though - they still have them.

There is also a rather large piece of Cyphastrea, green on purple looks nice. Anyone want to split it for $25 each?

Also 200g of Oceanic salt was on sale for $40 (plus discount if you're a contributing NVR member).

[juskeepswiming]

how big is the piece of Cyphastrea?

[mothra]

I'm going to say 4" x 5"

[Bdimas]

Jacob,
I talked to Danny yesterday about that cyphastrea. It cought my eye pretty quick. He said he's going to frag it up. Im down to split it though.

[mothra]

I shouldn't have gave him that idea. If you can pick it up I'll split with you, or we can head over together. Let me know when!

[Bdimas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6809889#post6809889 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mothra
I shouldn't have gave him that idea. If you can pick it up I'll split with you, or we can head over together. Let me know when!
Probably after the meeting we can go.

[Jesus]

Hey, I want a peice of the action as well.

jesus

[mothra]

Oh lordy, I guess we have to split it 3 ways now. I might just go pick it up tonight so I can frag it and have them ready at the meeting.

[MrMonkeyFingers]

hey I want a piece too! better make it 4... kidding.. I just wanted to feel the love... you people enjoy!

[Jesus]

Bryan told me that Danny will nt sell anymore stuff off from the
display tank. What a bummer. Bad enough they do not have anything good to offer on their other tank.


jesus

[mothra]

Hey, just bumping this back up to mention a couple things...

New Store
Carter's most definitely will be opening a new store this summer, Danny mentioned that it is expected to happen in July. From what he is saying there will be a much improved saltwater selection. I talked with him about trying to cater to the intermediate and experienced crowd a little more with selection of more sought after coral and fish, so we'll see if Carters might be able to fill a niche that nobody else in Stockton, Manteca, or Lodi has so far.

Responding to the post above, he didn't mention anything about not selling from the display tank up front, but I didn't ask directly either. He did mention wanting to do some fragging and propagation, and in fact they are setting up 1 or more zero-edge (top viewed) tanks at the new location but I think he still needs to see first hand a setup (like Atlantis for example) to understand why frags can work out IF you have some really nice corals to start with, not just average corals. We talked a little about establishing relationships with hobbyists to get this all going.

[Bdimas]

I talked to Danny today and he said they will be in the new store in about ten days.

[juskeepswiming]

i was there yesterday when he was tearing down the display tank...it got wiped out pretty quick

[mothra]

Did he say when the saltwater section was going to be up? I talked to him about a week ago and it sounded like that wasn't going to be running until mid July.

[Bdimas]

He said that the company that builds their tanks is going to break them down and install them in the new store and that they gaurantee they will be ready seven days after installation. I find that kinda hard to believe.
Danny did also say that he is going to be setting up two 140 gallon display tanks.

[friendorfoe]

Where is carter's located?

[Bdimas]

Currenlty they are in a shopping center on March Lane and West Lane. Im not exaclty sure where the new location is.

[mothra]

I'm pretty sure that the new location is: 909 W. March Lane, Stockton

map (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=909+W+March+LN,+Stockton,+CA&om=1)

[mothra]

Anyone know if the new Carters store is open, and/or been there?

[Bdimas]

Danny told me they are going to open on the 1st.

[TaubBaer]

I stopped by the new store yesterday and saw the poster on the door "Opens at 8:30am on July 8, Saturday"

[Bdimas]

Yeah I talked to Danny on the phone last night and he said its opening this Saturday for sure. I guess they had some shipping issues and could'nt open the store last weekend.

[Jesus]

Wow, they will be openning this Sat. I might have to drop by since I will be in Stockton to check on Jullie's tank.


jesus

[bljohnson]

Can anyone confirm if the new store is open yet? Thanks.

[mothra]

Yes it is open, and much nicer than the old store. They are supposedly setting up a stand-alone coral tank in the center of the fish room. Rumor has it that it will be the vanishing edge style and you will be able to view from the top down.

[bljohnson]

How is the inventory status now? I am coming from Turlock but used to live in Stockton and have been to Twins, Discount, & Carters numerous times. Is it worth the drive?

[mothra]

Wow, that's quite a drive. The inventory was 'ok', not a lot of coral to choose from. Are you looking for something specific?

[bljohnson]

Was it the "usual" since Danny has taken over or is it better? Not looking for anything in particular - maybe some nice clams, blastos, SPS.

[mothra]

Yep mostly the usual stuff still - BUT... Danny is no longer there. Jeff has taken over and they have at least one new supplier now. Supposedly they're going to be bringing in some nicer stuff and more SPS too. I heard a rumor they were going to have some frags coming in.

[MrMonkeyFingers]

yup, Danny is gone and no one seems to know why..... Jeff is a great guy and he'll take care of you for sure. As far as the frags they are getting better but from all of the talk they talked this fish roomw as going to rival the bay area stores and it's not even close. But the fish prices are better than what they were for sure!

[mothra]

I got the same thing when I asked about Danny, later I was told by a cashier that he went back to school. Jeff is cool, so is Dwayne that works in the fish room. I know they were both talking about trying to make it to the meeting this month (tomorrow).

[MrMonkeyFingers]

yeah that seems to be the general story is going back to school. Jeff siad he was gonna try and make it? Cool... I think I know which guy is dwayne... They go through people almost as fast as the record does!

[Shimobe238]

last i talked to danny, he was going to school and carters was helping pay for it. doing marine biology. haven't talked to him since he left tho

[wuelfman]

if jeff was the afro american he is gone as well

[Bdimas]

Yup Jeff is gone.

[Shimobe238]

update. no center coral tank. so much for competeing with the bay area. it's gonna be two koi ponds and a nanocube with the seahorses... so i have heard.

[Bdimas]

Well that BITES.

[mothra]

Wow... another missed opportunity. They need someone like a semi-retired person who is into reefing to take over the fishroom and get them on the right track.

[rulesmith]

Went by today, well because I am addicted to fish and corals, did not see much at first, but then spotted 3 queen anthias, they look good in the tank :)

[Aquarist Guru]

Was by today picked up a blue tang.

They have a few clams, I talked to the guy running the fish room for another 2 months then he's off to Southern Cal for School as well.

Something happend with Danny, from what I'm gathering it wasn't an amicable departure, the rest I'll leave up to guess work.

They have some beutiful fan coral right now brown branchy with blue polyps.

They also have some gorgious anthias a steady supply of assorted mandarins.

If your into it they have a gorgious zebra eel (to snake looking for me to like, but I appreciate the fish its gorgious).

A giant Sailfin although something took a bit of a nibble out of the tip of its fin.

They also had a very round supply of frags although nothing I saw super rare except maybe for a LPS Flavia type if memory serves it was pink with neon green centers.

Off the top of my head the frags I recall are:

Galaxia
Zooanthias
Frogspawn
Hammer
Metalic Brain
Sea Fans
Blue Berry Gorgonians

Some Sort of Stony Leather looking stuff but I don't recall they name.

And a ton of stony in their show case but most of it's for sale.

Also a few blue/purple clams and Even a Sea hare I think i noticed climbing up the back of the tank wall.

I did also learn a few things that aren't always great to hear about, but they use this new anti fungal anti bacterial anti ich medication on all tanks I guess it's reef safe, plus their really into dumping lots of additives probably because at the same time they are using giant UV filters that kill everything they need to keep the tanks going without addatives. I'm too new to this hobby but that just doesn't sound like a good longterm environement for healthy fish.

I will say though everything looks pretty great as is there.

[rulesmith]

I was at Carter's Thursday. They are having a bad break out of Cyno in almost all salt tanks. There fish guy knows fresh, but not salt. He seems sincere on wanting to do the right thing, but just does not have the info. They are testing 0 on ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I think it is a flow and filtration issue myself, one little protein skimmer for all of the tanks. Very little live rock in there. Lots of fish. Seems to be the problem. If anyone has the time and the knowledge you might drop by and give them a bit of advice. I just feel sorry for the livestock.

[MrMonkeyFingers]

Jeff is gone now too?

[Bdimas]

Yup Jeff is gone. He got a new job.

[MrMonkeyFingers]

is there anyone there who knows what they are doing? It's starting to get grim around here

[Bdimas]

I dont think so.

[rulesmith]

I hear Jeff got a better paying job at food for less, tells you something right there.

[Bdimas]

I went to Carters today and picked up a very cool Flasher Wrasse. I just did some research and i think its a juvi Carpenters. They also had some decent corals in. There was 3 "superman danes" for $90. They had a nice blue base.

[Bdimas]

I stopped by Carters tonight and they have got some nice fish and coral in for their big sale this weekend. He had some nice big square back anthias and some nice wrasses. If anyone is brave enough he had a Achilles tang that looked really good. Its selling for $90 but he said he would sell it to our members for around $45. He also said tanks are going to be really cheap.